“The holidays aren’t always an easy time,” volunteer Natalie Van Vlaanderen said. “Just adding a little bit of sparkle, anything that can help.”
Published Dec 09, 2023 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 2 minute read
Olaa Fadlalla was part of a small group of Carleton University students came together Saturday to volunteer at the Ottawa Mission to decorate a Christmas tree to bring some holiday cheer. Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIA
The Ottawa Mission’s client services office was lit up with holiday cheer on Saturday, thanks to some hard-working volunteer elves.
Several students with Carleton University’s Campus to Community volunteer group decorated a dazzling Christmas tree, topped with a vintage angel, sitting in front of the Mission’s office window overlooking downtown Waller Street.
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Daron Faulkner, the Mission’s co-ordinator of volunteer and community engagement services, said decorating the client services office for the holiday season was part of a simple mantra: There’s no dignity in dirt.
“One of the ways we show people we respect their dignity is having a clean space,” she said.
“That’s not just sanitary, but also pretty.”
The client services office is where Mission clients meet with case workers, who help them work toward securing housing, mental health services and other forms of support. The Ottawa Mission also runs a soup kitchen and a 225-bed homeless shelter, serving meals to hundreds daily.
The Mission aims to create space that makes people feel “comfortable, invited and valued,” Faulkner said, “and having a beautiful space is part of that.”
Lucksiha Sivarupan, a second-year Carleton student studying public policy, said Saturday marked her first time decorating a Christmas tree.
“For a lot of people, Christmas means a lot to them,” she said, adding she “really enjoyed” decorating the tree and hoped she could continue volunteering for the Mission year-round.
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According to Faulkner, volunteer groups make it all possible, and, while many groups offer to volunteer around the holidays, “my personal plea would be to do it all year-round.”
Natalie Van Vlaanderen, a first-year mature student at Carleton hoping to study social work, said volunteering at the Mission “really opened my eyes,” and ended up being a valuable learning experience outside the classroom.
As a mature student, “I feel like attending classes is great,” she said, “but there’s that imposter syndrome. Coming here felt so good, like not only am I doing something good, but I feel like, ‘This is right for me, this is where I belong.’”
Van Vlaanderen also signed up to volunteer for other initiatives for the Mission in the hope of expanding her understanding of people experiencing homelessness.
“The holidays aren’t always an easy time,” she said. “Just adding a little bit of sparkle, anything that can help.”
Hollie Davies was part of the group a small group of Carleton University students who came together Saturday to volunteer at the Ottawa Mission, decorating a Christmas tree to add some holiday cheer. Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIA
A small group of Carleton University students came together Saturday to volunteer at the Ottawa Mission, decorating a Christmas tree to bring some holiday cheer. Natalie Van Vlaanderen was part of the group. Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIA
Hollie Davies applies the final touch, the angel, on the tree at the Ottawa Mission on Saturday. Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIA
Olaa Fadlalla was part of a group of Carleton University students who came together Saturday to decorate a Christmas tree to bring some holiday cheer to the Ottawa Mission. Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIA
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