Drop-in program in London offers coffee, cookies and connection

It can get boring living alone, without a job to go to, and no one to talk to. 

That's why Steve Yee attends several drop-in programs in London, including the Dew Drop-In sessions at the Elmwood Avenue Presbyterian Church in south London.

"You find yourself kind of bored at home. It gets very monotonous," said Yee, whose wife died three years ago. "You watch a lot of TV, and after a while, you've seen them so many times, you go to the library and borrow stuff, but it just gets kind of boring."

Showing up every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to noon at the drop in program, Yee has made new friends and likes to have a coffee and talk.

It's that kind of need for face-to-face conversation and connection that prompted Sharon Beattie to start the drop-in program. 

"I could see that people had forgotten how to communicate person-to-person," she said, adding those who attend the drop-in are a diverse group of mostly seniors because the program happens during the day. 

"We've had people come in that live in a car because they don't have money to pay for rent someplace and we've had people come in that are just pinching every penny they can to survive. They've told us how much they appreciate being able to come in and just have a coffee and chat and leave whenever they want," said Beattie. 

Once a month, Beattie organizes some kind of craft so people can do something with their hands. 

Jackie Schmidt is one of the volunteers who sits in the church hall, hanging out with those who drop by.

"Everyone wants to make new friends," she said. "We see a lot of seniors. I think mentally, they feel like they are going down because of lack of socialization. We also see some who have told us they had slept on a bench the night before. We have a very small food cupboard here and we try to help out where we can."

For more information on the Dew Drop-In, visit the Elmwood Avenue Presbyterian Church's website.

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