Out of the Cold

OUT OF THE COLD AT ST. ANDREW’S

“The people of St. Andrew’s are called by God to serve in faith, hope and love in the heart of Toronto”. As one way to live out that mission statement, over twenty-five years ago, St. Andrew’s Church began to open its doors for people on the streets of Toronto, offering a place for them to come in out of the cold and have a good meal. Sadly, there are more people than ever responding to our invitation but St. Andrew’s continues to be a place where they find a good meal and some friends who care.

We have been offering community breakfasts year round on Tuesday mornings. From November until April, we have been serving supper on Monday nights. In recent years we have often welcomed OVER THREE HUNDRED guests on some evenings. Our chef works with a large team of volunteers to prepare delicious meals. Our mandate from the beginning is to serve meals that we would be proud to serve our family and friends.

In addition to serving wonderful meals, guests are welcome in our Boutique where they can choose new and gently used clothing as well as toiletry items. All of these items are donated. We now work in partnership with Brands for Canada and the Bargains Group.

ADJUSTMENTS DURING THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC

Of course we have had to adapt our program during the time of the pandemic. We are currently only offering take away meals in order to comply with health and safety protocols. Since May we have been offering breakfast along with the Boutique on Tuesday and Friday mornings to an average of seventy guests each day. Our meal can include: yogurt, V8 juice, boiled eggs, multigrain toast, grilled egg sandwiches, bran muffins, fruit, water, and of course coffee and tea.

A TAKE-AWAY SUPPER IS NOW AVAILABLE ON MONDAY EVENINGS

Supper will be served between 5 & 7:00pm at the Simcoe Street Doors with all COVID-19 protocols in place.

NEW!

Christmas Cards for Out of the Cold

This year we are going to include a Christmas card in each of the gift bags we provide our guests at Out of the Cold.  We invite you to prepare some cards – from the stock you have or we can provide you with cards – that will wish our guests a happy holiday season and best wishes for the new year.  We need about 450 cards in total.  You can bundle them in 10’s.  Make sure they are in an appropriate envelope.  You can drop them off to us or email us at ootc@standrewstoronto.org and we can pick them up.  It’s a way to bring a little bit of joy and connection to our guests in the holiday season.

Here are some sample greetings:

Seasons Greetings from your friends at St. Andrew’s.  We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we look forward to having you join us for more meals in 2021.

All best wishes for happy holidays from all of us at St. Andrew’s.  We hope to see you in 2021 and that we will soon be able to move inside.  Peace, love and joy to you.

From all of us here at St. Andrew’s, we hope you have a happy holiday season.  May the New Year bring you joy and peace.  We hope we can share some meals together inside in 2021.

Sign them with your first name only.

Thank you for your assistance.

Thank you to all the volunteers and staff who continue to turn out to make our  Out of the Cold Suppers of Fall 2020 so successful.  Everyone is working extremely hard to  not only serve our guests a wonderful supper, but to ensure the safety of everyone during this difficult time.

Our new kitchen is still not fully completed, safety protocols limit the number of people who can be inside the venue at any one time, and we must now pack up all suppers for our guests to take-away – so there has been a new learning curve for everyone and everyone has risen to the occasion!

Thank you all!

DONATIONS

We continue to welcome donations of new and gently used clothing and toiletries for our Boutique. Our greatest need is for men’s underwear, regular and long johns, large and extra large and socks. These must be new. We are also in need of disposable masks. Our guests often don’t have the facilities to wash cloth masks so we are asking for donations of new disposable masks. We are also willing to buy any of these items in bulk if you would like to make a cash donation. As the weather turns colder, we are looking for the following new or gently used items: Men: Gloves, winter coats, boots, sweat shirts, hoodies, sweaters, sweat pants, jeans (Sizes 34, 36, 38, 40) Women: Gloves, underwear, winter coats, boots, sweaters, sweat shirts, hoodies, sweat pants. Toiletries: Tooth Paste, Toothbrushes, Deodorant, Bars of Soap

If you would like to donate items, please arrange with the Church Office for a drop off time. co@standrewstoronto.org

To make a financial donation, click the “Donate” button at the top of this page and choose, “Out of the Cold Program” from the drop down menu.

VOLUNTEERS

We continue to need volunteers to make these programs work. Volunteers come from the congregation and the wider community. If you are interested in volunteering with us in the preparation times on Sunday or Monday or in serving meals or working in the Boutique on Monday evening or Tuesday or Friday mornings, please complete the online volunteer registration form. We will contact you to confirm your participation. In light of the changed situation we will limit the number of volunteers in each part of the program and volunteers must agree to follow all health and safety protocols in relation to preventing the spread of Covid 19.

If you would like more information, please contact us at info@standrewstoronto.org.

To volunteer with us, please click on the link below. Every individual volunteering with the Out of the Cold Program at St. Andrew’s must complete and return this form

Volunteer Application:   http://tiny.cc/OOTC-2020-VolApl