Shelter Archives - GlobalMedic

Asylum Seekers in Toronto

Maha Farooq & Hawi Wonswossen – Emergency Programs Interns

Escalation of Unhoused Asylum Seekers

Asylum seekers in Toronto have been facing a shelter crisis since early June; public attention grew as the number of asylum seekers camping outside the streets of downtown Toronto increased weekly. By July, a few dozen asylum seekers were spotted sleeping outside the City’s shelter intake centre on Peter Street. The asylum seekers stayed outside the intake centre in the hope that they would soon secure some form of housing. The reality was that the City’s shelter systems were at full capacity, and on top of that, no funding was available to accommodate the influx of refugees and asylum seekers seeking housing assistance. According to the City of Toronto, the total number of asylum seekers in the shelter system has multiplied by more than 500 percent over the past 20 months. Numbers have skyrocketed from 530 people a night in September of 2021 to almost 3,000 in May of 2023. Asylum seekers remained neglected as the federal and municipal governments began a long back-and-forth as to who should be responsible for the individuals.

The total number of asylum seekers sleeping on the street continued to grow in July, and local organizations began to take matters into their own hands. Ainsworth Morgan, co-founder of the 100 Strong Foundation, a non-profit that aims to empower Black boys to become leaders, played an important role in finding shelter for some of the refugees. He contacted Pastor Judith James at Revivaltime Tabernacle Church in North York, who immediately offered up her space to help. Dominion Church International Toronto followed suit, and together the two were able to take in close to 350 people. With an understanding of the possible gaps that would be present, GlobalMedic reached out to the churches to gain an understanding of how we could help. Equipped with this information, we activated our programs to support.

Interning During this Response – Maha

As a summer Emergency Programs Intern at GlobalMedic, I have had the opportunity to work on various emergency response projects. When GlobalMedic heard of the Toronto Asylum seeker situation and the work of the two North York churches, the team was quick to connect with the churches and strategize a response plan. Working in coordination with the churches that were accommodating over 300 individuals at the time, GlobalMedic mobilized a team to the scene, including myself. The first step was to identify the gap in needs in this situation, and what programs we could activate to support what was already being done. With the support of our funders and local partners, the RRT helped distribute aid in the form of linens, disco cots (beds), hygiene items, food, and vitamins. I went with the team to the warehouse to pack up the beds and to a hotel where the Gupta Family Foundation had generously donated clean and fresh linens and pillows for the beds.

Going to the churches and distributing the aid was a key learning moment for me as I was able to experience firsthand the importance of coordination and time management when providing relevant and meaningful aid. Seeing diverse members of the community come together at these churches and offer their help was such a powerful moment for my colleagues and I, and reminded us of the positive impact all of us can help bring forth. Witnessing firsthand the living conditions of asylum seekers in the impromptu church shelters, we knew that the facility had well past its limit. The WASH facilities, including toilets and showers, at the churches are not enough for everyone, resulting in long wait times and concerns over sanitation and hygiene standards. Additionally, the facilities did not have the means to provide laundry services, which adds to the issue of hygiene. In response to this, GlobalMedic worked to provide laundry access, by first establishing a safe connection point and ventilation, followed by a washer and dryer unit at Revivaltime Tabernacle. With access to clean clothes, the affected asylum seekers can reestablish good hygiene practices. Most importantly, placing a focus on their health and hygiene needs helps bring them a step closer to adequate living standards and maintains a person’s confidence and dignity.

Interning During this Response – Hawie

As an intern at GlobalMedic, I was able to experience our coordination efforts first hand. While the asylum seekers had a roof over their heads, there was still an overwhelming amount of need. A Rapid Response Team consisting of myself, an Emergency Programs Officer and trained volunteers was sent out to deliver the right aid to the right people at the right time. We visited Revivaltime Tabernacle Church, which was housing roughly 270 asylum seekers. We brought them essential hygiene products, like soap, shampoo and conditioner, vitamins, and a variety of non-perishable food items. The food we delivered was from GlobalMedic’s McAntony’s Menu program, an emergency food program designed to meet the food security needs in Toronto. We also delivered sleeping cots, and worked together to teach the asylum seekers how to correctly assemble them. Following our visit, we organized the delivery of a washing machine and dryer, along with different laundry supplies. This made it possible for asylum seekers to do their laundry without having to worry about travel or service costs.

Delivering Hygiene Items to Revivaltime Tabernacle Church

As a daughter of refugees, I immediately empathized with the asylum seekers. I understood the challenges they may have experienced while trying to build a better life for themselves and their families. Being able to contribute to such a meaningful response was very impactful for me. I was also able to understand the importance of coordination in a domestic crisis, and observe the immediate impact of aid programming.

Ongoing Support

As Toronto continues to struggle with the refugee crisis, it’s clear that additional funding and coordination is needed. The situation requires serious attention, and as it evolves, GlobalMedic continues to offer its support. Working with local communities and organizations will only strengthen our efforts in creating comprehensive solutions and delivering aid to individuals that need it the most. Together, we can make a difference and support those who seek refuge in Canada.

Tropical Storm Megi Response 2022

On April 10, 2022 Tropical Storm Megi, known locally as Agaton, made landfall in the Philippines. The storm travelled along the eastern and southern coasts of the country causing devastating flooding and landslides. At least 2.2 million people were affected by the storm which killed 212 and displaced more than 800,000 residents. Thousands of homes were damaged, and many displaced families were not able to consistently access clean drinking water.

212 KILLED

2.2 MILLION PEOPLE AFFECTED

800,000 DISPLACED

GlobalMedic’s Rapid Response Team deployed to respond to the affects of Tropical Storm Megi. Two teams were deployed, the first to Tacloban and the second to Iloilo. Both teams carried with them AquaResponse systems, capable of purifying thousands of litres of clean drinking water per day. The teams carried three AquaResponse 3 systems and one AquaResponse10 system with them into the country. Both teams worked with local partners to install the systems at central points to provide access to water at the community level. More than 32,000 people were able to access clean drinking water as a result of the installation of these systems.

The RRT members in Tacloban worked to support families staying in displacement shelters by providing hygiene items and food. Meanwhile, the team in Iloilo conducted needs assessments in the surrounding communities identifying a major need to support with the rebuilding of damaged homes. The team worked to purchase materials and begin the rebuild of 21 homes in the area.

COVID-19 Response

Beginning in March 2020, GlobalMedic worked to adapt and respond quickly to needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic both internationally and here in Canada. Throughout the entirety of our response, we believed that in order to control this virus and the impacts it was having on vulnerable communities, it was extremely important for all agencies (public and private) to work together to ensure the health and safety of the public. At all stages of this pandemic we continue doing our part in this ever-changing situation.

We carried out a series of programs designed to assist institutions and people affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Critical Infrastructure Program

The healthcare system in Ontario was inundated with people affected by COVID-19. We offered hospitals critical infrastructure tents that they could for patient triage, dedicated testing spaces, or any other need that arose.

Many food banks were forced to close their doors to patrons to help reduce the spread of the virus. However the need for services food banks provide did not diminish and in fact was increasing. We offered our tents to local food banks in an effort to reduce the number of people in buildings and provide a dedicated area for people to access much needed resources.

We also began setting up temporary tenting in partnership with Toronto Community Housing to run flu shot clinics as well as pop-up COVID-19 testing sites. We helped facilitate vaccinations for 6,260 TCHC residents. We set up tenting that was used for COVID-19 vaccination clinics in hotspot areas of the city. We participated in 309 vaccination events helping 231,779 people receive their COVID-19 vaccine.

Aerial view of military tent set up in a parking lot — Critical Infrastructure tenting set up at Daily Bread Food Bank

Tent set up as COVID-19 vaccination clinic — Tent set up at CCRIHC as COVID-19 vaccination clinic

Impact: We set up critical infrastructure tents at Daily Bread Food Bank, North York Harvest Food Bank, Brampton Civic Hospital, Etobicoke General Hospital, the House of Friendship and the Canadian Centre for Refugee and Immigrant Health Care

Hygiene and Family Kit Distribution

GlobalMedic has a longstanding partnership with Procter & Gamble. Our volunteers construct hygiene kits using P&G products and distribute them to food banks, shelters, and similar institutions across Canada. Each kit contains full size hygiene items like shampoo, deodorant and toothpaste. We ramped up our production to ensure that the most vulnerable continued to have access to these essential needs during such an uncertain time.

Bars of soap from Clean the World were also being given out to similar institutions to ensure everyone was able to properly wash their hands.

Similar to the hygiene kits, we also distributed family kits to food banks and shelters. These kits contain similar hygiene items, but also include cleaning supplies and laundry detergent and are designed to serve a family rather than an individual.

We provided Thank You Kits to front-line workers in hospitals, senior services and long term care facilities across Canada. The kits included hygiene items for showering after work to help keep the workers safe and healthy. With these kits, we wanted to say thank you to the staff who worked incredibly hard to care for some of our most vulnerable community members.

In collaboration with local fire departments, we handed out COVID Safety Kits containing soap and face masks. As the kits were handed out, fire fighters also promoted the 3 P’s of COVID-19 safety.

people holding hygiene kits and standing in front of boxes — Hygiene Kits delivered to Women’s Centre of Calgary

A man and a woman standing in front of a car holding boxes of soap — GlobalMedic handing off bar soap to Street Health

Thank You Kits delivered to Grand River Hospital

Impact: We provided 45,555 hygiene kits, 2,614 family kits, 1,082 clean up kits and 67,140 bars of soap to community organizations like Woodgreen Community Services, Street Health Toronto and Blue Door Shelter. We also delivered 36,406 Thank You Kits to front-line workers and 17,130 COVID Safety Kits.

Emergency Food Distribution

Many food banks were and continue to face food shortages, as well as seeing a huge increase in new clients due to the pandemic. We have responded by re-packaging staple foods purchased in bulk into 500g bags ready for use, and delivering them to local agencies that serve vulnerable clients. The staple foods include green peas, pearled barley, red lentils, rice, chickpeas, green lentils and kidney beans.

We are also working with Hand Up Toronto, to supply food to families who are newly food insecure and may not know how to engage with the food bank system through our Feed the Six hamper program. These hampers are delivered through contactless drop-offs or drive through pick ups in the Greater Toronto Area.

In addition, early on in our response we were ordering food directly from the supplier and having it delivered to food banks. This cut down on waiting time, and saved food banks the cost of buying the food themselves.

Rows of bags filled with green lentils — Green lentils packed for distribution

A man standing behind two pallets of dried foods — Bulk food delivery to Daily Bread Food Bank

Impact: We provided over 974,300 kg of dried food staples, 24,000 cans of soup and 50,000 eggs to organizations including the Daily Bread Food Bank, North York Harvest Food Bank and Muslim Welfare Centre, and included some of these products in the packing of food hampers. We distributed more than 35,333 food hampers containing items like dry goods, pasta and potatoes through our Feed the Six Kits, as well as 23,770 hampers through our partnerships with North York Harvest and IDRF, and produced 49,920 Emergency Food Boxes for Feed Ontario. We assisted Mississauga Food Bank with sorting their backlog of 78 food donation bins. Finally, we distributed $50,000 of grocery store gift cards.

Hand Sanitizer Program

With many local distilleries closed to the public, some shifted their production method to begin producing hand sanitizer. The sanitizer was been approved by Health Canada and it was ready to fill the gap in supply.

We partnered with some of these local distilleries, including Willibald Farm Distillery, Last Straw Distillery and Murphy’s Law Distillery, and provided buckets and distribution networks. Together, we worked to get hand sanitizer to food banks, shelters, hospitals and other healthcare institutions all across Canada. We also worked to deliver hand sanitizer to First Nations communities in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in these vulnerable populations.

Finally, we acquired large supplies of hand sanitizer from traditional vendors to ensure we could keep supplying critical institutions and preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Two men filling buckets with hand sanitizer — Hand sanitizer production at Last Straw Distillery

Impact: We distributed more than 113,500 L of sanitizer to healthcare institutions, First Nations communities, food banks, shelters and other support programs in Canada.

Cash Assistance Program

So many Canadians are struggling to make ends meet due to job losses as a direct result of COVID-19. We initiated a cash transfer program to help supplement the finances of families that have been affected. Participants were referred through partner food banks and children’s breakfast club programs, and were interviewed before receiving the transfer.

“Thank you for giving us the ability to buy groceries and pay rent”
Cash Transfer Recipient

Impact: 198 families have received $500 cash transfers.

Kits for First Nations Communities

Many First Nations Communities were especially feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. With their locations often remote, access to items like food, hygiene supplies, and personal protective equipment can be difficult and costly.

GlobalMedic and Hydro One partnered to produce and distribute 13,520 kits for First Nations communities across Ontario. These kits included dried foods like rice, lentils, pasta and more, as well as soap, a solar light, and reusable masks.

The kits were designed to support a family for several weeks, and provide them with important resources to keep them safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We also provided 250 kits for Shamattawa First Nation in Northern Manitoba who were struggling with a large outbreak in their community.

Personal Protective Equipment & Medical Supplies

GlobalMedic also worked to make sure Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like face masks and face shields were available to vulnerable groups and front-line workers, both here in Canada and around the world.

In countries that may be struggling with ongoing humanitarian crises or that are simply seeing their systems overwhelmed from the pandemic, availability of PPE can be a concern.

We have distributed masks and face shields in countries including Antigua, the Bahamas, Canada, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, and Syria.

We also organized shipments of PPE and medical supplies like pulse oximeters to India, Bangladesh and Pakistan as they struggled with intense third and fourth waves of infections and overwhelmed hospitals.

Shipment of face masks heading to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Children wearing Face Shields in St Lucia — Children wearing face shields at school in Saint Lucia

Impact: We distributed more than 853,500 face shields, 39,063,200 face masks, 741,400 hospital gowns and coveralls, 533,900 packs of sanitizing wipes, as well as 2,000 pulse oximeters and 10,399 COVID-19 Rapid Test kits.

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Please note that GlobalMedic is taking every precaution to protect its staff and volunteers during this outbreak, including enhanced hygiene practices, and ensuring physical distancing guidelines are followed.

Syrian Conflict Response

With the Syrian conflict in its eleventh year, the devastation continues. Today, 15.3 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance, many of whom have been forced to flee their homes. There are 6.8 million Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Syria and 5.5 million refugees in other countries around the world. Almost all of these refugees are living in neighbouring countries like Turkey and Lebanon, placing an added strain on resources there. 15 million Syrians are unable to meet their food needs with an additional 2.9 million people at risk of food insecurity. All 2 million people living in camps have been deemed 100% food insecure, creating a huge impact on their every day life.

Access to WASH services has been compromised by the prolonged deterioration of infrastructure caused by damage from the conflict and limited maintenance. This has put 13.55 million people in need of WASH assistance. 2022 saw the first outbreak of cholera in Syria in decades and this is a direct result of the worsening water situation.

The ongoing Syrian conflict continues to force families to flee their homes. Often leaving at a moment’s notice, these families are unable to pack important materials to support themselves as they move to safer areas. These mobile populations face serious health and safety risks and are in desperate need of humanitarian support.

500,000+ PEOPLE KILLED

15.3M NEED SUPPORT

6.8 MILLION IDPs

GlobalMedic has been sending aid to Syria since 2014 and will continue to do so as long as the need exists. Our Water, Food, Medical, and Shelter programs have all been activated for this response.

Our primary focus is ensuring that families have access to clean drinking water and food. We distribute Family Emergency Kits which contain a water purification solution and hygiene items, with additional items like oral rehydration salts, Lucky Iron Fish, whistles and solar lights may also be added.

We also distribute our Emergency Food Kits which have been designed specifically for our Syrian response and are a culturally appropriate and nutritious solution for families.

424,600+ PEOPLE REACHED

A Child walking beside two women toward a group of tents carrying Family Emergency Kits

OVER 53,000 FAMILY EMERGENCY KITS

52,000+ HYGIENE ITEMS

MORE THAN 869,400 MEALS AND 13,700 PANTRY KITS

MORE THAN 10.7 MILLION MEDICAL SUPPLIES

Standing in front of a tent a young girl holds a baby

Hurricane Dorian: One Year Later, Where Are We Now?

Rameesha Qazi – Communications Intern

On September 4^th 2019, what started as a large tropical storm had grown into a historic and monstrous Category 5 Hurricane, named Dorian, made land contact, flattening large areas of the Bahamas and impacted communities as far north as Nova Scotia.

While it has been a year, and most of the world has moved on and forgotten, recovery efforts are ongoing. At the six month mark, in March 2020, recovery efforts were just as strong as they had been on Day 1 and things were slowly improving – especially with tourism picking up slowly, given that is the main stimulant for the local economy. But then COVID-19 hit and tourism was shut down again, and things took a turn for the worse like they did around the world. The only difference here is that they are still trying to recover from the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Dorian and manage the effects of the global pandemic at the same time.

The damages in the Bahamas is estimated at $3.4 billion. The storm damaged infrastructure and caused massive flooding on the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama. 43 people were killed and over 76,000 people were affected by the storm. With the damage so extensive, people in the Bahamas were in immediate need of clean water, food and shelter items. GlobalMedic was swift to respond.

Safe water is needed for everything, from drinking to cooking, bathing to healthcare. To address the fact that water was no longer safe to use following storm surges, GlobalMedic immediately deployed our Rapid Response Team with water purification units and the RescUAV Team with drones to provide on the ground assistance. We were able to distribute the following aid to communities in Grand Bahama, Abaco and Nassau:

6 large-scale water purification systems
4,700+ Family Emergency Kits which contain a household water purification solution, essential hygiene items, oral rehydration salts and solar lights.
7 large tents that are being used for clinics, storage, animal shelters, and child friendly spaces
300 kg dog food
Assorted building materials and tools, cooking items, air mattresses
Assisted with installation of solar panel in Sweetings Cay to power an AquaBoy Pro II water system
Our RescUAV team has mapped over 4,500 hectares and taken 44,000 pictures in Grand Bahama and over 1,000 hectares and 8,900 images in Abaco which were shared with local officials to help them better assess damage

We also had three main projects on the ground, the first is the Mold Remediation Project. Many houses were filled with water, damaging the drywall and structure of the house, allowing dangerous mold to grow. GlobalMedic supported the creation of the “Mold Busters” consortium, bringing together local entities to streamline the rebuilding process and create jobs. Through this program GlobalMedic was able to fully remediate 180 homes and create more than 45 jobs in our initial program period. This project is still ongoing as the damage was extensive and people still need safe places to live. We are continuing to remediate additional houses in order to get families back in their homes and back to normal life.

The second is the Fishing Boats Project. Fishing is a primary career for many Bahamians and is often the only source of income for families in the eastern region of the island. With the destruction of infrastructure on the island so severe, many could not afford to repair the boats as well as their homes. GlobalMedic hired a local contractor to provide boat repair for these fishermen. We provided all the fibreglass and additional materials through a partnership with Composites Canada. A Composites Canada staff member was also sent to Grand Bahama to fully train the local contractor on the use of the materials sent. GlobalMedic fully repaired the hulls of 37 boats and 5 jobs were created during the first program period. This project is also still ongoing as we are working to ensure that the local economy is able to continue to thrive as it did before Dorian hit. Local fishermen are still able to bring their boats to be repaired through this program and, with our partners at the Rotary Club of Grand Bahama, we are working to get new engines to these fishermen as well.

The third is the Emergency Food Project. GlobalMedic initially delivered over 6,600+ Emergency Food Kits filled with staple ingredients for displaced people in the Bahamas. Packing sites were set up locally, being supported by the ones in Canada, and in the first two months packing was happening 7 days a week. People who needed aid were coming out to help as well, grandmothers who were taking care of small kids would come out to pack while the kids stayed on site to help clean up and provide additional support. As Bahamians continue to deal with the effects of Hurricane Dorian as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, we have recently continued our support through this program, sending an additional 2,600 Emergency Food Kits.

GlobalMedic is proud to be able to support these efforts and strive to continue to do more, while keeping an eye on the current hurricane season that we find ourselves in.