Square One Community, Inc. held their second annual Empty Bowls fundraiser on Nov. 17 to advocate for people in Moose Jaw without a home, and close to 200 community members were there to eat, browse auction items, buy raffle tickets, and listen to the featured speaker for the event.
"We are so profoundly grateful for how many generous community members there are here, that's really our number one sentiment," said Della Ferguson, chair of the Square One board. "The number of people who stepped forward to volunteer, to donate bowls and soup and silent auction items, we're just overwhelmed with gratitude for what a collaborative experience this was.
"Everything for this event was donated, which is amazing and helps us put every penny we raise into our mission."
Soups were donated by The Mad Greek Restaurant, Canadian Brewhouse, Soltopia Juice Bar (gluten free), Kinsmen Café/Moose Jaw Families for Change, and Evolve Café. Bowls were donated from several sources, including professional artisans (River Street Potters and Mud Pie Girls), the local YMCA youth program, the Salvation Army, and many community members.
Tickets for Empty Bowls entitled each guest to pick their own bowl (which they took home afterward), fill it with one of the soups, grab a bun, and enjoy cake donated by Moose Jaw Co-op for dessert. St. Andrew's United Church also gave Square One the free use of their Social Hall for the occasion.
"We've gone south to be warm at this time of year for the past 20 years, so we haven't been here for these community events. We heard about this one and decided it'd be a good idea to come out in support," said Tom Phillipson, who attended with his wife. "The soup was great, I had the noodle bean soup, and the borscht was pretty good, too, I hear. ... We're glad to come by and get involved, it's a good cause, and it's pretty unbelievable what (the volunteers) do."
Sask Party MLAs Blaine McLeod of Lumsden-Morse and Tim McLeod of Moose Jaw North (no relation) also came out to support the event and enjoy a bowl of soup.
For some noon inspiration, guests listened to a pre-recorded interview between Ferguson and Anthony Cafik, program manager at the St. Joseph's Hospital Addiction Recovery Centre in Estevan. Cafik talked about the ground-breaking wrap-around services their program is using to lift people out of addiction, including teaching patients the life skills to succeed, providing housing resources, and making it easy for clients to return for more help if needed.
"The interview with Anthony Cafik was moving to the core," Ferguson said. "I have a friend who has come through that program. Anthony referenced trust as being the key element making their program so successful, and the fact that people who have been served by it know that they can come back, that they're referring others to it, affirming it, praising it, that's the greatest endorsement.
"They have an empathy and a compassion and heart for their work. You can tell it's not about the paycheque, it's about caring for humanity, and to me, that's everything we're about here (at Square One), and that's what holds us to our cause."
Square One is working to open a warming/cooling space and women's shelter at William Milne Place on Fairford Street, but the board have been forced to confront the difficulties of starting such a facility, from training and safety policies to the major challenge of establishing sustainable funding.
"I think we saw today that support for our mission continues to grow. We know that folks have questions — they see us in the community and then they don't see us going operational," Ferguson said. "I'll tell you, if I could wave a magic wand that would get us up and running, I would have done it two years ago. But there is no magic wand, and every one of us on the board is so aware of the complexities, and we continue to work through them.
"We have to be able to serve every individual well, and to do that, we have to be prepared. We are grateful for the patience of our community as we keep working."
Square One's next major event will be the second annual Walk for Warmth, confirmed for March 14, 2024.
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