New organization aims to better help unhoused people in Yellowknife | CBC News
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A new organization in Yellowknife is aiming to help people who are experiencing homelessness with support like meals, clothing and other essentials.
Yellowknife Street Support Network held its public launch outside the post office on Friday, serving up soup and bannock.
Stacey Drygeese-Sundberg, one of three co-chairs of the board, was handing out pamphlets and inviting community members to learn about the organization’s vision, described as “a Yellowknife with no homelessness, where Indigenous people are respected, supported, and leading the change.”
Drygeese-Sundberg said the Indigenous-led organization will build partnerships across community organizations, businesses and industry to better support people who are unhoused.
The network will offer language and land-based programming and public education.
The goal is to “help with the gaps in our community with the homeless and the vulnerable people,” said Drygeese-Sundberg.
Yellowknife Street Support Network is focused on people with disabilities, elders and those who are vulnerable living on the streets. The goal is to bring the community together to “get better at helping each other, to help the people who are less fortunate,” said Drygeese-Sundberg.
As soon as the tables were set up on Friday, people gathered to enjoy soup and hot drinks, all donated by individuals and businesses. The network is looking for funding to develop a meals on wheels program, and to secure a van to do this work.
Georgina Franki, also a board co-chair, says a group of Indigenous women came together, seeing a need.
Franki wants the community to get involved and work with their organization on larger goals, like building 50 tiny homes.
The network’s stated goal is to advocate for dignity, even in difficult spaces.
Franki said Friday’s launch felt like a success. She said hunger is a reality for people who are unhoused.
Franki referred to a recent break-in at a seniors’ centre where people stole food, and said that suggests the need for a meals on wheels program, so nobody in the city’s streets goes hungry.
“This is one of the things I’d like to see, like what we’re doing right now,” she said on Friday. “There’s a huge turnout, you can see, and people smiling. It’s a beginning.”