Dion Oxford and Jay Hockaday help prepare the new laundry facility
Finding steady work for the homeless just got a little easier in one Canadian city. The Salvation Army Gateway is a 108-bed shelter for men who find themselves homeless in Toronto. They chose the name Gateway to express their desire to be the means of opening doors for those who come through theirs. Homelessness often results from running into walls and seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The Gateway's purpose is to build trusting relationships with individuals and walk alongside them as they face those barriers.
Staff at The Gateway believe that every person needs a friend, a home and a job. While providing shelter and friendship has gone well, facilitating employment is a greater challenge. The average client is 40 years old and has been declared unemployable by society. A few years ago, Gateway director Dion Oxford was struck with an idea for a business that would help re-integrate these men into the workforce.
The Salvation Army provides 615 beds at its five Toronto shelters. The cost of doing the laundry for those facilities is $325,000 per year. Why not create a linen service for the shelters and provide job and life-skills coaching for clients at the same time?
After raising $250,000 to prepare the facility and purchase equipment, The Gateway hired its first four employees in February. Staff will walk alongside them for six months in the linen program and then-once they graduate-connect them to a local employer.
It is exciting for Gateway personnel to see this vision come to life. Their enthusiasm is inspired by their love for Jesus and love for their neighbours and is a very pure form of the gospel. It represents good news to people who cannot find work, and to those who get jobs but quickly lose them because they are dealing with an addiction or have not been taught the life skills to budget and pay rent. Motivated by their love of Christ, Gateway staff help program participants experience a real sense of God’s presence and blessing in their lives. Gateway Linens is good news to those who are homeless and hopeless in Toronto.