Solution Finder: Helping neighbours help
How do you turn four sleeping bags into three carloads of warm donations for Ottawans who need them? If you’re Barrhaven's super-volunteer Darrell Bartraw, you make stone soup
When Darrell Bartraw’s sister-in-law found herself with four almost-new sleeping bags to give away a few months ago, she sought his help. Did he know of people who might want these toasty, good quality items? “I’ll find a home for them,” he told her.
He reached out to the Salvation Army’s Ottawa Booth Centre’s outreach and housing services team and learned they’d be happy to take them. “Anything warm,” they told him.
But that got him thinking: “I can do better than just four sleeping bags.”
It can be easy to feel overwhelmed or hopeless about some of the larger-scale, deeply tangly problems that face our communities. Homelessness is definitely one of them. According to the city’s Point in Time Count taken in October 2024, around 2,952 people were experiencing homelessness in Ottawa on one night. But Bartraw, a prolific volunteer who is known by some as the “Mayor of Barrhaven,” is a do-er.
So he just picked a corner. How could he grow four donated sleeping bags into more warm items for people in our city who need them? He’d ask his neighbours.
Like, stone-soup-making style. A recap of the folk story: a traveller invites villagers to add whatever they can spare for his cauldron of water and stones. As everyone adds a little something - a couple of carrots, some herbs - what they pull together is far more nourishing than any of the items on their own. And in this case, more helpful.
In his many years volunteering in the Barrhaven community - more on that in a minute - Bartraw has gotten to know a lot of people. He’s seen them come together many times before: at fundraisers, holiday events, cultural festivals and in times of need. If he put the call out and shared some specific steps on how to take action, he guessed that people would want to help too.
Here’s the note he shared with his neighbours earlier this fall:
Hey everyone,
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the shortage of affordable housing in Ottawa and what’s being done to fix it. But what about the people who are already living on the streets, right now?
Many of our neighbours don’t even have the basic necessities to survive outdoors — especially as the weather turns colder. That’s why I’ve started a project called “Warming the Streets.”
I’ll be collecting gently used:
• Sleeping bags
• Blankets
• Tarps
• Warm clothing (sweaters, hoodies, pants, socks, underwear, hats, mittens/gloves)
Really, I’ll accept anything that can help keep someone warm.
As the seasons change and nights get colder, and with Thanksgiving around the corner, it’s a perfect time to reflect on what we have to be thankful for — and how we can share that gratitude by helping others in our community who are struggling.
I’ve spoken with the Outreach and Housing Services team at The Salvation Army’s Ottawa Booth Centre, and they’ve confirmed these items will be given directly to people sleeping outdoors. In our climate, this kind of gear can be life-saving.
With rising homelessness, the Salvation Army often runs low on these crucial supplies. Let’s help fill that gap.
If you have anything to donate, I will be setting up a drop-off location at the Charlie Conacher Building 33 Wessex Road, October 9th and 16th from 5pm to 7pm.
Also, I want to challenge community groups, clubs, and businesses to step up and do what they can. Whether it’s donating items, spreading the word, or organizing their own collection drives — every bit helps.
Let’s come together to warm the streets, one life at a time.
Thank you
Darrell
The note was indeed received. Over four days - he extended his drop dates - more than 80 people stopped by the community building with donations. He’d guess about 90 per cent of them came from Barrhaven, but word did spread as he knows of some Manotick items joined the mix. And what a mix. Neighbours brought bags, blankets, jackets, sweaters, pillows, scarves, hats, mittens, coats and jeans. Many items still had the tags on them.
There were a few unique items too. “We got two dog coats for people with pets,” he says. And electric hand warmers. And while they’re not exactly warming items, a couple of intimates arrived too. “We even got two thongs,” he says with a laugh. People have different needs after all.
When the folks from the Salvation Army arrived at the community centre in two cars to collect the haul, Bartraw had to chuckle: “I said, ‘Is that all you’ve got?’” he asked them. There was no way their donation-packed room would fit. “A third car came,” he says.
Bartraw, a dad and grandfather of two, has had lots of practice with helping his home community. Growing up in downtown Ottawa as the baby of six kids, he shovelled snow for neighbours on Gilmour Street. During his career with the federal government he was an active volunteer, but when he retired 14 years ago, he kicked it up even more. “I’m busier,” he says with a laugh about his life then and now. Yet he enjoys what he does. “I find it so rewarding when you volunteer,” he says. “You feel good. I just like doing things for people.”
As the scope and breadth of his volunteering output can boggle the mind a bit, let’s break things down by noting some community spaces where you might spot Bartraw:
In kitchens: “I’m a cook, I am not a chef,” he clarifies with a laugh. But ask him for his mac and cheese recipe and he teases that he’d then have to kill you. A cook, perhaps, but clearly one who clearly cares greatly about the food he serves his community. “It’s got to taste good,” he says. For instance, early on Nov. 11, he’d prepared four full pans of mac and cheese and hot dogs for the Remembrance Day service at John McCrae Secondary School. As they had a pan-and-a-bit left over, they brought it along to the Barrhaven branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, where he also volunteers and cooks. He’s a Scout leader and a cook at Camp Opemikon too.
Clarke Fields Park: Barrhaven’s Canada Day party is his biggest volunteer gig, size wise. As the president of the event, he works all year with his team of volunteers to show thousands of people a good time enjoying rides, food and live entertainment. He loves to see the community mix it up and celebrate: babies - new to the Canada-Day scene - retirees, new Canadians and everyone in between. “Everyone is having a good time and smiling together,” his says.
The ODR: For two months of the year, seven days a week, the outdoor rink at Charlie Conacher is Bartraw’s home away from home. He’s the chief waterer and shoveller.
Barrhaven in general: The list of groups and roles Bartraw supports is a long one. Like, long. (Here it is.) Along with being the community events coordinator for the West Barrhaven Community Association - he’s the past president - he helps out with a wide range of cultural, hobbyist and charitable events too.
His efforts to help haven’t gone unseen. Most recently, for instance, he was awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal, which recognizes exceptional Canadian volunteers.
At a time when volunteer rates in Canada have been on the decline for several years - Volunteer Canada says there’s been a 28 per cent drop since 2018 - Bartraw’s work is extra essential.
What lessons can we draw from a Solution-Finder like Bartraw?
While the time, energy and abilities Bartraw applies to his work as a volunteer might be beyond many of us, his efforts - and those of other superstar-volunteers in our communities - serve as invitations to us all. We too can give what we can.
In this case, were the donations enough to support all of the folks in Ottawa who are out in the cold? They were not. But they helped. And each community member who answered Bartraw’s call and dropped off items in support of their fellow citizens contributed to the collective soup - or donation pile - he was cooking up.
And it’s still not too late to help out. When the temperature drops in the weeks ahead and it’s rink time, he’s invited us all to stop in at Charlie Conacher for hot chocolate, popcorn and to say “hello.”
He’ll also still be collecting warm-item donations if you’ve got warm things to spare.
A great example of someone doing something when there's a need - the medal was well deserved.
What a guy! 😍