Do you guys want some more coffee?
Anybody?
[Katie] I have a passion for making sure that people are OK.
Yes, you do.
You know you want some more coffee.
[Katie] I have the need to make sure that everybody has the things that they want.
I'm a fighter.
[Man] Can I have a blanket please?
Oh, a blanket, yeah we can do that.
[Reporter] I meet Katie Valiquette at this drop-in centre in North Bay, Ontario.
Since the pandemic started
Katie has been doing everything she can to help the homeless.
I don't want to see anybody suffer.
I don't want to see anybody out in the cold.
I don't want to see anybody in a terrible spot.
If I could do something small to help that person, I'm going to.
[Reporter] COVID was an awakening of sorts for Katie.
In March, when temperatures here were still way below zero
the City of North Bay closed the only warming centre
for fear that the virus would spread.
Katie found out that homeless people had nowhere to go.
It kind of broke our hearts
so what we ended up doing was opening our garage doors.
We ran a barbecue out the back door
made sure everybody had a full meal.
We had set up chairs inside the garage
for a place for people to go and warm up.
A lot of them didn't know what they were going to do
or what was going to happen.
Much the same way that none of us did, right?
[Reporter] Katie and her husband bonded with the people who came to their garage.
We consider them family members like they're our street families.
So for us it was relieving to know that at least they're somewhere warm.
[Reporter] The night, Katie found her calling.
And what she did next is remarkable.
With her own money she rented this building
and opened the only 24-hour drop-in centre in town.
She called it Hope's Kitchen.
Twenty-year-old Josh Furlot comes here almost every day.
Josh has been living on the street in North Bay since February.
What kind of life is it for you?
Currently, it's cold.
This morning I just got told to tear down my tent that was posted up at city hall
and that kind of sucked because it was going good.
Where are you going to go?
I'm not sure yet.
What does this place mean to you?
This place means a lot to me.
It's a place for me and everybody else out here to come sit, socialize.
You know warm up, get a drink get a snack.
[Reporter] What is it you got there, Josh?
Who gave you that?
Katie.
[Reporter] What is it?
It's a donation.
It's high visibility, reflective snow pants.
[Reporter] Are you happy about those?
[Josh] Oh yeah, I'm stoked.
[Reporter] How come?
Because they're brand new still with the tags
and they're all mine.
[Reporter] Hope's Kitchen gets some donations from the public.
But what you should know is they don't get any financial support from government.
Not a cent.
And yet Chris Brown Katie's husband
will tell you there are more and more people
coming through their doors looking for help.
That's why he's fixing up another part of the building.
They need more space.
[Chris] Well since COVID, we've noticed that the homeless rates gone up.
It's actually quite high for little North Bay.
People couldn't afford to pay their rents
because they lost their jobs
and some got evicted so they're on the street.
[Reporter] In a way, Chris has two full-time jobs.
He works here and he owns a tow truck company.
So in between tow calls I'll come here and help out
and then if I get a tow call, I go do my tow call and come back
and make sure everything's all right.
[Reporter] Chris's business is down 75 per cent since COVID.
Even so, that's where the money for Hope's Kitchen comes from.
How much money have you put into this of your own money?
Probably around 35,000 to 45,000.
Does that stress you out?
It does stress me out, yeah?
It's a big undertaking.
Our sales are down in our towing business.
I mean we're still keeping afloat.
But it's a little bit of a financial strain.
We do it for the people and it's only money.
Hi, how are you?
[Reporter] It's when i meet Jessica McMurray
that I really learned what that money does.
[Jessica] Donations?
Thank you so much, appreciate it.
[Jessica] I had a really hard time getting help.
I went all around Ontario trying to get assistance.
None of the shelters wanted to take me in
because I was from a COVID hot spot.
[Reporter] Jessica fled Ottawa
and came here to North Bay.
And it's not too much to say that Hope's Kitchen has changed her life.
I've been experiencing homelessness over the last few months.
I left a very abusive marriage.
Yeah I was homeless actually up until just Monday this week.
When I was hired here at Hope's Kitchen
i didn't tell them that I was homeless at first
because I didn't want the stigma that was attached to it
and I also didn't want to be turned away.
[Reporter] Jessica was welcomed here.
In fact another volunteer found her a place to live
and now she has a chance to help others.
As someone who's experienced homelessness yourself
what do you understand about a place like this.
This isn't book smarts.
This is real life experience that I have
so I can empathize with these people.
I don't look at homeless people like a contagious disease
that a lot of people in our society does/
You know homelessness is not a contagious disease.
So people need to stop treating us like that.
[Reporter] That Jessica has the strength to speak up is testament to Katie's work
which never seems to end.
In the evening she and Chris cook dinner for the homeless.
Still even after an 18-hour day
Katie doesn't see Hope's Kitchen as anything out of the ordinary.
[Katie] I don't see it as an incredible act to open our doors and do these kinds of things.
I don't, I see it as this is human.
This is what humanity should be.
It was supposed to be community based and community focused
and focusing on helping one another.
[Reporter] Katie and Chris have discovered that giving the homeless hope isn't easy
but they're all in.
[Katie] It has been the biggest challenge I think either one of us has ever faced.
But at the same time it's worthy.
It's a worthy challenge to fight.
I see it when I see people come in and they're eating and they're warm
and they're comfortable.
It's been incredible so why wouldn't I fight for that?
[Jessica] See you later.
[Reporter] Nick Purdon, CBC News North Bay Ontario.