A Morning at Boyle Street

Last Friday I spent my morning at Boyle Street Community Services in downtown Edmonton. I volunteered there in the Youth Department for my community service hours that I have to do for school. It was a very interesting and eye-opening experience and I will definitely volunteer there again.

Boyle Street is an inner city service that works to connect people living in poverty with the things that they need. Social workers there work with people who are often ignored, face discrimination and have been marginalized by the larger society. I volunteered with the Youth Department because a friend of mine, Matt McCoy, works there.

I started volunteering there at 9:00 AM, right at the beginning of the day. I was first sent to work on organizing pamphlets that help people with what they need like staying healthy, legal resources, and other important things while living on the street. Many of the pamphlets were running low, so I went to StreetWorks to collect more copies of pamphlets. StreetWorks is an organization in Boyle Street that does a needle exchange, but that also publishes pamphlets and other information sources in a way that is understandable to the people who need the information the most.

Later, I went on rounds with some social workers at Boyle Street to check to make sure that all of the people who came there were doing okay. We walked around in the central area and outside the building to make sure that nobody was doing drugs on the property as well. It was very interesting to talk to the people who came there, and who worked there. I talked to one person who was a sort of "counselor" for the people, and he seemed to specialize in aboriginal people who went through the residential schools. He said that he likes to think of the people who come to Boyle Street as part of the community and then help people find ways out of doing drugs or alcohol.

It wasn't a very busy day at Boyle Street I was told by Matt, especially not in the Youth Department. So, for the final minutes of my visit there, I found myself playing the piano and guitar with the community. It was quite interesting to see some hidden talents in people that one might not have expected.

In all, it was a very interesting and eye-opening experience. I was perhaps a bit hesitant at first to volunteer at Boyle Street, and I didn't really know how things would work, but in the end everything worked out fine. I will definitely not hesitate to volunteer there again in the next few months.

To learn more about Boyle Street Community Services, visit their website.