'Things are going to get cold again, it’s going to be the same thing and will get pushed under the rug again'

Your Downtown Guelph Friends organizer Kate Nixon and Ed Pickergill pose for a photo near The Bench on Wyndham Street. Your Downtown Guelph Friends is a recently-created Facebook group seeking to help support people experiencing homelessness in Guelph's downtown. Kenneth Armstrong/GuelphToday

1 / 1 Your Downtown Guelph Friends organizer Kate Nixon and Ed Pickergill pose for a photo near The Bench on Wyndham Street. Your Downtown Guelph Friends is a recently-created Facebook group seeking to help support people experiencing homelessness in Guelph's downtown. Kenneth Armstrong/GuelphToday

With snow in the long-term forecast, Kate Nixon knows there isn’t much time to get assistance to people in Guelph who are experiencing homelessness. A rally is being organized for this Saturday outside Guelph City Hall.

Your Downtown Guelph Friends is a Facebook group started by Nixon. Its core members are a group of like-minded community members seeking to serve the people who need a helping hand in Guelph’s downtown core.

Nixon is a recent high school graduate and organizes the group between working, volunteering and taking classes. She is a former member of Artsy Activists, a group of GCVI students that organized a number of rallies in recent years.

She noticed the conversation about homelessness dropped off after the cold winter weather warmed in spring and summer.

“I feel like there was lots of talk around January when people were upset when it was freezing and once it got warm again, people weren’t talking about it as much,” said Nixon.

Some long-term forecasts predict snow by next Wednesday.

“Things are going to get cold again, it’s going to be the same thing and will get pushed under the rug again,” said Nixon.

The group began by making and delivering about 100 sandwiches every Friday to The Bench, which is operated daily on upper Wyndham Street by Ed Pickersgill.

As time went on, the group began to accept donations of coats, boots, blankets, sleeping bags and other similar items.

“We decided to expand our horizons and to distribute more materials that were really needed,” said Nixon.

The group takes general donations of often needed items, but also takes a more targeted approach at times.

“They will say, ‘I need a sleeping bag or a hat’ and if we have it, we will bring it to them,” said Nixon. “If not, I will put a call out and people will donate it.”

“We build a lot of relationships with people and are able to ask those questions,” she said. “We are able to gauge what they need the most.”

The group has also made donations to the Community Health Van and Nixon is currently organizing donations destined for HOPE House or Marianne’s Place.

“We are trying to figure out where to distribute to other people as well, but the bench is where we go with food,” she said.

Pickersgill said he is impressed with the development of the new group.

“Sandwiches, clothing, sleeping bags are treasures at The Bench and elsewhere that our vulnerable friends and visitors do what they can to survive,” said Pickersgill in a recent Facebook post.

Saturday’s rally is called Keep our Friends Warm.

Using the word ‘friends’ in the group name and for the rally is intentional, said Nixon. She worries that many times, people experiencing homelessness also face dehumanizing language.

“We have to make them understand there is a human side to this,” she said. “You learn their stories and you know so much about them and how they got to that point — you really care about how they are doing.”

Nixon said she often sees people commenting on social media to complain about the homelessness issue in Guelph

“If you’re that passionate about it, why don’t you come out and help?” said Nixon. “If you see that there is a problem here and that we are lacking — you should join us.”

The ‘Keeping our Friends Warm’ rally will be held on Saturday at noon in Market Square outside Guelph City Hall.