As the Alpha House continues to look for funding to help alleviate $800,000 in cuts due next April, a local bar is stepping up to help with a fundraiser of their own.
And it’s one of the many ways that Kathy Christiansen, executive director of the Alpha House, said the community has reached out after cuts were announced to the Downtown Outreach Addiction Partnership (DOAP) team.
“I think the fundraising event at the Palomino is an example of how community members have reached out and said ‘we feel concerns the DOAP team isn’t going to be on the road’,” she said, adding that they’ve secured resources to assist in keeping the program running until at least next March. “It’s been very touching for all of us (seeing the response) — it’s hard to articulate how much it means.”
With a shortfall looming in April 2020, the DOAP team is turning to community giving and renewed support from various levels of government to fund its operations.
The team has been in operation since 2005 as a mobile response to street-level issues such as addiction and intoxication, with members travelling throughout the inner-city helping people find shelter, detox, medical services, housing, food, and other programs and resources.
The Calgary Homeless Foundation saw a temporary $3.2-million funding cut from the provincial government last summer, a move that had a near-immediate trickle-down effect for the DOAP team. If more cuts projected for April 2020 materialize, the team will be forced to reduce its presence, focusing solely on the Beltline and downtown in diminished hours.
“We know this program is really important to the men and women we serve but it’s also important to the community at large,” said Christiansen. “We’re working on building a Facebook page to show where we are at with public fundraising (and) supporting the upcoming concerts is really important.”
Diana Krecsy, CEO of Calgary Homeless Foundation, told Postmedia in August the government said the cuts are temporary because of the interim budget in place at the time.
The Palomino Smokehouse is set to host the aforementioned fundraiser on Dec. 13 — a night that will feature nine bands take the stage.
Ashley Hundred, Windigo, Free The Cynics, In Search of Sasquatch, God Spilt The Milk, Harsh, As Above, Cardiograms, and Sarah Christine (Sellout) are all set to perform.
It’s not the only fundraiser coming up next month. Calgary musician and actor Tom Jackson, also a DOAP team volunteer, announced the proceeds from his The Huron Carole Benefit Concert Series will be donated to the team.
On Twitter: @zjlaing
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
