The Mustard Seed in Medicine Hat has turned to a more mobile approach in the months since its Allowance Avenue Southeast location was forced to close. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

By Eli J. Ridder

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The Mustard Seed’s operation in Medicine Hat has shifted to mobile outreach after the organization was forced to close its main community centre earlier this year.

Hundreds of people were left without access to breakfast and lunch, clean clothes, fresh haircuts, essential mail and other daytime services when the non-profit shuttered its North Flats site at the end of Februrary.

Now, staff and volunteers at the organization have turned to going out on the streets to try and provide some of the same services or, in some cases, to other institutions.

Dani Bolduc, the non-profit’s community development specialist, said one of the ways The Mustard Seed is keeping some of Medicine Hat’s most vulnerable people fed is with a cart.

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“Since April 15, we’ve been able to go out and provide 213 meals,” Bolduc said in an interview this week.

“We’ve been going around with a little trolley and just trying to just see the people out and about.”

The Mustard Seed uses one of its vans to transport the cart, staff, food and other supplies to where it’s needed most under what it calls its Seed Impact Program, according to an April 23 social media post.

That food is donated and still prepared at The Mustard Seed’s building at 501A Allowance Ave. S.E. where it operates what it calls a “ghost kitchen” after approval from the city’s planning authority in February.

Bolduc, her staff and volunteers have also provided 300 socks to those who need it most and get mail to the 275 people who listed the Allowance Avenue Southeast site as their address.

In March, volunteers were able to help 161 people get their taxes completed at the Medicine Hat Public Library.

Using a kart, staff and volunteers are still able to reach some of the people they use to serve at the Community Impact Centre on Allowance Avenue Southeast. Supplied/The Mustard Seed

Over 620 health and wellness assessments were provided to 257 people over the same month, a spokesperson added.

“We’re still committed to serving the population. We’re still committed to serving those that find themselves in need,” said Bolduc.

“It’s just a little step at a time.”

Bolduc was speaking at The Mustard Seed’s emergency shelter, the organization’s other site in Medicine Hat that is allowed to continue operating in the city.

Dani Bolduc, community development specialist, says The Mustard Seed’s mobile approach allows the non-profit to still reach people who need it most. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

A search for a new, all-in-one location for its services began last year, according to Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright.

It’s an effort that includes The Mustard Seed, the local community housing society, the City of Medicine Hat and the Alberta government, according to officials.

Bolduc said Tuesday there wasn’t any progress to report yet but staff and volunteers continue to take it day by day.

“It’s all in God’s hands. Literally, the whole staff is operating by faith, and not by sight,” she said.

“Even though we might not see things right now, we know that there’s probably things working on in the background.”

Residents and business owners located in the Flats neighbourhood of Medicine Hat raised concerns over the actions of those who use the organization’s services.

The calls for action grew as people who lived and worked near the Allowance Avenue site complained of rampant drug use, prostitution, theft and other illegal activities that threatened their safety.

It came to a head in a January town hall hosted by The Mustard Seed that aimed to bridge divides and show the importance of its services.

While many residents said they were generally supportive of what the organization was doing to help Medicine Hat’s most vulnerable population, they didn’t want the services provided in a residential area of the city.

Under pressure from some of those residents, the Municipal Planning Commission denied a request from the organization to add overnight beds to its Allowance Avenue site, an addition requested by the Alberta government.

That started a countdown timer to when the site would need to shutter its operations. After some confusion from the city over timelines, the North Flats location finally shuttered on Feb. 28.

While it brought relief to some, the daytime centre’s permanent closure left over 100 vulnerable people without somewhere to go during the day and without a way to access crucial services.

It’s overnight shelter, because of what it is zoned for by the city, is unable to expand its services to meet a broader clientele.

It currently hosts some 30 homeless people overnight and brings food over from its North Flats kitchen to feed them, but its unable to offer many of the services that they and others received at Allowance Avenue.

But Bolduc and others who work and volunteer at the organization remain full of hope.

“Without the resource that was lost at Allowance Avenue, we are just praying and believing that a new home is going to be on the way, and that we’ll be able to provide all the services once again,” she said.