Homeless numbers in Ottawa are ever increasing and many of Ottawa’s marginalized and/or vulnerable population are without basic winter essentials. On top of this many individuals who would normally sleep in the shelter setting are purposely avoiding shelters, due to overcrowding and COVID related fears.
Our little Nakkertok community is a pretty fortunate group and I’m sure we all have rarely used winter clothing lying around the house. Those coats in the back of the closet, the old winter boots in the garage, not to mention unused mitts, toques and scarves all over the place.
We are asking Nakkertok members to bring their extra or unneeded young adult and adult size winter clothing to Nakkertok practices on the Ontario side and to individually scheduled training events on the Quebec side. All you will need to do is throw whatever clothing that you are able to donate into your trunk, drive it to a practice or individual training exercise, and then drop off your items to one of the people listed below.
Once your items are collected they will be delivered to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). CMHA is a non-profit organization that provides advocacy, programming and resources that helps to prevent and treat mental health illnesses. CMHA staff will be able to distribute your clothes directly to community members and community organizations throughout the city; whether, this is to individuals living under a bridge, in an urban tent dwelling, or at any manner of shelters and supportive living environments through out the city.
Program-specific drop off contacts are listed below.
Note: Remove the “DELETE_THIS” text from the email addresses below. The text was added to avoid spam.
(Racing Rabbits & U14-U18)
Ruth Stratford – clarkeDELETE_THISruthanne@hotmail.com
(Adventure program, Mini Racing Rabbits & U18-U14)
Jesse Pierce – jessitaDELETE_THISpierce@hotmail.com
(Mini Racing Rabbits)
Jacalyn Ball – jacDELETE_THISpine@yahoo.com
(Racing Rabbits & U14-U18)
Sheila Sankey – sankeyDELETE_THIS23@gmail.com
(Racing Rabbits & U14-U18)
Christy Thompson – christytDELETE_THIS@nakkertok.ca
Please donate any items before the end of the year. Donated items can be delivered to any of the folks listed above during athlete training times. In order to abide by COVID regulations the timing and location of training sites changes frequently. We will attempt to pick your donated items up at regularly scheduled athlete trainings (as per the list below); however, we cannot be at all of the varied training sites and locations.
If you cannot make a delivery at one of the practices listed below, or if you have difficulty finding one of us, please send a message (cc all on the list above) and we will do our best to coordinate your delivery.
Drop off Times
Tuesday U14-U18 trainings – location TBD
Wednesday Racing Rabbit trainings – location TBD
Wednesday Adventure trainings – location TBD
Thursday U14-U18 trainings – location TBD
Saturday Racing Rabbit & U14-U18 trainings – location TBD
Sunday Adventure trainings – location TBD
What we are looking for*…
Warm Coats or Vests Gloves or Mitts
Toques or Winter Hats Winter Boots
Scarves or Neck Warmers Sleeping Bags
* Please ensure your donations are clean / ready to wear. *
* These items will not be laundered and will go directly to individuals who need them. *
Thanks
Jac, Sheila, Ruth, Jesse, and Christy