SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
When the day shelter closes, before the Salvation Army opens for dinner, there is a two-hour gap where homeless people are left seeking warmth in the mall, post office, bank entrances and other businesses.

Members of the Citizen Response Team include Dessi Telbis, left, Stephanie Young, Sade Sada follow Lydia Bardak, executive director of the John Howard Society's, lead as she speaks with a homeless man on the street. - Elaine Anselmi/NNSL photo

Loaded down with granola bars, water bottles, gloves and hand warmers to dole out, Lydia Bardak, executive director of the John Howard Society, and a team of volunteers are hitting the streets to offer support and gentle intervention to the crowds that gather, without involving the RCMP.

"We meet folks on the street and see what we can do in terms of referral to agencies or low level intervention," said Bardak.

"We've walked with ladies down to the women's centre when they don't want to walk alone, just to do that low level intervention . not every single matter is a police matter, sometimes it just takes a friendly, caring response."

The group, titled the Citizen Response Team, meets twice per week at 5:30 p.m. and stops in at some of the popular gathering spots for the city's homeless.

"If we had some place to take them, we'd take them, but we have to wait until 7 p.m. so we can walk with them down to the soup kitchen," said Bardak.

The group has been gathering, and slowly learning from Bardak, how to interact with people on the street, sometimes encouraging them to seek shelter, other times just stopping to chat and offer some water or a snack.

"There was a need to have more presence out on the street - an interaction with the people who are out there," Bardak said.

Having been at it since the fall, Bardak said the volunteers are almost ready to head out in pairs without her guidance, and the group will be looking for a new crop of volunteers to mentor.

Bardak said the program is seeing a positive response from the homeless community.

"People are always happy to be approached and greeted in a friendly manner," she said..

"These are folks that I've known for a long time, so it's just a matter of introducing them to the volunteers."