A typical Tuesday night with Johnny and Milad

Johnny and Milad have worked for CEDAR Outreach for nearly a year now, and their shifts as Outreach workers continue to keep them on their toes, as they never really know what the night has in store for them. 

After reviewing some client notes, and checking to see if the CEDAR Outreach phone had any missed calls or messages, Johnny and Milad head out to do wellness checks in all of the encampments around Abbotsford. They circle the city in the bright blue CEDAR Outreach van, looking for new and old camps filled with the community’s most vulnerable residents.

On their first stop, they encounter a client who had recently fallen while crossing the road, hurting her wrist while doing so. Seeing how swollen her wrist was and the complete lack of motion she had in her hand, the two Outreach workers asked if she wanted a ride to the hospital for doctors to check it out. After conferring with her partner where they would meet upon her release, Johnny and Milad drove her to Abbotsford’s busy emergency room, where one of them helped her get checked in.

They continue to drive around town, stopping whenever they see clients gathered, offering to fill their water bottles and cups with water from the cooler in the back of the van. There is no shortage of requests from clients, from one client needing fresh fruits and vegetables to feed her pet guinea pig, to another client asking for financial aid resources to ensure he doesn’t lose his storage unit. 

The team checks every nook and cranny that they know of throughout the city to ensure all their regular clients and some new ones, are well looked after. There is a stop in the parking lot of a popular city park, where another client has been living in his truck. They stop to talk to the client to make sure he has enough food and water to make it until tomorrow, and to remind him of his appointment he has with the Housing Team the next day.

Johnny and Milad finish their shift by completing paperwork at the office and inputting stats from today’s work into CEDAR’s database. 

Stay tuned to read more stories from the field. If you’re interested in getting involved in CEDAR’s work, apply to become a member or a volunteer today.