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Would you personally support this organization

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Would you personally support this organization

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Absolutely. Everything about sanctuary is amazing. The fact that they go out of their way to walk the streets of Toronto to talk to people, invite them to sanctuary, give them water, socks, or food. The actual facility itself is great as well as it has different outreach programs. Not only do they provide people with the basic food and shelter, but they also have days to come in to paint, show your talent; whether it be singing or poetry, act in plays, and much more. However, the only thing I would change is the worship program. Although sanctuary is a Christian based organization, many non-Christians seek refuge as well and many may wish to pray to their God as well. Implementing things like a Quran or Torah and other religious accommodations would be great. Other than that, I fully support this organization as they they are dedicated and work hard to reach out to the marginalized people living in Toronto and providing them with a sense of belonging and security.

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Is this organization working effectively to achieve the objectives of the movement?

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Is this organization working effectively to achieve the objectives of the movement?

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I believe sanctuary is extremely effective at working to achieve its objective. Their whole objective is to reach out to the marginalized people of Toronto and be a friend to them. They invite them to their church to provide them with a place of safety and security, and belonging. The people at sanctuary understand that these people who are out in the streets are coming from a background of abuse and neglect, they feel like they don't belong and are alone. The people at sanctuary visit these people almost everyday no matter the time and become friends with these individuals, providing them with that sense of belonging. Through the media clip we saw how many look forward to come to sanctuary whether it because that is the only time they eat a meal. Whether it be to come and paint, worship to God, talk to the outreach members and people within their community, or get to act in plays. It may take some a couple of months to come by but once they do, they don't regret it one bit.

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Through this video you get to see real life people who are part of the sanctuary community and their experiences there. They talk about how much Sanctuary has truly helped them and became a part of their lives.

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Hey, thanks for the feed-back everyone! We are so grateful to the funding partners at Stronger Together 2010 for enabling us to have this video made. Hope you tell all your friends to watch it tooooo!!!

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This article discusses on how many people within our community like Jenkins go through fatal accidents that turn their life upside down, and ultimately rely on organizations like Sanctuary to provide them with things like food, clothes and medical care.

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An old church in an affluent part of town takes a community-focused approach to helping low-income Torontonians.

Gordon Jenkins Junior puts his newspaper clippings on the table. Some are weathered and yellow; some are crisp and whitish-grey. He's been following articles about poverty for a long time. He's one of 70,000 single people in Toronto (there are separate statistics for families) who are struggling to stay at or above the poverty line while living on social assistance.

He spends his days reading and going from shelter to shelter for food. For years he's been coming to the Sanctuary, a charitable organization headquartered in a former church at the corner of Charles Street East and Yonge Street.

It's located in a rapidly changing neighbourhood, where developers have planted their luxury condo seeds, each with advertisements projecting images of grandeur and exclusivity. But despite the area's recent growth, it's also an example of Toronto's income inequality and the growing gap between the city's wealthy and its poor.

The Toronto Community Foundation's most recent Vital Signs report revealed that Toronto is "the only Canadian metro to get a 'C' grade on income distribution." In 2011, the city's wealthiest made, on average, 13 times as much as members of the bottom 90 per cent of earners, according to the National Household Survey.

The survey's accuracy is disputed because of its voluntary nature, but its message shouldn't be ignored. Toronto risks becoming a "winner-take-all" city by continuing to push such issues aside.

A lofty condo building made of modern black brick and sleek glass overshadows the Sanctuary.

Greg Cook, who works at the Sanctuary as an outreach coordinator, says he's had mostly positive interactions with people from the neighbourhood. He sees mixed-income areas as a solution, rather than as a problem.
Related: Checking Toronto's Vital Signs
In the Sanctuary's backyard, there's a small park with picnic benches. Cook says he's seen businessmen having lunch there beside homeless people.

"It's those kinds of interactions that disrupt the dichotomy," he says. "Because then you see your neighbour-rich or poor-first as a human being."

Jenkins, 64, grew up in Montreal. He moved to Toronto for a factory job in 1980. He was working as a meat packer when a load of steel fell on his foot and broke it. He cringes when he recalls that terrible October day in 1994.

"It was like a giant karate chop," he says. "Oh the fuckin' pain!"

He could no longer hold down a job that required him to stand. Jenkins calls his life from that point forward a "spiral staircase downwards."

The government gave him the opportunity to take a computer class. It took him 13 months to finish the seven-month course, and afterward jobs were sparse. In 2001, Jenkins lost his apartment. Then he entered the shelter system.

"It's a numbing experience," he says. "You just adapt."

Now, Jenkins lives in government housing. He's still searching for a job, but he says he's often told he's too young or too old. "They keep throwing these barbed-wire barriers in front of me," he says.

With support from ODSP, he'll make around $12,900 this year.

He depends on places like the Sanctuary for free meals, clothes, shoes, and access to medical care. Although he appreciates what the Sanctuary does for him, Jenkins thinks it fuels his anger issues at times.

He taps a newspaper clipping on the table. The headline reads: "Being poor exhausts brain power." He nods.

"That's something I suspected for years," he says. Sometimes, he adds, he freezes "like a deer in the headlights," unable to complete the smallest tasks. Other times, he gets angry. He says he almost grabbed a man who hissed at him, condescendingly, "There are choices in life to make."

"You think I chose this?" he snapped back.

At the Sanctuary, Jenkins can, at the very least, choose the people he interacts with. Cook says it's a space where people from diverse backgrounds and income levels can meet.

It's one of the only places where Jenkins isn't ostracized for being poor. And the neighbourhood around it is slowly learning to be more inclusive. Cook says the Sanctuary holds public art events to get the community involved.

"We often see homeless people as people who have needs, but they have something to offer as well," Cook says.
Photos by Courtney Greenberg/Torontoist.

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In the Middle of Condo Land, a Sanctuary for Toronto's Less Fortunate

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An old church in an affluent part of town takes a community-focused approach to helping low-income Torontonians. Gordon Jenkins Junior puts his newspaper clippings on the table. Some are weathered and yellow; some are crisp and whitish-grey. He's been following articles about poverty for a long time.

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It started back in 1985 with a band called the Red Rain. The band members had a passion for God and felt God was telling them to take it to the streets, and so they did. They began playing in jails, festivals and venues and the Central Gospel Hall invited them to use the church as storage and a place to practice. Later the Bible Chapel commended Greg and Karen Paul as missionaries for the city of Toronto in 1992. The two then went on to build a vision for the city to help out the marginalized people. The century-old building near Yonge and Bloor became Sanctuary Ministries of Toronto, a place for safety, security and respect.

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Sanctuary reaches out to the less fortunate that are needy and marginalized within the city of Toronto. It is a place for safety, worship, to come and receive a meal, and a place where they provide medical treatment to those facing any health issues.

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At sanctuary they provide the needy with various different accommodations, but they also go out of their way to reach out to people within the streets. Their outreach movement is a way to go out and meet people at their own turf because they don't want to approach them as people of power. They reach out to the needy because they want to give these people some good news after being rejected for so long, and offer them dignity and healing. They visit people consistently no matter day or night, to develop relations and friendships with them so that they know they have a friend and are not alone. They offer them food, drinks, sleeping bags, coats, socks, and much more.