A busy 2023 for the Downtown Mission, in many different ways.
The Mission held its 41st Annual General Meeting and Volunteer Recognition at the Moose Lodge on Tecumseh Road West on Thursday evening, where dedicated volunteers were recognized and statistics for the year that was were presented.
Executive Director Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin’s report covered a number of topics including meals served, people sheltered, supports provided and how they've worked with partners to improve the situation at their location and the surrounding area.
The Mission is located at 875 Ouellette Avenue in Windsor.
In 2023, the Mission sheltered men and women for a combined 31,129 nights, served 123,227 hot meals to individuals, supported 44 young families with basic necessities and parenting or education supports, provided 363,075 meals to 24,205 individuals or 13,129 households through their food bank.
They also housed 90 individuals, 58 in partnership with Housing Information Services, referred 262 youth to partner agencies, and supported 210 adults and 360 youth along their recovery journeys through their Phoenix Program.
Executive Director Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin says they're very grateful and humbled to see all of the impact they've been able to accomplish in the past year.
"We had over 31,000 nights of shelter provided to over 900 unique individuals. Which is something that we don't necessarily keep track of all the time, but that's the number of people we saw in just one year. So if we didn't have that shelter open that would 900 people that would be out and about on the streets, couch surfing or other things like that," she said.
Ponniah-Goulin says they're also really proud to have been able to serve so many meals through the Mission kitchen and at the Windsor Youth Centre for young people.
"Between the two we provided over 338 meals per day for the full year, and that's a pretty huge number as well. A pretty big increase over last year, both of those numbers have increased over last year unfortunately but it just goes to show the community need."
Those who come for a meal might not necessarily be homeless, as Ponniah-Goulin says money is tight for so many so they may be someone with a home and a job just looking for something to eat.
She says it's great that more people are coming to get help, but at the same time it's a little alarming that there's more people needing help.
"We do hope when we're doing these Annual General Meetings, sharing those results, talking about the work we do, but also the impact we're making on the community. We're trying to also let people know about the programs we have offered, and what availability is there for people so that they're not feeling alone or they don't know who to contact when they need help," she said.
Ponniah-Goulin thanked supporters and community members for their support during this past year, as she says without that support they wouldn't be able to operate their food bank or programming at the Windsor Youth Centre among other services.