Big city, big problems. Living amongst the wealthy and powerful of Toronto are the poor and helpless. According to the City of Toronto's homelessness report card in 2003 nearly half a million households had incomes below the poverty level. Over 30,000 individuals, including almost 5,000 children, stayed in a housing shelter at least once. Over 70,000 households were on the waiting list for subsidized housing.
The Presbyterian Church has been responding to these needs for over a century, providing solace to the vulnerable. Evangel Hall opened in 1913 as a soup kitchen. That wasn't enough and it continued to grow, to evolve.
More than just a shelter
by Amy Maclachlan
The new Evangel Hall building does more than offer shelter for Toronto's less fortunate. It offers safety, respect and a place to call home. At the grand opening celebration on October 19, those gathered listened to Khatija Tammi, a woman with two young children who fled her abusive husband …
Dignity and respect
Evangel Hall, a ministry of The Presbyterian Church in Canada since its inception in 1913, opened its new building in February. The $13-million six-storey facility in downtown Toronto includes 84 low-income housing units, as well as a medical clinic, commercial kitchen, counselling space, thrift store and a chapel…
Working for their guests
by Stevie Cameron
Some stopgap. Some band-aid. That's all our Out of the Cold program was meant to be when we started it at St. Andrew's on King Street in Toronto 15 years ago. We never dreamed we'd still be at it today; we were sure that by now our governments would have solved the shameful problems of poverty and homelessness that were infecting our city and so many others across Canada…
