Holiday schedule blues

It's not easy to figure out what a holiday schedule is like for these drop-ins.

The Toronto Drop-In Network (TDIN) sent out an email with a PDF attached, to update us all on Monday, August 6th, which turns out to be Alberta Heritage Day. But it also says July 2nd, and if you've worked in an office before, you know how these things can get back-burnered and rushed.

Here's a screenshot of the PDF file:

And, of course, it wouldn't be due diligence to just take TDIN's info as 100% accurate, so before the meals calendar on this website gets any touch-ups, it's time to verify all the times in the PDF with the actual places.

Verification is hard when the IT departments that put together these sad websites still think that it's dangerous to put up your clients' email addresses on the 'net, and it's much better to have a contact form with a little spam-busting thing on it that's too hard to read, and gives you an error anyway when it does work:

It's safe to assume that EHM has not received any email off this page in awhile, and that nobody there, or at their IT service provider, IT Werks, has any interest in seeing this changed.

If every drop-in on this PDF were listed on this site, there'd be like ten more to go. Good thing only about seven of them are.

Next up, Council Fire. The email address on their contact page is linked wrong, so anybody who doesn't know how to link an email address right won't have much luck getting in touch with them. In this case, not a problem.

Let's see how the Good Shepherd does in terms of emailability. They make you decide what kind of inquiry you're making. This one is probably "general." General inquiry lines, with no names attached, are pretty sketchy. But maybe they'll confirm the schedule. TDIN's PDF says:

Hours: 9:00am - 11:00am 

L: 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Considering that The Good Shepherd stays open on all holidays, and runs breakfast from 9 - 11, lunch from 2 - 4, it's safe to assume that TDIN just screwed up and should have put "breakfast" in place of "hours." Definitely a rushed PDF.

Now onto Gateway. Their contact page doesn't list anyone as being in charge of meal programs. So this inquiry will go to their director.

Then there's Maxwell Meighen. Their contact page has this under "how to contact Maxwell Meighen:"

Thanks, guys. Good thing there's an email address listed under "Primary Support Unit." Too bad it's not clear what the PSU is. Well, whoever they are, they're getting a confirmation email.

The Good Neighbors Club has a general administration email as well, and no emails listed for scheduling questions. Hopefully they respond. According to the PDF, their supper's gonna be from 3pm - 3:15pm. Their contact person confirmed that. Let's see if it stands up to a second inquiry.

CONC actually has a drop-in meals contact person! Yay Deborah!

So we'll see how many of these people confirm and what the accuracy rate is like. Yay.