Cari Kozierok has always done impactful work in the Jewish community, and beyond. For many years she was an executive director at two synagogues in Toronto, often organizing prominent speakers to come and talk to congregants about pressing issues in our society. But she increasingly felt that the work wasn’t as impactful as it could be. That’s why seven years ago she joined Ve’ahavta, a Jewish humanitarian organization dedicated to promoting positive change in the lives of people of all faiths and backgrounds who have been marginalized by poverty and hardship.
The organization has various programs to offer some relief for those experiencing homelessness. Their Mobile Jewish Response to Homelessness is an outreach van program that provides immediate assistance by visiting several locations, which include encampments, in downtown Toronto and Scarborough every night to deliver essential supplies such as food, sleeping bags, harm reduction kits and clothing. Staff also provide referrals to access housing, mental health and addiction treatment, and other resources. Another key part of the organization are the pre-employment programs to match people with jobs and work experience, allowing them to live independent lives full of dignity, Kozierok told me.
I spoke with Kozierok over the phone to discuss how Ve’ahavta faces the growing challenge of homelessness in Toronto, how Jewish values are put into action, and what motivates her to keep showing up every day in a field of work that is relentless and often, thankless.
If you feel inclined to give during the holiday season consider donating here.
What attracted you to Ve’ahavta?
Ve’ahavta stood out as one of the rare spaces in the Jewish world that focuses on putting Judaism into tangible action.
Is the organization focused on homelessness amongst the Jewish population or is the help far-reaching?
Our mandate is that we are a uniquely Jewish organization designed to serve all faiths and backgrounds. We’re not like other Jewish organizations that evolved to serve the greater population due to government and corporate funding requirements such as JVS Toronto and Jewish Immigrant Aid Services (JIAS). We were always conceived as a Jewish organization serving all faiths and backgrounds; stemming from the Torah edict, you shall love your neighbour and stranger as you love yourself, as you were once strangers too. It’s really digging into empathy as a commandment of the Torah because we know what it feels like to be lost and alone [as a people] so we care for those among us by providing services for all people.
We also have Jewish members of our community donate or volunteer, so they can action these deeply held Jewish values. I say it’s “doing Judaism” rather than just “talking Judaism.”
Homelessness has gotten worse post-pandemic—how are resources strained? What are your biggest concerns?
Prior to the pandemic, the country had begun to let in quite a large number of refugees and in 2019 that put a significant strain on available limited resources to the traditional Canadian homeless population. And then we had the pandemic where people left shelters in droves and lived in encampments all over the city and had no services available. It was a dire situation with a bunch of efforts made to rapidly house folks and be innovative, like converting hotels and repurposing apartment buildings [to create more housing for the homeless].
Then in the post-COVID world when the country let in newcomers again, we entered into this refugee crisis where, if you remember last year, churches were taking in refugees [because they had nowhere else to go]. Today we see a huge increase in need and demand for services from both our mobile outreach van, which services people currently experiencing homelessness, and our pre-employment programs where we’ve had 2,100 people apply for 300 program spaces. The demand is crazy and around 70 per cent of folks in those programs are refugees.
When facing such a significant need with limited resources, how do you see the future of this type of work?
I wish I had something lovely to say to you, but it’s dreary, it’s not a great outlook. During the pandemic, I thought, “Wow, the pandemic may be the best thing to ever happen to the homeless population” because many people seemed to think about the people that don’t have a home to quarantine in, and it raised the level of awareness. Politicians and policy-makers pledged money from the federal government for rapid housing and modular housing projects. I thought maybe it was a turning point. But, here we are. Services are being retracted and those rapid housing projects haven’t taken off and all the money hasn’t been spent because there is so much red tape in building projects. Encampments are growing and shelters are full. We call shelters every night and we can’t get people into beds. When the shelter tells us to call in a couple of hours that means that person is sleeping outdoors tonight.
In the seven years of doing this work, is this the worst you’ve ever seen the homelessness crisis?
I guess I would have to say it’s the worst because the numbers just keep going up. What’s compounding it is the issue of a tainted drug supply—drug dealers that prey on the homeless population to create addicts and slaves [to the dealers] to feed a habit. We have a toxic drug supply where people don’t know what they’re taking so they’re overdosing and dying on the streets. On top of that, Premier Doug Ford is closing safe consumption sites that help keep some of those people alive. It’s not a good situation.
It seems like it’s a hard field of work to find hope in.
We focus so much of our growth plans on our pre-employment programs where we’re seeing a lot of success. We see what role we can play to prevent homelessness by getting people off social assistance and earning their own money. As a Jewish organization, it’s a Jewish value that dignity comes from the ability to provide for yourself. People often say you can’t survive on a minimum wage job in Toronto, but social assistance is a sentence into a deep and hopeless poverty cycle that people can’t break out of. Ontario Works, which is our welfare program, has people bringing home less than $9,000 a year to live on in Toronto. The poverty rate is $24,000 and minimum wage is $35,000, so they’re living above the poverty line; it’s by no means sitting in the lap of luxury but it’s not $9,000 a year.
We’ve just managed to secure 660 spots in our pre-employment programs over the next three years, up from 300 spots. It’s ambitious but we were at 50 spots in 2018 and up to 300 by 2024, so I feel confident we can do it. But it’s always about the money, we need the money to grow and that’s the challenge for us.
Are there any success stories from the pre-employment programs that stick out to you?
There are so many, but there was a woman who graduated from one of our programs in 2021. When she came to Canada she had survived domestic abuse and difficult situations, and was living with her three children in a hotel room during the pandemic. She applied for our program and couldn’t believe she got in. She said it completely changed her life. She got a job, lives in a house, and wants to go back to school to become a psychologist. Because of this program she became an empowered woman. I love her story because it highlights the effectiveness of the program. People are applying in droves and we can’t accommodate all of them. It reminds us about the need for us to grow because if she never got into the program she’d still be sitting, trapped in that hotel room with no path forward.
How do you stay motivated in this line of work? Because it’s incredibly draining and exhausting when facing so many obstacles.
It all comes back down to our why and what is our purpose here. Rabbi Tarfon says it’s not our job to complete the work but we can’t quit doing it either, we don’t have to complete and fix the whole world but we also can’t stop doing this work. This is the why, of why we do it. My hope is one day Ve’ahavta is obsolete, but until that time, I’m driven by the ultimate goal in Jewish charity, which is to help people live an independent life and to take dignity and pride in themselves. This is the ultimate goal and we must keep growing the organization to provide this to as many people as possible.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Cari Kozierok has always done impactful work in the Jewish community, and beyond. For many years she was an executive director at two synagogues in Toronto, often organizing prominent speakers to come and talk to congregants about pressing issues in our society. But she increasingly felt that the work wasn’t as impactful as it could be. That’s why seven years ago she joined Ve’ahavta, a Jewish humanitarian organization dedicated to promoting positive change in the lives of people of all faiths and backgrounds who have been marginalized by poverty and hardship.
The organization has various programs to offer some relief for those experiencing homelessness. Their Mobile Jewish Response to Homelessness is an outreach van program that provides immediate assistance by visiting several locations, which include encampments, in downtown Toronto and Scarborough every night to deliver essential supplies such as food, sleeping bags, harm reduction kits and clothing. Staff also provide referrals to access housing, mental health and addiction treatment, and other resources. Another key part of the organization are the pre-employment programs to match people with jobs and work experience, allowing them to live independent lives full of dignity, Kozierok told me.
I spoke with Kozierok over the phone to discuss how Ve’ahavta faces the growing challenge of homelessness in Toronto, how Jewish values are put into action, and what motivates her to keep showing up every day in a field of work that is relentless and often, thankless.
If you feel inclined to give during the holiday season consider donating here.
What attracted you to Ve’ahavta?
Ve’ahavta stood out as one of the rare spaces in the Jewish world that focuses on putting Judaism into tangible action.
Is the organization focused on homelessness amongst the Jewish population or is the help far-reaching?
Our mandate is that we are a uniquely Jewish organization designed to serve all faiths and backgrounds. We’re not like other Jewish organizations that evolved to serve the greater population due to government and corporate funding requirements such as JVS Toronto and Jewish Immigrant Aid Services (JIAS). We were always conceived as a Jewish organization serving all faiths and backgrounds; stemming from the Torah edict, you shall love your neighbour and stranger as you love yourself, as you were once strangers too. It’s really digging into empathy as a commandment of the Torah because we know what it feels like to be lost and alone [as a people] so we care for those among us by providing services for all people.
We also have Jewish members of our community donate or volunteer, so they can action these deeply held Jewish values. I say it’s “doing Judaism” rather than just “talking Judaism.”
Homelessness has gotten worse post-pandemic—how are resources strained? What are your biggest concerns?
Prior to the pandemic, the country had begun to let in quite a large number of refugees and in 2019 that put a significant strain on available limited resources to the traditional Canadian homeless population. And then we had the pandemic where people left shelters in droves and lived in encampments all over the city and had no services available. It was a dire situation with a bunch of efforts made to rapidly house folks and be innovative, like converting hotels and repurposing apartment buildings [to create more housing for the homeless].
Then in the post-COVID world when the country let in newcomers again, we entered into this refugee crisis where, if you remember last year, churches were taking in refugees [because they had nowhere else to go]. Today we see a huge increase in need and demand for services from both our mobile outreach van, which services people currently experiencing homelessness, and our pre-employment programs where we’ve had 2,100 people apply for 300 program spaces. The demand is crazy and around 70 per cent of folks in those programs are refugees.
When facing such a significant need with limited resources, how do you see the future of this type of work?
I wish I had something lovely to say to you, but it’s dreary, it’s not a great outlook. During the pandemic, I thought, “Wow, the pandemic may be the best thing to ever happen to the homeless population” because many people seemed to think about the people that don’t have a home to quarantine in, and it raised the level of awareness. Politicians and policy-makers pledged money from the federal government for rapid housing and modular housing projects. I thought maybe it was a turning point. But, here we are. Services are being retracted and those rapid housing projects haven’t taken off and all the money hasn’t been spent because there is so much red tape in building projects. Encampments are growing and shelters are full. We call shelters every night and we can’t get people into beds. When the shelter tells us to call in a couple of hours that means that person is sleeping outdoors tonight.
In the seven years of doing this work, is this the worst you’ve ever seen the homelessness crisis?
I guess I would have to say it’s the worst because the numbers just keep going up. What’s compounding it is the issue of a tainted drug supply—drug dealers that prey on the homeless population to create addicts and slaves [to the dealers] to feed a habit. We have a toxic drug supply where people don’t know what they’re taking so they’re overdosing and dying on the streets. On top of that, Premier Doug Ford is closing safe consumption sites that help keep some of those people alive. It’s not a good situation.
It seems like it’s a hard field of work to find hope in.
We focus so much of our growth plans on our pre-employment programs where we’re seeing a lot of success. We see what role we can play to prevent homelessness by getting people off social assistance and earning their own money. As a Jewish organization, it’s a Jewish value that dignity comes from the ability to provide for yourself. People often say you can’t survive on a minimum wage job in Toronto, but social assistance is a sentence into a deep and hopeless poverty cycle that people can’t break out of. Ontario Works, which is our welfare program, has people bringing home less than $9,000 a year to live on in Toronto. The poverty rate is $24,000 and minimum wage is $35,000, so they’re living above the poverty line; it’s by no means sitting in the lap of luxury but it’s not $9,000 a year.
We’ve just managed to secure 660 spots in our pre-employment programs over the next three years, up from 300 spots. It’s ambitious but we were at 50 spots in 2018 and up to 300 by 2024, so I feel confident we can do it. But it’s always about the money, we need the money to grow and that’s the challenge for us.
Are there any success stories from the pre-employment programs that stick out to you?
There are so many, but there was a woman who graduated from one of our programs in 2021. When she came to Canada she had survived domestic abuse and difficult situations, and was living with her three children in a hotel room during the pandemic. She applied for our program and couldn’t believe she got in. She said it completely changed her life. She got a job, lives in a house, and wants to go back to school to become a psychologist. Because of this program she became an empowered woman. I love her story because it highlights the effectiveness of the program. People are applying in droves and we can’t accommodate all of them. It reminds us about the need for us to grow because if she never got into the program she’d still be sitting, trapped in that hotel room with no path forward.
How do you stay motivated in this line of work? Because it’s incredibly draining and exhausting when facing so many obstacles.
It all comes back down to our why and what is our purpose here. Rabbi Tarfon says it’s not our job to complete the work but we can’t quit doing it either, we don’t have to complete and fix the whole world but we also can’t stop doing this work. This is the why, of why we do it. My hope is one day Ve’ahavta is obsolete, but until that time, I’m driven by the ultimate goal in Jewish charity, which is to help people live an independent life and to take dignity and pride in themselves. This is the ultimate goal and we must keep growing the organization to provide this to as many people as possible.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.