Catalysed by shared frustration over violent “Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY) sentiments in St. Thomas, a group of women gathered and organised other solutions-minded neighbours to pick up needles across the city.

In a well-known local Facebook group (St. Thomas Happenings), someone posted a picture of a man doing drugs. He had been evicted from all housing supports and every service refused to support him - no one would even feed him. The post amassed hundreds of comments, with people saying things like “put him down, he’s not even human” and “they’re [people who use drugs] a stain on society” - others called for violence saying “I’ll use a baseball bat and go put him down”. Through this horrific post, Tish (who founded the women-led mutual-aid effort mentioned above) became connected with Amanda who was a street outreach worker with CMHA. They started dreaming about what it would look like to expand into harm reduction and street outreach, and The Nameless was born.

The fledgling team started outreaching in the community, sharing whatever they could from their own homes and buying supplies with a couple donations. Slowly through their mutual connections, they opened The Nameless’ bank account and incorporated as a nonprofit July 21st 2019. They continued outreaching out of the back of a car, then out of a shed near the Atrium where they had to contend with squirrels eating their donated food supplies.

Starting in December 2019 we provided a warming space for community members experiencing homelessness with no where else to go. This was a winter program resting space in partnership with the city.

The Broke Vaper sublet a small room (now the STASH Office) to The Nameless which the team used strictly for storing backpacks and supplies needed for street outreach. During this time St. Thomas did not have a full-time shelter (now “The Inn”) - only a church providing seasonal shelter, which made the early outreach services of The Nameless truly crucial. The team would do a 2-3 hour loop daily around downtown St Thomas to help community members in crisis. At local pharmacies, we would max out our daily allowance as individuals to get two Naloxone kits each and distribute them to community members.

In early 2020 we developed a partnership with the Southwestern Public Health Unit to distribute safer supplies and naloxone to the community. This was exciting for us - we could stop using our time and resources to collect Naloxone kits at pharmacies and expand our reach and impact by distributing harm reduction supplies many community members were unable to access directly from the Health Unit which is located out of town. When Covid shutdowns started, we pivoted to our current model and began distributing harm reduction supplies, meals and other supports to community members directly from our space. We were the only place community members could get meals - churches were a great support and partner during this time, collaborating with us to distribute hot meals every night. We also received a grant which allowed us to purchase and distribute food and snacks to community members during the pandemic. We ran a bathroom program which allowed people to use our washroom facilities until midnight, as no other washrooms were available to people experiencing homelessness during Covid shutdowns.

One year after receiving our nonprofit registration, we achieved charitable status allowing us to provide tax receipts and apply for grants. This win came on the heels of recognizing the emergence of the “second pandemic” as the opioid crisis amped up. Street drugs were increasingly poisoned and bad, services were being shuttered and struggling for resources while overdose deaths surged. Essential rapid addiction medicine like Sublicade were unavailable during Covid causing many community members to spiral into life crises, relapse and unwellness. For this reason and because of Covid-19 restrictions, many community members were no longer welcome in a lot of spaces in the downtown core. Once we could open our doors, we knew it was crucial to do so to offer a third space to community members being asked to leave other public areas.

Because of the influx in bad drugs and overdose deaths, we organized our first annual Overdose Awareness Day on August 31st. We hosted a variety of community service organizations like Indwell, CCHC, The Inn, Southwestern Public Health, CMHA and Salvation Army and organized memorial-themed activities at each table. Since, we have organized this community awareness celebration every August 31st.

We faced several barriers throughout lockdowns causing us to pivot our operations a number of times. Participants voiced the appreciation of having a static location, but we were unable to operate out of our small office. We temporarily operated out of the alley behind our location, and later a parking lot, but the need for a larger, stable location was clear. In August of 2020 we excitedly moved up the street to our first solo location - 572 Talbot St. Once we could open our doors, we knew it was crucial to do so to offer a space for community members to have a welcoming space to rest.

In St. Thomas, we lost 6 people in 2021 to overdoses - 3 in one month. The man whose picture spurred the violent comments and threats in “St. Thomas Happenings” and the formation of The Nameless was one of the community members lost to accidental overdose. It was a heavy year, exacerbated by pandemic-related stresses - but we made it. You can read about the impact we made in community in our 2021 Annual Report below in the statistics section. In 2021, our total number of visits doubled and we supported over 8,000 community members. Founding of STASH - STASH is a lived-experience Peer support working group composed of 7 individuals in various stages of their journey towards recovery and life-stabilisation. They are also navigating housing precarity or homelessness, including camping and living in transitional spaces, trap houses, shelters and sometimes, their own independent housing. In 2021, they created and hosted various community bbqs, pizza nights and movie nights for community members.

In 2022, we grew again, supporting community members with over 17,000 interactions, contributing over $50,000 worth of labour hours. We handed out over 4,000 snack bags and distributed over 11,000 meals.

Leticia Mizon resigns as Board President The board is reformed to add a 5th seat, the position of President is retired permanently and new positions of Volunteer Coordinator and Administrator are created.

After quickly outgrowing our beloved space at 572 Talbot St we were on the hunt for a larger location to accommodate our growing operations. On September 11, 2023 we signed the lease on our new/old space at 552-558 Talbot St. taking over the former Broke Vaper location and returning to our "home".