Ryan Hambleton was back at Sarnia’s River City Vineyard church on Saturday helping at an afternoon open house where visitors were taken on tours of its hopefully soon-to-open expanded shelter space.
He was also set to speak that evening before the start of a Coldest Night of the Year Walk that raised money for the expansion of the shelter for individuals experiencing homelessness.
“This place has been really good to me,” Hambleton said.
About three years ago, he lived for about eight months in the existing shelter space at the church located in the former YMCA building on Mitton Street in Sarnia.
“I was one of the people sitting out there on the ground, broken and not in a very good place,” he said.
“Now I have my own place and doing very well. Without this place it wouldn’t be possible.”
Originally from Tillsonburg, he came to Sarnia for detox at the hospital and when he got out he was hoping to enter a rehab program in Thunder Bay but there was a six-month wait.
“It didn’t work out,” he said.
“I’ve struggled with addiction, on and off, for 20 years,” Hambleton said. “If I didn’t come here and didn’t find the AA room and attend the meetings regularly, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today. I’d still be using out there, banging my head.”
Now he goes to church at River City. He was baptized there. It’s like a second home, he said.
“They welcomed me. . . I’m grateful for it.”
The expansion at River City Vineyard is expected to add 16 beds for women and 25 for men to the shelter’s 28 existing beds for men.
“We’d like to be open by the end of next month,” said Pastor George Esser.
“We’re getting pretty close.”
The shelter’s 28 existing beds are always full.
It has been a three-year journey for the church that included dealing with engineers, architects, city officials, waiting out delays because of the pandemic and raising funds to pay for the renovations.
“We think we have enough money now to finish,” Esser said.
The cost will total about $1 million.
“It just cost us so much extra because of the pandemic and all the material shortages,” as well as the need to bring the facilities up to building codes and make them barrier-free, Esser said.
“We’re pretty well there,” he said.
Lambton County’s social services division said in January 220 individuals were either experiencing homelessness in Sarnia, and the rest of Lambton, or at risk of being homeless.
“The pandemic just pushed it over the edge and it hasn’t gone away,” Esser said.
He estimated 80 people are currently living on the streets, but added those out on the streets tell him that’s “a little low.”
“We know we could probably fill this up pretty fast,” Esser said about the expanded space at River City Vineyard.
It began offering shelter in November 2006.
“If you’re hungry, a church will feed you,” Esser said. “If you’re naked, a church will clothe you. I always felt it was a part of church.”
But he didn’t anticipate early on what the need would become.
About eight people were staying after the shelter had been open for about a year, he said.
“And then it grew to 12, and then it grew to 16 and now it’s crazy.”
David Clarke was leading tours Saturday showing progress on separate rooms for the additional women’s and men’s beds, as well as showers, washrooms and other facilities.
“It’s not finished yet, but it will be hopefully before spring,” he said.
“There’s desperate people out there wanting beds. They need help. We’ve got to help them.”
The tour included a workshop where metal frames are assembled to create sleeping “pods” designed at the shelter. They have curtains around a bed and a lockable cupboard where shelter users can keep their belongings secure.
“We want to make sure people have a place that’s warm and comfortable, drug-free, alcohol-free,” Clarke said. “We just want to make sure people stay safe.”
“Everybody needs hope,” Esser said. “If you’re going to try and get on with your life, you’ve at least got to have a stable place to stay, have some food, have clothing.”
River City Vineyard also runs a food bank, clothing bank, and a shower program.
“If you have clothing, food and shelter, then you can start concentrating on other things,” Esser said.
Without those basics, “it’s pretty hard to even think about anything else,” he said.
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