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How does the Downtown Mission deal with extreme heat days? · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
  We got some chill sounds right there, but it's a hot day outside right
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  now. Don't forget that. I mean, I'm looking right now humid X
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  of forty one or one hundred and six right now. If you're spending the
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  day outside, you're probably not listening to a IM eight hundred CKLW, but
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  you should absolutely be doing that as well. The City of Windsor has different
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  ways for people to be able to keep cool, beat the heat and escape
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  it. We'll be chatting with Ward nine Councilor Kieran McKenzie upcoming in the show
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  about some of the other ways that the city offers. There's splash pads,
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  there's the beach. Of course, there's just cooling centers generally, and one
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  of the groups that I wanted to reach out to to talk about this heat
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  is one where the impact can be far more than if you're just going outside
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  recreationally, maybe going for a walk, or you're just going from A to
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  B. People who might not have a different place to go to. I'm
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  thinking about some of our most vulnerable right here in the City of Windsor.
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  Clients of the Downtown Mission come to mind, which is why I wanted to
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  reach out to the Downtown Mission to find out how they deal with these extreme
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  heat days when it comes to their clients and the people that they interact with
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  on a regular basis. Joining me right now is the executive director of the
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  Downtown Mission, Rushini Punaya Ghoul and Hi Roushini. How you doing good?
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  Thanks? Hi John? How are you? I'm doing well? Thank you.
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  Trying to stay as cool as possible, of course, like all of
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  us here, but that's not always something that everybody's able to do. I'm
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  just I'm wondering, you know, on days like these, what first comes
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  to mind as the executive director at the Downtown Mission and the services you're going
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  to have to offer. Well, last night, as I was leaving,
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  I think I was living here, around six thirty or so, I saw
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  one of our security guards and I was just asking like, hey, can
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  you make sure there's water in the dining hall at all times and that you
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  know, our guests are making sure that our staff are making sure that they
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  are having water throughout the evening, even at that time when it was pretty
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  hot, and it was before the storm came, of course, it was
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  you know, I think it was building up and that was saying even to
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  our staff to make sure they're staying hydrated as well, of course, right,
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  and then days like today definitely remind us how important it is to stay
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  hydrated, to stay in cool spaces as much as possible. We have our
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  dining hall available throughout the day between eight am and apm for anyone to come
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  and get some respite for a little bit at least, even if they don't
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  want a meal. We have water available for them as well. And then
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  we have you know, wonderful community members and volunteers to come by with things
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  like freezies and popsicles and water bottles to hand out to people outside, which
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  is always a welcome gift for everyone here. But yeah, we just want
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  people to stay safe and stay cool well, and it's so great that you're
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  all able to offer those services that you do. And I'm sure if anyone's
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  listening and they want to donate some freezies, as you said, you guys
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  would gladly accept those for sure. Absolutely. You know, it must get
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  you know, just not that today is different than any other day and the
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  fact that these are people that are you know, under your responsibility there,
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  but it must get a little bit more concerning on these extreme temperature days,
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  knowing that it's not the regular course of things that you deal with. It's
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  these are these are really out of your control. It is. I mean,
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  our staffs here are incredible. They keep an eye on our guests as
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  much as possible, and there are interacting with them, keeping them engaged and
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  making sure they're okay throughout the day and that night as well. But we
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  also have wonderful partnerships with community organizations close to us, some who come here
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  and provide services inside the mission and as well places that are close to us
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  that we can take our guests to for support at their locations as well.
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  So we work with our community partners as best as we can to make sure
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  that any services we can't offer to our guests here as a mission itself,
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  we can make sure that they do receive the service they need and the help
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  they need elsewhere. And that's of course now what we're seeing as well with
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  the evolution of the H four hub and the movement of it at when it's
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  going to be moving further west. But we know that the mission you've announced
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  an intention of moving into that Summar similar area as well. It's really this
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  coming of whole community effort that you know, we would have hoped that it
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  had existed at all times. But it does feel as if things are in
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  a very different, more positive place than they have been in the past.
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  Am I reading things right? Yes? Absolutely, I saw. I think
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  the media released some one out this morning, you know about with the new
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  strengthen the Core initiative, the extra hours at the current Age four and all
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  of the partners who are there and who are going to be there because of
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  these extra hours is wonderful news for a community because the H four is another
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  location that is available throughout the day and now I think up until midnight,
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  it is every every night where people can stay cool during these you know,
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  hot hot summer months coming up, but they can also receive all of those
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  services from other organizations which are there throughout the week or throughout the day to
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  get those extra services right and extra supports that they may need beyond just staying
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  inside in the pool. Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's a it's
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  a whole of it is a complex situation. It's think of what you know,
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  anybody needs on any single day, and it's the same level, if
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  not more because of the added circumstances. I wonder what more could be done
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  throughout the community that you're able to see that might come to mind where you
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  go like hey, if it is you know, just hey, people donating
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  more freezies, or if it's something more complex that you see, what more
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  do you think could be done should be done in our community? A check
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  on people if you're seeing people lying around, remind people that there are locations
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  that they can go. You mentioned I think earlier that you know there are
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  usually cooling centers in the summer. There's warming centers in the winter that are
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  available throughout the city. There's places like, uh would like splash pads and
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  things like that that you can potentially access to staying under you know, shade,
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  going inside buildings to stay cool, things like that. But of course
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  if people are able to give someone a water bottle. You know, there's
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  also things like lift bomb, sun block. Those things are needed as well
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  at places like the mission at the Age four Salvation Army, the Welcome Center,
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  those are very important to this time of year as well. And things
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  like flip flops or sandals, shoes, those are all items that you know,
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  all of our locations would need and we have the ability to give it
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  to people as they come to us. Right, so we're kind of the
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  place is that people either direct people or people come to you just because they
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  actually already know to come to us. And if people do want to,
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  you know, donate items to you or monetary cash to you, or donate
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  their time, what's the best way for them to get in touch Downtown Mission
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  dot com. They can donate there, they can volunteer, they can apply
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  to be a volunteer with us, and if they want to just drop off
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  the donation, they can drop one off at the seventy five Let perfect.
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  Well, Raucshini, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate
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  it. Uh you stay cool. I hope that all your patrons can stay
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  cool and thank you for what you do for winsor Essex. Thank you so
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  much, Sun cheers, you have a great one. Rukshini Punaya Ghulan is
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  the executive director of the Downtown Mission