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News & UpdatesPandemic Response

TSM Update April 17, 2021

By April 17, 2021May 14th, 2022No Comments

COVID has deeply impacted our neighbours in vulnerable circumstances, including those who are experiencing homelessness or food insecurity. To keep our clients and staff as safe as possible, The Scott Mission has implemented strict safety protocols including masks, visors, frequent hand-washing, temperature checks every two hours, plexiglass dividers, physical distancing, a strict quarantine and testing protocol, and requiring administrative staff to work offsite. These measures have helped us avoid pausing any of our essential services including our shelter, hot meals, bagged lunches, and food bank. Our top priority is the safety of our clients, staff, volunteers, donors, and community members.

Unfortunately, yesterday we were notified that 13 shelter clients and 2 staff have tested positive. The current increase in COVID cases in our beloved city has reached a crisis point. To ensure we can continue to maintain our critical food services including daily serving of meals and groceries to hundreds of individuals and families, we have partnered with our City Shelter Support and Housing Administration to move our current overnight shelter clients into other accommodations for 14 days. This will allow our clients and staff to quarantine safely as we clean and sanitize our shelter spaces.

Please join us in praying for health and recovery for our clients and staff who have been impacted by this pandemic. We are committed to ensuring that The Scott Mission can continue to care for vulnerable people in Toronto.

Here are the programs we are running:

  • Meals: Fresh hot meals are being distributed to our clients at the laneway window on the south end of the building. Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
  • Shelter: Men’s Shelter will be temporarily closed for new clients for 14 days. Reopen date to be announced here.
  • Food Bank: Open Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., closed Wednesday afternoons.
  • Washroom/Shower/Laundry: Postponed until further notice.
  • Clothing Distribution: Open for physically distanced appointments. Please call (416) 923-3916 for an appointment.  
  • Sunday Services and Group Meetings: All group gatherings are cancelled until further notice.
  • Personal Donations of Food and Clothing: We need your help (but we need to take a pause!) During the Province’s latest emergency stay-at-home orders of April 8th, we are not able to collect food, clothing and other gift-in-kind donations. Our distribution of items will continue, so we would appreciate it if you could hold on to items you would like to share for just a little longer. We’ll update this page when we’re able to accept gift-in-kind donations.
  • Businesses: if you have items to share in bulk, please contact Arturo at atorres@scottmission.com

1550 O’Connor Drive

  • Food Bank: Open on Tuesdays from 9:00 am until 12:00 p.m.
  • Childcare Centre: Our centre is open and we have spots available for your child. Please call (416) 923-4680 for more information.
  • After School Programs:  At this time our after-school programs are either being held online. For more information, please go to: www.scottmissioncamp.com/city-program/home

Collingwood Retreat Centre & Caledon Camp.

  • Group Bookings: We have postponed all group bookings until further notice.

Many of our supporters and donors have asked what they can do to support The Scott Mission’s clients during this time. During the Province’s current emergency stay-at-home orders, we are not able to collect food, clothing and other gift-in-kind donations. If you would like to provide a financial gift so that we can purchase needed supplies, please donate online at www.scottmission.com, by phone at 416-923-2400, or by mail at The Scott Mission, 502 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2H1. We are grateful for your care. Please also keep us and our clients in your prayers. This has been an increasingly difficult time for those people who have insecure income or none at all.

To protect our essential front-line staff and clients we continue to restrict the number of people in our buildings. Because of this, we are still not able to open up our volunteer program. Non-essential staff are working remotely. It may take longer for staff to respond to enquiries, we apologize in advance. Our goal is to ensure the safest possible environment for our clients, volunteers, and staff.

We again want to thank the Lord for carrying us through each day. Let us remember to keep our eyes on Him and pray for each other and those in need. We pray that God would continue to pour out His mercy and love on us, our city, and our brothers and sisters throughout the world.

In His Service,

Peter Duraisami