When Pastor Brad Hale was a 19-year-old student at Confederation College in Thunder Bay, a series of drug and alcohol-fuelled bad decisions led to him living in his friend's car for a school year.
To eat, Hale and his friend would go dumpster diving behind a Pizza Hut or show up strategically at friends' homes in time for dinner. They showered at the college. Somehow, Hale still managed to graduate from his program with a 3.5 GPA.
These days, Hale is the director/chaplain at the Elgin Street Mission, which provides services to people in Greater Sudbury who are homeless or living in poverty.
“I know what it's like,” he said. “I can really relate. I'll try to say to some of my staff, don't group everybody into one category. Get to know them.”
Hale said he tries to do just that, adding that he's taken over the job of making the coffee at breakfast so he can chat with clients.
On Friday evening, the Elgin Street Mission holds its Giving Back to the Community fundraising dinner at the Steelworkers Hall. The evening includes silent and live auctions, live entertainment and guest speakers.
Organizers expect to raise around $20,000, although Hale said it would be fantastic to bring in twice that amount.
Hale said the funds go toward rent, paying the mission's six staff and the general cost of keeping the organization running.
The Elgin Street Mission provides two meals a day — breakfast and lunch — seven days a week, feeding about 300 people a day.
“This year, it's been a greater need,” Hale said.
“I would say the average now we're doing is 300 meals a day, 200 for dinner, 100 for breakfast, usually, which is up quite a bit. When I first came a year ago, it was like wow, we had 150 last night.”
The Blue Door Soup Kitchen, located next door to the mission in the Samaritan Centre in downtown Sudbury, serves lunch on weekdays.
The mission also provides laundry services, showers, access to donated clothing and haircuts — all for free.
It's not all drug and alcohol addicts who use the Elgin Street Mission's services, although there are a number of clients who do have those issues, Hale said.
People living in poverty can sometimes only afford the rent at a rooming house such as the Ledo Hotel, which is across the road from the Samaritan Centre.
Such accommodations don't provide cooking facilities, so people don't have much choice but to eat at the mission and the soup kitchen.
Sometimes families with children even use the service.
“It breaks my heart when I see families coming in,” Hale said. “I have one family that's coming in, and they have two boys.
“The husband is working, but still, by the time they pay their rent, just the basic stuff, they don't have a lot of extras.
“They just come for breakfast, but even still, that's a relief for them. That's milk and toast and stuff that they wouldn't have to buy.”
The Elgin Street Mission operates with the help of hundreds of volunteers as well as community donations.
If you want to donate clothing, Hale said what's especially needed are smaller-waisted men's pants around 32 inch size, winter boots or packages of new underwear.
He said the mission goes through a lot of clothes, as homeless people often just wear the clothes that are on their backs, switching them out periodically. They're hard on their boots because they're walking all day.
In terms of food, Hale said the mission is always looking for peanut butter, jam, Cheez Whiz, white sugar and Coffee Mate for breakfasts. These are “five items you just can't go wrong” with, he said.
If you'd like to attend the Giving Back to the Community fundraising dinner on Friday, tickets cost $60 each. Email [email protected] or phone 705-673-2163.
