NSUN is up to a few things this winter and we invite you to consider whether you’d like to be involved. If any of these are of interest you can go to our contact form and get in touch or send us an email at neighbourhoodsun@gmail.com.
QomQem Sunday Night Outreach Prep
A number of NSUN members (and their kids) turn up on Sunday nights at ~5:30 pm at First Met Church (entrance on 932 Balmoral) to help the QomQem street outreach team prepare their offerings – sandwiches, small bags of assorted candy, hot chocolate and more – to go out on Pandora. This is a hugely satisfying and yet simple process that can be done very quickly when we have the optimal number of hands (not too many as the space is not that big – I think about 10 people total is perfect).
I (Susan) usually work the baloney and cheese ‘line’. Lay out the bread in four columns. Margarine on one slice of bread and a dollop of mustard (which then needs to be spread out) on the other. Then a cheese slice on top of the margarine and then a slice of baloney on top of that. Close the sandwich up. Put it in a bag and put an identifying sticker on the bag (so that when the team is out on the street they know what each sandwich they are offering is).
The same goes on for nutella and peanut butter sandwiches and peanut butter and jam. And two or three people work with a big bin of brightly coloured candies portioning them into small bags so that everyone can have a pocket full of sweetness to look forward to.
The team packs all these items along with fruit cups and pastries and harm reduction supplies and two big containers of creamy, sweet hot chocolate (with marshmallows for adding on as desired) into carts and heads out onto Pandora to offer not just a bite to eat or a hot drink but a friendly face and a non-judgmental listener.
The Longest Night
NSUN is also in the midst – with some other organizations in town – of organizing the Longest Night event which is held around the world (but primarily in North America) typically on or around the winter solstice to remember those who died in the previous year while living unsheltered.
At the moment we are still in the planning stage but in the meantime hold the date of Sunday, December 21st open to attend an event likely getting underway at about 4:00 pm.
Soup on Pandora
Peer2Peer Indigenous Society did a hot soup event in November and it was so popular they are going to start repeating it monthly and perhaps even twice a month in the New Year. Here are the details of the first event. NSUN will be contributing some funds towards purchasing the ingredients for the soup as well as bowls and spoons. We’ll have more details on how NSUN volunteers can help coming later. Check back closer to December 19 or go to our contact form and get in touch or send us an email at neighbourhoodsun@gmail.com.
Neighbourhood Solidarity with Unhoused Neighbours 