While city crews work to clear city streets and sidewalks of snow, officials at Edmonton’s shelters are putting out the call, as they try to help the homeless deal with the frigid weather.
Because of the cold weather, local shelters have been either full or nearly at capacity in recent days.
On Monday night, Hope Mission had dozens of people lining up well in advance of their opening at 9 p.m., hoping to have a warm spot inside to spend the night.
“The homeless already have it so tough and they have so many challenges, with this kind of extreme weather and it makes it that much harder and difficult to get to the services they need to get to,” Devin Komarniski with Hope Mission said. “A lot of them are working and a lot of them are just standing in lineups all day long, so we want to keep them warm.”
As a result, Hope Mission critically needs warm winter clothing – such as gloves, jackets, ski pants, boots, long underwear and scarves – gently used items can be dropped off at the Hope Mission (9908 106 Avenue), or at the Hope Bargain Shoppe (2403 Elwood Drive) during regular business hours.
More information on Hope Mission can be found online.
With files from Julie Nolin
