Municipal

Should not a Greenway be green?

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Ok I admit it fits within the dictionary definition of “any scenic trail or route” but I still do not see how you can call an asphalt path a greenway even if you cleverly label the asphalt as “all-weather surface”.

Should not a greenway be somewhere you can get away from the asphalt jungle of the city to at least the illusion of nature?

I came across a big colourful poster singing the city’s praises last night for the new greenway and found myself wondering if a greenway should not involve more green and natural surface than asphalt?

I am reasonably sure that the purpose of the provincial grant was to make the greenway as green and nature friendly as possible. Not for the city to slap down some asphalt to do it as cheaply as possible so that leftover monies could go to feed City Hall’s voracious appetite for taxpayer dollars to waste on such things as nice big colourful posters telling citizens how wonderful the city’s actions are.

Or the next thing you know we will have a massive advertising campaign selling us the wonders of City Hall’s really big greenway – South Fraser Way.

Hmmm, Homeless

Why is it…

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… that the church groups who serve lunch to the homeless on Sundays during the noon hour are both congregations without their own church building? Hillside, the group that serves on the first Sunday of the month, meets in a school and the Open Door who cover the other 40 Sundays meet at Bethel Reformed. As an aside, I would like to tip my hat to Bethel Reformed for their generosity of spirit, for this is not the only group from the community they make their church available to.

I posed this question to Pastor Cristoph Reiners from Peace Lutheran Church who I met through a friend. His reply was thoughtful (read
writings of his at (www.plc-abby.org) and had me thinking that the City would benefit spiritually if his thoughtful writing could be shared more with Abbotsford’s citizens.

Today is the first Sunday of the month and the good folks from Hillside were there with a hearty pasta/spaghetti meal and a larger coffee urn they had acquired because of the demand for coffee by the homeless – especially as the weather gets wet and cold. They also brought HOME-BAKED cookies!

I was speaking with a friend of mine who is a member of this group about the difficultly I am having in finding suitable housing, when the conversation turned to the August long weekend. I had written about Hillside not being there on that weekend and it was not until the labour day long weekend I had found out they had indeed passed along the fact they would not be there that August Sunday and apologized for my misjudgment. Those they told failed to either make other arrangements or to tell anyone that Hillside would not be there.

I explained this misunderstanding to my friend, again verbally apologizing, then decided this is one of those situations where as a child learning proper manners and conduct my parents would have required I sent a written not of apology. I felt this needed a written public apology as amends. I extend sincere apologies and a big thank you. The members of Hillside should know that the homeless look forward with great anticipation (and drooling) to the meals.

There were two other points of interest that emerged from this conversation I want to bring forward for consideration.

The first was that this ongoing serving of meals grew out of looking for a Love Abbotsford project. Instead of joining all the other churches in overwhelming the hungry with food for one day, they chose to serve an ongoing need for food on Sunday. It is unfortunate that other churches did not follow this example, but perhaps that is related to the second point.

The second point arose when we were speaking of an offer to meet some small specific needs. This underscored the need I see for a place that those interested in being part of ending homelessness can go to offer/do what they can. My friend used the image from a recent piece of mine – that of individual drops of rain wearing away the mountain of homelessness. What we need is a place the drops can to pool together and be directed to wearing the mountain at its softest points.

Two congregations without church buildings; Peace Lutheran a small church that has offered to help in the small ways they can …

The other part of the question I posed to Pastor Reiners was: what is it that causes congregations as they grow large in size to invest in bigger buildings and more pastors, rather than in the people in need in their community.

Bringing forth the thought: at what point does an ever bigger, an ever fancier, ever more costly building become a graven image?

Municipal

Unmatched Generousity? To Whom?

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Before somebody hurts themselves engaging in self-congratulatory back patting based on unfounded conclusions leapt to, let’s take a moment to question, analyze or think about what having the highest median donations really means.

Abbotsford has the highest median income; it follows that Abbotsford should have the highest median level of donation. All this bragging about an outcome one would expect. Now if Abbotsford had the lowest median income and had the highest median donations we would have something to be proud of.

What a statistic really means needs careful thought, not jumping to a false conclusion. I recommend “How to Lie with Statistics”, Darrell Huff’s perennially best-selling introduction to statistics for the general reader. Thoughts of voters and citizens being familiar with this book strikes fear into the hearts of politicians and other so-called leaders.

So before losing ourselves in pompous expressions of uncritical satisfaction with ourselves, let us examine the claims made: oft quoted MP Ed Fast last year gasconaded: “We share our blessings with those who need our help, we support our neighbours and we give to worthy causes.” What is the reality on the streets of Abbotsford?

Demand on the Abbotsford Food Bank is climbing with increasing numbers of women, children and seniors depending on the Food Bank to eat. More families, children and seniors depend on other charitable organizations and people for food, clothing and other necessities. The streets of Abbotsford become home to increasing numbers of homeless daily. Adults, children and seniors go to sleep each night hungry.

Raising the question: exactly how do they define “donation”, where are all these dollars going and who actually benefits from all the money raised? Look around Abbotsford and you will see it certainly is not “those who need our help … our neighbours and … worthy causes.” Just where and to whom does all this money go and what is it used for?