“Restoring Dignity through meeting basic needs: Food. Clothing. Shelter. Connection.”

This is the mantra of Steinbach Community Outreach and during Wednesday’s Taste of Summer Charity BBQ, they got a big boost.

Irene Kroeker, Executive Director of the organization says, they were excited to meet everyone, but in the end, it’s about helping those who are most vulnerable in our community.

Donations from the BBQ came in at $1854.80 which is going to go a long way, says Kroeker.

"Steinbach Community Outreach tries to help those that are most vulnerable in our community. That means those people that really don’t have enough to meet their basic needs. So, we have food. We have clothing. We have things that people need in order to survive every day.

We also have homeless people that come in and so we have a little bit more extra for those people, including different types of food, of course, because you can't be taking along things with you that you have to heat up somewhere. So, we have different foods for them as well.”

And then Kroeker talks about something, not many will have known, “Do you know that people can come and sleep at Steinbach Community Outreach? They come in, in the morning and then they sleep during the day. We feed them their meals and then they go on their way again for the night.”

Kroeker continues and says, “it’s a safe place to sleep. Their things are very safe. They just lie down on the couches or sometimes on a mattress in a dark room. They are welcome to have a good night's sleep or day-sleep and they are safe.”

Kroeker says, they realize they can’t meet all the needs of the vulnerable in our city, but then they refer people to agencies that can.

Irene Kroeker, Executive Director of Steinbach Community Outreach

If you missed Wednesday’s opportunity to meet the Staff and Volunteers at Steinbach Community Outreach, there is a Community BBQ happening tomorrow (Thursday) from 3pm to 6:30pm, on the parking lot beside the Steinbach Community Outreach doors on Loewen Blvd.

“You're all welcome to come and eat and visit. Bring your kids. Enjoy. Then, if you feel like it and if you haven't had a chance to get your vaccine yet. We will also have people on-site so that you can get your vaccine. If you want to.” Their staff will also help fill out all the necessary forms.

When asked why Steinbach Community Outreach would host these BBQs with a vaccine clinic Kroeker says,

"The people that come to Community Outreach have quite a few barriers in their life. Some of them don't have Wi-Fi. Some of them don't know how or can't go online and make appointments. Some have children that they don't know where to leave if they go to the site and get the vaccine. We wanted to remove those barriers.”