Soup, socks and a giving heart

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This article was published 01/12/2021 (1382 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A mother and daughter have taken it upon themselves to provide winter wear and hot meals to homeless people in the inner city.

Theresa Chanowski and her 26-year-old daughter Katie Titanich spent weekends in November cruising Portage Avenue and Main Street, stopping at bus shacks and shelters to help people out in the cold.

They handed out mittens, tuques, blankets, shoes, hot soup, and bannock, said Chanowski, a 47-year-old mother of three.

In early November, Chanowski asked friends and family on Facebook to turn over their excess winter gear so she could donate it to shelters.

“It was fast. I put that post up, and by mid-week, I had about six boxes. By the middle of the following week, my main living room was full of jackets — boxes of jackets, blankets, socks,” she said.

Chanowski and Titanich set out to deliver the goods, but rather than go directly to the shelters, they decided to stop along the way and offer the clothing to people on the street.

There was huge demand, Titanich said.

On Saturday, the pair hit the street for the third time and were joined by two friends, Jessica Nyguen-Yeryk and Cassie Hradowy, who helped them dish out hot turkey soup and bannock.

It turned out to be their biggest night.

“I think we reached about at least a hundred people, and we spent maybe two-and-a-half hours,” Titanich said.

“I can tell you they were definitely a lot happier and a lot warmer that night,” Chanowski said.

The cause is personal for the women.

Chanowski’s youngest daughter — Titanich’s sister — suffers from addiction and has spent time living on the street.

Both women remember dark days and long nights spent wondering where their loved one was staying and whether she was safe and warm, they said.

Her daughter is no longer homeless, but Chanowski has not forgotten that feeling of dread. Helping others keeps it at bay, she said.

“We feel great. And it’s not because we want praise or anything like that. It’s just, it hit personal for us,” she said.

Titanich makes it clear they address everyone as an equal and ensure they want help before they give it.

“I just talk to them like I would want somebody to talk to me,” Titanich said. “I’m not saying my helping would change their life or anything. I just think it’s a little bit of a break for their day.”

Many people the women encounter are stuck outside shelters after hours, sometimes without so much as a pair of shoes, Titanich said.

“A lot of these shelters are not (open) 24 hours, so you have people that are outside,” she said.

“In that time, that’s when they need the help…They do need something past the hours of operation. I think it just helps them in the moment,” she added.

Shauna MacKinnon, who chairs the University of Winnipeg’s urban and inner-city studies department, agreed there is a shortage of 24-hour support in the city. It’s due to a lack of funding, she said.

MacKinnon credits the women for recognizing the problem and taking the initiative to help but cautions them and others from taking to the streets.

Staff at resource centres and shelters are highly trained on harm reduction, crisis management, and mental health. In addition to providing basic needs, their job involves forming trusting relationships with vulnerable people and connecting them with long-term support, she said.

The best way to support organizations and the people they serve is to donate. Those who want to see real change should rally together and demand it from the municipal and provincial governments, she said.

Chanowski and Titanich recognize their boots-on-the-ground approach is not for everybody. Still, they’ve received nothing but gratitude from people they’ve served and have witnessed the immediate benefits of their actions, they said.

“It just kind of seems like we need people to do this,” Titanich said.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca