By Ethan Benedicto
With the $400,000 funding confirmed for the new Support and Skills Hub at Transit Soup Kitchen and Food Support, its volunteers and staff could not be more excited for the months to come.
Michelle Pinxt, Transit’s grants and community relations officer, said that “there are no words for the excitement”.
“The new possibilities for our guests are going to be extraordinary, so many of our guests are just not engaging in the services that they need, and the delay between when they come to us and they do use those services is too great.
“A lot more trauma or problems could have happened in that time, so we’re hoping to close that gap and let our guests get the help they need,” she said.
Located on-site, the new hub will feature referrals to social services, mental health support, legal aid, job training, resume writing workshops, first aid training, vocational training sessions and housing assistance.
Likewise, with the new funding, Transit is expecting to add a project manager to their roster, one who is solely responsible for the hub’s operations.
Transit provides roughly 1500 people on a weekly basis, and to Michelle, what they are looking to do is “while they’re having their meals or picking up their groceries, those services are going to be at Transit”.
“They’ll have opportunities to engage with, let’s say, free haircuts, job interview trainings, domestic violence support services, and housing support services.
“We will be advertising ahead of time who is coming, and we will be targeting the people that need it the most,” she said.
The team at Transit is looking to reach out when and if these services become available, and during the two days that they close, they will be hosting community events that their patrons can attend.
On the topic of legal aid and other similar support services, Michelle said that it’ll all be “local partnerships”.
“So we’re hoping to reach out to all sorts of legal aid providers, anyone that has the expertise, and if they’re willing to either give us a few hours or a few days or a few weeks, or whatever they can provide.
“We’ll be having a full range of connections over the next few years,” she said.
Building on the expansion of Transit’s horizons, as well as the people they serve, Michelle said that she is hoping the new services will “enrich the people, I think they’re going to feel more heard, and more cared for and loved”.
At the same time, she and the team at Transit are expecting the demand to grow, adding that the hub moves with their service.
“The demand for food support is growing every day, so we’re registering on average 10 new households a day, and in terms of numbers, it will definitely increase,” she said.
“With that, we need to find more food supplies, and we need to reach out, but we’re hoping that through all of these connections, it could grow as well.”
The hub is matching the demand of the services down the line, with Michelle saying that Transit’s volunteers have been in the role for years, building relationships with their guests and patrons, and are more than keen to step into the new space to lend a helping hand.
“I was one of the people who started Transit 15 years ago, and we are now becoming this incredible social support network,” Michelle said.
“I mean, I’m just in awe of the change and dedication of the people who have walked the journey the whole time.
”We’re excited to see this next chapter of Transit and see what it brings, because we’ve got so many incredible people coming in through our doors, and we just want to be able to help them in whatever possible way we can.”
