Emergency Food Bank
There truly is a
need for food banks in Canada. This past year, Oasis served on
average 400 families per month. More and more people need access to
such services, especially at Christmas when the weekly numbers
soared to an all time high of over 150 families. The Oasis Food
Bank is open once a week on Wednesdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
During that time Oasis serves the community of people who live
within our set boundaries in the Dovercourt area. These boundaries
are put in place by Daily Bread Food Bank to ensure all people have
access to their closest Food Bank.
Oasis has the
pleasure to work with and receive food from: Daily Bread Food Bank
and Second Harvest Food Bank. The Aurora Food Pantry also
frequently donates food to Oasis. The original source of much of
this food comes from generous individuals Oasis thanks you all.
Some Facts:
·
The first food bank in Canada opened in 1981. Today
there are over 635 food banks across the country with an additional
2000 agencies helping hungry people nationwide.
·
Close to 800,000 different people in Canada turn to a
food bank for emergency food supplies each month.
·
Thirty-nine per cent of food recipients are children
and estimates suggest that almost sixty per cent of households
accessing food banks are families with children.
·
Most food bank recipients receive social assistance;
many others are working poor, receiving disability income or other
income support such as Employment Insurance; some have no income at
all.
·
At Oasis a three to four day supply of groceries is
supplied to its Food Bank clients in most cases twice a month.
*Statistics used from the Canadian Association of
Food Banks.
Homework Club
The Oasis Dufferin Community Centre has been described as a place
that provides a sense of community for a cold and busy city. Twenty
percent of the families served at Oasis are single parent families
in which the parents are busy either looking for work, or simply
trying to keep their jobs. Many of these children are newcomers and
are struggling to keep up with their English at school. The Oasis
Homework Club addresses these issues by providing a safe space for
children to receive the help they need in order to improve in
school.
It
is our aim to help these children with their school work, but we
also plan to develop relationships with them and impact several
aspects of their lives. We plan to do this by meeting several of
their needs:
-
We meet their physical needs by providing a
nutritious snack each day and by giving each child a safe
environment to work in.
-
We strive to meet their mental needs by providing
enough staff and volunteers in order that each child can receive
individual attention in a tutorial setting.
-
We make every effort to meet their spiritual needs by
providing Bible lessons for a period of 20 minutes each day.
We plan not only to become positive influences in the
lives of these children, but also in the lives of their families. We
would like to thank each person that has contributed to this
program, including our donors and volunteers.
ADVOCACY
When we use the
term advocacy we are talking about the power to defend or speak up
for others in need or who are being unjustly treated. At Oasis we
advocate with the whole person in mind: physical, intellectual,
emotional and spiritual individual aspects that make up a person.
Physical -
We provide free coffee and snacks, emergency food, housing
assistance through a housing worker from West End Community Legal
Services, help with translation for basic needs, social assistance
visits and health care supports. We also assist with clothing and
furniture referrals, immigration information/referrals, and other
life skills assistance, when possible.
Intellectual -
We assist with the personal development and professional skills by
providing job-training courses that.
Emotional and Spiritual
-
Volunteers at Oasis advocate for other volunteers needing support.
Spanish speaking people clearly feel a powerful sense of belonging.
Families are empowered to help themselves and support each other to
build a community at Oasis and this helps build a brighter future
for themselves and their families. Those who come to Oasis not only
are tended to physically, but the spiritual aspect is also met. When
there is a person who expresses a thirst to find God in His Word and
to follow the teachings of Christ, he/she is encouraged to read His
Word and all efforts are made to link this person up with a
congregation or support group that will assist and nurture him/her.
Immigration Information and Referrals
-
Oasis has a close connection with refugee shelters that are close in
proximity to Oasis – Adam House, Matthew House, and World Vision
Reception Centre. Often the newcomers arrive at Oasis with
immigration questions and they are provided with information when
possible, or given referrals to lawyers or other legal consultants.
Advocacy with Social Assistance Offices -
Until the newcomers receive their work permits, they are unable to
legally work in Canada; therefore, they must receive social
assistance for several months. Oasis assists with this process,
helping with telephone intakes to Ontario Works offices and
providing translators for the office appointments.
Furthermore, Oasis
is a host site for Ontario Works volunteers and we provide a safe
place for newcomers to do their volunteer placements as they adjust
to Canada.
Frequently, the
Oasis staff assists with phone calls to the various Social
Assistance offices when clients and volunteers need translators to
help them explain their problems and needs.
Interpretation/Translation
(English/Spanish) -
Since the Oasis
staff is bilingual (English/Spanish) there is much demand for
translation services to the various government offices, health
support services offices, etc. Oasis
endeavours
to help in this area when sufficient notice is given to the office
staff. Furthermore, Oasis staff translates short documents, such as
birth and marriage certificates, as well as other short legal
documents.
Oasis Programs
Counselling -
There are several women at Oasis who receive
individual and group counseling by a certified therapist. On
occasion, new clients can become a part of these groups, and be
helped in emotional and spiritual areas.
Seniors’ Club -
A Spanish speaking group of seniors meets every third
Thursday of the month for food, fellowship, and a time of discussion
or presentation of an appropriate theme, which is usually
coordinated with seasonal holidays. A delicious lunch is always
served and the seniors who come from a variety of Spanish speaking
countries enjoy meeting new people and acquiring interesting
information about other cultures.
Discipleship and Mentoring -
When there are new Christians at Oasis, there is much that needs to
be done to assist them with their development, Christian growth and
maturity. Oasis provides group Bible studies for women volunteers
and these studies also give the women an opportunity to converse in
English.
Volunteer Placement Program -
Since Oasis is a host site for Ontario Works
(Welfare) clients to do their volunteer placements, we have a
wonderful opportunity to meet people from countries all over the
world. Presently we have the following countries represented on our
volunteer staff: Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica, Albania, El
Salvador, Argentina, Nigeria, Egypt, Portugal, Guatemala, Venezuela,
Iran, China, Angola, Cuba, Bolivia, Kenya, Russia, Turkey, and
Canada. The volunteers occupy various jobs at Oasis, e.g. intake
workers in the food bank, hamper room workers, cooks, gardeners, job
trainers, data entry, receptionist work, office support people,
translators, etc. The needs are great at Oasis and the
possibilities are endless.
Not only does Oasis offer volunteer opportunities for
many, but also is able to serve these people as many of them adjust
to the Canadian culture. Oasis offers the volunteers advocacy
services and also assists them with the basic necessities, such as
food and clothing.
Oasis Job Training Courses
Cashier Training -
This course is a 10-hour training course usually held on Wednesday
evenings from 6:30-9:00 p.m. The cost of this course is $65.00,
which includes all materials. It is taught by two competent women
who use a dynamic method of teaching. They prepare the pupils in
the following areas: customer service, sales tax, retail vocabulary,
retail prices, types of payments, shortage control, store
merchandising, pricing, robbery prevention, and practical cash
register experience. A certificate is issued to the pupils at the
completion of the course if their attendance has been good. The new
comers who attend this course are excited to be able to participate
in a short course, which will assist them in their job search. The
teachers who give the course are willing to allow their names to be
used as references when the pupils actively search for jobs.
Bank Teller Training -
This 10-hour course is usually taught on Monday
evenings and also costs $65.00 with a certificate being presented at
the completion of the course if the attendance has been good. It is
a very popular course which instructs the pupils on banking
procedures: the types of accounts, debit/credit, foreign exchange,
balancing, banking machines, stop payments, and payment of utility
bills. Pupils who attend this course have been able to find jobs as
bank tellers but it also depends greatly on each individual pupil
and his/her job search strategies.
Computer Literacy Courses -
Oasis offers a variety of computer courses depending on the demand.
Basic Internet -
This 15-hour course is usually held on Wednesday evenings from 7:00
p.m. - 9:00 p.m. and costs $90 which includes all materials. It
consists of the following concepts: basic computer terms, hardware
introduction, introduction to Internet and browsers, e-mail,
configuring e-mails, web applications, MS Front Page and HTML
Basics, and search engines. A certificate is given at the completion
of the course and is based on a mid-term test, a final exam and good
attendance.
Basic Keyboarding -
This 15-hour course is usually held on Saturday mornings from 9:00
a.m. - 11:30 a.m. for 7 Saturdays. The course consists of the
following: basic computer terms, typing tutor, MS Word Pad, and MS
Word (basic functions). The course costs $90.00, which includes all
materials. A competent teacher who uses up-to-date methods teaches
the course. A certificate is issued at the completion of the course
and is based on a mid-term test, a final exam and good attendance.
Microsoft Word -
This course is also a 15-hour course and is usually held on
Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. and costs $90 which includes
all materials. This course includes the following concepts: basic
computer terms, installing MS Word, title bar and menu bar, file
menu, standard toolbar, formatting toolbar, etc. A certificate is
given at the end of the course and is based on a mid-term test, a
final exam and good attendance.
Microsoft Excel -
This course is also a 15-hour course and is usually held on
Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. It runs alternatively with
Microsoft Word. The cost is $90 which includes all materials. It
consists of the following concepts: basic computer terms, installing
MS Excel, creating and saving a spreadsheet, basic functions, cell
format, row and column format, tables, drawing pictures, Excel
formulas, Excel graphs, etc. A certificate is given at the end of
the course and is based on a mid-term test, a final exam and good
attendance.
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