Summer Camp with the Open Door

 

 

Every August, the Open Door organizes a Summer Camp for the clients. It is an opportunity for our homeless friends to get out of the city for a few days to relax and get away from their lives in the city. In the past, the shelter has been closed during summer camp; this year, however, there was enough staff to operate both the shelter and the summer camp, which meant that those who were not going to camp could still access the services at the shelter.

 

It was my first adventure with my homeless friends outside the setting of the shelter. Caleb, the Director of the Open Door, describes summer camp as a great opportunity to interact in a more personal way with the clients and to build better relationships and bonds with them. For me, I was able to connect with those who I have had difficulties reaching at the shelter. It gave me a better understanding of some of their stories and their need to get away from their daily lives. It was also a time for them to share with me their struggles as well as their visions for the future.

 

The summer camp is held at a location called Camp Weredale, which is situated on Lake Achigan in Saint Hippolyte, Quebec, about an hour north of Montreal. It is surrounded by water and nature and is primarily a camp for children and youth from the Batshaw Youth and Family Centers. It is available to the Open Door after the last week of their regular camp schedule. For the past four years, it has been a great place to connect with our homeless friends on a more personal level.

 

The men shared the cabins, with some sharing rooms with two beds, and the women stayed in a house that normally houses the camp staff. There was plenty of food and coffee to go around, and we had access to the lake and activities such as kayaking, canoeing, swimming and fishing. And of course, the chance to relax, rest and enjoy the peace and quiet that the wilderness offers.

 

For me personally, going to summer camp gave me a chance to reflect on how my mission is going so far and how I have been interacting with the clients at the Open Door. It also gave me opportunities to listen to and understand more of the hardships experienced by the homeless, and to build stronger relationships with those who were there. In the peace of the wilderness, I reflected on how God is working in and through me to reach the lost and brokenhearted.

 

My ministry to help the homeless of Montreal is supported by generous gifts and  donations of individuals. If you feel moved to help please contact me at halbellcbm@gmail.com.

Shoes for Santiago

 

I recently made a trip back to Denver so that I could reconnect with the organization that sent me as a missionary to Montreal, as well as my church community there and some of my supporters. The visit was great and it was a good opportunity to update everyone on how things are going so far in Montreal.

During the visit, one of the people I met up with was my friend Michael, who lives and works at Christ’s Body Ministries, the organization I worked for when I lived in Denver. We met early one morning to have breakfast together and, as we were walking to the restaurant, we passed a guy who was asleep on the steps leading up to an apartment building. I thought to myself that he looked familiar but I wasn’t sure at the time exactly who he was.

On our way back from breakfast, we passed him again and this time he was sitting on the steps with his head down over his crossed arms, showing his tattoos. I recognized the tattoos but I still wasn’t sure who he was. After walking a little further, I felt an urge to see if he was okay and ask if he needed any help, so Michael and I walked back to him.

I gently touched his arm and asked him if he was okay. When he looked up, I immediately remembered his name… Santiago, a regular client of Christ’s Body Ministries. He also recognized me right away, got up to embrace me, and asked me where I had been.

Santiago explained that his sister who is disabled was just recently displaced and needed to find shelter. He also said that he needed to go see his parole officer but had no way of getting there. Michael offered Santiago two bus tickets and I asked him if he was hungry. Santiago gratefully accepted the bus tickets and said that he hadn’t eaten for a while and would love something to eat.
 

As Santiago and I were talking and sharing our mutual faith in God, I noticed that he was wearing flip flops and that his feet were very badly beat up. He told me that it’s hard to find his shoe size in any of the shelters that provide clothes. So I stopped walking and said that we should pray for shoes in that exact size to be provided for him that morning. He agreed with me in prayer as we asked the Lord for a solution to Santiago’s need for shoes in a specific size.

 We continued walking and, no more than half a block further, we came across a pair of Nike running shoes sitting on some steps. We were astonished to find a set of car keys, a wallet, and a cell phone inside the shoes. Santiago handed me the personal belongings. I looked inside the wallet for an address and it appeared that it belonged to a guy who lived in a different county. I pressed the alarm button on the car key pad, but no car in sight responded. The phone was locked. I decided to bring the personal belongings to Christ’s Body Ministries so the staff could contact the owner and make sure he got them back.

As for the shoes, they were the exact size that Santiago and I had prayed for, so I told Santiago he should keep them. I didn’t think the owner of the shoes would mind as long as his wallet, cell phone, and car keys were returned. Santiago praised God for the provision and it built both of our faiths to see how quickly God provided for the needs of one of his children.

Michael from Christ’s Body Ministries contacted the Denver Police and they were able to reunite the owner with his belongings.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

God Opens the Doors which Man Closes

In my previous update, I wrote about how caring for my homeless friend, Dan, has impacted me. I would like to continue the story, as it continues to be a situation that is deeply impacting me. The names of most of the individuals in this update have been changed to protect their identities.

Dan was eventually admitted to the hospital so that the doctors could determine what was ailing him. However, in the middle of the week, while the hospital was in the process of conducting the tests, a doctor decided to prematurely discharge him from the hospital, without notifying anyone. The Director of the Open Door, Caleb, received a call from a patient rights’ advocate, Amy, who has been working with Dan for several years to get his welfare and pension in order. She informed Caleb that Dan had been discharged from the hospital but was disorientated and possibly lost in the hospital, and Caleb notified me right away of what had happened.

At about the same time that we received the call, I was radioed that I had a visitor. I went to go see who it was and it turns out that my visitor was a guy named Derek. I had first met Derek the day before in the hospital while Dan was visiting with his sister. Derek told me that he had felt God calling him to go to The Open Door and meet me, but really didn’t know why. I quickly realized that God was instrumental in sending Derek to meet me so that both of us could work together to find Dan and ensure that he was in safe place. I was given permission to leave the shelter early, and Derek and I left for the hospital.

The dilemma we had on our hands was that it was already late afternoon… most shelters are filled for the night long before evening comes around and we had to find a suitable place for Dan to spend the night. I have only been in Montreal for 7 months, so I haven’t yet gotten acquainted with all the overnight shelters and their admission requirements… I think this is why God sent Derek to meet me. Derek has been lived in Montreal for most of his life and he is very involved with feeding the homeless through an outreach run by his local church, River’s Edge (http://edger.ca/serve/community-kitchen/). Derek is also familiar with all of the resources available for homeless people in Montreal, and he has a contact at the Old Brewery Mission. We called right away and a staff member at the Old Brewery Mission told us that they might be able to give him a bed as long as we got him there before 7:30 pm or that they would, at the least, give him a mat to sleep on.

Once we arrived at the Old Brewery Mission and introduced Dan to the front desk worker, we were surprised to find out that Dan’s niece had worked there for over 10 years and that, because of his niece’s loyalty to the shelter, they would make sure that he had a bed and was well taken care of. What an amazing blessing from God… man may close a door but God surely opens doors!

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receive; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

The very next day, I received a call from Dan’s sister who let me know that Dan had had a diabetic attack that morning and that he had been readmitted to the hospital. I called the hospital and was able to speak to the doctor who was overseeing his care. It was ironically, or not, the very same doctor who had decided to discharge Dan prematurely just the day before! Fortunately, he realized that it had not been a good decision to discharge him and I was able to advocate once again for Dan’s care during that conversation. In the words of our pastor, Dean Downey, who gave the message this morning at church, I realized the wisdom behind “defending the underdog without attacking the attacker”. I am thankful that I was able to weigh the words I used in that conversation so that the focus was kept on how to help Dan from this point forward, instead of focusing on the doctor’s actions.

We are now praying for and working to get Dan admitted into a respite facility once he is discharged from the hospital so that he can continue to receive the medical care that he needs and that an overnight shelter is not equipped to provide.

Will you continue to pray for Dan’s health and welfare, and that we will be able to help Dan find a safe place for him to stay where his health problems can be overseen on a daily basis?

Thank you for your continued support of my mission!

An Advocate for the Forgotten

The reason for which I am in this ministry to help the homeless has rung truer than ever recently… a deep compassion for human dignity. I recently got involved with advocating for the health and welfare of one of the clients that we serve at The Open Door.  I will call him Dan to protect his identity. 

 

Dan is an older gentleman in his late 60s who has progressively become frailer as a result of a lot of time spent outside. This past winter was very cold and it was especially hard on him. We had not seen him in months, but we knew that he was sleeping in the Metro stations (Montreal’s subway system), that the food service workers at the nearby Alexis Nihon Mall were feeding him donations, and that the Mall Security personnel were protecting him.

 

Just recently, Montreal police officers escorted Dan to see us after members of the local public had expressed a concern for his welfare. The police officers asked us to give him a shower, new clothes and food. We were able to provide him with clean clothes and food, but we unfortunately do not have showers for our clients. The next day, we were made aware that he was back in the Metro station but very weak and frail. With the help of an Outreach Worker, I helped Dan walk back to The Open Door so that we could help him.

 

Soon after we got Dan back to the drop-in centre that day, he asked to be taken to the hospital. Yet he was also very afraid because he had had a bad experience with being released from the same hospital after only a day of being treated. So, I called for an ambulance to take him to the hospital and told him that I would go with him so that he would not have to go alone.

 

I made sure that Dan was settled in the ER of the hospital and told him that I would return later in the day to check up on him. I did return 8 hours later and, to my great surprise, found him in the exact same state that I had left him that afternoon! None of the ER staff had checked on him or even wanted to help him. How is it conceivable that just because someone is homeless means that they will receive the least amount of treatment humanly possible? It was at that point that I, heartbroken for this man and frustrated with the hospital staff, realized that I needed to advocate on his behalf for proper care.

 

 

 

The first thing I did was pray for and comfort Dan. Then I tried to find a nurse who would provide care to him. Unsuccessful, I used my previous experience as a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) and took it upon myself to clean him up. I found the linen closet, a gown, gloves and some wipes and did the best job that I could. Then I went to find the Physician in charge and advocate for better care for him. I can see why Dan was afraid to go back to the hospital after I saw the way they treated him!

I decided to stay with him during the night so that I could make sure that the ER doctors and nurses were providing him with continuous care. Fortunately, I started to see a change of perspective about Dan amongst the staff. He is very weak and appears to be at the end of his rope in life… and thankfully the staff at the hospital are seeing his humanity, not just that he is homeless, and are showing him compassion in providing his care.

 

 

This experience has been a shocking and eye-opening view of how our society treats the homeless. Yet Jesus has a very different perspective of those who are in need… “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Matthew 25:35-36. Please continue to pray for me as I serve and help those who are homeless in Montreal, and please pray for Dan.

Trainings that have helped me serve those in need in Montreal

Since being with The Open Door, I have had the opportunity to participate in several training programs, all of which have helped me understand and work more effectively with the population that frequents The Open Door.

·        In February, I attended a training seminar on helping and protecting vulnerable adults similar to the clients we serve at the Open Door.

·        In March, I participated in a two-day Motivational Interviewing course, in which I learned a basic therapeutic approach for helping clients strengthen their motivation and commitment to change by exploring their own argument for their change. Rachel Green, Ph.D. is a psychologist, counsellor and Motivational Interviewing workshop facilitator, as well as the founder of dancing gecko  http://www.motivationalinterviewingmontreal.org/

 

 

·        In May, I attended a training session called “Aboriginal Awareness”, based on the needs of the First Nations population (Native Indigenous people of Canada, similar to the Native Americans of the US). I learned about their history in Canada, how the Catholic and Anglican Churches tried to incorporate the western belief systems into their culture, and practical ways to best respect and treat them as a unique sector of the population. This training was held at the Native Friendship Centre of Montreal Inc. http://nfcm.org/.

 

 

The Native Friendship Centre of Montreal (NFCM) has provided continuous quality services to the urban Aboriginal population of Montreal and their families and is the only comprehensive service and referral point in the Greater Montreal Area (GMA) in relation to health, social services, legal, orientation/information, education, training, and employment referral for those migrating to or through the city including those from across Quebec, Canada, and the Americas.

 

Summer is here at the Open Door

First of all, Happy Canada Day! July 1st is Canada’s national holiday.
 

As for an update on how things are going at The Open Door, it has been an exciting season of change!

The Open Door recently hired a new Assistant Director, who I have been training on the operations of the center in order to help with the workflow. His name is David Chapman and he is an ordained Anglican Priest who has experience with the First Nations people. It is a great blessing and an answer to prayer that he is now working with us and we are already working well together as a team! The addition of David to the team will allow Caleb to focus on spending more one-on-one time with clients, networking with other organizations and fundraising.

We also hope to soon hire a Program Coordinator to help with coordinating projects for our clients to work on, and therefore remain busy, during the hours we are open.

We have recruited new volunteers, including a gardener, a music therapist, and a cook. Three summer intern students will also be working at The Open Door for July and August to help with activity coordination and social services.

 

As a result of this increase in staff and volunteers, we have, as of two weeks ago, increased our hours of operation by 2.5 hours per day. We will now be opening an hour earlier, at 7:30 am, and closing an hour and a half later, at 3:30 pm, each day of the week in order to meet the needs of our homeless friends.

On a more personal note, check out this video I posted the other day on my YouTube channel…

Sense of Belonging

 

 

         I have now spent nearly 6 months in Montreal, Quebec and have a sense that I really belong here and that this is where God wants me. I feel that my presence is needed here at The Open Door to help with its daily operations and, as a team, we are praying for more staff members to be added to the team and that the hours of operation will be increased. I am looking forward to experiencing and being a part of that transition. This process of growth is new territory for me, both personally and in my work environment. Not only am I experiencing a difference in ethnicity, language, but my job is also much labor intensive than at Christ’s Body. With the help of Caleb, the Director of The Open Door, I am learning and becoming proficient in my role as Operations Coordinator. I am helping and guiding the volunteers and community service and welfare program workers to build a team that operates the drop-in center for our poor and homeless clients.

         It certainly hasn’t been a bed of roses since arriving in Montreal, but I have enjoyed the transition from living in Denver. Neighborhoods are closer and more compact, with grocery and other stores all within walking distance. I am realizing that there is a definite need to learn French, or Quebecois as French Quebecers refer to their dialect. If this is where God wants me and if I am to be employed here in the future, I will definitely have to learn French, or suffer. Since we are on the subject of suffering, I have struggled with some personal issues in the last few months that have affected some of my personal relationships, but it is nothing that is too much for the power of Christ to overcome. Getting to know myself better and who God created me to be is a daily experience that I have enjoyed.

         If you know me, then you know that I don’t have a hard time making friends and I already feel like I am surrounded by great friends here in Montreal. I would have to say that I have definitely been much more physically active than in Denver, but I knew that coming here! I have been working hard to keep losing weight, which has given me a boost in energy and endurance. I still have some nagging injuries, but I am learning that much can be improved upon with proper stretching and by changing my diet.

This is gluten free bread!

         After surviving four months of winter, with extreme temperatures that dropped close to -40*F, and still having to walk practically everywhere, short sleeve weather finally starts at 55*F. Winter seemed to be here forever, but once Spring arrived it only took two weeks for the trees to bloom… it’s a remarkable transition from cold and grey to the leaves and flowers blooming. Humidity is starting to rise as well and my body has not quite acclimatized to that yet. I’m starting to get used to sweating again and I actually enjoy it (I know I am burning something when I’m sweating), I just need to find the right balance in activity to keep me from soaking my shirts. When summer comes, I imagine I will be back to taking three showers a day just to cool off.

         For the past five months, I have been living in a neighborhood of Montreal called Verdun, which is really close to the St. Lawrence River. This past weekend, however, I moved to another neighborhood called Notre-Dame-de-Grace, aka NDG for short. It’s farther away from the water, but in a trendy part of the city. There is a lot more variety of shops, stores, restaurants, parks and recreation close to where I will be living. And the best part of it all is that it’s closer to where Sarah lives. It’ll also be an easier commute to The Open Door. If the metro breaks down, which it does from time to time, I will have more transportation options, including multiple bus routes, or the choice to bike or walk.