A kindness meter awaits donations on Rideau Street.
Kindness meters aren’t making millions, but they are doing their part.
Six kindness meters were installed in the Byward Market in November 2007.
The program was criticized in 2008 when the City of Ottawa realized none of the money had been distributed to the charities involved in the project.
Since then, the Downtown Ottawa Coalition for a Safe Community has changed its focus and now uses all of the kindness meter revenue to help move shelter clients into supportive housing.
About $10,000 has been collected since the meters were installed, and eight more meters have recently been placed in downtown Ottawa.
Gord Diamond, chair of the Downtown Ottawa Coalition for a Safe Community, says the kindness meters don’t receive a huge number of donations, but it’s a constant amount and he is surprised by the generosity of residents.
The kindness meters are an extension of the coalition’s “Have a Heart- Give Smart” project, which started in 2006 and aims to educate people about giving money to agencies instead of panhandlers.
“Giving money to panhandlers often supports drug and alcohol addiction,” Diamond says.
“Giving money to an agency is a far better thing for people to do,” he adds.
When shelter clients are ready to move into supportive housing, they are referred to Rideau Street Youth Enterprises, who receive all the revenue from the kindness meters.
Youth Enterprises has a large van and they give youth in the program temporary employment to move clients’ belongings.
Jan Sistek, executive director of Rideau Street Youth Enterprises, says the kindness meters are a great idea, but in the last few months, he hasn’t received much money or many moving jobs.
“We’ve done 30 or so moves,” he says. “I was expecting a much greater volume. It’s not enough for me to sustain the business.”.Youth Enterprises has recently lost some funding and is currently owed about $1,000 from the kindness meters project, but Sistek says he is “cautiously optimistic.”
“I always prided myself on giving the tough kids a chance. From a business perspective, it seems like a bad plan, but from a humanitarian perspective, I think those are the kids we should reach out to because they’re the kids who could cost us in the future,” says Sistek.
Shepherds of Good Hope is one of the shelters that received money from the kindness meters before the switch in focus.
Rob Eady, spokesman for Shepherds of Good Hope, says case managers for the Shepherds work on moving their clients into supportive housing and it doesn’t cost the organization very much to move somebody.
However, he does support the kindness meters project.
“I think they’re a success to some extent,” he says.
“They’re receiving some funds and we’re able to put those to good use.”