How your short walk can help someone else’s journey

We can’t say enough about our Community Space. This is the central hub where folks can come by for a hot meal, hot shower, fresh clothes, and to build relationships with people to grow their support network. 

This space is invaluable to the folks who access its services every day. And, this is why our biggest fundraiser of the year, our Coldest Night of the Year walkathon, sees money raised going directly back into the operations and programs in the Community Space. For a lot of folks, this space is so much more than a warm, indoor place to meet daily necessities – it can also be the first step towards finding their unique pathways out of poverty. 

Relationships are everything in the Community Space. 

While things like meals and showers might be what first brings people through the doors, they soon learn what other programs might help them along. We offer programs like housing, employment, and mental health, to name a few, which help uncover what barriers people are facing. As staff work to build relationships with people to help find their strengths, folks can start recognizing how best to address these root causes.  

No two experiences with houselessness are alike. Building positive relationships can help people recognize their strengths and resiliency – ultimately helping them find their path out of poverty. And, when they’re ready to take those first steps in their journey, Bissell Centre staff help find the resources they need to live a good quality of life. 

Every journey is unique – and everyone gives back differently. 

Doug has been coming to the Community Space for a few years now. In his own words, it’s his home away from home. The relationships he’s built are like family to him. And like any good family, he finds ways to give back. 

The main way Doug gives back to the Community Space is by volunteering in the Community Closet, helping folks find new clothes. Other times, Doug walks around the encampments nearby to see if anyone needs any help. Any way that Doug can help, he wants to offer it to the community that’s given him so much. 

“If it weren’t for Bissell Centre, I think we’d all be lost,” says Doug. “They’re helping me out, so I want to help them out too.”  

How you can help too. 

This year’s Coldest Night of the Year fundraising walk sees all proceeds raised going directly back to the Community Space to support its invaluable operations and programs. Start a team, raise some money, and bring out the whole family for a walk downtown on February 24, 2024. Thank you to all our event sponsors, including our Lead Sponsor Capital Power for providing the single largest sponsorship contribution we have ever received. 

Where Donated Goods Go at Bissell Centre

Ever wonder what kind of impact your donated goods make on your community? Documentaries like Minimalism: Less is Now and The True Cost highlighted a few problematic practices from some organizations that rely on clothing donations. There can be an immense impact on the environment from discarded clothing and goods.

Bissell Centre takes a more social and environmentally ethical approach to donated goods. Environmental justice and social justice go hand-in-hand – those experiencing houselessness see the most adverse effects as a result of climate change. Just look at our community’s frost bite concerns over the winter and the heat warning over the summer.

Every donation we accept helps us work towards our mission of eliminating poverty in Edmonton. Goods we receive go one of three places: our Family Supports team, our Community Closet, and our two Thrift Shops.

Family Supports

This program sees support workers helping families navigate their way out of poverty. This can include help with childcare and early childhood development, finding permanent housing, and other essentials that help people live with dignity.

Donations to Family Supports provide families with fresh clothing plus home goods to help them settle into their new homes. Home goods can include small appliances, utensils, dishware, and even storage containers.

Community Closet

Nestled in our Community Space, the Community Closet is where individuals experiencing poverty can go for a fresh set of clothes. Many of our community members go weeks or months without changing their clothes. Bacteria can fester in clothing worn for too long, leading to easily preventable fatal infections and diseases.

We supply folks with everything they need to feel more comfortable and confident – pants, shirts, jackets, shoes, and even underwear! In addition, we also offer free laundry services to our community members to ensure that the clothes they have remain clean and comfortable.

Bissell Thrift Shops

We have two locations for our Thrift Shops – Alberta Avenue (8818 118 Ave) in North Central Edmonton and Hermitage (12769 50 St.) in the North East. We also have an online store, an Etsy page, and an active Instagram account showcasing some of the coolest finds donated to Bissell Centre.

But it’s not only about treasure hunting and cool finds. A lot of people in these lower-income neighbourhoods rely on thrift shops for everything from clothes to bedding and even homewares. Plus, 89 cents from every dollar from the Thrift Shops goes back into our life-changing programs. This means you can thrift for a good cause – watch every dollar you give to the thrift store go right back into the community and to the people who need it most.

How long would 15,000 pairs of underwear last for you?

Here’s some quick math: If one person had 15,000 pairs of underwear, they could wear a new pair every day for close to 30 years.

At Bissell Centre, we give out 15,000 pairs of new underwear to our Community Members every six months – and the need is still growing.

Underwear isn’t often the first need most people think about when they want to support folks experiencing poverty. Oftentimes, clean underwear makes a huge difference not only in someone’s personal feelings and outlook. It can also help with physical and mental health issues that can be life-changing.

Physical Health Benefits of Clean Underwear

Underwear accumulates a lot of microbes from your body and collects bacteria that can fester without washing. Not only is that an awful odour to try to live in, but it also sticks to the skin and, if left for too long, can lead to infections. It’s even a direct cause of kidney failure and bladder cancer.

Changing into clean underwear is the only way to reduce that risk. If we have no underwear to give out to folks, it’s likely that many more people will be going into emergency rooms and dying from something so easily preventable.

Mental Health Benefits of Clean Underwear

A lot of difference can be made with a little more comfort. A stop by our Community Space includes a hot shower, a meal, some time to do laundry, and a stop by the Community Closet for some fresh clothes. Those four steps are crucial to folks deciding to take the next step and look for help to find their way out of poverty. When you’re working through hard times, fresh underwear is priceless.

This is where we build trust and watch their self-confidence grow. They’re not afraid to talk to people anymore. They’re okay opening up about what their goals look like. Then they start to feel dignity and understand they are worth more than their challenges or their situation. This is when they reach out for help with their mental health, addictions, housing, and employment.

15,000 Pairs of Underwear Donations are Needed

For as long as Bissell Centre has been giving clothes to folks who need them most, underwear has been the single most requested item – but it’s also the least donated. That’s why, each year, we run the Drop Your Gonch campaign. Folks don’t often think about underwear – it’s an embarrassing topic. It’s also an important topic – especially for folks in our community.

Make sure to check out the Drop Your Gonch information page for drop-off locations, donation wish lists, and lists of items we can’t accept.

And think of underwear the next time you get a bag of donations together. Pick up a fresh pair on your way and drop them in the bag. A quick extra step could change a life.

4 pairs of neatly rolled underwear juxtaposed with one wrinkled, used pair.

The Cookies that brought Smiles to everyone

Every year, Tim Horton’s holds its Smile Cookie fundraiser, where each local franchise owner can pick a charity in their community that the proceeds from cookie sales will support. It’s a great way to help raise money for great causes directly in our communities!

This year, a group of Edmonton franchise owners decided to try something different. The group agreed to pool their efforts to make a larger collective impact – ultimately choosing Bissell Centre as their charity of choice.

And just like that, this quickly became one of the largest fundraising campaigns we’ve held – raising more than $400,000 in a single week.

Bissell’s Child and Family Supports

Funds from this spring’s Smile Cookie campaign all went to support our Child and Family Supports Program. Last year, we helped more than 1,600 families find their way out of poverty and emergency situations. These programs make a massive impact that people in Edmonton don’t often see.

“It’s things like connections to free pre-natal care, parental supports, or free access to emergency essentials like diapers and formula,” says Jonathan Mackereth, Development Officer with Bissell Centre.

Mackereth explains that Bissell has run a childcare for more than 50 years, serving families in the downtown core. The centre is fully staffed by Early Childhood Education professionals, providing Early Childhood Development for short- and long-term – serving childcare from newborns to six years old.

“There’s are enough challenges finding quality childcare – finances shouldn’t be one of them,” says Mackereth “Lots of parents even drop-off their kids to access other programs like our Employment Services or Financial Empowerment workshops, making it an essential part of our approach to ending poverty.”

Supporting and Celebrating Together

Learning that 147 Tim’s locations all came together to support Bissell Centre, “caught us a little off guard,” Jonathan jokes. “We knew right away opportunities like this don’t come often. We pooled resources into making sure folks knew that buying a cookie would help a child.”

Team members from Bissell Centre could be found at a few different locations around the city during this campaign. Whether it was celebrating with giant cookie cut-outs by the drive-thru, or putting on hair nets and decorating cookies, the teams stepped up to make the week unforgettable.

By the end of the campaign, more than 300,000 cookies were sold – raising more than $464,000! People didn’t hesitate to add a smile cookie to their regular double-double orders – with some businesses and schools pre-ordering up to 1,500 cookies at a time.

“On the first day, we had a manager come out to see us,” Jonathan recalls. “She said in the first two hours of the morning rush, they sold more than a quarter of the cookies they sold for the entire campaign last year.”

We can’t thank the Edmonton Tim’s franchisees enough for all the support they’ve given us. This will directly impact families and children experiencing houselessness and poverty in Edmonton. Thank you for helping us make Edmonton a little bit more of an equitable place to call home.

Would You Rather: Wear Dirty Underwear, Or Go Without?

…Sadly, this is a decision people experiencing houselessness have to make every single day.

For 6these folks in Edmonton, gaining access to new, clean underwear is difficult. Some individuals may wear the same pair of underwear for months at a time, and some may go without underwear for just as long. Underwear is an issue we don’t often consider but can be a serious problem for those in the community.

Underwear is one of the most requested items by the people who use Bissell Centre services, but one of the least donated items.

“It doesn’t feel comfortable when you’re not wearing any underwear, and no one likes to put dirty underwear back on after a shower. Women have accidents; they need access to clean undergarments.” – Angie

So, let’s pass the question on to you. Would you rather wear dirty underwear, or go without?

Let’s weigh each of the options:

Wear Dirty Underwear

Wearing dirty underwear may not seem like a big deal at first, but as the weeks pass, bacteria and microbes will accumulate causing an embarrassing odour, irritating rash, and infection on your skin down there!

If you’re a woman and you have a leak or accident during that time of the month, you’ll have no choice but to continue wearing the dirtied underwear, which can contribute to even more bacteria and microbe growth.

Not to mention, after you shower and get all squeaky clean, you won’t have a fresh pair of undies to slip into and will have to pop on the smelly, old, bacteria-ridden pair.

 Go Full Commando

Going without underwear sounds fun —“freeing” even —but what happens when the inevitable chafing and skin irritation come along with it? You’ll have to deal with that gnarly skin rash for weeks on end!

If you’re a woman and do not have access to female hygiene products, this decision could result in the use of unsanitary or improvised hygiene products, which could lead to an infection.

Without the barrier of underwear, there’s a higher risk for foreign bacteria to make contact with your skin. Among other issues, there’s also a greater chance of fungi development because your underwear isn’t there to absorb your sweat.

Wearing underwear is something that we often take for granted, but when faced with a decision like this, it is easy to see why clean underwear is so important to those who don’t always have access to it.

When a person experiences houselessness, underwear issues can contribute to a multitude of larger health problems and discomfort. For many people, especially folks experiencing poverty and houselessness, the availability of fresh, clean underwear makes all the difference.

This is why we created our #DropYourGonch campaign: so that no one in our community would have to make the decision between wearing dirty underwear, or going without.

The Drop Your Gonch campaign aims to fill gaps in the Bissell Centre community closet by reaching out to our supporters to help stock it full of new underwear for folks experiencing poverty.

The clean underwear donated by our supporters helps to provide our community with better personal health and hygiene, and a restored sense of dignity and self-worth.

Bissell Centre in Desperate Need of Steel-Toe Boots to Help People Find Work!

Bissell Centre is urging the public to help… ensuring those in need can continue to receive job opportunities that require safety equipment. As construction season ramps up in our city, Bissell Centre is in great need of 200 pairs of new and gently used men’s steel-toe boots, size 9 – 12 to ensure low income individuals looking for work are able to get jobs and work safely.

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Guided by the vision of eliminating poverty in our community, Bissell Centre works with others to empower people to move from poverty to prosperity. “Employment Services plays a key role in connecting Edmonton’s impoverished population with meaningful work placements,” says Mark Holmgren, CEO Bissell Centre. “Many placements require basic safety equipment, which Bissell Centre normally provides, but currently there are no steel-toe boots available for program participants.”

We are asking the community-minded citizens of Edmonton to donate CSA approved steel-toe boots to us at 10527 96 Street, or our Thrift Shoppe Sorting Centre at 8818 118 Ave.

OR you can donate to buy a pair and get a tax receipt using our donations page.

Bissell Centre’s no-fee job placement service, its Casual Labour program, helps the community by connecting employers and workers, enabling placements to occur seven days a week. In 2012 the program saw remarkable success in filling over 14,000 placements, putting $1M into the hands of the less fortunate community. Since many of the placements are helping with concrete labour, roofing installation, and construction labour, steel-toe boots are often a necessity to being able to assist our impoverished population in finding employment and helping them move out of poverty.

In addition to temporary placements Bissell Centre provides worker training; this includes work preparedness programs, pre-employment training, safety training, employment counseling, resume building and life skills training.

For more information about Bissell Centre Employment Services please contact Mark Bubel, Employment Services Manager at 780-423-2285 ext 139.   

A gift from a grateful family

Yesterday a lovely family came into our Childcare Centre bearing gifts for our children – mini candy canes, a turkey for our Food Services program, and a beautiful Christmas card and typed letter for our Childcare staff.   This family came from Russia  a year and a half ago, and moved to Edmonton six months ago with little money and  no jobs. They had brought their two daughters (ages 4 and 2) to our Childcare when they first arrived to Edmonton. They needed someone to watch their kids so that they could apply for jobs and do interviews. Once they found employment, they needed our services until they could get their kids into an affordable daycare.   They came back yesterday with gratitude on their faces, in their hands, and written in  their beautiful card.Christmas Card
This is what their letter said:

“Words alone can’t begin to thank you for all the love and care you have given us. We are very grateful to have had your faces to greet us every morning. Without you guys we don’t know how well we would have made it.   You helped us in good times and bad and gave us the extra confidence we needed to go on.   You were always there to tell us everything will be okay.  

We are writing to let you know how much we have appreciated the excellent job you have done over the period while my daughters have been attending your daycare centre.   They have really thrived in your centre, thanks to your nurturing and creativity.

Thank you very much for the  services your daycare centre has extended to us during the period of crisis. Indeed, it is really your personal care that made us assured of our children, when we were forced to go for some job due to some pressing needs.

Though many services could not be measured in terms of money as compensation, we cannot forget your services and motherly affection to our children when they were with you.   Even though it’s difficult to be away from them while we are working, we have peace of mind in knowing that they are in such good hands during those times.

From the bottoms of our hearts, we express our sincere gratitude to your service once again and thank you very much.

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND THE HAPPIEST OF NEW YEARS.”

If you’d like to donate to our Childcare program, click here!

Winter Wishes, by Eric Rice

For those of us with a home and a family this Christmas, we might very well be surrounded by more than we can use.   How many times have you received a travel mug that gets buried at the back of a shelf, or a blanket that lives in the closet or a piece of clothing that never gets worn?   For some of Edmonton’s vulnerable, these same items could be the best Christmas present they ever receive.  
If you’re lucky enough to be a person with unusable gifts, it might be time to consider donating them or something of equal value to an organization that will transform your throwaway into a treasure.   One such organization is Bissell Centre in downtown Edmonton.   In operation for more than 100 years, it offers a wide range of programs to those in need including counseling, employment and pre-employment guidance, a drop-in centre, child care, victim and FASD support and recreation programs.  Man with hoodie

For Christmas every year, Bissell Centre puts on special programs to give those who need it most some seasonal cheer.   In the first weeks of December United Churches across Edmonton gather gifts.   Between December 3 and December 18 volunteers and Bissell staff sort the collected gifts into categories for children, men and women.   On December 19th they open their doors for a Festive Giveaway.     Last year they helped over 100 families with Christmas gifts for their homes, so that the tree (if there was a tree) would have something underneath it for Christmas morning, and they hope to do the same this year.          

Another program Bissell offers is Hoodies for the Homeless.   Most of the clothing provided for Bissell’s clients is old – handed down or passed along from someone else.   The Hoodies for the Homeless initiative aims to provide 800 brand new hoodies to the people Bissell Centre serves – an appropriate seasonal gift for those who spend a lot of time outdoors in Edmonton’s cold winters.

Bissell Centre is a non-denominational centre whose vision is to eliminate poverty in their community.   Started in 1910 as an all-peoples’ mission, it has evolved through the years as community needs have changed and they offer help to anyone who needs it, with no questions asked.   “If they’re here and they say they need our help we help them,” says Kristen Clark, Bissell Centre’s Manager of Marketing & Communications.

That kind of non-judgmental philosophy is what Christmas should be all about.  

If you want to help Bissell Centre share the spirit of the season, you can donate a gift or cash or volunteer your time.   For more information you can call 780 423 2285 and ask for Darren, or check out their Giving Guide website at http://bissellcentregivingguide.org

Written By: Eric Rice,  a volunteer writer for Alberta Street News – http://albertastreetnews.org/

Our New Online Giving Guide Allows You to Designate Your Donations!

Last year we changed the name and design of our “Christmas Catalogue” to be a year-round Giving Guide.
In addition to creating a print version, we decided to get with the 21st century and develop an online version www.bissellcentregivingguide.org.

Over the past year we have refined our giving options, and enlisted the help of Pixel Blue College, Canada’s leading digital post secondary institution, to redesign the website and make it more user-friendly and modern.

Traditionally, the way we show someone how much we care is by giving gifts at special occasions – Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, weddings, baby showers, and more. However, when you live in poverty, you don’t always have the money to give or receive such gifts!

For this reason, our Giving Guide offers you the opportunity to give a gift to someone less fortunate.

To make shopping for this type of present easy for you, our Giving Guide website allows you to search for gifts in different categories and also by price range. From food and coffee, to bus tickets and field trips, our Giving Guide allows you to show someone you care by improving the lives of the people that rarely (and sometimes never) receive a gift on special occasions.

A special Thank You goes out to Pixel Blue College for supporting Bissell Centre with our graphic design, website and printing needs.

For more information on Pixel Blue College, visit their website at www.pixelbluecollege.com.

To shop our Giving Guide website go to www.bissellcentregivingguide.org

Participant’s Artwork Showcased at 4th Annual Edmonton Timeraiser Gala


 Written By Rylan Kafara, Bissell Centre’s Inner City Recreation Coordinator

Anyone who has been in Bissell Centre has probably seen Ceno’s art.   There are pieces displayed in almost every office, some are hanging in the hallways, and others are painted on the walls. If you’ve visited some of the businesses in the area, you may also have noticed the works Ceno has used for barter when he’s hungry.

Recently, one of Ceno’s pieces was submitted to the 4th annual Edmonton Timeraiser. The Timeraiser is a charity gala where local artists’ paintings are selected by a jury of their peers for auction. If chosen, the artist is paid the market value for their work. At the event, the pieces are given to the highest bidder.

Instead of paying money, however, the winner offers volunteer hours. These hours are worked over the course of the year at community agencies of their choice, and then they are given the artwork.

The Timeraiser is about creating connections, and building community. All across Canada, prospective volunteers are paired with the agencies they are best suited to work with, from Vancouver to St. John’s.   Each year the event grows, as more cities host events, more artists are showcased, and more volunteer hours are raised.  

This year, Ceno’s “Spirit of Chief” was showcased at the Timeraiser held on October 13th. So not only was his talent recognized by other Edmonton artists, but he was paid a fair price, and his art gave back to the community through a new volunteer.    

Ceno’s art being featured at the Timeraiser helps remove barriers between the inner city and the wider community. Although he has never had a formal art education, Ceno has been able to nurture his talents at Bissell Centre, and through that support he has achieved something any artist would be proud of.

If you’d like to help community members like Ceno, visit our Giving Guide to see the many ways you can!   Bissell Centre Giving Guide

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