Davenport church offering shopping and brunch for unhoused people and refugees

A local church in Davenport is bringing visibility to marginalized Torontonians through its unique free retail store experience and café-style brunch.

In 2023, Toronto Foundation’s Vital Signs Report found that Toronto is the loneliest city in Canada, a reality that hits even harder for marginalized people.

With an average of 11,000 people actively unhoused in the city and shelters running at nearly full capacity, the city’s 10-year homelessness infrastructure plan calls for more shelter sites and improved community engagement.

So in 2024, C3 launched Toast and Threads, a unique take on a clothing drive. The event offers a retail-store experience with personal shoppers and a cafe-style brunch to the unhoused, refugees and Torontonians in transitional living.

“What Toast and Threads is doing is bringing that visibility and letting an individual know, ‘Hey, you actually deserve to take up space in this room and this is a community that we want you to do that [in],’” says Winnie Byanjeru, director of Love This City at C3 Toronto, the church’s outreach arm.

C3 has helped over 200 Torontonians by partnering with local shelters and social services, including Matthew House, a shelter for newly arrived refugee claimants.

“When somebody has a roof on top of their head, food on the table and clothing to wear, that’s when they can start focusing on more stuff,” said Gamaliel Marquez, home team manager at Matthew House.

“They can focus on their paperwork, specifically as newcomers and refugees, because it’s so tough in Toronto. They can focus on developing skills or getting like, knowledge on so many different categories.”

Mary Muhoho, a refugee claimant at Matthew House, says the event helps build a healthy community for refugees like herself.

“Sometimes you might feel like you don’t have a place to go or you feel like probably this weekend you don’t have a plan, [but] such an event gives you that opportunity to just come here, hang out, have friends and just share.”

C3 wants to expand Toast and Threads across Toronto. Right now, it’s helping Celebration Church International in York University Heights and Proclaim Church in Pelmo Park-Humberlea and O’Connor-Parkview to start their own donation drives.