changes When we reflect on the global pandemic, it certainly feels easier to lament and long for things we may have lost, missed or missed out on. While it can’t be ignored that the last two years have been some of the most challenging for many folks in our community, at FTP, we purposefully shifted our focus to our future; the future of our services and programming. When the pandemic started, nothing about our services stopped. Families and individuals continued to rely on us, so we had a duty to shift—and quickly!—to continue to meet the ongoing needs of our community. Because of the unique nature of our shelter—a congregate living setting—there were many restrictions, directives and limitations put in place by both the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services—and our local public health unit—Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health— that needed to be followed in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. The health of the families that we support depended on our swift ability to pivot and respond. The most pressing changes we needed to make were to our shelter. We looked at how our accommodations were being used, where we could limit shared spaces, or where families would previously congregate. We thoughtfully evaluated all shared office spaces, lounges, bathrooms, our kitchen and dining room, deck and waiting areas. We quickly realized, much to our dismay and discomfort at the time, that we needed to reduce the number of families that we could welcome in the shelter. This meant we would need to reduce our total capacity by six families. Considering on any day of the year, we are at capacity, this was six too many spaces to reduce by. So the offsite shelter program was born, ensuring we could to continue to safely house the same number of individuals we had pre-pandemic, while we modified our space. Nevertheless, it needed to be done to ensure the health and safety of the families staying with us, so we did it. Much of the last two years has felt like this; needs arose, we evaluated and we responded. With thanks to the County of Dufferin’s significant support through the Social Services Relief Fund (SSRF), we had the financial foundation to make these necessary changes 8
in two phases. The second phase allowed us to return to our “pre-pandemic” shelter unit numbers, and increase our office and counselling spaces. The SSRF is a capital program that provides financial assistance for community agencies related to the pandemic and transition to recovery. In the first phase of construction, we designed and built three new independent family units complete with kitchenettes, bathrooms and laundry facilities out of previously shared lounge spaces. We also expanded and divided our deck into sections, ensuring more families could enjoy our backyard. Lastly, any previously shared bathrooms were each designated to one family unit. Because communal dining was no longer possible, we also re-imagined our food program, supporting families to choose from a weekly, fresh-prepared menu and to “shop” in our pantry, fridge and freezers for their preferred groceries and supplies. While clients have always made weekly grocery list requests, this new self-serve model, with the new opportunity to prepare meals in their own units, was warmly received by everyone. In the second phase of construction, which we have just completed, we added new staff desks and much-needed storage space to our main shelter office, in addition to a new counselling room and supervisor office space. We also re-configured our shared Support Services office area to accommodate two private offices, added two additional counselling rooms in our garden level and, by converting shared office spaces in the shelter, were able to build three brand new units—eliminating our need to house families through our offsite shelter program. While we originally began construction to ensure our shelter accommodations were safe and comfortable during the pandemic, through our forward-looking perspective, we have been able to do so much more. In addition to adding bright, private shelter units, we have also increased the spaces in which we provide support, and in which our staff can work. As we continue to grow— we have increased our staff numbers by 25% in the last two years—and the demand for our services increases, we believe we have designed the very best foundation and accommodations from which to offer the very best to the families and individuals that need us most.
