At friendship centres we ensure that there's a drop-in or there's a place for them to come. I know from my work that family members would bring them to the friendship centre during the day so that they had a place to socialize, whether it was sitting by the desk and reminding people about their Ojibwa language that they could use for the telephone, or reminding us of our language, that we had a role to play. There's always room for one more in our homes. We know that doesn't work sometimes.
Some of us have outlived our own children, and we do have people who remember who we are because we're an auntie or we come from an extended family. We always add more water to the soup so that people are being fed. We try to have community kitchens and community socials and potlucks so people can get together and share. They would be able to ask for or identify somebody who will help them. They pick someone who they trust will come and help them find a home so they don't have to continue to live on the street.
We also try to ensure that we go past being a volunteer. You will compensate me for my knowledge that I'm sharing with you; then it goes beyond being just a volunteer. We're running and trying to further develop community conversational Ojibwa language programs so that we can be partners in the way that we can design something. We could supplement their incomes.