Ron Eldridge, left, who founded the Devoted to You Street Ministries in Winnipeg for the homeless, recently moved to Lloydminster and is working on setting up a similar ministry in the city. He is pictured speaking with Stephen Jessone at the Lloydminster Men’s Shelter. Surprisingly, Jessone knew Eldridge from Winnipeg. Eldridge received a Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal for his work with the homeless. He is employed as a cashier at Safeway. Geoff Lee Meridian Source
Newcomer Ron Eldridge is on a mission to help the homeless in Lloydminster.
The 62-year-old arrived in the city just over four months ago with plans to start a local version of “Devoted to You Street Ministries,” which he founded and ran for years in Winnipeg to help the down and out.
“I decided after I got settled here that I would restart the ministry,” said Eldridge, who envisions a local Christian-centred ministry to help the homeless and less fortunate lead a more positive lifestyle.
He also wants to educate churches, youth groups and other agencies on the needs of street people and is beginning to make local introductions.
“What I plan on doing is what we did in Winnipeg—clothing and feeding them and counselling them and handing out backpacks filled with personal hygiene items. It’s really great,” said Eldridge.
He has already fed a few homeless people he’s met on his days off as a cashier at Safeway.
Also, he has just made initial contact with the Salvation Army and the Lloydminster Men’s Shelter.
“I need to get the word out there because I am going to be needing donations of clothing, food, backpacks, personal hygiene items, things like that,” said Eldridge.
He says people who want to donate can phone or text him at 306 830-1030 and he’ll store stuff in his spare room for now.
Eldridge has pitched his plan to his pastor, Tyler Evenson at Living Faith Pentecostal Church hoping the church might provide an outreach office as Bethel Community Church did in Winnipeg.
Evenson says the church hasn’t made any decisions on the Lloyd ministry yet, but they are open-minded.
“It’s still early days, so we’re looking at what options there are available and how we can connect with the community in a meaningful way,” said Evenson.
“I know Ron is moving things forward on his front. We’re just getting to know him and understand a bit about what his cause is for in the city.
“I know it’s something he’s got a big heart for. He understands it from a first-hand perspective.”
The ministry is Eldridge’s way of giving back after being homeless himself from 1973 to 1987. He left home at an early age to escape his physically and verbally abusive alcoholic father in B.C. He discovered being homeless is unhealthy and dangerous.
“There were times when I thought I was going to die, especially in the middle of winter or in a heat wave. I’ve got frostbite several times,” said Eldridge.
He called himself a homeless transient who would hitchhike all over Canada and found himself in Winnipeg on a cold September day badly needing help.
He connected with a caring woman in a bar that evening named Marsha who found him a room in a house and helped him get a job as a cook.
They kept in touch and eventually got married in 1996 and started the Devoted to You Street Ministries at her suggestion.
“We went out in the evenings because of my job. Also every single weekend; we’d go as often as we could, even in 40-below weather serving hot chocolate on the street,” said Eldridge.
When his wife died a year ago from stage two rheumatoid arthritis and Alzheimer’s dementia, he just needed to get far away to escape the pain of his loss.
“I didn’t know where—to just start over again—because there was just too many memories,” said Eldridge, who finds Lloydminster receptive to him and his message.
He wants to repeat what they did in Winnipeg and hold an annual massive giveaway of food and clothing for the homeless in the courtyard of City Hall this fall.
Eldridge says he plans to talk to the city about maybe repurposing some boarded-up homes near the men’s shelter for more beds and working with his Habitat for Humanity contracts in Winnipeg to build here.
Eldridge received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in Winnipeg for helping homeless people over the years.
He’s been interviewed about his outreach efforts several times by major news networks in Winnipeg and also CHVN, a Christian radio station.
The Golden West Broadcasting network will air an upcoming phone interview with Eldridge on Aug. 25 or 26 with some affiliate stations in Alberta.
