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Category Archives: Homeless
“Seeing is Believing” tour
“Seeing is Believing” tour
The following exerts are from an article in The Province on March 2, 2006:
Neatly dressed Surrey businessmen and poorly dressed street people met yesterday in a program designed to show the dark side of city life. “We saw things that in day-to-day living we tend to avoid because we don’t like poverty and mental illness”, said Lloyd Craig, president of Coast Capital Savings. “Here we are in a great country and you see how absolutely desperate people can get”.
The tour was set up by the Canadian Business for Social Responsibility, a national, non-profit group that believes solutions to poverty and hunger must involve business.
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said participants came away with a good understanding of the challenges. Craig said Watts support was very important “She really understands this side of building a city. It’s more than increasing the tax abase”.
Business men willing to open their eyes and see “poverty and mental illness”, recognize “how absolutely desperate people can get”. What next? Business people whom “just want to help out”? Next you will be claiming Canadian Business for Social Responsibility. What? Abbotsford remains uncaring, Only in Surrey you say? Pity.
More of a pity is that Surrey’s Mayor “understands this side of building a city. It’s more than just building a tax base”. Would that some of our local politicians would open their eyes and see. But then they would not be able to deny the homeless, the poor and the mentally ill that have been abandoned to live on the unforgiving, uncharitable streets of Abbotsford.
The politicians, business people and good citizens of Abbotsford, Seeing? Believing?
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put your hand and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing”. John 20:27
letter to writer of Province article March 2, 2006 pg. A21
Just a quick note to say I found your article in the March 2, 2006 Province of real interest. having had mental illness dump me onto the streets of Abbotsford fortunately my personal resources lasted until I had started back up the path to mental health) I have come to have more experience than I want with life on the streets. With a business background myself, I agree that business has an important role to play in this issue, beyond simply signing cheques.
The information about Canadian Business for Social Responsibility has me planning to research and contact this group after I send this missive off to you. I hope you do not mind but I have/will use quotes from your article for letters to the editor of our local paper and for an article I will write and post to the homeless web-site.
If we as a society are to make any progress in addressing this growing social issue we need more programs such as ‘Seeing is Believing” – and more articles in the press so that the public can at least5 get an idea of the size scope and complexity of the situation covered by the simple label ‘homeless’.