Bissell Centre has added decals to the van we use as a vital resource for our Food Services Program to help feed the inner-city community. With the help from Display Design Systems Ltd., these decals promote the programs we offer the community, such as Housing, Employment, Family Services, Recreation & Wellness… our Mission Statement (Inspiring People to Move from Poverty to Prosperity), and our contact information (phone number, website address, and social media platforms).
Our Food Services Program serves on average 350 meals per day for the inner-city community. We provide meals for our community members in the Drop-In Centre, the children in our Childcare Program, and for participants with our Employment Services Program. We also provide meals for external events hosted by Bissell Centre to help feed the community. One such event is New Year’s Day Dinner where we feed over 1,200 men, women, and children every January 1st!
For more information about our Food Services Program, please contact:
Kristy Berryman
Manager, Food and Recreation Services
Office: 780.423.2285, ext 114
E-mail: kberryman@bissellcentre.org
As the spring slowly rolls in, Bissell Centre is gearing up for its annual gala – Bissellebration (pronounced Biss – celebration)! This year the committee has chosen to do something a bit different. Normally, the revenue from Bissellebration has not been designated to any program. As we prepare to re-launch Moonlight Bay Centre as a retreat centre, a corporate meeting space, and a Bissell Centre client camp we thought it would be prudent to support this renewed initiative. The lake front property has not been used for two years and we are excited to re-open the doors to transforming lives!
>Part of celebrating success is being able to say thank you! And we’d like to say thank you to Servus Credit Union for being a Blue Sponsor this year and also providing a live auction package that includes a Private Suite at Rexall Place to see the Bruno Mars concert on July 18, 2013. This is the second year that Servus has been part of Bissellebration. We asked why they choose to support this event:
“Servus Credit Union is proud to support Bissellebration 2013,” said Michael Dickinson, Director of Corporate Communications. “At Servus, we embrace the philosophy of people helping people and we are very pleased to assist Bissell Centre in achieving their vision of eliminating poverty in our community.”
Monday night the Board of Governors of Bissell Centre approved our 2013-2014 Business Plan. It will soon be published to our website, but in the meantime I want to share with you some of the accomplishments Bissell Centre achieved in its first year of a five year strategic plan.
More Capacity to Help the Homeless
Bissell Centre received funding from Homeward Trust to double our work in our Homeless to Homes program (Housing First), which increases our capacity to house 160 chronically homeless, up from 80 in the previous year.
Won Crisis Diversion Contract
Late in the year we were successful in our bid to design and launch a 24/7/365 program we have named 24/7 Mobile Assistance Program. Our staff will work closely with emergency services and first responders to increase support and access to community and government-based services that can address the underlying root causes of vulnerability (e.g. lack of housing, addictions, mental/physical illness, income support, etc.) and decrease the dependency on crisis/emergency services. A key goal of the program is to assist Edmonton’s homeless population in finding safe, affordable, and stable housing with the supports they need to maintain it. It’s supported by Homeward Trust and Reach Edmonton.
Designed and Launched Jobs First
We were successful in obtaining a development grant from the Catherine Donnelly Foundation (Ontario) to design and prototype Jobs First, an intensive one-to-one employment program aimed at Housing First clients as well as homeless individuals not housed through Housing First. This pilot will continue into our new fiscal year.
Expanded Family Support Hours of Service
Significant one-time funding was obtained from the City of Edmonton to assist us in expanding the hours of our Family Support program to mirror the expanded hours of our Drop-in Centre, which were also fully rolled out in 2012-2013 thanks to support from the Robert E. Tegler Trust, the Stollery Charitable Foundation, and the Edmonton Community Foundation.
Thrift Shoppe is Profitable
The operations of our Thrift Shoppe were reviewed and adjusted, resulting in improved revenues and cost management, resulting in sufficient revenues to pay for its own operation and fund our Community Closet which provides free clothing to several thousand individuals and families each year.
Transformation of Moonlight Bay Centre
Work began to reinvent Moonlight Bay Centre from a traditional camp to a retreat centre focused on individual, organizational and community transformation. This social enterprise will be launched soon and revenues will be used to help fund summer camps and experiences for low income families.
Inner City Victim Services Grows
This is a successful Bissell Centre–Boyle Street Community Services partnership, which added a staff person, thanks to funding from Alberta’s Solicitor General. This program is unique to Canada and a important service to low income victims of crimes, mostly violent crimes.
Employment Services Exceeds Expectations
Our Employment Services’ Casual Labour program continued to exceed funder benchmarks, resulting in a commitment by the Alberta Government to provide additional funding in 2013-2104. The program also tested the feasibility of a social enterprise, Bissell Centre Community Movers, a niche moving service. The results will see a full scale business plan developed in 2013-2014.
Website/Blog and Social Media Success
Bissell Centre launched this website/blog and became active on Twitter and Facebook. Our website has had more than 150,000 page views by 50,000 visitors since it was launched in January 2012. Twitter followers grew from zero to 2150, and Facebook “Likes” reached 570 in the same time-frame. As well we launched our online giving guide and most recently our Moonlight Bay Centre website.
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The above are just a few of the highlights of the 2012-2013 year. I should point out that Bissell Centre is ending the 2012-2013 year with a small surplus for the second year in a row. This is especially important after three previous years of deficits which required dipping into our savings to maintain services. Our success in the last two years is due to a combination of increased donations and revenues, some restructuring, and stellar cost management.
As a community organization that is working collaboratively, we want you to know about an exciting learning opportunity that we at Bissell Centre are helping to bring to Edmonton this Fall. We are working with the Tamarack Institute to sponsor the 2013 Communities Collaborating Institute: Accelerating Impact, which is being held October 7th – 11th, 2013.
Tamarack’s Communities Collaborating Institute is Canada’s signature, learning event for collective impact professionals. The 2013 CCI: Accelerating Impact is geared specifically for those wanting to strengthen their capacity to create large-scale, collective impact in communities – linked to provincial/state or national agendas. I have attended two CCIs myself and highly recommend you consider attending.
Join Adam Kahane, Tom Kelly, Stephen Huddart, Ratna Omidvar, Catherine Twinn, Liz Weaver, Mark Cabaj, and me for this unprecedented leadership event. Inspired by the insights and perspectives of celebrated thought-leaders, it is an opportunity to rejuvenate and strengthen your ability to engage and mobilize across sectors to advance a common community agenda for transformation. Learn more about the event’s evolving list of Thought-Leaders online here.
Registration officially opens today, Tuesday March 19th 2013. This event has been over-subscribed each of the past six years and we expect the same this year in Edmonton, Alberta.
- Date: October 7 – 11, 2013
- Location: Edmonton, Alberta
- Venue: Radisson Edmonton South Hotel
- More information & registration: www.tamarackcommunity.ca
Change leaders need both ideas and techniques. The 2013 CCI: Accelerating Impact promises to be a dynamic peer learning opportunity with a special focus on transformative techniques for uniting diverse opinions into a common agenda for social change. These include: Scenario Planning, Change Labs, Working Effectively with Complexity, Developmental Evaluation, Collaborative Governance Community Conversations and more.
Learn how you and your organization can benefit from this amazing learning opportunity. Special reduced rates are available for two or more participants from a community, organization or network who agree to attend together.
I hope to see you at the 2013 CCI this Fall in Edmonton.
Mark Holmgren, CEO
Bissell Centre
Bissell Centre relies on the generous donations from the public to support the programs and services that help house, clothe, and feed the inner-city community. Right now, we are asking you to please donate items to our Food Services Program, which provides approximately 350 meals per day for the members of our Drop-In Centre, Childcare Program, and Employment Services. One of the basic human needs is food, so please help nourish our community members’ bodies and minds!
We are asking you to please donate what you can from the list of food items below:
- Coffee & Black Tea
- Powdered Creamer
- Sugar
- Fresh, Frozen or Canned Fruit
- Fresh, Frozen or Canned Vegetables
- Canned Meat: Ham, Turkey, Chicken, Fish, Luncheon Meat
- Frozen Meat: Hamburger, Roast, Chicken, Wieners/Smokies/Sausages
- Milk & Yogurt
- Soups of all kinds
- Canned Chilli & Stews & Pasta Sauce
- Dried Goods: Pasta, Rice, Cereal, Crackers, Sauces, Gravies, etc.
- Juice: Powdered, Individual Boxes or Jugs ( NO Kool Aid please)
- Snacks: Cookies, Granola bars, Chocolate bars
Thank you very much for making a difference in the community and assuring those in need can find their next meal at Bissell Centre.
All donations for the Food Services Program can be dropped off from Monday-Friday, 8:00am–5:00pm at:
Bissell Centre EAST Building
10527-96th street
Edmonton, AB T5H 2H6
Contact: Darren Brennan 780-423-2285 ext. 365, dbrennan@bissellcentre.org
One of the things that is wonderful about working at Bissell Centre is the opportunity to see how people, schools, corporations, and other communities yearn to make a difference. It is always a joy to provide a tour to our donors or simply to those who want to learn a bit more about the challenges of our inner city clients and maybe break down some assumptions or stigma around poverty and homelessness.
For a third consecutive year, École Joseph Moreau’s “Comité ESPOIR” (Hope Committee) has undertaken some fund raising initiatives to support their less fortunate community. This small group of Junior High students has raised over $750 and increased awareness of our organization to the leaders of tomorrow.
Success Coach at École Joseph Moreau, Marc Piquette, believes “these kinds of experiences have a real impact on kids and help them understand some of the realities of our society but also the hope and the triumph of the spirit of community.”
Thank you again for your support and we look forward to hosting you for a tour again next year!
Bissell Centre employee, Sissy Thiessen, shares her story of assuming the various positions of volunteer, program participant and employee within Bissell. This is the final part of a three-part series.
By: Sissy Thiessen
All Sides of the Coin – Part 3: My Role of Employee
To my surprise, my journey with Bissell Centre did not end after my time volunteering and participating in the summer of 2009. Three years after entering the doors of the Robert Tegler Friendship Room for the first time, I finally returned to Bissell. But this time, not as a volunteer or participant.
Ever since the day a speaker from Bissell came to my high school, a seed was planted in my mind that made me want to be within the centre. Even after I volunteered and moved on to spend three years in another city being a University student, active volunteer and employee, I still found myself thinking about coming back to Bissell. Upon returning home to Edmonton after my studies, I decided I wanted to work at Bissell Centre.
On my first attempt, I had applied for a position within Bissell’s Homeless to Homes program, a program aimed at providing clients in need with stable housing and access to income supports. I was unsuccessful, but had learned more about the amazing support Bissell provides to inner city Edmontonians. I also felt like I put my name on a list and that someday, someone would recognize my drive, passion and eagerness to work for an organization that directly assists people. And I was right.
In October 2012, I applied for and accepted a position within Employment Services, which assists participants looking to enter or re-enter the workforce. Manager, Mark Bubel, said my passion and writing skills were apparent in my letter of intent and after interviewing me, was gracious enough to take a chance on me. I was given an opportunity to prove to myself, as well as the organization, why I kept feeling the need to return.
I started my position as an Employment Support Worker on a relief basis at the end of October, and have gained a multitude of knowledge, experience and transferable skills since commencing employment. I have learned the inner workings of a non-profit organization, how to provide someone with the skills required to succeed in life and the workforce, conflict resolution and most importantly, I have learned how to empower someone. I have had the opportunity to work within a well organized social service agency that directly works toward eliminating poverty in our community.
Through my time spent in Employment Services, I have also gained valuable skills to assist me on my own career path. I came to help others and by the graciousness of this organization and its leaders, I have also been helped in return. I was even granted the opportunity to utilize my education in Journalism and work within Marketing and Communications a few hours a week.
At the time being, I have been offered a permanent, full-time position in a project-support role for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum of Services (FASS). This program works to enhance our community’s understanding of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), how to prevent it, as well as supports individuals and families affected by FASD. I am so thankful for all the opportunities Bissell has provided me with thus far, which have exemplified what it means to be genuinely compassionate, empathetic and courageous. These experiences have also taught me one of the most important lessons I think can be taught- the true power of the human spirit in the face of the most challenging obstacles. My life has been given new direction and meaning, and I am grateful my path has lead me back to Bissell Centre. I look forward to my future within this organization, as well as the continued generosity and lessons that accompany it.
This is the story shared with Bissell Centre by one of our supporters, Patti Jones. Thank you for passing it along to us and allowing it to be shared! We hope it encourages you, your family, your community and/or your place of work to talk about how we view our most vulnerable and what we might be able to do to help.
My mom always said, “help should begin at home.”
My dad was divorced from my mom when I was six months old. He was an alcoholic most of his life and struggled with his own demons. He lived in the inner city of most of his life – the last few in a rooming house not far from the downtown station. He didn’t give us a lot of opportunity to see him often, but it’s organizations like yours [Bissell Centre] that gave him some hope to get through another day. It also gives families, who are in situations similar to our families, the peace of mind that there are places their loved ones can go to for help.
You truly build a community with those in need, either impoverished or homeless, and it still makes me smile.
I recall one visit my sister and I made to our dad not long before he passed away. He took us on a walk through the neighbourhood late at night, which was a little scary for me and my sister. We went to the liquor store to buy him alcohol, because that was easier to bear than the alternative (that he might pick through garbage to find bottles to exchange for cash to pay for his booze). It was one way we could show him love – understanding that he wasn’t going to change or stop drinking. When we walked with him, many of the street people knew him, (as Freddy McDougall), and we had the opportunity to say hello to his friends. It didn’t take us any longer than that walk to learn they truly look after each other.
A few months after that night, my father had not been seen for a few days around the rooming house and it was one of those friends who called the police to report it. The police broke down his door to get in his room and that is when he was found. He had passed away from what they believe was heart failure. Had it not been for such a tight community in that rooming house and neighbourhood, he could have been left unfound much longer. Read More…
Recently out of jail, a man came to Bissell Centre looking to make a change in his life. He showed a great deal of motivation, but needed some assistance to gain additional skills and confidence to start a career and get a full-time job. He joined our Moving Up pre-employment program and looked to his peers and program facilitator for support. Through the course of the four week program we helped him develop a work plan, complete job searches, and pick an industry for work – construction!
Through the training (safety tickets), coaching, supported job searches, resume building, and interview skills he received, he now is working full-time in the construction industry and making $27/hour!
If you would like to support our work in helping people make positive changes in their life, and motivating them to move from poverty to prosperity, please visit our Donate page.
We are currently recruiting for 8 new positions to complete our new 24/7 Crisis Service Diversion Team (CSDT). These positions are called Complex Support Workers and they will be responsible for providing support to referred participants through interventions and diversion services. The goal of the program is to decrease the inappropriate dependency of participants on medical services, police and judicial services. 
Some of the Complex Support Workers’ responsibilities include:
• Develop personal plans with participants and empower them in the achievement of their goals.
• Make appropriate supported referrals to housing, health and community services and provide advocacy support services with, or on behalf of, individuals as needed.
• Provide flexible one-on-one case management depending on the needs of the individual.
• Ensure placement in shelters, detox and short-term/immediate housing as needed and transitioned into permanent housing as able.
Some of the qualifications for the role are:
• Degree or Diploma in Social Science or related discipline.
• Minimum of one year related employment experience.
• Alberta Class 5 License, satisfactory driver’s abstract and a vehicle.
• Strong interpersonal skills, results oriented, good time management, strong organizational and problem-solving skills.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel programs.
• Familiarity with issues of poverty, homelessness and Edmonton’s urban core.
• Familiarity working with high risk populations and an understanding of Aboriginal cultures, history and current issues.
Review of applications will begin on 6th February 2013. Selection and hiring will continue until all vacancies for this position are filled.
Interested candidates are invited to view the full job posting here – Complex Support Worker 240113 – and submit a resume and cover letter (see details in the posting).
