This man says sweaters were stolen from his laundromat. He responded by starting a coat drive
CBC
Alex Winch says he didn't call the police when he saw, on security footage, someone come into his laundromat and steal two sweaters from an unsuspecting customer.
Instead, the owner of Beach Solar Laundromat in The Beach neighbourhood says he responded by setting up a donation rack outside the store for people to either give or receive warm winter clothing.
"I've had a tremendous response," said Winch, who estimates 40 to 50 coats have passed through the rack in the six days since it's been installed.
The idea came when a patron approached him late on Nov. 16, saying two sweaters were missing from the dryer she had been using. CBC Toronto viewed security camera footage that showed another woman entering the facility, taking the two sweaters from the dryer while the patron wasn't looking, putting them in her bag and immediately leaving.
Winch said when he confronted her outside the laundromat a few days later, she responded by saying she was extremely cold, claiming she was also homeless and refusing to return the stolen property.
Struck by how the incident underscored the homelessness crisis in Toronto, Winch decided not to report it and instead put a rack outside the adjacent dry cleaner he also owns called Monk's Fine Fabric Care. He says after starting the rack with one of his own coats, it quickly filled up with others for the taking.
"If somebody is cold at 2:00 in the morning, they can get a coat," said Winch. "They're not stealing — they're receiving a donation."
Many non-profits in Toronto say the demand for coats and other warm winter clothing has spiked in recent years as more and more people turn to charities for assistance.
Across the nation, 1 in 5 Canadians are currently using charitable services to meet essential needs such as food and shelter, according to Nicole Danesi, senior manager of public relations at CanadaHelps, an online platform for charitable donations and fundraising.
According to the organization, almost a quarter of Canadians will rely on charitable services within the next six months.
"These numbers are staggering and quite concerning," said Danesi.
That means requests for winter clothing often outpace supply offered by local charities like Haven on the Queensway, which provides food, clothing and other resources to people experiencing poverty.
"It's been a little bit of a a struggle to try to keep up with that increased demand," said Aretha Khaloo, Haven on the Queensway's director of operations.
She says they've noticed an influx of refugees and asylum seekers in the store who often do not have the proper winter attire.
The Rachel Notley government's consumer carbon tax wound up becoming a weapon the UCP wielded to drum the Alberta NDP out of office. But that levy-and-repayment program, and the wide-ranging "climate leadership plan" around it, also stood as the NDP's boldest, provincial-reputation-altering move in their single-term tenure.