Skip to content

Shelter House's S.O.S. program is up and running as of Wednesday afternoon

Shelter House thinks it will be transporting at least one person an hour through its Street Outreach Service.
365430_28977026
The S.O.S. van gets ready to hit the streets Wednesday (Jamie Smith, tbnewswatch.com)

Shelter House thinks it will be transporting at least one person an hour through its Street Outreach Service.

The cold weather program headed back on the road Wednesday, with $50,000 from the District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board to keep it rolling until April. Shelter House is in front of city council Monday night to request funding from the city to have the 12-hour-a-day service running year-round.

"We're really looking forward to offering this as a full-year service," executive director Patty Hajdu said.

A team of two outreach workers will be on the road from 2 p.m. until 2 a.m. Every day answering calls from businesses, people and emergency workers to help get people out of the cold and to a safe space. Last year that included a room at Shelter House for people who were severely intoxicated but Hajdu said the shelter realized it can't offer that service again due to a lack of medical expertise.

"We can't provide a medical service without medical staff," she said.

DSSAB chair Bob Katajamaki said the program plays an important part in helping those in need.

"The problem is increasing all the time in our community and we have to react to it," he said.

It points to the need for a more longterm solutions to poverty reduction in Thunder Bay he said.

The S.O.S. phone number 620-7678.





push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks