Neighbour-to-Neighbour Centre
Hamilton, Ontario
Help is Just a Neighbour Away
by Melanie Cummings, Volunteer, Neighbour-to-Neighbour Centre
Each time someone in need grabs the door handle to Neighbour to Neighbour Centre in Hamilton, they walk into a place of numerous resources.
The writing is on the wall - that is, of the directory board in the entryway where myriad services are listed.
That ever-growing program tally is thanks in large part to the support provided by the Canadian Alternative Investment Cooperative (CAIC).
In 1994 then the space occupied by Neighbour to Neighbour was in jeopardy of being lost, the stability afforded by CAIC allowed the Centre to finally set roots down in the community in which its services were so vitally necessary.
The Centre's Food Bank is often the first point of call for clients. It has been a once-a-month emergency grocery supply for Hamilton residents since 1986. Since that time it has fed over 11,000 families.
Set up like a mini-grocery store, families are assigned points and with those they are allowed to choose the food items they most enjoy. It's a respectful way of operating, which has always been the core philosophy, or mission, of Neighbour to Neighbour Centre.
Now, vital nutritional sustenance for clients' bodies is complemented with programs that provide ample information, support and opportunities to buoy their spirits and minds.
The Job Finding Club is one such worthwhile adjunct. The three-week programs gives clients cutting edge job research techniques and has an 85 per cent success rate in helping clients find gainful employment.
Resource Counselling is another facet of the Centre aimed at connecting clients with community support agencies and services. This free and informal one-on-one peer-counselling programs gives clients practical referrals to local resources (legal aid, housing help, family violence, education, medical etc.) from very well-trained volunteers. The Centre has trained forty volunteer counsellors who speak eleven different languages. Last year there were 1159 counselling sessions, an average of eight per day.
In wintertime, Neighbour to Neighbour steps up to the plate nicely by offering Christmas Hampers, warm coats and warm abodes. Six hundred and fifty hampers are filled with donated food for a festive meal, toys for all children twelve and under and a family gift.
Keeping the climbing utility costs at bay (for month at least) for working poor families is achieved through the energy assistance program called Share the Warmth.
And Bundle Up is a community-wide effort in which Neighbour to Neighbour is a key player. Time and again this program has kept over 500 infants and school children cozy in donated, gently used winter coats, hats, mittens and boots.
Over 140 volunteers are the heart of Neighbour to Neighbour Centre. Whether counselling clients, helping bag groceries in the food bank, taking a shift in the revenue-generating Used Book Store, organizing a fund raising event of sitting on the board or committee, the efforts of one benefit many.
Such giving in all its form supports the rationale behind Neighbour to Neighbour's newly adopted slogan “Help is Just a Neighbour Away.”.
Website: n2ncentre.com
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