March 2025 Newsletter

A New Job Training Program to Rebuild Lives

The new Maintenance Services Training Program provides a path to employment and independence.

With your help, The Ottawa Mission has been lifting people out of homelessness through innovative solutions like the Food Services Training Program (FSTP), where for 20 years and counting, over 400 people in need have graduated into culinary careers, stability, and success.

Your support allows us to continuously innovate, and we’re thrilled to announce the launch of the Maintenance Services Training Program (MSTP)!

Modelled on the FSTP, the MSTP is a barrier-free job training program that gives people who are at risk of, or actively experiencing homelessness, the skills and training necessary to obtain gainful employment as building maintenance workers and superintendents.

Our pilot class launched in January, with five students currently receiving academic and practical instruction in plumbing, carpentry, drywalling, painting, fire safety, WHMIS, and more. The ultimate goal is to provide the skills, training and experience required to place these students in paid employment at the end of their course.

As you can see in their smiles: Willis, Ronald, Gloria, Abraham, and Leoher are thankful that you’ve given them a chance at a new beginning.

Just like the FSTP, all of this is offered at no cost to the students; all they need is a genuine desire to improve their situation.

Generously supported by the Trillium Foundation and Minto Foundation, this program will power transformational change for graduates. As the MSTP grows and develops, we look forward to sharing more updates with you.

 

It is only through your generosity that we’re able to continue creating and running the programs that provide long-term and transformational support to those in need. Thank you!

Hope, Health, and a Home: Your Role in Paul's Recovery

Paul’s mental health and life outlook completely changed once he visited our DYMON Health Clinic.

Paul is sitting inside one of our DYMON Health Clinic examination rooms. He’s 58 years old, but he exudes youthfulness through his upbeat and polite demeanor. He shares:

“I wouldn’t even be able to have this conversation with you were it not for this clinic.”
Paul

Paul suffers from complex post-traumatic stress disorder due to several different events in his life, some tracing back to his youth. Left unchecked, his condition deteriorated and eventually led him
to The Mission. Once in a shelter bed, he joined Hope, one of our addiction and trauma programs.

“They helped me identify some critical incidents that I had gone through in a very personal way...I learned to understand that the things that happened to me were not my fault.”

Paul also got help from a housing case manager, who removed barriers that made it hard for him to find affordable housing. They helped him file his taxes, apply for a city rent-supplement program, and more.

But the key support element Paul received was access to our health clinic, where in partnership with Ottawa Inner City Health (OICH), we provide vital healthcare to vulnerable people who cannot otherwise access it.

Paul was seen by Lesley, an OICH nurse practitioner who prescribed the medication that stabilized his condition and changed his life. With this, and all the wraparound supports Paul had received, things clicked together, and he was ready to transition into housing and independence.

This occurred a few years ago. Today, Paul is still in the home you helped him find, still living the life you helped him recapture.

Sitting in the same exam room that he first visited when he was at his lowest ebb, Paul looks around the room and reflects with a smile:

"Life just couldn't be any better."

You Gave Shawn His Second Chance

Shawn left the streets behind after graduating from the Food Services Training Program (FSTP) and Chef Ric’s kitchen.

You may have heard us talk about our wraparound supports and services and wondered, what exactly does that mean? Well, Shawn’s story might help explain.

As Shawn stands proudly at his graduation from our FSTP, he shares:

“I was living on the streets last year at this time... right across the road.”
Shawn

But Shawn wasn’t someone who had just recently fallen upon hard times, only needing a job to lift himself out of homelessness. For many years, he was on and off the streets, in and out of jail, and grappling with substance use. He joined Stabilization, one of our addiction and trauma treatment programs, as a condition of his bail.

Afterwards, he joined LifeHouse, our 5-month, abstinence-based program. He was determined to leave his old life behind.

“It was a daily struggle. You don’t get anywhere out there. I knew I couldn’t survive on the streets much longer.”

Shawn saw his way out through the FSTP. So, while receiving the counselling he needed to maintain his sobriety at LifeHouse, he was accepted into the program.

After LifeHouse, Shawn moved onto Second Stage and into one of our Mission-owned, subsidized apartments, all while completing his training at the FSTP.

So, when Shawn stood tall on his graduation day, sober, living in an apartment of his own, and ready to start his new job in a commercial kitchen, he had The Mission’s wraparound support programs to thank for helping him get there — programs that would not exist without you.

“The donors are what keeps all of this going, what keeps us going. I’m so glad I was given this chance. Thank you.”

Champions of Hope

Donate Monthly To Make An Ongoing Difference In Your Community

When you sign up for monthly giving, your contributions will give your neighbours in need food, shelter and vital services. Your steady support reignites hope, providing people with the tools and opportunities they need to live a fulfilling life.

Visit ottawamission.com/monthly to sign up today.