Inside the doors of Tabitha Centre

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

The people at Tabitha Centre have heard a lot of sad stories over the years.

But just when they think they’ve heard it all, another person needing help walks through their doors.

“The needs, some of them are very extensive,” says assessment coordinator Allan Thompson. “It sure opens your eyes to some of what is going on in Yarmouth.”

But no matter the different kinds of needs, there is one constant.

“So often people are put in circumstances beyond their control,” Thompson says. “If a person is in need, they’re in need. We don’t judge people, whoever walks through the door is welcome.”

The Tabitha Centre, which operates under St. Ambrose Parish, is an outreach organization there to help the entire community. In 2007, more than 570 sought out a helping hand. Since mid-January of this year, 166 people have registered for the centre’s clothing area alone.

Aside from clothing, Tabitha Centre assists people with a furniture bank, household items, personal care items, financial help, advice, assistance and always a caring smile.

“Social services will refer people to us because a lot of times people have been living in less than ideal circumstances,” explains Ann Louise Doucet, a supervisor and assessment coordinator for Tabitha Centre. “Now they’re able to get an apartment but they don’t have any furniture to set up, so we’ll help them with that.”

Other needs may be seniors who can’t pull themselves out of a bad financial situation, a mother who is getting back on her feet after leaving an abusive situation, people who don’t know how to get an MSI card, and the list goes on.

“It’s not always social assistance people that we deal with, “Doucet says. “Sometimes the medical bills are paid up to a certain extent, but if someone is on a low income, the working poor, and they end up with a $400 dental bill, that’s not only this month’s budget, that’s three months budget. So we can help them.”

People requiring assistance are interviewed first. Thompson admits it takes a lot of courage for people to walk up to someone else and say, “I need help.” And what often happens is through the interview process the Tabitha Centre realizes the needs go beyond just needing a bed to sleep on or cutlery to eat with.

Thompson and Doucet both say there is great satisfaction in helping people when they’re down on their luck or seeing people get back on their feet. They both recall the story of a man who had been released from jail with nothing but $1.25 to rub together in his pocket.

“He had nowhere to go so we set him up in a motel,” says Thompson, who says they provided some financial assistance to the man who wanted to find a job. Within two weeks he had found a job, and paid the money back to Tabitha Centre. Not that they expected to be paid back in full.

Tabitha Centre is located on Queen Street in the former Gateway Bowling Lanes location. A fire last year at an apartment building on William Street that saw families and individuals lose their homes and possessions really put Tabitha Centre “on the map” as it, the Red Cross and other agencies set up a care centre for fire victims. If a similar event were to happen today, Tabitha Centre could easily take complete care of five large families.

The assistance Tabitha Centre is able to give comes from the assistance it, in turn, receives from the community through donations of money, clothing or household items. But sometimes, cautions Doucet, a generous act goes awry. Like if a couch is dropped off outside the door and it rains before volunteers are able to get it inside. The item is then ruined. The centre is also not a dumping ground for other people’s junk.

“People leave stuff with good intentions, but when it’s a couch with no cushions, you have to wonder about the intentions,” Doucet says, adding if people have items they would like to donate, they can always call first (742-8960) to make arrangements for the best time to drop it off, or perhaps even to arrange for pickup.

Tabitha Centre is open to the public Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to noon. Potential clients can call the same number above to arrange for an interview.

Aside from the generousity of the community, the centre also relies on the generousity of its 20 or so volunteers to help clients feel welcomed.

“The people we have here, their hearts are definitely in the right place,” Thompson says. “We do have a faith-based approach. To work in an environment like this, you’ve got to be working from the heart.”