Ottawa shelter harassed by protesters receives over 10,000 donations

After a difficult weekend dealing with harassment from anti-vaccine mandate protesters, an Ottawa shelter has some good news to share.

Shepherds of Good Hope, an organization that provides supportive housing and food for people experiencing homelessness, says that they’ve received over 10,000 individual donations.

“We are overwhelmed with the attention and support we have received in the past two days,” the shelter shared in a statement posted on Instagram. “We have received so many food donations that we have reached our limited storage capacity and cannot accept more.”

 

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They are also processing a number of personal and crowd-sourced fundraisers and expect to announce the amount raised later this week.

On Saturday, the organization reported that their staff and volunteers were harassed by “Freedom Convoy” protesters demanding meals from their soup kitchen. The organization says the verbal altercations continued for several hours.

In addition to that, trucks blocked off their ambulance drop-off zone, and the “incessant honking and noise from trucks” caused anxiety and distress to their staff and residents.

“The incidents this weekend were unfortunate but have allowed us to share the work we do with all of you,” said Shepherds of Good Hope.

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The organization got a shout-out from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a press conference on Monday.

“I want to thank the many Canadians who have made donations to the Shepherds of Good Hope and to the Terry Fox Foundation in response to what they saw this weekend,” he said.

The convoy of truck drivers against the vaccine mandate descended on the nation’s capital on Saturday.

The rally quickly attracted protesters flying Nazi and Confederate flags. Along with the Terry Fox statue, the national war memorial and the aboriginal veteran’s monument were defaced by protesters.