After two years of virtual campaigns, the Ancaster Community Food Drive is back and better than ever. The food drive celebrated its 30-plus-one-year anniversary this past Saturday, and the snowstorm did not slow anyone down. A community of more than 400 volunteers went door to door to collect donations and returned to the Ancaster Fairgrounds, where a mountain of food was weighed, sorted and packed. The food was then loaded onto trucks to deliver to those fantastic agencies that provide emergency food services to the families and the most vulnerable in our community: Ancaster Community Services, the Good Shepherd Centre, Hamilton Food Share, Mission Services of Hamilton, Neighbour to Neighbour, St. Matthew’s House, the Salvation Army and Wesley Urban Ministries. We thank you for your service.

It was a pleasure to be there with many, many volunteers, local businesses, service clubs and schools, including players from the Ancaster Avalanche minor hockey team. Kudos once again to Jim LoPresti, Tom Ippolito, Jan Lukas, Betty Kobayashi and all the members of the community food drive committee.

We know that the most wonderful magic happens when volunteers come together. It is the power of many hands uniting in a single purpose. Despite the significant snowfall, a collective effort brought the total food collected over the 31 years to 1,970,000 pounds. We can count on it that at the same time next year, the Ancaster Community Food Drive will hit their next milestone, which will be two million pounds of food donated. Thank you very much for your work.

Right now, my community is facing a crisis of mental health, addictions and homelessness. My office works with unsheltered and underserved constituents, and I recognize just how impossible it is for many in the community to navigate health care and support systems while struggling with addictions and mental health issues. For some people, it’s nearly impossible to survive.

I’ve been glad to work alongside the Back Door Mission, which is a centre of care and service without equal in the province. Please understand, many of the vulnerable clients they work with, who are served at the Back Door Mission, can’t access appropriate care elsewhere. More than 50% of them don’t have health cards. They can’t be served by a private clinic. They need the help and the care of a place like the Back Door Mission, which sees people who have little or no income, with no place to stay, who require treatment and medicinal support for their mental health and their medical needs. They also need a place to stay. They need nurses who have the time to show them that they matter and are cared for, case managers who provide empathy and understanding, and volunteers and peers who make them feel protected as part of the community. They get that at the Back Door Mission. At the Mission United hub in Oshawa, this model of care happens every day; it’s practised every day. It does so because of the commitments of CMHA.

At the beginning of the pandemic, other people shut their doors, but CMHA Durham found a way. They partnered with the Back Door Mission, which at that time was a local charity providing food and respite. Now, almost three years later, they’re operating a high-functioning clinic for homeless individuals, literally keeping people alive on a daily basis. I appreciate the work of everybody connected to this project and across communities.

I talked to Nathan Gardner, the executive director at the Back Door Mission, and he wanted me to share this when I told him that we were asking for funding for CMHA to do the work that is so required across our communities: “It is clear that what is needed to support programs like Mission United and organizations like CMHA Durham is more. More funds to make sure employees have consistent access to training, respite and resources to support them. And more people, more workers with specialization in mental health and addictions to ensure” that they do not have to handle this on their own. “The people we serve who suffer from mental illness are some of the most complex and misunderstood we see today, and they require a commitment of our respect and dignity. Therefore, it is absolutely crucial that we support those who work with them every day, and show them the same respect.”

Government, support this motion. Increase CMHA funding today to support our neighbours in need.