Latest news with #UnionGospelMission
CTV News
4 days ago
- CTV News
Restaurateur worries perception of New West crime keeping customers away
The owner of a restaurant on Columbia Street in downtown New Westminster wants people to know the community is vibrant and safe to visit. Alejandro Diaz has been serving upscale Mexican fare at El Santo for nearly 10 years. He says high-profile incidents, like when a man with a machete recently threatened staff at a different restaurant before stealing food, are an anomaly and not the norm. 'What I have been hearing about lately is that there's lots of crime in New West. And as people hear that, people are going to stop coming to the community,' Diaz told CTV News. 'I really think that for us as a community, it would be good to talk about the great things that we have.' Just up the street, Union Gospel Mission held its annual summer barbecue on Friday, drawing hundreds of people looking for a meal and some human connection. 'For us, it's kind of a chance to connect with our wider community, maybe form that first point of contact with someone,' said Nick Wells, a UGM spokesperson. Service providers like UGM support some of the most vulnerable people in the community, who are often victims of crime themselves -- not the perpetrators. Still, people who rely on those services are often stigmatized because of poverty or addiction. 'People here don't deserve stigmatization, they don't deserve to be judged,' said Wells. 'They deserve a helping hand and for us to meet them where they are at in their life.' It's a sentiment shared by New Westminster city councillor Ruby Campbell, who volunteered at the UGM barbecue. 'If the most vulnerable in your community are well-taken care of, it raises the whole community, right?' she said. 'And so individuals, businesses and residents can all thrive if the most vulnerable are well-supported.' Back at El Santo, Diaz said he understands homelessness and addiction can make people uncomfortable. 'I respect other people's opinions, but for me being uncomfortable is different than being unsafe,' he said. New Westminster Police say additional funding from the province has allowed them to deploy more resources to the downtown core recently, including plain clothes officers, in a bid to maintain public safety.
CTV News
12-07-2025
- General
- CTV News
Union Gospel Mission hosts 26th annual summer barbecue
Thousands of Downtown Eastside residents made their way to Oppenheimer Park Saturday for Union Gospel Mission's 26th annual summer barbecue. (UGM) Thousands of Downtown Eastside residents made their way to Oppenheimer Park Saturday for Union Gospel Mission's 26th annual summer barbecue. 'It's a chance for the community to kind of come together, maybe get introduced to some of our services, and build connections, too,' said UGM spokesperson Nick Wells. The charity was expecting 3,000 people and prepared to serve as many as 4,000, Wells said. Volunteers cooked 4,000 hamburgers and 4,000 smokies, prepared 800 pounds of coleslaw, freezies and more – 'everything to make sure that people go away happy and fed,' he said. 'People who are experiencing poverty or are unhoused may not be able to enjoy the kind of simple things we take for granted in summer,' Wells said. 'This is a chance for people to get together, for kids to play on a bouncy castle, to play in a ball pit, to get cotton candy.' For adults, it serves as an opportunity to take their minds off the pressures of day-to-day life and just enjoy a summer day. While the summer barbecue and other large meals – like those UGM serves for Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving – are some of the charity's most visible efforts, Wells said the organization also serves about 750 meals a day across Metro Vancouver. UGM also connects clients with donated clothing, resources for addiction recovery, job training and more. Large events like the summer barbecue are a way for people to get introduced to UGM staff and volunteers, build trust and ask for help with their specific needs, Wells said. He referenced "Mind the Gap," a recent literature review conducted by UGM and the University of British Columbia that looked at four different care models that could be implemented and expanded in the Downtown Eastside. One thing they all had in common, he said, was that they relied on a 'sense of community and togetherness' to help build connections with people in need. 'That's what an event like this does,' Wells said. 'This is a case of our continuum of care in action, really.'
Globe and Mail
06-06-2025
- Health
- Globe and Mail
Canada's homeless population is aging, changing how shelters are run
Seventy-one-year-old Roger Oake sat on a bench outside the Union Gospel Mission shelter in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside after breakfast. He had been sleeping at the shelter for about a month 'this time' and said that after several years of homelessness, walking 'the beat' during the day when the shelter isn't open has become harder as he gets older. 'I really don't know where to even begin. There's so many things that could or should change, but I really don't know,' he said on Wednesday. 'We're people too, you know? We're not just bums, we're not just hobos looking for a handout. We are what we are and we're at where we're at – and that's basically where it's at.' In major cities across the country, those who provide shelter and services for people who are homeless say they are seeing more elderly people turn to them for help. It's leading to a shift in how they do their jobs and the type of care they are providing. They often must juggle complex medical needs with basic considerations, like ensuring seniors get beds closest to accessible washrooms, and that power sockets are available to charge mobility scooters overnight. Nick Wells, a spokesperson for Union Gospel Mission, said more than 1,000 people sleep in the shelter every year and that the number of elderly users spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to grow. 'The number of people in the 61-to-65 age range keeps growing at about 2 per cent every year,' he said. 'If you look at it from 55-plus, around COVID, they accounted for about a quarter of our shelter population, and now we're up to one-third.' Wells said teams that work around B.C. have heard of seniors who do not have enough money at retirement to keep up with housing and other costs of living. Some have been evicted when their long-term rental homes are renovated, he said. 'There's been a couple cases, and these are really tragic, that a senior's gone into hospital for a health issue and had an extended stay, and then when they've come back, they've discovered that they've been evicted because they haven't paid their rent,' he said. 'So they've just come back to no home and then they end up here.' Wells said that along with helping clients complete pension or old-age security applications online, staff sometimes have to help with medical issues like Alzheimer's and dementia. In one case, a former shelter user was able to secure a spot in full-time transitional housing in the same building. But he returned to the shelter space to use the washroom. 'He remembers how to get down there. He remembers how the bathrooms are laid out, but then he needs help getting back to the [transitional housing] floor, because he can't really remember the ins and outs of going back there,' he said. 'So we will have a staff member help guide him back up. That's not a problem whatsoever, I don't want to even suggest that, but it is something that I don't think people would have thought about a couple years ago.' The Mustard Seed runs a dozen 24-hour emergency shelters in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia with a total of 747 beds. Numbers provided by the agency show that at the Calgary women's shelter, the percentage of clients aged 51 and older has gone from 25.4 per cent in 2024 to 28.4 per cent this year. The shelter in Red Deer saw the proportion of clients 55 and older jump from 12 per cent in 2023 to 29 per cent in 2024. Samantha Lowe, Mustard Seed's senior director of shelter operations, said the experience of chronic homelessness can age someone differently than those with secure housing, meaning the definition of what qualifies as a 'senior' can be different than the conventional definition of 65 years old. 'Somebody who has experienced, say, chronic or episodic homelessness and has aged within that population will need those supports earlier,' she said. 'The physiological age of somebody who's experienced so much in their life, they may be 55 and they present like a 75-year-old in terms of their co-morbidities and everything they've got going on, whether that's in their lungs or their heart or their social situation or their mental health.' Lowe said staff are seeing more elderly clients who struggle to manage medications for illnesses ranging from diabetes and breathing problems to cancer, on top of the cost of housing. 'You're having to choose between that or housing. And so we're having folks who are coming in with more chronic conditions that staff are then having to be more knowledgeable about,' she said. Lowe said one shelter is able to allow oxygen tanks to be present, but that's not possible in all spaces. She said there are people in emergency shelters waiting for spots in supportive housing and dedicated seniors housing. Lowe said shelters also have clients nearing the end of their lives. 'We have people who have disclosed that they are dying of cancer, they have a certain amount of time left in the prognosis, but they're really hesitant to go into hospital, and so we work with them to see if we can get them into hospice,' she said. 'We work with them to see if we can prevent that acute crisis that they do end up in hospital, if they're hesitant to go there … but it's quite challenging." In Toronto, the Salvation Army runs the Islington Seniors' Shelter, an 83-bed, 24-hour shelter for men and women experiencing homelessness who are 55 and older. Spokesman Glenn van Gulik said the facility is at capacity, and while the organization does not maintain a wait-list, beds fill up fast when they become available. 'There's over 8,000 people who are currently experiencing homelessness within Toronto, and what we know to be true is just about 20 per cent of those who have responded … are over 55,' he said. 'It's going up.' The Islington shelter offers three-bedroom suites, each with a shared bathroom, and staff familiar with the unique needs of homeless seniors. Van Gulik said that could mean helping with dietary needs, connecting with landlords to help find rentals for people on a fixed income, or finding dental care for aging mouths. He said the style of living, with both men and women and shared spaces, also helps combat the loneliness that can come with aging. Wells said there have been steps in the right direction, like the opening of more seniors housing in B.C. He said there needs to be broad conversation between governments and health care and service providers about the kind of wraparound supports elderly homeless people need, including more housing options and rent protections. Mo Singh Khunkhun sometimes sleeps and eats at the Union Gospel Mission emergency shelter in Vancouver. He's easy to spot, with his formerly grey beard dyed a bright purple. 'People like it, you know? I don't do boring,' he said on Wednesday. Khunkhun is 68, and worked most of his adult life, including in construction and on farms. But he has been homeless for about eight years since the heat failed in his last apartment and he fell behind on rent. He's stayed at various facilities and has watched as more seniors turn up. 'I don't know what proportion is increasing, but I'm sure there is an increase,' he said. He said he considers himself in good health, and tries to help others as they age, whether that means going for a walk, telling a joke or just having a conversation. 'Some will talk about their health issues,' he said. 'But a lot of them, they just have the camaraderie of being here, you know?'
CTV News
06-06-2025
- Health
- CTV News
‘We're people too': Canada's homeless population is aging, changing how shelters run
Mo Singh Khunkhun, 68, sits on a bed in the Union Gospel Mission overnight shelter in Vancouver, B.C., Wednesday, June 4, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns VANCOUVER — Seventy-one-year-old Roger Oake sat on a bench outside the Union Gospel Mission shelter in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside after breakfast. He had been sleeping at the shelter for about a month 'this time' and said that after several years of homelessness, walking 'the beat' during the day when the shelter isn't open has become harder as he gets older. 'I really don't know where to even begin. There's so many things that could or should change, but I really don't know,' he said on Wednesday. 'We're people too, you know? We're not just bums, we're not just hobos looking for a handout. We are what we are and we're at where we're at — and that's basically where it's at.' In major cities across the country, those who provide shelter and services for people who are homeless say they are seeing more elderly people turn to them for help. It's leading to a shift in how they do their jobs and the type of care they are providing. They often must juggle complex medical needs with basic considerations, like ensuring seniors get beds closest to accessible washrooms, and that power sockets are available to charge mobility scooters overnight. Nick Wells, a spokesperson for Union Gospel Mission, said more than 1,000 people sleep in the shelter every year and that the number of elderly users spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to grow. 'The number of people in the 61-to-65 age range keeps growing at about two per cent every year,' he said. 'If you look at it from 55-plus, around COVID, they accounted for about a quarter of our shelter population, and now we're up to one-third.' Wells said teams that work around B.C. have heard of seniors who do not have enough money at retirement to keep up with housing and other costs of living. Some have been evicted when their long-term rental homes are renovated, he said. 'There's been a couple cases, and these are really tragic, that a senior's gone into hospital for a health issue and had an extended stay, and then when they've come back, they've discovered that they've been evicted because they haven't paid their rent,' he said. 'So they've just come back to no home and then they end up here.' Wells said that along with helping clients complete pension or old-age security applications online, staff sometimes have to help with medical issues like Alzheimer's and dementia. In one case, a former shelter user was able to secure a spot in full-time transitional housing in the same building. But he returned to the shelter space to use the washroom. 'He remembers how to get down there. He remembers how the bathrooms are laid out, but then he needs help getting back to the (transitional housing) floor, because he can't really remember the ins and outs of going back there,' he said. 'So we will have a staff member help guide him back up. That's not a problem whatsoever, I don't want to even suggest that, but it is something that I don't think people would have thought about a couple years ago.' UNIQUE NEEDS OF HOMELESS SENIORS The Mustard Seed runs a dozen 24-hour emergency shelters in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia with a total of 747 beds. Samantha Lowe, senior director of shelter operations, said the experience of chronic homelessness can age someone differently than those with secure housing, meaning the definition of what qualifies as a 'senior' can be different than the conventional definition of 65 years old. 'Somebody who has experienced, say, chronic or episodic homelessness and has aged within that population will need those supports earlier,' she said. 'The physiological age of somebody who's experienced so much in their life, they may be 55 and they present like a 75-year-old in terms of their co-morbidities and everything they've got going on, whether that's in their lungs or their heart or their social situation or their mental health.' Lowe said staff are seeing more elderly clients who struggle to manage medications for illnesses ranging from diabetes and breathing problems to cancer, on top of the cost of housing. 'You're having to choose between that or housing. And so we're having folks who are coming in with more chronic conditions that staff are then having to be more knowledgeable about,' she said. Lowe said one shelter is able to allow oxygen tanks to be present, but that's not possible in all spaces. She said there are people in emergency shelters waiting for spots in supportive housing and dedicated seniors housing. Lowe said shelters also have clients nearing the end of their lives. 'We have people who have disclosed that they are dying of cancer, they have a certain amount of time left in the prognosis, but they're really hesitant to go into hospital, and so we work with them to see if we can get them into hospice,' she said. 'We work with them to see if we can prevent that acute crisis that they do end up in hospital, if they're hesitant to go there … but it's quite challenging.' In Toronto, the Salvation Army runs the Islington Seniors' Shelter, an 83-bed 24-hour shelter for men and women experiencing homelessness who are 55 and older. Spokesman Glenn van Gulik said the facility is at capacity, and while the organization does not maintain a wait-list, beds fill up fast when they become available. 'There's over 8,000 people who are currently experiencing homelessness within Toronto, and what we know to be true is just about 20 per cent of those who have responded … are over 55,' he said. 'It's going up.' The Islington shelter offers three-bedroom suites, each with a shared bathroom, and staff familiar with the unique needs of homeless seniors. Van Gulik said that could mean helping with dietary needs, connecting with landlords to help find rentals for people on a fixed income, or finding dental care for aging mouths. He said the style of living, with both men and women and shared spaces, also helps combat the loneliness that can come with aging. Wells said there have been steps in the right direction, like the opening of more seniors housing in B.C. He said there needs to be broad conversation between governments and health-care and service providers about the kind of wraparound supports elderly homeless people need, including more housing options and rent protections. Mo Singh Khunkhun sometimes sleeps and eats at the Union Gospel Mission emergency shelter in Vancouver. He's easy to spot, with his formerly grey beard dyed a bright purple. 'People like it, you know? I don't do boring,' he said on Wednesday. Khunkhun is 68, and worked most of his adult life, including in construction and on farms. But he has been homeless for about eight years since the heat failed in his last apartment and he fell behind on rent. He's stayed at various facilities and has watched as more seniors turn up. 'I don't know what proportion is increasing, but I'm sure there is an increase,' he said. He said he considers himself in good health, and tries to help others as they age, whether that means going for a walk, telling a joke or just having a conversation. 'Some will talk about their health issues,' he said. 'But a lot of them, they just have the camaraderie of being here, you know?' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025. Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Bend man who threatened mass shooting was armed with AR-15, police say
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A Bend man is in custody after he threatened to carry out a mass shooting over the weekend, police say. Authorities say 36-year-old Nathaniel Benjamin Wright told a family member he was planning to execute a mass shooting following a family argument. The threat was reported to Bend police on Friday afternoon. Union Gospel Mission victim count jumps to 12, stabbing suspect ID'd When law enforcement responded to Wright's home near 3000 NE Waller Ave., officers said they saw him walk from his home to a white truck parked in the driveway, 'carrying an AR-15-style rifle and a duffel bag and wearing a ballistic vest.' Police stopped Wright at gunpoint, took him into custody, and took him to St. Charles Bend. Oregon Senate passes bump stock ban, allows expansion of gun-free zones 'Officers searched Wright's vehicle and home, and applied for and were granted an Extreme Risk Protection Order, which is a court order preventing a person at risk of hurting themselves or another person from having or getting access to deadly weapons like firearms,' according to Bend authorities. Investigators say Wright was known to own multiple firearms. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
