By Angela Hill

People prepare for Christmas

Dec 23, 2010 | 3:24 PM

As community organizations close for the holidays, they are helping ready their clients for the week ahead.

Many groups, including the Food Bank, Indian Métis Friendship Centre and Homes for the Homeless held dinners for their clients.

“We made sure we bought a lot of groceries so that people could eat so they were actually full and that was important to us,” said Janice Henry, co-ordinator of the Homes for the Homeless dinner.

More than 100 people came for the meal.

Mal Wiebe was one of the people who ate the meal. He used to stay at the YWCA Our House, but has other plans for this Christmas.

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A friend is letting him crash on the couch.

Christmas is an easier time for people to find temporary shelter, said Edna Bruce, shelter manager, at the YWCA Our House.

“I think a lot of people take their relatives, are more willing to take their relatives into their homes over the Christmas season, just because of human kindness,” she said.

For those that can’t, the shelter is ready. An out pouring of support from the community means there are enough blankets for Bruce to hand out to those who don’t have any place to go.

“We have had a phenomenal amount donated, I’m saying about 300 blankets so we now have a bin of blankets in our lobby and people can take blankets if they want them,” she said.

It is a difficult time of year people who find money tight on a regular basis. The holidays can make everything a little more stressful.

“It’s a hugely tough time of year … made worse when you don’t have the resources,” Henry said.
Gilbert Bercier, a client at the Canadian Mental Health Association’s drop-in centre, the Nest, has a place to stay.

But he said he is worried about others, with the many of the community organizations closed for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, the shortage of places to go is obvious.

“The YWCA was helping with blankets in the winter time for people to sleep out on the street and giving them some provisions to help look after themselves. We need to be like a lot of the larger cities in Canada, we need to have homeless shelters, we need to have stuff like that,” he said.

“They’ve got to start putting something into the system.”

The Prince Albert Share A Meal/Food Bank is providing Mobile Crisis with some necessities, so people in need can still access food during the closures.

ahill@panow.com