Poverty to Possibility:

Kathy's Story

“I live paycheque to paycheque. When you can get food here, you can use that money to pay other bills.

I moved into this neighbourhood in 1986. I didn’t know about the centre when it opened in 2006 because I mostly stick to myself. But four of my nine grandkids started to come here about seven or eight years ago and I would come to pick them up because my daughter was at work. Then I started to volunteer here.

Yesterday, a homeless man came in. He didn’t have socks. But I was able to find him a couple of pairs in the clothing pantry and gave him some food too. That man left happy. There have been days when I’ve been hungry and cold, so I understand. For a lot of people, pride gets in the way and they can’t ask for help. But the centre is there for anyone.

I have mental illness issues. I try to make myself get up every day to try to keep my mental health on track. I now work part-time at the centre doing cleaning. There is nowhere else I would rather be. I have found a second home. Food in general, you need it for mental stability and sometimes if you don’t have that access to food you can just go mentally in a downward spiral. If it wasn’t for the food pantry, some days I would probably not be eating at all.

I try to donate to United Way myself. I can’t do large sums of money, but I do what I can. It helps in so many ways. I can’t imagine where the community would be without it.” 

‘There is nowhere else I would rather be. I have found a second home.’