Day 1: Beta Launch! The Park, The Queen, The Hall, The Tower

For over a month, the Humanity First Shelter Bus team has been planning a beta launch day for the Shelter Bus in Toronto, which is a hub of homelessness in Southern Ontario. It is where the Shelter Bus will ideally run.

Thinking about supplies, the route, the vehicle and the volunteers was quite the logistical and supply chain problem. It all had to be perfectly coordinated. The Shelter Bus team sprung into action, putting together snack bags, food, water and hygiene kits.

We reached out to our partner Kits for a Cause, and received over 100 sponsored hygiene kits! which we were able to distribute on our first day. We really appreciated the hard work of Jody and Lori who were able to send these our way so quickly!

Our water and snacks came from Humanity First’s Food Bank in Concord Ontario, along with hairnets, and food handling gloves. A huge thank you to our advisory member Naumana Khan. Not only does she ensure the smooth running of the food bank regularly, but made sure that all of our Humanity First material was ready for pick-up and loading onto the bus. 

Our social media volunteers began raising awareness on our LinkedIn page and Instagram a week before the event. It was great week to add to the Toronto pride as everyone, including the whole team, were celebrating the historic Raptors win. Huge thank you to Batool and Selena for managing the social media front.

June 15

From our Guelph fundraising event a few weeks ago, we knew that we had some issues with center lighting in the bus. While we are working on a long-term solution, we needed something urgently for the beta run. As a temporary solution, I scavenged some battery-powered mounted ceiling lights (200 lux) from two Home Depots and installed them with the help of Burhan, our photographer and volunteer.

We started installation at 3pm and walked around to examine the bus for any other issues. Since our schedule was until 2 am, it was going to be a long night, and we could not afford serious issues with the bus. We noticed we had only ? a tank of fuel and needed to fill up the bus, which was a bit nerve-wracking since I have never fuelled a bus. Though I love buses and know all about the nozzles, the speeds and tank size, I didn’t know how to apply it practically. I was lucky to get help from our great partners at TOK group of companies who assisted with fuelling the bus. We loaded up 470 litres on the bus to ensure we had enough juice to go all night! 

Our volunteer driver Raza who works for a transit agency in the GTA came out to drive the bus. Everyone on the trip was a volunteer with the common goal of serving the less fortunate in the community. He completed his circle check, and familiarity process of all the features of the bus before we departed. 

We pulled out from the TOK facility in Concord at 5:14pm and drove to our volunteer assembly point on Queens Quay and Rees St. The drive into the city was so smooth and comfortable that our photographer Burhan took a quick power nap, though we did get stuck in some expected Toronto traffic on the 427 and Gardiner Expressway. We arrived at the location at 6:20pm and the volunteers started arriving.We had over 15 amazing volunteers show up to dedicate their time and effort to connect with the homeless community!

Denny and Sharon, an amazing duo, arranged the first batch of pizza, while myself and Stephen handled the coffee side. The other core team of volunteers created an assembly line to package snack kits for the homeless which included cookies, chips, and granola bars. We got our pizza and coffee and headed to our first location.

7:30pm to 9:00pm - Moss Park

We parked on Sherbourne street and began setting up to distribute meals and hygiene kits. The community was immediately welcoming and we had many people ask us about our project after seeing the 45-foot-long Shelter Bus. We showed people around the bus and handed out pizza. The interest was so overwhelming that our pizza was all gone within half an hour. So, we ordered another 10 boxes of pizza. We were able to meet with dozens of homeless people, giving them information on the project and what we are trying to accomplish. We were happy to see the enthusiasm for the bus. One man even said, “This is the nicest bus I have ever seen it even has TVs!” The team was happy to hear this as we’ve been working hard to ensure that the quality of our service preserves the human dignity of those who are struggling.

Some of our team members went into Moss Park and handed out kits, and Humanity First shirts to those in need. Various members of the homeless community spoke to use and shared their stories. Some explained how just losing a job or making a few bad decisions had sent them down this spiral.  As I was speaking to one man about buses, he asked me where they go when they are not moving people around the city. I explained to him that they were parked in garages and he jokingly called them ‘homes for buses’. As we wrapped up the conversation, he left me with some words that are food for thought: “Even buses have homes to go to after a long day; we just want the same”. We finished distributing another wave of pizza, and then hopped on the bus to go to our next location. 

9:00pm to 10:30pm - Good Shepherd Ministries (Queen St.)

We were able to park right in front of the Good Shepherd Ministries shelter and once again set up to serve food. Sharon went into the shelter to let them know about our activities. A group of people came over to have some pizza and water. Many also appreciated hygiene kits. The folks at Good Shepherd Ministries were very accommodating and came out to see the bus and hear about the project. Stay tuned for a possible future collaboration! Humanity First is all about helping people who are in need and we would be happy to collaborate with those who share this common goal.

A lady came up to us and told us she really needed a blanket tonight as her stuff had been stolen. Luckily, we were able to provide her two blankets and basic supplies to ensure she was taken care of. Many people at the shelter expressed that they would love to sleep and stay warm on the bus during winter months, when they are freezing on the streets. Sentiments like these really push our team to do more and we hope that we can start operating our bus as soon as possible.

I want to thank the two other volunteers who came out and supported us in handing out food, and our advisory board member, Sherena Hussain.

11:00pm to 12:00am - City Hall

After wrapping up at Good Shepherd Ministries, we drove the bus to our last distribution spot at city hall to hand out pizza to the homeless around Nathan Phillips Square. We were able to send teams of 2-3 volunteers to also hand out hygiene kits, snacks and water. Humanity First’s Khalid Daud joined us to hand out food and water to the homeless. We were able to cover a few city blocks and distribute over 40 water bottles and snacks. We wrapped up our activity at city hall with group pictures. Afterwards, most of our team went home, but a few of us carried on to the last spot for pictures.

12:00am to 12:30am- CN Tower

To end off our night, we wanted to take pictures of the Shelter Bus with Toronto’s greatest landmarks: the CN tower and Rogers Center. Though it was pouring, our adrenaline hadn’t run out yet. After snapping the pictures in the rain, we finally departed to take the bus back to its ‘home for buses’.

Burhan and I made sure to clean out the bus and prepared to dispose of the trash properly while on the way. We arrived around 1:00am and parked the bus for the night. The evening brought a great sense of accomplishment and renewed passion to help serve those in need. After speaking to so many people interested in the bus, we will be working even hard to iron out the logistics of putting the bus into its intended operation.

Our Shelter Bus team volunteers did a phenomenal job throughout the evening! I was even blown away by Mike, a contact from the transit industry who lives in Vancouver and works with Proterra. Proterra is delivering its first electric buses to the city of Toronto in the coming months. He had reached out to me and asked to volunteer for the night. I was touched by his energy and passion the whole night. He took charge in getting the food and supplies out to homeless community in Toronto. We couldn’t have done this without our sponsors and volunteer team.

I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart! A thank you also to the chairman of Humanity First, Dr. Daud, who continues to inspire and motivate us to serve humanity.

As a consultant, I have a new-found appreciation for all the behind-the-scene operations required to have a service like this. In the end, we tallied our impact from the event and developed some KPIs. I wouldn’t be a consultant if we didn’t have KPIs!

If you have an event, or would like to see the bus in your community please reach out to the Shelter Bus team and we would be more than happy to make arrangements to serve Humanity.