Rotary Club of Osoyoos Zoom meeting February 4th, 2021
Guest Speaker: Marieza Tarr, ED, Desert Sun Counselling
After attending a workshop called “Trauma Practices during COVID”, Marieza shared some disturbing trends. The RCMP report that they have a 900% increase in domestic violence calls. Desert Sun services have had an increase of 100 – 150 people accessing services. These statistics mean that the demand overall for services is at a premium and Desert Sun Counselling has been busy modifying and increasing services to meet this demand.
The Community Kitchen program has been re-vamped to meet the needs of increased vulnerable seniors and families. The Community Kitchen program typically helps out 70 – 75 clients but now its up to 150 – 180 and delivers between 150 – 200 meals per week. Transportation is also provided when necessary. The Safe Home program saw between 1 – 2 women per month now it is up to 4 – 7 women seeking refuge. And because of the rise in domestic violence, it has put a strain on long term residential options because women are staying longer due to the pandemic as there is no place to move to.
Even an increase in youths requiring safe shelter and mental health services has been seen. It is difficult to keep up with the demand for Youth agreements with Social Services that would support a bed, school and money. Typically, these youths spend short times in foster care for a variety of reasons and because of the lack of available housing they end up back out on the streets homeless.
Last November Desert Sun received a grant from Community Assessment to provide support services to vulnerable, isolated seniors that are living at home. One of the programs developed out of that grant, The Men’s Shed had to shut down due to COVID. The Coordinator is presently working on changing the focus to keep up the support to this vulnerable population. There is also a partnership with Oliver to provide a Cold Shelter to those living on the streets. The advisory committee is currently seeking a place for the shelter.
Marieza advised the program at the Prison has gone online to teach parenting skills to the inmates. Teaching about trauma and addiction and how it has shaped their lives becomes difficult with this platform modality.
On a happier note, Marieza indicated their Empty Bowls Challenge fund raiser was a huge success. An anonymous donor stepped forward and matched the first $25,000. The total amount raised was $73,000 in donations all on line. Previous years the amount raised has been closer to $25- 27,000.