Offering Dignity
Start Me Up Niagara
Visiting a food bank or a community closet can be intimidating for people who are already on the margins of their communities, but Start Me Up Niagara’s Mobile Closet program is working hard to remove barriers.
A $14,200 infusion from Niagara Community Foundation’s Community Grant program enabled the Mobile Closet to embark on an ambitious translation, cultural sensitivity, and first aid mental health project to make customers feel comfortable and secure.
The Mobile Closet, which offers a free, season-appropriate pop- up shopping experience in locations across Niagara, was noticing more newcomers to Canada were taking advantage of the service, but volunteers had to rely on Google translate to communicate with them, said Lynn McIntyre, program coordinator. That got especially tricky when the topic was personal hygiene items, she said, but the grant allowed McIntyre’s team to arrange for all signage to be translated into French, Arabic, Turkish and Spanish.
Being more inclusive, having more equality—it creates a sense of belonging. All these little things add up... to a kinder, gentler Niagara.
Lynn McIntyre,
Program Coordinator
The grant also allowed Mobile Closet volunteers to participate in sensitivity training, to help them better relate to newcomers with different customs, to Indigenous clients and to 2SLGBTQIA+ community members. For example, in some cultures, it’s a sign of respect to a woman to address all communication through her male shopping escort, McIntyre said. Volunteers also learned how non- verbal communication, such as head nods or grabbing items from another shopper’s hands, can mean different things in different cultures, and they learned how to serve transgender clients with sensitivity, respect, and proper pronouns.
“The cultural sensitivity training was invaluable,” McIntyre said. “There were so many things we didn’t understand, and we learned so much.”
Twenty of Mobile Closet’s volunteers also took a first aid mental health course, which gave them important skills to serve customers well.
“We want to treat people as special as we can,” McIntyre said. “It’s the humanity of it; we offer dignity.”
Because when everyone is made to feel like they matter and are part of the community, everyone benefits, she said. “Being more inclusive, having more equality—it creates a sense of belonging. All these little things add up...to a kinder, gentler Niagara.”