Police officers hand out survival kits to go to those homeless and in need of help.
Toronto Police officers and partners have handed out 3,500 winter survival kits to help those cold and in need.
Officers from 13 Division on January 20 took part in the 25th Annual Engage and Change Project Winter Survival in which kits were handed out to more than 200 social service agencies, outreach providers and homeless shelters.
The program helps those who are less fortunate endure the hardships of winter by providing necessities as sleeping bags, toque, scarf, winter gloves and personal and health care items that often makes a difference between life and death.
Officers and volunteers take part in the 25th annual 25th Annual Engage and Change Project Winter Survival.
“Since its inception in 1999, Project Winter Survival has placed more than 50,000 survival kits into the hands of people in Toronto and the surrounding areas who are experiencing homelessness,” police said in a release.
Staff Sgt. John Stockfish said he and his officers were “very humbled” to help out and deliver the goods.
“Just getting those basic necessities out, we see the demand, we see the effects on the street,” Stockfish said previously. “The harsh elements make it even that much more challenging for people who don’t have homes.”
Former Toronto Police Officer Scott Mills is still rocked by the loss several months ago of a good friend Real Leclair.
Some of the officers who have been involved in the drive to keep our homeless and in need warm.
Mills remembered the native of Montreal he befriended years ago. Better known online as Homeless Joe, Leclair has lived in three homes in recent years. He died in South Etobicoke.
It is estimated that roughly 10,500 plus of the homeless population across the GTA are sleeping outdoors, in shelters, in emergency respite centres, and health and correction facilities every night.
“Ongoing challenges facing this high-risk group mean that increased numbers in need of warmth and shelter are left to fend off the elements as best they can,” the group said.
Most people do not want to be homeless in this cold and nearly all our shelters are filled nightly.
Exhausted shelter and outreach facilities are facing an overwhelming increase in the demand for humanitarian relief exacerbated by an increase in violence in Toronto shelters attributed to city cutbacks, the opioid crisis, overcrowding and a shortage of mental health supports.
“What started out as an immediate response to help those in need survive the conditions of winter on the streets of the GTA 25 years ago, has become a milestone of misery,” according to Engage and Change.
“The appeal for kits is staggering,” said Jody Steinhauer, President of The Bargains Group and Project Winter Survival founder. “The growing plight of our city’s homeless goes from critical to deadly during the volatile winter season.”
Some of the companies involved includes: Apex Global Logistics, Fortigo Freight Service, Scotiabank, RBC, CIBC, KPMG LLP, Perimeter Development Corporation, Optimus SBR and The Bargains Group.
For more information or to make a donation, visit www.engageandchange.org