And What Is Toronto City Council Doing......

* ice time for Leaside girls
* mayor and staff going to Copenhagen
* building a luxury facility for homeless with elevator and rooftop smoking area
* cost overruns and delays with St. Clair right-of-way
* billboard taxes to fund artists
* gourmet street vendors
* add your examples......

Dixon Hall still serving great need in Toronto 80 years later

December 04, 2009

Sandro Contenta

Dixon Hall began as a Toronto soup kitchen during the Great Depression in 1929. On Dec. 1, it celebrated its 80th anniversary.

COURTESY OF DIXON HALL

At Dixon Hall, a social service agency in central Toronto's east side, there's a picture of a thick line of men at a soup kitchen in the city during the Great Depression. They are neatly dressed, as if to proclaim their dignity in desperate times.

The picture speaks to Dixon Hall's roots, a community agency that opened its doors as a soup kitchen in 1929. Eighty years later, the Great Recession is adding a new kind of client to its many programs for people in need.

"What we are seeing is people coming to our services that are recently unemployed and don't have experience with being out of work, out of money and out of food," says Kate Stark, Dixon Hall's executive director.

They come "from middle-class backgrounds," Stark added, "and they really don't know what to do."

Dixon Hall's programs – from homeless shelters to summer camps for children – are stretched to capacity. But the agency has seen a drop in demand for gift boxes from the Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund – a turn of events that has nothing to do with a drop in need.

The agency, headquartered in the same Sumach St. building where it began eight decades ago, has served families in Regent Park since the public housing project was built in the 1950s. The complex is being redeveloped in phases, and families from demolished buildings have been relocated as far away as Scarborough.

So instead of filling a quota of 300 Santa boxes, only 145 children will be getting them through Dixon Hall this year.

"This year was really a shock because my numbers were lower than they've ever been," said Ronnie Thompson, a family support worker who assesses and recommends families for the Santa Fund at Dixon Hall.

Another possibility is that families once considered working poor – the clients Dixon Hall and other agencies refer to the Santa Claus Fund – have been forced onto social assistance by the recession. Those on social assistance are referred to the fund by local governments in Toronto, Peel and Durham regions.

Barb Mrozek, director of Toronto Star charities and philanthropy, says it's a good bet families that moved from Regent Park are accessing Santa Fund boxes through agencies close to their new homes. What's clear is that requests overall reached the fund's limit of 45,000 age-appropriate gift boxes earlier than in previous years. Each box for older kids includes a shirt, mitts, a hat, socks, a book and candy.

"The need has grown tremendously," Mrozek says. "The economy is hitting families really hard."

Dixon Hall was praised for easing such pain at its 80th anniversary celebration Tuesday. At its headquarters were people the agency serves and dignitaries like MPP George Smitherman, former Toronto mayor David Crombie, local councillor Pam McConnell, and Arlene Perly Rae, wife of local MP Bob Rae.

"The Dixon Hall family, for so long, has done all that's necessary and all that's required to nourish and to nurture the good people of this area," Smitherman told the gathering.

Dixon Hall began as a Christian relief agency formed by area churches. Named after church minister Cameron Dixon, it served destitute residents living in shacks on dirt roads.

Today it has an $8 million budget that covers programs including job training, music lessons for youth, and assistance to seniors to help them remain in their homes. It recently received funding as the lead agency for a program that steers Regent Park youths at risk away from violence and crime.

"The biggest challenge that children have here is dealing with the day-to-day violence they see around (drug) dealing and guns," Stark says.

"The kids who come into our programs, even at a young age of 10 or 8, they know half a dozen kids ... who are dead – they've been shot, they've been murdered," she added.

For these children, Dixon Hall is a haven – which is what it has been for so many, for so long.