A retired schoolteacher, Steve Bradley spends hours every week volunteering at The Ottawa Mission. He helps us in so many ways – sorting clothing donations, preparing and serving meals, and most frequently working in what is called the “dish pit” – the front end of the automated dishwasher in our busy kitchen.

While working in the kitchen, Steve has been able to observe the students who are part of our Food Services Training Program as they are put through their paces over a five month period. The program includes practical hands-on kitchen work as well as classroom theory using textbooks from college-level culinary courses. Many of the students coming into the program have limited educations, and the prospect of attending and participating in classes and doing homework can be quite daunting.

This is where Steve comes in – taking on yet another volunteer assignment as an educational mentor to our Food Services students. He will help them with their written assignments, counsel them on study habits, and provide all of the benefit of his years in teaching.

So, while Steve continues to do the everyday work that is vital to making The Mission run so smoothly, he is also giving us the wonderful gifts of his knowledge and experience to help make our Food Services program the best it can be.

Thank you, Steve, for all that you do.

The Ottawa Mission offers a unique program to men in our community dealing with drug and alcohol addiction. The Stabilization program has 13 beds in a separate corner of our shelter for those who want to maintain abstinence, stabilize their lives, and develop a healthier lifestyle.

We see people from all walks of life come into this program. Doug is someone in Stabilization this month. At 61, he’s had lots of life experience, including a 35 year career with Canada’s Coast Guard. He also spent many summers out West on his grandfather’s farm and these days, enjoys helping one of his farmer friends south of Ottawa on the weekends. But alcohol was taking over his life. Doug lives alone and he says everything came to head a few weeks ago when he landed in the hospital and doctors told him his liver was in distress.

With the help of an addictions counsellor, Doug and others in Stabilization are offered support to develop a treatment plan that will help them reach their recovery goals. Doug will soon move into our LifeHouse residential treatment program next to The Ottawa Mission and work on long term sobriety. For now, he says he enjoys the group dynamics in Stabilization which allow him to meet others on a recovery journey and feel supported as well as support them.

Doug would like to thank people in the community who support The Ottawa Mission and its programs like Stabilization, which has given him the help to move forward with renewed hope and health.

Even though we are only part way through summer, university students are already setting their sights on the fall semester – and many people served by The Ottawa Mission are doing the same!

Discovery University (Discovery U) is a unique program that allows people who are homeless or living on low incomes the opportunity to participate in non-credit, university-level Humanities and Social Sciences courses at no cost. This program is offered by The Ottawa Mission in partnership with the University of Ottawa, St. Paul University, and First Baptist Church, and is supported by generous donations from the community. The courses are taught on campus by university professors, and all textbooks and course materials are also provided at no cost.

This fall the classes being offered are “Philosophical Reflections for Today’s World” with a focus on some of the big questions in today’s society; and musical “Improvisation for Theory and Practice” which will include discussion seminars as well as actual hands-on musical improvisation. As always, those who complete all course requirements will be celebrated with a special graduation ceremony and a diploma.

The beauty of Discovery U has many facets. It encourages students to embrace continuous learning and also develops critical thinking and problem-solving skills that will help them in their everyday lives. A less-tangible, but equally important side-benefit of Discovery U is that it gives people a sense of pride, accomplishment… and hope.

The application deadline for the fall semester is August 29. If you are interested or know of someone who might be, click here for further information.

Doug came to The Ottawa Mission about 6 months ago to seek help with his addiction. He started with our Day Program and then asked for a bed in the Stabilization wing of the shelter.  Finally he was given a spot in LifeHouse – the Mission’s five month residential addiction treatment program. During his time here, Doug says he’s made huge strides forward in the battle against his addiction.

He’s also overcome some education hurdles, thanks to The Mission’s Stepping Stones Learning Centre. Initially, his goal was to try and complete the necessary credits to earn his high school diploma. But after reviewing his school transcript, The Mission’s Learning Centre Coordinator discovered Doug had in fact already earned his diploma and was she was able to acquire it, frame it and present it to him as a surprise!

As he completes the final stages of the treatment program this summer, Doug has joined a photography activity group started by one of The Mission’s addiction counselors. Taking nature photos, like the one posted here that he snapped along the Ottawa River, is helping him reconnect with the beauty in the world around him. It’s evident that Doug is getting stronger every day, and in his words “The LifeHouse program has changed the way I look at my addiction and my life – I have hope and I’m very grateful for that.”

For people who are homeless, the heat of summer is equally as challenging as the cold of winter. That’s why staff from The Ottawa Mission routinely patrol the streets around the shelter on hot days handing out cold bottles of water to those in need.

This year, in addition to the water, we thought it would be a good idea to encourage people to spend time inside where there is air conditioning. This grew into the idea of “Cool Off Days”, and the first was held this past week.

Every Wednesday afternoon this summer, people are being invited into the shelter’s dining room – in between regular meal services – to enjoy homemade lemonade, games and camaraderie. For many, this is a welcome and comforting diversion during the long hot days of summer.

As usual, this type of activity would not be possible without the generosity of our volunteers who really make the whole thing happen – setting up the dining room, welcoming visitors, pouring cold drinks, and cleaning up afterwards.

Thank you to all of our volunteers for giving the gift of simple kindness to those who need it most – in the summer and all year round!

At The Ottawa Mission, summer is a challenging time of year. Donations are much lower than at any other time of year, but the shelter is still filled to capacity and the number of meals served every day – 1295 on average – remains constant.

On top of those staying at the shelter, we see people like Jim come into The Mission for meals all year round. Jim is in his seventies and lives alone in a small subsidized apartment. He is on a limited disability income and often cannot afford to buy food. He has been coming to The Mission for his meals – and to attend our daily chapel service – for more than 15 years.

The people at The Mission are an important part of Jim’s life, and we feel the same way about him. He feels at home here and has made many friends. He is a bright light, and he knows he matters to us.

The generosity of our donors allows us to do as much as we can to make sure that Jim and so many others like him receive healthy meals and friendship – during the summer and all year long.

If you have already not done so, please consider making a donation to help us through the summer – because hunger doesn’t take a holiday.

Health researchers now know that people who live in homeless shelters or on the streets long-term have comparable life expectancies to people in developing countries. One of the issues that can impact our overall health is proper dental care. Unfortunately, many people dealing with homelessness don’t have accessible, professional dental services.

Thanks to the initiative of Ottawa dentist Dr. Tom Harle, The Ottawa Mission has been able to offer emergency, preventative, and restorative dental care to people in shelters for the past 7 years. Dr. Harle worked with The Mission to open a small dental clinic inside The Ottawa Mission. He then reached out to his colleagues in the dental field to recruit dozens of volunteers to help run it.

That small clinic is now seeing an average of 77 patients every month and what’s more, about 100 dental professionals, including about 50 dentists, volunteer time every month. Many dental supplies and lab services are either donated by dental offices or funded through community donations.

The Ottawa Mission’s Dental Clinic is truly a community effort and the before and after pictures of patients make everyone smile.

There was a special ceremony at The Ottawa Mission recently honoring 30 men who have reached significant milestones in their personal journeys towards recovery from addiction.

Some had attended our daily drop in Day Program with perfect attendance for several months as a start on the path to recovery. Others had completed stays of anywhere from two weeks to three months in our Stabilization unit preparing for long term addiction treatment. And six of those in attendance had graduated from our 5-month residential treatment program called LifeHouse.

At the end of the formal proceedings people are invited to come forward to share their thoughts and experiences. Without fail, the stories that emerge from this portion of the ceremony are heartfelt in their praise of the staff and programming available at The Mission. But beyond this, the stories are all inspirational and deeply moving.

The final speaker was a former graduate of LifeHouse who has not only succeeded in maintaining his sobriety after years of addiction, but who has also taken his life in a direction he never dreamed possible. He has completed his first semester of university and had just received his marks – straight A’s!

Every man who spoke that day felt a great sense of accomplishment – regardless of the stage they are at along their road to recovery. And every man who spoke that day has finally arrived at a place where there is hope for the future – where there had once been none.

For all of these people, many small steps have amounted to giant leaps. Congratulations to all!

The Ottawa Mission’s Food Services Training Program is marking its tenth anniversary this year. The 5 month program helps men and women on social services get job skills by working alongside our trained kitchen staff and dedicated volunteers. They also spend one day a week in a classroom learning from a college culinary textbook and take courses in Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System, health and safety and the City of Ottawa’s Food Handler’s Certification.

It’s a program that has touched many lives, with 75 people successfully completing it in the past decade.

This week, about 80 supporters of the program gathered in the Mission’s dining room one evening to sample a fabulous dinner prepared by the latest graduates, Alex, Elaine and Dale.  The first annual Food Services Training Program Gala Evening was a huge success. The crowd was especially touched when one of the students, Alex, shared how he had lost everything to addiction. After going through treatment successfully, Alex came to the Mission hoping to get new a new start and a new career. He’s now working full time as a cook and couldn’t be happier, adding he’s always smiling when he’s cooking.

Chef Ric Watson, who was instrumental in starting the Food Services training program a decade ago, says there’s much more involved than just teaching people to cook. In his words, “this program builds self-esteem and confidence, which are fundamental to success in any career.”