The story of the Out of the Cold Café (located at 31 Frederick St.) began in April of 2020 after Jodi Greenstreet, the founder, was asked by a friend if she knew anywhere in town where a homeless person could get a shower.
From there, the café has become a much appreciated place for those needing a warm space and a meal to go seven days a week in the cold months. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day; local restaurants and churches donate food.
Before Thanksgiving, Simcoe County officials asked that the café serve as the extreme cold overnight warming centre for South Simcoe.
“Now any time it hits -15, the café will stay open overnight for people because that’s the life or death temperature,” said Greenstreet.
It all began when Greenstreet was calling everywhere in Simcoe County looking for a place for the homeless to shower. After finding no luck, that led her to email former Mayor Rob Keffer and newly elected Mayor James Leduc, who was deputy mayor at the time, asking if they had any solutions. That’s when everything changed.
“James Leduc emailed me back within 15 minutes and told me he was unaware we had homeless people, and most people don’t see the homelessness in Bradford,” says Greenstreet. “Within 24 hours, they came up with the solution to open the old community centre and access to the showers for two days a week.”
During the pandemic, Greenstreet would go those two days a week and had the chance to listen to the people struggling with homelessness. That’s when Community Meal, Helping Hand Food Bank, and CrossTrainers Canada came together and started serving lunch during those two days.
“We had bagged lunches and showers available to them,” she says. “They literally had nowhere to go because every shelter was in lockdown and you couldn’t sit in coffee shops. Some of the people I was listening to came up with the idea for a space, like a free café for those in need.”
CrossTrainers Canada is the charity in Bradford that runs the Hub Youth Centre, but with it closed during COVID, Greenstreet, who is also the executive director of WOW Living, worked with the Hub’s executive director, Patti LaRose, to get the space running.
“Our biggest need was volunteers because we wanted to be open seven days a week,” explains Greentstreet. “Within two weeks, we had enough volunteers from the town to open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. everyday. We were the only place offering in-person services in all of Simcoe County at the beginning of the pandemic.”
As more people began to utilize the café, Greenstreet and her team continued to add to it to provide more support for those who need it.
“We’d hear that people didn’t have a laptop or a phone, so how are they supposed to access stuff with government agencies mandated to work from home? We would call the government workers and they’d have us help them support them," Greenstreet explained. "Our amazing team of volunteers learned a lot on the fly. We added stuff like laptops, printers, fax machines, and a quiet space where we could meet with people.”
Now, every single day the café is open, there’s between 20 and 50 people utilizing the space and services.
“We wanted to be able to serve them meals, that’s when the restaurants jumped in,” Greenstreet explained. “We were able to do a hot lunch provided by a restaurant every day of the week. Starbucks donates their leftover food every day of the week — it’s enough for us to provide breakfast. And, with the food bank providing us with leftovers, we’re able to send them home with something for dinner.”
Going from an idea to a full-fledged café that provides support everyday is no small accomplishment, Greenstreet says with pride, and notes the team has even begun helping people find housing.
“Part of our culture is we try to celebrate, we try not to just run past this stuff because our team has helped house 39 people and 29 of them have been in the same house for over a year,” Greenstreet explains.
In May of 2021, after the March fire on Holland Street, the town asked the café to be the place where people could go to get help with what they need after many lost everything in the fire.
“We were only planning to be open from Nov. 1 to April 30, that’s the out-of-the-cold season,” said Greenstreet. “People were still in hotels and coming in for help, so we stayed open and our team created the ‘needs list.’ People displaced from the fire would tell us what they needed and people from the community would adopt someone and help them. That’s why we never closed.”
The community has even helped the café fundraise to buy a portable washroom and shower trailer for $50,000. It’s served as the primary washroom for those displaced by the fire who have been living at the church, but Greenstreet is hoping by January it will be moved to the café
The café is now open every day of the week during the cold season and three days a week during the rest of the year.
“Our team keeps growing,” says Greenstreet, “so, as we add volunteers, we may open more. It’s been so cool to see it grow.”
This Christmas, the café will remain open with Gavin Maclean, aka Bradford’s Santa in the parade, cooking a turkey dinner for everyone.
