Monthly Archives: December 2007

Consider

“Are you spending Christmas with family?”

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With my sisters in the Toronto area and my brother in Newfoundland the answer would appear to be “No”, but is that true?

I had breakfast with the homeless and volunteers at Resurrection Life. I had my Christmas turkey dinner at Seven Oaks Alliance with hundreds of other dinners. Both halls were well populated with people I know and with whom I exchanged meant wishes of a Merry Christmas.

In between I got to visit, play bingo and carol with a diverse group of homo sapiens, most of whom I have shared the past several Christmases with. This custom started when, in the knowledge that I had no place to go or share Christmas with, I was invited to come and join the celebration.

Although my recovery and activities have resulted in other opportunities for visiting and celebrating the Day, it would not have been Christmas without attendance at this special celebration.

It was sitting there, in a in a moment of quiet reflection between bingo games, that I found the true answer to the question of family and Christmas. Yes I was celebrating Christmas with family and friends.

For family, friends and community are terms that we each, as individuals, get to define for ourselves. Not with words and rules but with our hearts and spirits.

Municipal

RE: Compassion Park sparks real results

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I ‘m sickened by the damage and misery that result from the Abbotsford Salvation Army and its PR machine constantly harking upon how successful its outreach program is in housing the homeless. It present s a false and misleading picture of what is happening on the homeless front in Abbotsford, allowing “leadership” in Abbotsford to avoid taking action by citing non-existent “real results”.

The outreach program at the Salvation Army is more about generating good-looking numbers to ensure more funding than it is about generating lasting, positive results to help the homeless to move off the streets.

The public would be shocked and dismayed at the facts an independent audit of the 180 people claimed by the Salvation Army as housed. Of course, that is using my definition of what I would mean by housed: they remain in housing and off the streets at the time you claim them as being housed successfully.

This would mean that those on the list who lasted only days, weeks, until the end of the month or a month or two before ending back up on the streets would not count as successful – although they are counted “successful” in the Salvation Army’s books. It would also mean the Salvation Army could only count an individual once – not every time their outreach “successfully” placed them in housing.

Such an audit would reduce the number of “successful” outcomes in housing the homeless to a number that would not even require removing your shoes to have enough digits to total those still housed and off the streets.

Public awareness of the truth will deny city council and other community leaders false “results” to hide behind, forcing them to face reality and act. One can only hope that public scrutiny would force the Salvation Army to change focus from good-looking numbers and PR to reality-based positive outcomes and results.

Until public awareness of the facts behind the claims of “real results” occurs I can only shake my head and remember the words of Franklin D, Roosevelt “Repetition does not transform a lie into truth.”

Provincial

Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon’s response? non-response? to a Memo.

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Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon’s response time on a matter of bridge infrastructure concern was truly impressive. I had sent him a memo raising concerns about drainage and leakage of bridge structures in Abbotsford and less than 2 weeks later workers were to be found making repairs to the drainage system.

I just do not know whether to laugh uproariously or hang my head and cry in despair.

After the snowfall that turned to a downpour I sent Minster Falcon a memo about the difficulties caused the homeless by the bad drainage and massive leakage noting the need to “remove the threat posed to the health and lives forced to live beneath the bridges, like trolls from the dark-ages tales”.

I did note that “we at homelessinabbotsford.com would rather see these needs address in the proper manner and ministry, as opposed to continuing to sweep the problem under the bridges – and whatever makeshift shelter can be found.” I suggested that as an alternative to repairs he could speak to Claude Richmond (Minister of Employment and Income Assistance), Housing Minister Rich Coleman or Premier Gordon Campbell and get changes made to the policies that result in BC citizens living under the provinces bridges.

Based on the swift repair to the drainage system it would appear that it is the BC Liberal government’s policy that BC citizens reside under bridges.

Leaving us to ponder whether the $500,000,000 pursuing these polices costs taxpayers, would not be spent on housing and recovery support programs which would reduce the yearly costs and result in significant savings to taxpayers?