Cassie Taylor stands outside the Hope Mission’s headquarters in central Edmonton, half a dozen black plastic bags straining against their contents piled at her feet.
It’s Sunday, Dec. 15, and it’s freezing.
A man approaches and asks if the bags are winter gear. They are — the first of at least two SUV-loads of winter coats and footwear, blankets and other materials Taylor collected in St. Albert.
“Are these blankets?” he asks. “Please, my family is gonna freeze.”
Not a bag of donations have made it through the front door, which is surrounded by a score or more of others in his situation, and already they’re being put to use.
There is scarcely a place in the capital region where the ravages of poverty are more apparent than the blocks surrounding Hope on 97 Street. Taylor occasionally drives past on her way to the city’s downtown and recently started volunteering.
She said her eyes were opened when she saw more than 800 people come through a lunch service, some of them wearing nothing but medical booties or plastic bags on their feet.
“I was overwhelmed by the amount of people,” Taylor said. “I didn't think it would be that many people and they just kept coming, and when they would come to my station, I noticed that a lot of them had frostbite.”
One social media post later, Taylor had more donations than she could deliver in one trip.
“Instantly, like within the hour, I was getting so many messages and private messages and people commenting.”
She said the items donated were “perfect,” including quality coats, blankets and Sorels.
“St. Albert really stepped up and surprised me that, you know, they were so many people willing to donate,” Taylor said. “It just made me realize what a great community I live in.”
Kevin Wiebe, donor relations manager for Hope Mission, said last week the demand for their services continues to grow.
“We are so grateful for people like that who say, ‘Let's go above and beyond to make a difference to a vulnerable neighbour.’”
Hope Mission, which operates across Alberta, receives tens of thousands of requests for clothing items year-round. The St. Albert Food Bank and Community Village said last week they helped twice as many people experiencing homelessness in 2024 than they did in 2023.
“Especially in the winter time when what the weather is so harsh and we have people coming to our stores without adequate winter clothing,” Wiebe said. “Just this last week, there was someone that had plastic bags taped to their feet as their only footwear.”
A year ago, the mission was serving 1,800 meals per day. They’re regularly filling more than 2,400 plates per day now. One day, they served more than 3,200 meals.
“That hadn’t happened ever in my time here,” Wiebe said. “Like last year, we broke our record.”
He said during a cold snap last January they set another new record when 965 people stayed with Hope in a single night.
“Now we’re regularly over 1,000 and often over 1,100 as well,” he said. “So, the need is up significantly.”
The donations are appreciated in the context of the strain the work interruption at Canada Post had on the charity’s bottom line. Wiebe said he and other staff members have been driving around picking up paper cheque donations from people, mostly seniors, who refuse to donate online.
“We've seen a huge decrease in the number of financial donations that have come in, particularly at a time of year that is really crucial for our fundraising,” he said. “That's been a significant impact for our community here as well.
“They've been very devastated by this because that's the only method of giving that they trust.”
Wiebe said at Hope, $2.70 buys a meal. To donate any amount, or to set up a recurring contribution, visit the Hope Mission website.
“Any donation of any amount goes a long way.”
