‘At capacity’: Surrey shelters seeing record numbers, need your support

An elderly man with a kind face and a voice so gravelly you could drive a pick-up truck over it stands outside the front door of the Surrey Urban Mission’s shelter on King George Boulevard.

He’s thirsty.

“Hey Wayne, do you got any water I could have?” he asks as a large group of people check out a table outside the shelter that is filled with items of warm clothing that are free for them to take as the October weather turns ugly.

“Wayne” is Wayne Kallen, who manages all four of the SUM shelters.

“Sure, I’ll find something,” Kallen says. “I’ll put it on your tab.”

Kallen then lets out a hearty laugh at teasing one of the SUM clients, but that laugh also comes with a nod of recognition.

That’s because he once stood in this exact doorway looking for the exact same thing.

Kallen was once a subsistence-level drug dealer who battled both alcohol and drug addictions. His life spiraled out of control. It cost him his marriage, friendships – even access to his beloved dog, Tacoda.

Then he turned it all around and got clean before going back to school at age 50 to get a college diploma in counselling. He even got back together with his wife – and Tacoda.

And so when Kallen tells SUM clients that getting clean and off the streets and living a better life is possible – they know that he’s lived it.

When Kallen is asked what it’s like to manage a place he used to go for meals when he didn’t have any food, he says it’s “weird.”

“But it’s a good weird because I know I can help people the way they helped me,” Kallen says.

Kallen has been credited with helping 89 people in the past year make the decision to access detox services before heading into recovery programs. He does that by “working the phones” and finding space for people who are ready for help.

“That’s key,” says Kallen. “If people aren’t at the point where they want help, there is no point.”

That’s really the big win for SUM – it doesn’t just warehouse people, it helps them make the transition to getting off the streets permanently.

SUM does this by providing essentials such as food, clothing and safe shelter, which all lead to access to programs that offer permanent solutions.

Here are some basic SUM facts:

• SUM runs four shelters and one supportive housing facility.
• SUM is one of the largest shelters in Canada – providing shelter and three meals a day to roughly 220 people every day. 
• Ninety-seven per cent of its funding comes from BC Housing, the rest from private donors, the City of Surrey. 
• SUM runs on four pillars: meals, shelter, casework, faith.
• Casework means getting people their IDs, helping them complete income tax returns, getting them to doctor’s appointments.
• Roughly 23,000-plus meals are served every month.
• SUM has a community meal program (bagged meals) that they hand out at SUM’s Place window – all of this food for the community meal program is donated from people in our community and Starbucks.  
• Roughly 80 per cent of clients are men.
• Roughly 30 per cent of clients – also referred to as guests – are seniors, part of a growing trend.
• SUM benefits from about 100 volunteers.

SUM allows people to stay at the shelter if they have a pet, and so it is always looking for donations of pet supplies.

Men dominate the client list for SUM, in part, because of a “stigma” sometimes attached to asking for help.

“Men are typically less likely to reach out to friends or family for help,” said SUM chief executive officer William Meyers.

SUM is part of a mishmash of services throughout Surrey spread between the city, Fraser Health, missions and other organizations. A key is that they all communicate with each other.

“We don’t operate in silos,” says Janet Brown, who does communications for SUM.

The SUM shelter toured by the Surrey Citizen includes offices, bathrooms, a wellness centre, a multipurpose room with a TV and faith services, plus an industrial kitchen that is currently being renovated.

There is also an area called “The Dorm” – a group of beds squeezed together where clients sleep at night and that is staffed 24 hours a day. It’s a co-ed area and SUM is looking at ways to separate the men and women, but it’s a tight space.

The rear area has bins for donated items, as well as a food pantry.

Out back is a private outdoor area with planters that grow fresh vegetables, plus tables and chairs for clients.

This area sits in the shadow of a giant luxury residential hi-rise. Two more of these buildings will be built next door in the coming years.

The dream for SUM is to have one large facility that all the shelters can operate out of. In the meantime, SUM is looking at ways to expand to other sites and is working with BC Housing.

“We’re at capacity every single night,” said Brown.

If you are interested in donating money, food or clothing, you can visit sumsplace.ca for more details.