Bradford Out of the Cold Café has found the keys to success in local support.
WOW Living hosted a dinner gathering recognizing the contributions of those who donated to the café at Perfect SZN in Bradford earlier this week.
The café is moving from their 31 Frederick St. location to the town’s new social services hub at 177 Church St., in October and that move comes with increased costs.
Luckily, some groups and businesses in the community were generous enough to each donate enough to cover one month’s rent in the new facility, $3,000.
The organization refers to these donors as key holders and to celebrate them, Jodi Greenstreet, executive director at WOW Living, presented each with a large decorative metal key with their name on it — all donated by John Veveiros from JV Fabrications.
Greenstreet opened the event by thanking everyone who could attend.
“We really appreciate you guys. We just wanted to say thank you,” she said.
Greenstreet then explained the goal of the café to provide people in poverty the tools and resources they need to strengthen stability in their lives and increase their resiliency.
To demonstrate the difficulties with which people can struggle in life, Greenstreet held a stack of rocks and had an attendee push her repeatedly, and each time Greenstreet needed the strength not only to keep holding the rocks, but the resiliency to resist the push and return to her position.
“I need strength to actually carry this stuff, and the longer I’m carrying it the harder it is to hold onto it without dropping something, and a lot of these things are usually people. The longer I’m carrying stuff and more tired I get the harder it is to bounce back,” she said.
Greenstreet gave examples of burdens people carry including bills, debts or dependants like children and gave examples of hardships to overcome like losing a job or losing housing.
“That’s what we’re trying to do is come along side, stand beside and hold each other up — that’s what you’re donating towards,” she said.
Afterwards Greenstreet invited “a ray of sunshine”, Derek Thomas, to speak about his experiences with the café.
Thomas was open in describing some of the hardships he had been experiencing in his life before coming to the café including a lack of self worth, a lack of confidence and a lack of direction in life.
He couldn’t explain what exactly drew him to the café.
"I walked in that door one day and as I walked in Jodi was standing right there, and I said, ‘Hey, do you guys need some help?’ I needed the help, more than they did, just to have a place to feel comfortable and stable,” he said.
At 43, Thomas described going from someone who struggled to relate to people, who kept his head down and would mind his own business, to being happy around people.
“Now because of the relationships I’ve built through the café I can’t go to the grocery store without walking into somebody that says ‘Hey, how you doing?’ Bradford is very lucky to have the people that we have in it that come together for the greater good of everyone,” he said.
Greenstreet then began calling up donors to present them with their keys and relate stories of how they became involved with WOW Living and Bradford Out of the Cold Café.
The list of key holder donors includes:
- Big Yellow Bins
- Gwillimdale Farms
- Reali’s No Frills
- RE/MAX Crosstown Realty Inc.
- The Co-operators — Torrejon Financial Inc.
- Scaraoke Entertainment
- The Knights of Columbus
- Doug and Brenda Weening
- Dominion Farms
- Mortgage Edge — Debbie Viveiros
- Business Tech Ninjas
- The Out Of The Cold Cafe Volunteer Team (50 people each committing five dollars a month for 12 months)
- Jeanny Salmon Therapy & Clinical Services, Peter and Terry Bissonnette, and Nancy's Nifty Nook (each donated $1,200)
Other supporters included Bradford Community Church, Springwater Engineerings and Landshape Contracting.
Supporters at the event who spoke to BradfordToday had nothing but good things to say about Greenstreet and WOW Living’s Out of the Cold Cafe.
Peter Reali of Reali’s No Frills said he’s known Greenstreet since the first month that he started at the No Frills in 2017.
“As soon as she told me what she was all about, it made me want to help, and every year she’s been growing what she does more and more. It just feels like it’s money well spent ... I just want to do as much as I can. Jodi’s the best.” he said.
Heidi Kostyra of REMAX/Crosstown related to those helped by the café.
“I’m one of 10 kids and we were definitely the (recipient) of people dropping off groceries at our house. We struggled a lot as a family,” she said.
In terms of becoming a key holder donor, Kostyra felt it was best for the community.
“I really believe in the power of the community coming together. As someone else said tonight ‘you can’t out-give God,’” she said.
Leticia Torrejon of The Co-operators first supported WOW Living’s efforts to create tiny homes with trailers before getting involved with the café.
“I went to the café one day and I volunteered there and I saw these people were really being taken care of, more than just having a coffee, so that’s what motivated me to help them,” she said.
When it came to the key holder donation, Torrejon wanted to help with the expense of the new location.
“I saw the great cause they are doing, and I found it very important to try to collaborate,” she said.
Bradford Out of the Cold Café has operated in partnership with CrossTrainers Canada since 2020 and serves warm meals, coffee and beverages each day they are open to 20-40 people in need in the community.
The meals are provided through local restaurants, like Perfect SZN, Hay Caramba! and Little Caesars as well as local church groups like Holy Martyrs of Japan.
Additionally, Starbucks donates leftovers.
The facility also provides a reprieve for those seeking shelter from the elements and from October to April partnered with the County of Simcoe to offer an extreme cold overnight warming centre for South Simcoe.
The volunteers at the café also help connect people with the resources and programs they need and Greenstreet estimates they have assisted more than 40 individuals to find long-term housing, assisted individuals write resumes and secure employment, successfully walked clients through the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) application process and even assisted guests in accessing appointments for cancer treatments.
The town has offered WOW Living space in its new facility under construction at the old Bradford Public School for an annual rental price of $11 per square foot, which works out to $3,000 per month for the cafe and $2,200 per month for A Hand Up Clothing Room.
Greenstreet previously said the units are unfinished, meaning the move also comes with renovation costs, for things such as flooring, walls, electrical, HVAC and engineered drawings.
Anyone looking for more information or wanting to donate can visit wow-living.ca.
