Healing Hearts Tillsonburg started in October 2022 when Dawn Vannatter decided she wanted to make a nourishing pot of soup and see if there were people who needed to be fed.
“We went looking for them the first couple of weeks and just offered them a warm bowl of soup. And a sandwich,” said Vannatter, a Brownsville resident.
Joined by Karen Hutcheson and Joelene Kilby, they served three people at Tillsonburg’s Bert Newman Park on the first night, and a lot more the next week.
“That’s kind of how it started,” said Vannatter. “We didn’t plan on it taking off the way it did. We’re really glad it did, but we didn’t plan on it this way.”
Learning they could not make homemade soup without a commercial kitchen, they started serving canned soup warmed in a crockpot.
“We’re amateurs learning one step at a time,” said Kilby.
“We’re definitely learning,” nodded Vannatter, who has a diploma in social service work. “We’re staying within the guidelines and doing the best we can with that.”
Healing Hearts’ outreach switched to the Upper Deck Youth Center for a couple weeks in November, a block away from Newman park, taking advantage of better lighting in the parking lot. It was getting cold, however.
“And now we’re inside,” Kilby noted.
“At an undisclosed (privately owned) location,” said Vannatter.
Healing Hearts uses Facebook and word of mouth to communicate their location and services.
“It’s very hit and miss – sometimes we have a ton of people, sometimes not so many,” said Kilby, “but we’re constantly seeing new faces coming in. So we know that there is a vast group of people in Tillsonburg that are still hearing about us… and they’re coming. We’ve never fed someone on a Tuesday.”
And it’s not just Tuesdays – they supply food whenever they are able around town and continue to spread the word where they are meeting.
In addition to food, Healing Hearts supplies ‘survival gear’ from donations provided through their Facebook group, including tarps, sleeping bags, and winter attire.
“And the Cycles of Life help us too,” said Hutcheson.
“We help them (Cycles of Life), they help us,” Kilby nodded.
“We get the majority of our donations from members of our group,” Vannatter explained. “We give Cycles of Life the overflow, and in return we can go in there and basically do our ‘shopping’ in their warehouse.”
“We are taking no monetary donations at the moment,” said Kilby. “If people want to give gift cards to food establishments, absolutely we will take that.”
Kilby said The Salvation Army, in October/November, estimated there were about 25 people living on the streets in Tillsonburg, and about 60 with no permanent address (couch surfing).
“We’re starting to track the numbers,” said Kilby.
“I think it’s closer to 30,” said Vannatter. “It’s hard because it fluctuates, it’s so fluid.”
Healing Hearts would like to see an emergency shelter established in Tillsonburg. Vannatter attended a town council meeting with Cycles of Life on Nov. 21 to make a delegation presentation.
“We can feed them, we can clothe them, but it’s not a solution,” said Hutcheson. “The solution is to get them in a warm shelter, get them safe.”
“That’s our new mission, the shelter,” Vannatter nodded. “We want them in a warm place this winter, we don’t want anyone to die out there.
“We’ve got a big force pushing us to do this,” she concluded, “and doors are opening.”