Author Archives: The Ottawa Mission

The Christmas season always comes alive very early at The Ottawa Mission. For the past few weeks, I’ve been seeing all types of people coming in with donations of money, clothing, and food to help those staying at the shelter. It never ceases to amaze me when I see the outpouring of generosity from this community. And the help doesn’t go unnoticed by the men staying here either – some of them are facing a Christmas in a shelter for the first time.

A gentleman named Antonio has been here at the Mission for the past 8 months getting help with his addiction to drugs and alcohol. Antonio spent many years as a fire-fighter and was telling me this week, he never thought he’d spend a Christmas at a homeless shelter. He’s doing well in his recovery and expects to move out of The Mission in January – but he’s still too fragile to spend much time with family and friends over the holidays. In fact, Antonio says he’s actually looking forward to spending Christmas at The Ottawa Mission because he knows he’ll be safe and surrounded by staff and other men in the same treatment program who care about his recovery.

People sometimes ask me if The Mission is a depressing place to be over the holidays. I tell them it’s bitter-sweet  It’s true many are struggling with issues like job loss, addiction, and mental illness, but our volunteers, staff and all of you bringing in donations, are showing them that someone cares – and that’s a good feeling.

God bless,
Diane

If someone had told me as a young adult that I was going to grow up and oversee a large urban homeless shelter for more than 20 years, I definitely wouldn’t have believed them.

I also know many people who come through the doors at The Ottawa Mission never thought they would grow up and have to stay at a homeless shelter.
We are all on a journey.

Sometimes a decision is deliberately made that leads us down a certain path and sometimes the circumstances are out of our control – in both cases we pray to God to watch over and guide us. This blog will help us shine the spotlight on some of the journeys we are blessed to be part of at The Ottawa Mission.

Our annual Thanksgiving Dinner has just passed and once again, thanks to generous donors and volunteers we were able to provide hundreds of meals to people from all walks of life – all of them on different journeys.

I used to wonder if the effort to provide a special holiday meal actually felt special to those who came in to The Mission. Then I spotted a little note scribbled on a paper place mat that was on one of the dining room tables. It said “Thank you so much – my son and I have been having a hard time lately, this helped.”  XO Cindy. 
I was silent as I thought of this mother and son and their journey to a homeless shelter – it must have taken courage to come in and courage to write that note.

Sometimes hope takes the form of a plate of good food served among people who care at a homeless shelter.
God bless,

Diane