A Small Seed Making A Big Difference

Featured Photo: The Mustard Seed

For this spotlight issue, we interviewed Rebecca Trask, Community and Volunteer Engagement Manager with The Mustard Seed. We got to learn about the Mustard Seed’s initiatives and volunteer opportunities to get involved with the organization. 

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your role with the Mustard Seed.

“I've been with the Mustard Seed for about three and a half years now and my role is the Community and Volunteer Engagement Manager for both Edmonton and Red Deer. I get the privilege and the pleasure of being able to connect with people outside the organization and help to share what it is that we do and why we do that, but also to bring them into what we're doing and invite them to be a part of, or to get involved in the work that The Mustard Seed is doing in Edmonton, Red Deer, or across Canada. So it's great! I kind of straddle two worlds. I'm a little bit internal in terms of relaying information and understanding what's happening throughout our different locations in Edmonton or in Red Deer. But then I'm also helping to communicate that externally. It keeps things busy. There's a lot of variety. You meet a lot of very interesting people and passionate people, and you get the chance to also potentially expand some people's world views on what's happening in our city, and why homelessness exists and why poverty exists, and that's a really wonderful thing and very fulfilling thing to be a part of.”

Can you share the story behind how the Mustard Seed started and what inspired its creation?

“The Mustard Seed started in 1984 in Calgary [with] a couple of individuals. It was actually a church ministry. It was run out of the basement of a church ministry, and it was just a place they wanted to give an opportunity for people to come and warm up and to have a coffee and to take care of some of their spiritual well being, but just noticing, there's some individuals on the streets in Calgary who are experiencing some some level of hardship, or just something's going on in their life right now, and they need some help. Around the same time, something similar was happening in Edmonton. There was a group of youth from a church in Edmonton called Central Baptist, which is a very long-standing church in Edmonton, and they were out doing a walk around 96th Street in downtown Edmonton, and they actually took a walk past their old church building. They'd had this old historic church, and when they were around there, they were just very shaken up by what they had seen and experienced on the street. So that motivated them to make a change. So they extended some help to some of the individuals that they had met on the street. And they were doing it kind of secretly. When their church found out, they decided to go and repurchase this old church and start the Mustard Seed in Edmonton.”

“Years later, these two entities merged, but both under the same name and both doing the same thing. So it's just a beautiful story in terms of people who were just seeing what was happening around them and had a heart to extend some sort of assistance and kindness, and how that's turned into now helping hundreds of people every year, and now we work in seven different cities in Canada, in three different provinces. We are Christian organizations. There's a story in the Bible that talks about having faith as small as a mustard seed. A mustard seed is very small, but it actually grows into quite a large plant. And so part of the work that the team I work with does is we often go and talk with school-aged children. One of the things we say is that small things can make a big difference. I think our origin story is a result of that, but it also just reminds us every day, you never know what a small thing can do for someone else, and it can have a lasting life change.”

What is the core mission of the Mustard Seed, and who do you primarily serve or support?

“Our mission is to build hope and well-being in the lives of our most vulnerable citizens. As we are a faith-based organization, we hope to extend that through the love of Jesus to anyone, regardless of their faith background. Our centers exist to help people who are looking for assistance and who want a warm meal. But our vision overall is to eliminate homelessness, and we want to reduce poverty everywhere that we serve. So primarily, the people that we are serving would be those who are experiencing homelessness or who are on the fringes, on the verge of potentially experiencing homelessness. We encounter a variety of people coming for a variety of reasons, and it means that we get to hear lots of stories every day, and some are very heartbreaking, and a lot of the time it's more complex than we realize for why someone is experiencing homelessness.”

Can you share a recent success story or project that you are especially proud of and that has made an impact in the community?

“I think one of the things that first came to mind for me is just talking about one of our centers in Edmonton. So we have about 10 different locations in Edmonton that we run services out of. And so some of those locations are shelters, some are housing projects. A couple of those locations, we call them community impact centers. So with our community impact centers, they are generally a location where someone can come to access a variety of services and programming. We have a couple of community impact centers throughout the city of Edmonton, and where they're located, we're also trying to target what we're seeing in the communities. We have one in the north of Edmonton called the Mosaic Center. We do see a lot more families and new Canadians that come through, and so we try to create programming that will be more supportive of the individuals who are living in that area and who are accessing our services.”

“This past year, we were actually renting locations, and we've now purchased a building. It is being used to help individuals in that area. They provide meals every day. We're feeding 150 to 200 people every morning. The majority of those would be adults, but sometimes there are some adults who are bringing their kids with them, and then we do have some programs and services that are offered from that space too. But I'm very excited because we're renovating the space, and the renovation is going to mean not only did we purchase a building so that we can have longevity in this community that we've already been building relationships with, and we've already been there for years. But the intention is to continue to be able to do that as best we can, and to continue to build relationships not only with the individuals who need that assistance, but with the community at large.”

What are in-kind donations and can you explain why they are so important for individuals? 

“So one of the spaces that we have in Edmonton, we call our donation warehouse. We receive from Monday to Saturday. We have this warehouse that's open from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, and people can come and donate their gently used clothing or household items. With the donations that we get, we utilize all of that to be able to assist the people that we work with. So all of our different locations in Edmonton have something that they call an E closet, or an emergency closet. So every week, the donations that are coming into our warehouse, we have volunteers who are sorting through all those donations, and then we have a staff person who's going to all of our locations and dropping off what these locations are in need of. Sometimes there are items that we know we can't use, or they might not be useful to some of the folks that we serve. So we do run a thrift store, and so those items will be diverted to the thrift store, and it's a very low-cost thrift store. It's open to the public. If we make a profit that comes out of the thrift store every month, that actually goes back into assisting our employment program. We also help people get into housing. So sometimes the items that are being donated are also helping people to furnish their new dwelling and to just make it feel more homey.”

Are there specific donations you are looking for? 

“With the winter, if anyone is ever like I've outgrown my clothes, or I got a new one, but it's still in good condition, please think about donating that to us, or just any warm items, socks, and underwear. It would be nice for socks and underwear to be new because I think we can all kind of agree that there's nothing better than a fresh new pair. We also take things like hygiene items, so travel sized of shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, disposable razors, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and feminine hygiene products are a big need. Some of the other items that we're often looking for throughout the year would be things like backpacks or sleeping bags. Then, with winter, we go through a lot of hand and foot warmers, so just those little warming packs. So any of that kind of stuff goes a long way.”

What types of volunteer roles are available, and what kind of tasks might someone expect to do?

“I think one of the things that most people can relate to, if they've ever had a connection with the Mustard Seed or they did it one time with a group, is usually it's a kitchen opportunity. So usually it's coming to one of our shelters or one of our community impact centers to help cook and serve a meal. So we have a lot of opportunities for people who are interested in doing that. We have about six locations where people could come to serve a meal, and these will be at different times, during the day or on the weekend. which is great. So hopefully, because of that, usually, there is something that works for someone's schedule. We also run the thrift store, and there are opportunities for people to come and volunteer with that, which sometimes is a unique one, because you get a little bit of retail experience. So for some people, that's also a really good avenue in terms of, if they're trying to build their resume, or they're just wanting to work in a more business-oriented setting, and so that's a unique opportunity. We have people who come to our donation warehouse to help sort the different donations. At our warehouse, it has no client interaction. So if someone's just kind of curious and they want to learn what the Mustard Seed does, I often encourage people to maybe start with the warehouse, because it's a really good way to just kind of dip your toe in and to start and to learn and to have some interaction with some other like-minded individuals. We do have a homework club that we run at one of our locations. So if people are looking to use their skills to help some students with their homework, we're always looking for help for that. But we do have quite a variety of opportunities. They're all listed if you go to our website, so you can go to theseed.ca/volunteer, and that will show you where you can go to see all the different opportunities. And if you're interested in having more face to face with our with our guests, some of our opportunities do have the ability for you to have those interactions. We also have wonderful staff that you get to meet along the way. And I think one of the things I'm most proud of about our organization is that I continually hear stories of, I just feel so much relationship and warmth when I'm here, I feel like this is family, or I feel really cared for, and I think that extends from our guests all the way to our volunteers to our staff. It's a beautiful thing to be a part of, and we would love to invite people to be a part of that with us.”

Thanks for reading our NFP Feature! We’re here to shine a light on Edmonton’s not-for-profit sector and help students discover new ways to get involved. Have questions, ideas, or an organization you think we should feature?

Share them with us at anpa@ualberta.ca