Main Street Project Inc.
75 Martha Street R3B 1A4 Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Good morning! Hope you all had a great long weekend. We are back with our myth busting series today. The next myth in our series is that people need to be "ready" for housing. The reality is that housing is a universal human right. No one needs to be "ready" to be treated like a human being and have access to their basic human rights.... #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #wpghomelessnessfacts

Thank you to our wonderful friend Kristie and her incredible network who helped collect some much needed gardening supplies for MSP's community gardens. We're looking forward to getting things planted and these supplies will help us a lot. Image description: a Main Street Project staff person and a donor hold gardening supply donations such as rakes and shovels collected in support of Main Street Project's community gardens. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba

The next myth in our myth busting series is that creating more shelters will solve homelessness. The reality is that emergency shelters provide an emergency response to those experiencing homelessness but shelters do not end homelessness. More housing and access to affordable housing can help to end homelessness. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #wpghomelessnessfacts

Thank you to our friends Parlour Coffee for accepting donations on our behalf and thanks for filling up our truck with much needed items today. We are so appreciative! Image description: Two Parlour Coffee employees stand outside of the coffee shop, beside a truck full of donations they’ve collected for Main Street Project.... #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba

Main Street Project is requesting proposals from CPA firms with respect to annual audit and related services commencing for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022. Proposals are due June 30, 2021 at 4:00pm. This is part of our due diligence and review every 5 years. A three to five year appointment term is anticipated, however, annual confirmation of reappointment is subject to Board approval supported by an annual engagement letter. Download full RFP for scope, timelines an...d proposal requirements: https://www.mainstreetproject.ca/request-for-proposals-ann/ #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba

The next myth in our series is all emergency shelters are the same. The reality is that different shelters serve different groups based on age, gender, substance use status and other factors. For example, Main Street Project is the only low-barrier emergency shelter in the downtown area that's open 365 nights a year. This means that MSP is the only permanent shelter in the downtown area that doesn't require sobriety as a condition to receive services. ... This is important as many individuals experiencing homelessness also use substances and requiring abstinence or sobriety as a condition to receive services isn't a realistic requirement for many. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #wpghomelessnessfacts

Hello all. Thank you so much for your outpouring of care and concern during this intense cold snap we are experiencing. We appreciate how much you care. Many concerned Manitobans have been sharing Main Street Project’s Van Patrol contact info through social media. The van is on the road 365 days a year, and in extreme weather, 24-hours-a-day. Over the past 48 hours, Main Street Project received over 200 calls from concerned citizens. The van outreach currently works within ...a larger Winnipeg Outreach Network and we are sharing the response to your inquiries with our partners. Many community members are accessing bus shelters as safe refuge from the cold. Although the shelters and warming centers are open, they are often at capacity during extreme cold weather. For many other reasons, people choose not to access these spaces, even when offered a ride. If you feel like someone may be in medical distress, please always call 911 for The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service emergency response. If you are concerned about someone, please give our van a call at 204-232-5217 and they will do a wellbeing check. Please note that we receive a high volume of calls during extreme weather, but we or our partners will attend to the call. We have also included here information about other resources in Winnipeg you can reach out to or refer people to. Main Street Project and other community groups can provide food, water, blankets, winter gear and voluntary safe rides. We also have case managers who work to assist people with removing barriers to addressing their self-identified needs. This kind of work takes time, as we prioritize building relationships first. Shelters are not the answer to homelessness, housing is. Thank you for caring! PLEASE SHARE! #mspbuildinstability #winnipeg #manitoba #mbextremeweather

Due to an incredible outpouring of support, we're putting a hold on acceptance of all clothing donations, with the exception of new adult underwear. We'll also accept towels, hygiene products, non-perishable food, coffee and water. Please email [email protected] to coordinate. Thanks for your support, everyone! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba

15 Ways to End Homelessness #2: Housing First #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #wpghomelessnessfacts

We have said it before and we will say it again, one of the best things about Main Street Project is our team. They are committed, caring, compassionate, supportive, resilient, hard-working, and making a difference in the lives of people every single day. If you’re looking to make a difference and work alongside these remarkable people, join us! We’re currently looking for people to join our team. Check out our employment opportunities page for current postings: ... https://www.mainstreetproject.ca//employment-opportunities/ #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba

Our collaboration with End Homelessness Winnipeg continues with this new series of posts, identifying 15 ways to End Homelessness in our city. #1: Housing #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #wpghomelessnessfacts

Today we had a wonderful visit from Randy and Catherine. Randy is a Winnipeg Police Officer and Catherine works at HSC, so both are familiar with the community served through MSP’s programs and services. Catherine celebrated her birthday on February 15 happy birthday! - and, instead of receiving gifts, asked her friends and family and to donate to Main Street Project. Altogether, Catherine raised over $2,000 through this wonderful initiative. In addition to this generous d...onation, after Randy and Catherine saw our amazing food bank volunteers prepping food bank for tomorrow, they went out and bought our volunteers coffee and doughnuts. Thank you Catherine for doing such a kind action in celebration of your birthday and thank you Randy and Catherine for providing some nice snacks for our volunteers! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba

Wow, big thanks to the team @midtown_ford for helping to start our year off right with this very generous donation. Pictured is Scott Campbell and Danica Salamat from @midtown_ford. Thanks so much! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #mspdonorsarethebestdonors

Good morning! We are hiring for some very exciting positions. Check out these links for more info and check out our Indeed postings for other available positions at Main Street Project: Facilities Manager:... https://ca.indeed.com/viewjob Admin Coordinator: https://ca.indeed.com/viewjob #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #manitobajobs #winnipegjobs

Thank you to The Winnipeg Foundation for the grant and thank you to Yvette for nominating Main Street Project! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #forgoodforever #TWF100

Here are a few more wonderful thank you’s to some very kind folks who helped us out during the holiday season. Pictured from left to right: Thank you to Jordan’s Principle for the wonderful food donation, thanks to Assiniboine Dental Group for the donations, thanks to St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church Youth Ministry for the donation of warm items, thanks to Liz Martin for the treats and thanks to Staples for the donations for our holiday gift drive. We appreciate you! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #mspdonorsarethebestdonors

MSP team member Joshua Okyere was nominated by a colleague to be honoured for Black History Month. Joshua is a Support Staff here at MSP’s Isolation Building. Josh is working for the Human Rights of Children and has taught me so much about how Children in Ghana (where he is from) live and are raised and how he sees a kinder future vision for their lives. He's currently in school. I hope to see him working with the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth one day. Josh's pr...esence is important to the success of our team's ability to meet the needs of the people we serve. He is kind, very thoughtful, responsive, cooperative, and brings us joy. I admire his strength and dedication. Honoured to work with him. Thank you, Joshua, for being such a wonderful person to work with! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #blackhistorymonth #blackhistory #blacklivesmatter

Zacura Colomb, a Grade 12 student at Vincent Massey Collegiate, was concerned about how COVID-19 would impact individuals experiencing homelessness this holiday season. Zacura had learned about some challenges people who experience homelessness face this past spring when she went downtown with her Aunt to provide sandwiches and bottles of water to vulnerable residents. Zacura wanted to do something this season to help. With the help of her resource teacher and graphics teac...her, a project of creating digital Santa photos for staff was born. Any staff member at Vincent Massey who was interested could donate money to the cause and submit a digital file of a photo that was meaningful to them. Some staff chose pictures of their children, family and even pets! Zacura then went to work photoshopping these images to create safe Santa photos! Her fundraiser was a huge success and she raised over $250. She was both surprised and thrilled with the response from her teachers and was very happy to give back by presenting a cheque to Main Street Project. Thank you, Zacura, for caring so much and for finding a safe, fun and memorable way to help MSP this holiday season while also providing holiday cheer to your teachers! Pictured is Zacura and an example of the incredible Santa photos she created. So creative! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #mspdonorsarethebestdonors

We're excited to give you a sneak peek of the logo for a new event we're launching in the next couple of weeks: Into The Cold, a fundraiser for Main Street Project. This event is a fundraising walk and will take place later in March. We're raising funds for our Van Patrol Mobile Outreach. Our team is busy behind the scenes getting the event ready, so stay tuned for our event launch with more info on how to sign up and raise funds in support of MSP. We do have an urgent need f...or now and are asking for your help. MSP’s Van Patrol Mobile Outreach provides essential services to many people in Winnipeg, including individuals who are staying outside in -30 weather. You've been so good about sharing the phone number to our van and we really appreciate your help. Thank you. MSP’s Van Patrol Mobile Outreach doesn't have consistent core funding. It’s primarily funded by grants and donations. We put the van on the road four years ago with YOUR support. We received word this past week that as of April 1, our van operating funding will be reduced, which ultimately means that the hours of operation will be reduced. This is not a good situation for the many individuals who rely on the van for consistent well-being checks, food, water, warm clothing, blankets and a friendly and supportive face of someone who cares. While we can’t lace up our shoes and walk to fundraise just yet, we're asking that you consider donating to MSP now in support of this essential program. You can donate at www.mainstreetproject.ca and you can choose to direct your gift to Van Outreach. We’d appreciate your support so much. Thank you. Please share this post to help spread the word. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #mspintothecold

Fact #10 Homelessness is gendered. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #wpghomelessnessfacts

Thank you so much to these amazing people who helped us out during the holiday season! Pictured from left to right: Petals Winnipeg who collected donations for us at their location, our friends at Parlour Coffee who collected donations for us, Bagel Smith who donated a bunch of delicious bagels, Gerry Hatricks who did their annual PB Jam sandwich donation which went to our van outreach, and Debra from First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba who made a generous... financial donation. Thank you everyone! Your support means so much to us and provided a lot of holiday cheer. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #mspdonorsarethebestdonors

Yesterday we were so honoured to meet Illan, a really cool 12-year-old who provided a very generous donation to MSP. Illan wanted to donate to Main Street Project because he really likes that we focus on providing care to folks in Winnipeg in many different ways. Illan appreciates that we don’t just do one thing at MSP but that we provide many different services. Illan really did his research when making his decision about where to donate! Thank you for choosing MSP for your... generous donation, Illan. We really appreciate the thought you put into this and that you chose us. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #mspdonorsarethebestdonors

Fact #9 Youth experience homelessness. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #wpghomelessnessfacts

We have so many wonderful businesses, schools and individuals generously help us out in so many different ways over the holiday season. We are going to spend the next few days thanking as many of these incredible folks as we can! Thank you to everyone who helped us out by collecting donations at your business, home or school, thank you to everyone who donated items, time or money, thank you to the family of schools from Louis Riel School Division who decorated all of our hol...iday gift bags and thank you to everyone who liked, commented and shared our social media posts! We appreciate you! Pictured here left to right: Sundragon Studios who held a collection drive for us, Olympic Building Centre who made a very generous donation to our food bank, Ecole Riverbend who did a gift drive at their school, Lot Ceramics who collected donations on her porch and Hair Co Exchange who donated shampoos to our holiday gift drive. THANK YOU EVERYONE! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #mspdonorsarethebestdonors

Good morning! We spent a lot of fun time last week meeting some really wonderful people and unloading some incredible sock donations. While we don’t have a final Socktober count just yet, we think it’s fair to say we will meet our goal of 20,000 pairs of socks. Thank you, Manitoba.... We weren’t too sure how Socktober would go this year but even with a global pandemic, a Winnipeg code orange and then a code red, you stepped up to help us out in a big way. Thanks to your generosity, we will be able to keep many pairs of feet warm and dry. Now let’s meet just a few of the wonderful people who helped us out and give them a huge round of applause! Pic 1: @truenorthsquare, @ParlourCoffee, @gianttigerstore on Main, Murdock McKay Flex Program Pic 2: @giftsofgracestreetmission, first year Physician’s Assistant Students, @gracewpg, Jen Raposo/@VintageSunsetPhotography, @coleinternational Pic 3: Books and Babes, @accessstorageca and @kornerkuts_ Kuts #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #mspsocktober #covid19 #covid19chc

Fact #8 Homelessness is racialized. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #wpghomelessnessfacts

Thank you so much to Me-Dian Credit Union for this wonderful donation towards our holiday gift drive! We really appreciate it a lot! This will help us out so much! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba

We would like to send out an extra special thank you today to Christine and Damien of Help Our Homeless. They have been very busy collecting donated items from their community network to provide to folks who need them. Jacob, one of our amazing peer advocates here at MSP who specializes in supporting rough sleepers/unsheltered Winnipeggers, is working closely with Christine and Damien in order to take in donations, sort them and provide them primarily to folks living in enca...mpments. Thank you Christine and Damien for caring so much and for working so hard to get much needed items to people who need them. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba

Fact #5 Homelessness has many different causes. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #wpghomelessnessfacts

The holidays are quickly approaching and we are planning our biggest ever holiday donation drive here at Main Street Project. Please help us this holiday season as we aim to gather enough donated items to put together over 500 gift packages so that each of our community members has their own gift to open the morning of December 25th. We will be collecting donated items from now until Friday, December 11th and hope to have all items in office by that date. It would be most... helpful to us to have items dropped off to us here at MSP. Email [email protected] to coordinate. All other information, including what kinds of items we are looking for, how you can help, a downloadable poster and the link to our Amazon Wish List can be found at www.mainstreetproject.ca thanks! Please share this post to help us get the word out. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba

Fact #7 Colonization has led to Indigenous homelessness. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #wpghomelessnessfacts

Fact #6 Drug use does not cause homelessness. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #wpghomelessnessfacts

Over the weekend at Main Street Project, we made the extremely difficult decision to close our men’s detox program, due to staff shortages. We anticipated this would be a very temporary emergency closure, as MSP is, and has always been a 24/7/365 person-centred, community-based organization. Today we are announcing the re-opening of the program. It is a rare situation for MSP to have to close a program. Many organizations closed programs and facilities when the pandemic hit M...anitoba. MSP stepped up to meet the increased demand, thanks to our incredibly resilient and committed front-line staff. Staff shortages due to COVID-19 is our reality today. This dilemma is challenging the entire health sector across Manitoba. To keep up with increasing demand, MSP has been rapidly but diligently hiring, training and deploying new staff to support our operations, our team, our clients and programs. We will continue working with and taking guidance from Public Health every step of the way. To mitigate the spread of COVID-19, we have enhanced regular deep cleaning and fogging of work and client spaces. To further keep staff and clients safe in all programs we conduct on-going PPE audits and ensure we are all following guidelines regarding proper use of PPE, physically distancing ourselves six feet apart, and maintaining appropriate hand hygiene. We truly appreciate the public’s concern for our community’s well-being, and will continue to provide updates on our pandemic response. Thank you for your support. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #covid19 #covid19chc

Today, November 20, is Transgender Day of Remembrance. From glaad.org: Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester's death, and began an important tradition that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.... "Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. With so many seeking to erase transgender people -- sometimes in the most brutal ways possible -- it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice." - Transgender Day of Remembrance founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith

Thank you so much to Susan for the generous donation of gorgeous handmade quilts today. These will definitely keep our community members warm and cozy. We really appreciate it. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba

Thank you to the wonderful young men over @stpaulshighschool for doing an incredibly successful sock drive for Socktober. They collected close to 1400 pairs of socks! Just wonderful, thank you so much @stpaulshighschool! We really appreciate it! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #mspsocktober #covid19 #covid19chc

Wow, thank you so much to Stacey, who did a VERY successful donation drive in support of MSP! This is incredible helpful to us and will go a long way in helping us provide much needed items to our community members. Thanks Stacey! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba

Hi everyone! Hope you’re doing reasonably well, all things considered. We are SO excited to share with you that we are now accepting clothing donations again! We are looking for practical and comfortable clothing, shoes, winter clothing, winter boots, hygiene products, new underwear and we will accept donations of bedding. Please keep in mind that we serve only adults here at MSP, so we don’t have a need for children’s clothing. We also do not require items such as furniture... or other household items. Please note that we require you to wear a mask when dropping off, and please don't come if you are sick or have been in close contact with anyone who has COVID-19, of course. Safety first! :) Please email [email protected] to arrange your donation drop off and we will get back to you ASAP. Our volunteers are looking forward to seeing you again! Thanks for thinking of Main Street Project! We really appreciate it. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #covid19 #covid19chc

A few months back, a wonderful supporter from rural Manitoba came to us with a really neat idea. She wanted to help the people we serve here at MSP by doing some fundraising and then buying some winter jackets that are also sleeping bags. Donna and her community raised enough money to send us 20 of these amazing coats, which is truly incredible. Since the snow is here, we are providing these jackets to our community and they seem to be a good fit. Thank you so much, Donna, ...for doing this wonderful fundraising project that will help keep some folks warm. We really appreciate you! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #covid19 #covid19chc

Updated Photo of MISSING CHILD: Nevaeh ROUNDHEAD Missing Since: October 20th, 2020 Age: 11 Height: 5’1... Weight: 110 lbs Hair Colour: Brown hair shaved on one side. See more

It’s the last week for Socktober. It’s challenging this year to provide an ongoing sock count like we’ve done in other years but based on the photos we’ve seen from some of our drop-off locations, it looks like it’s going to be another great Socktober campaign! Thank you to each and every one of you who’ve helped us with this important donation drive in such an unusual time. A couple of things to note: we are still working out a plan to safely accept socks and other clothing ...donations here at MSP. We are going to ask that you email [email protected] to make an appointment with us for this rather than just stopping by. We really want to do our best to keep our staff, volunteers, community members and donors safe during this time. Thanks for being patient with us on this. You can still buy socks from our Amazon Wish List, too, and your donation is mailed directly to us. All info is at www.mainstreetproject.ca thanks! Also, we are busy preparing to do our annual holiday gift drive, which we are SO excited for. We usually do this mid-November to mid-December, but we are going to start early this year to ensure we have lots of time to collect donated items. Previously we’ve put together about 200-300 gift bags for our community members, but this year we are aiming to put together over 500 gift bags! Since we’ve increased our services due to COVID-19, this adds quite a few gift bags to our total. We also want to add gift bags to our Food Bank this year and increase our Van Patrol Outreach gift bags. It adds up quickly to be over 500 gifts. We are really looking forward to this and will have more information on this exciting donation drive early next week, so stay tuned! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #covid19 #covid19chc

We’re sending our many thanks to Allan and Simone Penner for visiting us last week and for spending some touring our new facility. It was great to meet you and to have the opportunity to spend time with you. Thank you as well for the very generous donation, Allan and Simone. We are incredibly grateful! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #covid19 #covid19chc

Thank you so much to Ernie from Indigenous Peoples Alliance of Manitoba for the super fun visit today and thank you so much for the generous donation to help with our COVID-19 efforts. We really appreciate it so much! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #covid19 #covid19chc

Thank you so much to Canadian Pacific for their recent $10,000 donation. This donation is very much needed and is incredibly helpful. It will go directly towards helping with some of the renovations needed for the new facility at 637 Main Street (which is set to open very soon!). We thank Canadian Pacific for their tremendous support, particularly during such a challenging and uncertain time. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #covid19 #covid19chc

Many thank you's to MHCare Medical who came to Main Street Project over the long weekend to help provide meals to our community members. Thank you as well for the very generous financial donation. We appreciate it very much! #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba

We had a very special delivery of socks at Main Street Project this past week. Maggie’s son Brandon passed away on October 8, 2012 and, every year on his angelversary, the family asks the people they know to do random acts of kindness in honour of Brandon. This year the family chose to collect socks for Main Street Project’s Socktober sock drive and they dropped off several huge bags full of socks. Thank you Maggie and family for choosing to help Main Street Project this ye...ar. We are so honoured that you chose MSP for your acts of kindness in honour of Brandon. We are critically low on sock donations right now and your donation is going to help keep many pairs of feet warm and healthy. We really appreciate this very much. #mspbuildingstability #winnipeg #manitoba #mspsocktober