Coming up on three decades of uninterrupted operation, the Summer Street Patrol program sees volunteers from parishes across the city gather at St. Patrick’s Church in the city's core every Wednesday evening in July and August before embarking on a walk downtown with food and care packages for an average of 200 of Toronto’s homeless every Wednesday.
Program leader Lucio Abbruzzese said there are anywhere from 20 to 40 youth and adult volunteers who arrive with pre-prepared and portable food to be hand-delivered to those on the streets. One of the main aspects of the Street Patrol is providing a sense of hospitality and companionship with the people the team encounters, acting on Mother Teresa’s message that loneliness is a greater burden than hunger.
When asked about a moment that stood out to him during his many years with Street Patrol, Abbruzzese became visibly emotional when he recalled a simple moment he shared with a woman his first time volunteering back in the mid-1990s.
“It was very rare back in those days to find a woman on the streets but we did. I gave her a sandwich and she just started to cry. That was my very first time out on the streets and now, 29 years later, it still has a profound impact on me,” he said.
The route's first major stop is Nathan Phillips Square before the team heads east on Queen Street past Yonge to the many shelters and parks in that area.
Despite the growing impact of homelessness in Toronto with estimates suggesting there are over 10,000 homeless individuals on any given night, Abbruzzese says the drastic landscape change in the downtown core has often left the team struggling to sort out who to help.
“When I first started there was no one downtown after 6 p.m. I know that is hard to believe but back then the city was empty. The only people in the city during those times were the homeless out in the parks and so there were a lot more areas we could cover,” Abbruzzese said. “Even though today there are more homeless people, they are not always as visible because the parks are getting overrun by condos and re-gentrification. It has become harder to find those spots and so we have to rely on shelter locations.”
Abbruzzese has seen a drastic change in the the city's homeless demographic.
“When I first started we were serving your typical homeless person, that idea of older white men with white beards who had alcohol problems, and that has completely changed,” Abbruzzese said. “We see a lot of younger homeless people, people in their 20s, a lot more people of colour. Of course, the drugs have become harder and harsher with meth and crack having always been a problem. It has become a harder edge with more dangers to it.”
This year’s Summer Street Patrol campaign will run every Wednesday from July 3 to Aug. 28 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The program lead hopes that this year’s program will continue to benefit both those giving and receiving by acting out its motto: "A gift of food and self to those in need."
“I call this a walking prayer because when we go through those streets each year, we are a witness to God's love as best as we can. Every single time that I do it, I understand how grateful I can be because I feel so much closer to God and to my faith and we want people to experience that,” he said.