World Homeless Day – Windsor Centre of Hope

For 20 years, Richard Andruchow enjoyed a successful career in car sales.

In 2009, he had a stroke. Then there was a fire in his building, he went through a court case, and had nowhere to live.

Richard ended up homeless and became a client of The Salvation Army Windsor Centre of Hope and its spiritual care, housing, community and family services, counselling, and emergency shelter programs.

“I was released from the justice system and into the care of the shelter system in Windsor, Ontario,” Richard recalls. “The biggest challenge is getting yourself through the day in a mentally fit fashion.”

Supporting Richard through those challenges is where Chaplain and Spiritual Care Manager Adam White enters the picture.

“The Salvation Army came on my radar when it was suggested that I meet with Adam White. It got me to this point where I could talk to a human being on a level that was not solely addressing the issue of homelessness.”

Richard says the conversations with Adam took on a deeper meaning for him as they developed a genuine rapport.

“What I do here is something that does not get attention, but it is dealing a lot more with the root causes of things. You can give someone a house but that does not mean it is going to be a home,” Adam says.

When he entered the shelter system, and with all that he has been through, Richard said he had trouble with the concept of creating a better life for himself.

“I was struggling with that idea, but Adam built up a faith in me that I was losing, and I see The Salvation Army’s value in the community,” he says.

The Windsor Centre of Hope is ‘More Than a Shelter.’