Staff, community raising money for the Downtown Mission with 24-hour ‘Bench Talks’ event | CBC News

For 24 hours, members of the Downtown Mission’s staff, as well as supporters, will be camped out on a bench in front of the building.

It’s part of Bench Talks, which started late Thursday morning, and continues until 11 a.m. Friday, in a bid to connect with people and start conversations about the Downtown Mission’s work. 

“It’s an opportunity for community members, for companies, organizations downtown or in the Windsor-Essex County area to come down, come by the Mission, get a tour of the Mission,” said Rukshini Pooniah-Goulin, the executive director of the Downtown Mission. 

LISTEN: Downtown Mission staff spend 24 hours on bench to raise money, support

“The purpose of Bench Talks is to bring our community a little bit of awareness about some of the issues that the guests of the Mission face daily, nightly.”

Pooniah-Goulin will be among the staff and community advocates sitting on the bench, joined by Abram Banman, a director on the Mission’s board, community advocates Greg Lemay and Natalie Bourgoin and Ward 3 Coun. Renaldo Agostino. 

Community members are invited to stop by with a donation, talk with staff and community members and take a tour of the Mission. 

Bourgoin, one of the advocates who ise out on the bench, says she became involved through the Windsor Youth Centre and her non-profit group, YQG Cares. 

“We are as strong or as weak as our weakest link, and as a community, it is important for those that are in a better financial standing to be able to turn around and lend a helping hand to those who are struggling,” she said. 

Ponniah-Goulin says that every year, clients of the Mission come to Bench Talks and share their stories. 

“That’s where we hear that these individuals … often they were working, they were living a life with a family in their home and they were safe and warm and everything was fine — until it wasn’t,” she said. “So it really does give us that reminder.  

“Most of us, I don’t think, think that this will happen to us or this would happen to a loved one.”

They will be collecting monetary donations, food for the food bank and warm gloves for the upcoming winter months. 

Pooniah-Goulin says about 60 per cent of the Mission is funded by community donations. That includes their Ouellette Avenue location, as well as the youth centre on Wyandotte Street. This year’s Bench Talks is also supporting the Mission’s food bank. 

While the Mission is always “strapped,” she says they’re seeing demand for their services rising across the board. 

Bourgoin says that even if people don’t have the monetary resources to donate, there is always something they can do. 

“The biggest message to the community is to be able to just extend of yourself. If you have extra non-perishable foods or just sharing posts, sharing events like this, inviting others to get involved.”