It may be just out of the way, but the Fort Frances Volunteer Bureau is a bustling place full of different programs aimed at helping the community and those in need.
Open seven days a week from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., the Volunteer Bureau, located in the old CN Station on Fourth Street East, is the longtime home of the Family Centre, a drop in program for those experiencing homelessness who need a meal, shower or place to warm up during a chill winter’s day, but as the Volunteer Bureau’s Monica Sus tells it, it’s also a place for so much more, all in the name of lending a helping hand.
The Family Centre, located in the main hall, takes up the majority of the building, and is the most visible.
“In the main hall, three days a week we have New Beginnings Church who do lunch on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and have been doing this since COVID,” Sus said.
“That’s five years. The other four days of the week we provide food that we either got through Rainycrest or the hospital or some other source. Today, Lindsay [Hamilton] is doing Art Therapy, we’ve been doing that once a month, and we have turkey dinners when it’s Thanksgiving and Christmas. We try to make it as comfortable for people as possible. We give out winter coats, hats, mitts, dry socks. We work with the Health Unit and DRRSB and it’s a really good place that does a lot of good.”
Sus said people might think of the Family Centre in particular as a dark or scary place, but for the dozens of people who stop in on the daily, sometimes up to 45 individuals throughout the day, it’s warm and welcoming, well lit, and provides a host of amenities that visitors to the Centre might not have access to anywhere else. The Centre has washers and dryers located in their basement so laundry can be done, and showers so that visitors can be clean and feel refreshed. There is a TV, with service provided by Tbaytel, but the Centre also has a few computers so that visitors can make use of the internet for accessing other programs and services that require a connection.
Outside of the main hall, the Volunteer Bureau also runs a number of different programs, or provides room for rent to other local organizations. Sus said the upstairs of the building has their children’s clothing space, where they collect and distribute donated children’s clothing and outerwear to those in need. Down the hall from the main room is an area where a Nurse Practitioner comes in for three hours, three times each month for anyone in need of medical care or a check-up. The Volunteer Bureau also offers its annual tax clinic for those at or under the poverty line who need assistance filing their taxes.
The last, larger room in the bureau is a board room that is available for rent. Sus said that the organizations who use the room are able to pay as they can for its use, and has hosted groups like the Voyageurs Lions Club and Breast Cancer Survivors.
“If the groups can’t pay, they don’t pay,” she said.
“If they can pay, or if they give a little donation, that’s lovely.”
One of the larger operations of the Volunteer Bureau is collecting donations. In addition to children’s clothing, the volunteer bureau collects donations of adult clothing, as well as trinkets and gently used items for their market space, as well as food to supply their emergency food bank. The Volunteer Bureau is a registered charity, so anyone making a cash donation is able to get a charitable receipt, and the cash donations go farthest in allowing the Volunteer Bureau to purchase the items most in need. They use money to purchase food goods for their meals, and their close partnership with New Beginnings means that the church can also accept donations for Volunteer Bureau use.
“Sometimes we get money and then we give it to New Beginnings to buy hamburger or pork chops,” Sus said.
“Meat is a really big thing. Everything is expensive but we work very closely with [New Beginnings] and make sure people have a proper meals. We’d like to shout out New Beginnings because those ladies do a lot.”
Outside of cash, Sus said they’s always on the lookout for warm clothing and accessories for the colder months of the year or household goods like toilet paper and paper towel. When it comes to food for the emergency food bank, she said she likes to have meals in a can on hand, items like chunky soup, ravioli or chili that don’t require cooking to be eaten.
“We go through a lot of can openers, becasue I always ask people if they have a way to open the can,” Sus said.
The Volunteer Bureau also has items on hand for those making the transition to living in their own apartment. Sus explained that, while it hasn’t happened as frequently as she expected it would, she has always made sure to have some smaller furniture and a starter kit of a microwave, coffee maker and dishes. This way someone doesn’t have to start the newest chapter of their life with absolutely nothing.
As its name implies, the Volunteer Bureau runs on the work of volunteers, and Sus said they are always open to new faces coming to help out. New volunteers fill out an application that is then reviewed by the Volunteer Bureau board.
“People think it’s scary and weird, but we have a great time here,” Sus said.
“We really do. It’s fun, and we try to make it fun for everybody. If anyone spends time here, they’re shocked at how nice it is. We have a great group of volunteers, they’re very dedicated but they get slammed a lot in public.”
Anyone who would like to volunteer their time with the Bureau, or make a donation to support them, can call Sus at 807-271-2839, or the Bureau itself at 807-274-9555.
