Lockers to allow Sudbury's homeless to store belongings at downtown agency

Life can get heavy for those who are homeless, both literally and figuratively.

The Samaritan Centre in Sudbury wants to ease the heavy burden on the shoulders of its clients, by offering space to store belongings.

The non-profit organization on Elgin Street houses the local mission and soup kitchen, and serves many who are homeless.

Individuals with no physical place to call home are forced to keep all their belongings in bags, backpacks or shopping carts that they keep with them at all times.

"Imagine carrying everything you own on your back. So if you have 100 pounds of stuff, carrying that around all day," executive director Lisa Long said.

When she took over at the Samaritan Centre in August, one of the first things she noticed was that there was no place for clients to store their belongings.

Recently the centre received a donation of 40 lockers from the Canadian Forces Base in North Bay, and Long expects the spaces to go over well with the people the Samaritan Centre serves.

"It's hard on your body. It's hard on your posture," she said.

"You're constantly worried. Everything you own is with you — on your person. You're constantly worried about theft, about your stuff, that's part of just trying to get through your day."

Everything you own is with you — on your person. You're constantly worried about theft, about your stuff- Lisa Long, executive director of Samaritan Centre in Sudbury

Those clients who request a locker will be given a combination lock, which Long says she will also have the code for.

"It's a place to store their stuff," she said.

"They can leave it here. It'll be accessible during the hours that we're open."

However, clients are not allowed to have drugs, alcohol or dangerous weapons on the premises, so those will not be allowed in the lockers.

Long would like community partners to come on board to help sponsor individual lockers for $25 a month, as a fundraiser.

"It's a way for the community to get involved, and we're a non-profit — it's a way for us to make some money," she said.

Long plans to have the lockers cleaned and painted before allowing clients to store their items away in them. The locker project should be ready to go at the Samaritan Centre in early 2020.

"It's something that our clients can have and own."