CEO Season’s Greetings

it’s hard to believe that…

we’re into a second COVID holiday season. Instead of a sprint, the COVID pandemic is turning out to be a marathon. Still, many positive things happened at GSS over the past year thanks to the commitment and caring of GSS staff.

During the pandemic, Scattered Site Permanent Supportive Housing (SSPSH) team took on a big challenge and shone. The program literally started when the pandemic was declared. Their tough mission was to support clients in market housing throughout Edmonton and this summer the team reached its 60-client capacity. This year, the SCS changed from an evening/weekend program and began operating 24/7. It’s normal for the SCS team to support over 2000 visits a month and to save lives on a daily basis.

Staff care and support continued to transform individual lives despite COVID constraints. At POD, several people who have been in the program for an extended time have been transitioning into long term housing. One of those individuals was with POD for over 5 years.

Cloverleaf staff helped a resident with many years of homelessness to celebrate his 2-year anniversary in the program as well as his 2-year anniversary sober from hard drugs. They helped another individual  celebrate 15 months of sobriety from alcohol use. That person decided he would like to stay at Cloverleaf long-term and continue connecting with a Harm Reduction Specialist.  

The bigger picture results of each program or the changes in individual lives show how much GSS staff has contributed and achieved over the past year. And that has happened while also working around the constraints of COVID. Thank you for continuing to serve our clients in outstanding ways despite the added challenges and complications of the pandemic in your work and home lives.  May this season of caring and sharing bring you and your loved ones much well-deserved joy and comfort. Thank you for all you’ve done for the George Spady Society over the past year.