ABHOC Press Release – 1

February 14, 2010

Abbotsford Homeless Winter Games

Opening day of the 2010 Abbotsford Homeless Winter Games is February 16, 2010.

This date was set to allow time for the dissemination of the opening day of the 2010 Abbotsford Homeless Winter Games without drawing attention away from the recent opening ceremonies in Vancouver.

The timing of this release is out of consideration for all fellow British Columbians who have worked so hard on their performances in the opening ceremonies.

In light of the provincial government of BC’s decision to not only not increase Mental Health services, an increase that is badly needed, but to decrease Mental Health services in order to fund the Winter Olympics and in light of provincial government cutbacks and/or failure to address: BC leading the nation in child poverty; addictions treatment and recovery; BC having the highest cost of living and the lowest minimum wage; the fact $375 is inadequate to obtain safe secure housing in the province with the highest hosing costs in Canada; the need for more safe, healthy, affordable housing; the crisis in both the Health Care and Education systems; the growing poverty; the growing class system resulting from those who have and those who don’t have –

The Committee wants to stress that the decision on the timing was entirely due to consideration of fellow ordinary British Columbians.

Given the broken promises of social housing, developers and business shamelessly exploiting the Olympics to their own advantage, the impact of the Olympics on poor communities and nearby ecosystems, disrupted lives, the money and service losses it has cost, the invasion of community that accompanies games sites and transportation systems; that while the Olympics are a global phenomenon, the exploitation and marginalization that accompany them are rooted in an intimate local context: global spectacle, local debacle; the

Civil-liberty-threatening security and surveillance measures that the Olympics provide and excuse for, particularly the Charter violating Assistance to Shelter Act – the Committee would gladly use the opening ceremonies to warn communities contemplating holding the games of the unacceptable costs in tax dollars – not just that services provided by governments are forgone because ‘there is no money for them (because it was spent on the Olympics)’ but because of the cuts to services (e.g. health care) provided to citizens that are required as ‘there is not enough money (because it was spent on the Olympics) and we need to make service cuts and limit funding increases (so we will have enough to fund the Olympics – whatever the costs) –

The Committee would have been overjoyed to use the opening ceremonies to draw attention to the harsh realities of hosting the Olympics on ordinary citizens and particularly the poor and impoverished.

However after due consideration and in light of the fact that British Columbians, most notably the poor and those not well off, are facing substantial future burdens in addition to sacrifices already made the Committee affirmed its decision to wait until after the Vancouver opening ceremonies to announce the time, date and location of the opening ceremony for the Abbotsford Homeless Winter Olympics.

Valentines Day was deemed most appropriate as a release date because love, compassion and generosity of spirit are the keys not only to rich interpersonal relationships but to effectively addressing the issues of homelessness, recovery and poverty.

The Opening Ceremony commences at 12:15 PM Tuesday February 14, 2010 and reflects an overriding reality of life for the homeless and poor – hunger. To acknowledge and honour this reality the opening ceremony consists of the sharing of a simple meal, lunch at a local soup kitchen.

The Competition schedule and locations are not being widely distributed publicly as a result of security considerations – to prevent, or at least minimize, interference and disruption by politicians and their administration, imposition and enforcement cadres.

The Closing Ceremony is at 5 PM Thursday February 25, 2010. The Closing Ceremony again reflects hunger as an overriding reality of life for the homeless and poor. It also reflects the importance of those individuals who, seeing the hunger and the lack of leadership, understanding and compassion by politicians and other ‘leaders’ in the community and society have stepped forward to act. It was the unanimous opinion of ABHOC 2010 that the excellent repast served a Faith Bible Church on Thursdays was the apropos concluding location.

Media contact

ABHOC Communications

abhoc2010@gmail.com

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ABHOC Press Release – 2

February 14, 2010

Abbotsford Homeless Winter Games – the events

The games reflect the realities of life for those living on the streets therefore:

[ There will be no official schedule of events or times publically released to prevent, or at least minimize, interference and disruption by politicians and their administration, imposition and enforcement cadres.

[ Given that being at the mercy and whims of the weather is one of the uncomfortable, on occasion fatal, realities of life for the homeless there will be no extraordinary measures taken (indoor venues, extraordinary snow moving) to force winter conditions or shield competitors or the Games from actual weather conditions.

Homeless Games – an overview.

The two events chosen to showcase the local state of affairs for the homeless in Abbotsford reflect the City of Abbotsford’s practice of dismantling the homes of the homeless during winter months, rather than summer months. This is done without regard for weather conditions, leaving a homeless man without shelter on the coldest night of last winter:

[ Obfuscation – the ability to conceal the home site. This event is a judged event with no time element considered. It is not based solely upon how or the degree to which the shelter is screened or masked. Judging criteria also consider the location in terms of likelihood of discovery; the ease of ingress and egress and the likelihood of movement to and from the site drawing attention and leading to the discovery of the site by authorities; access to necessities such as food, water, waste disposal, hygiene, services;

[ Relocation – the ability to tear down, move and set up. This event does encompass a consideration of time. However it also considers: the new site in terms of location and obfuscation; materials chosen in terms of weather, design and portability; the move itself in terms of time and ability to not draw attention to setting up the second site.

There will be the standard tests of homeless survival skills:

[ Can collection. As a major source of revenue the ability to collect and redeem cans is a significant survival tool. In the spirit of fair competition the competitors will be randomly assigned areas of the city to collect cans from. With the proviso that if a local competitor is drawn for an area that encompasses her/his usual collection area there will be a reassignment to ensure no unfair ‘home field’ advantage.

[ Cart events. Note: in order to promote a level playing field all carts will be scavenged on the day of the event, of the same specified type (i.e. Wal-mart, Superstore) and inspected to ensure no modifications or improvements have been made. All carts will be loaded with the same weight and materials.

o Distance. Since a cart often contains all a homeless person’s possessions they are a limiting factor on distance travelled, especially with ice, snow or slush on the ground, Thus the ability to cover distance as quickly as possible is a survival ability.

o Sprints. Because sometimes you just have to able to relocate to another area. If you cannot do it quickly pushing a cart you run the very real risk of having to abandon your belongings.

o Load out. The ability to properly load a cart is critical to the manoeuvrability of a cart. This is a judged event based on integral considerations such as weight distribution and center of gravity.

[ Health Care Obstacle Course

o Obtaining health care for the homeless (and others) although theoretically not a problem due to universal health care, the reality is that obtaining health care, particularly good health care is problematic, requiring guise and salesmanship. This is a judged event that will be run over the course of the entire games period.

[ Homeless Hobble

o Feet are nearly the only transportation mode available to the homeless. The exception being those homeless who are living in their automobiles who must move the vehicles daily or lose them to impound.

o Living homeless is very hard on the feet. Thus preventative foot care, first-aid/medical attention and skills to cope with foot/leg/mobility impairments is a necessary survival skill.

[ Marathon

o This is not a marathon in the traditional 42 km 195 m footrace. For the homeless and the poor marathon reflects the need to fill out form after form after form … ad infinitum. Yet one has no choice but to continue to plod through the pile of forms.

o Judging is based on correctness first, since a mistake must be corrected by the person filling out the forms and no further processing will take place until the error is corrected. Thus each error adds time to the time it takes to process the form(s). Time taken is secondary in judging since it is more important to be accurate than fast.

[ Steeplechase

o This event is related to the marathon but reflects the systems propensity to erect barriers and hoops for clients to have to climb over or jump through ad nauseum. Completeness, correctness and finesse are the important considerations here and time is again a secondary consideration.

[ Queuing. “It’s line up for this, line up for that!” “How’s that going for you?” “It’s orderly.” If you are homeless you must deal with the frequent need to line-up to obtain services, food, clothing etc. so a homeless person must invest significant time in lines.

o Best use of time while queuing. Again a judged event where judging has no pre-established criteria, but judging is spontaneous and reflective of the use time is put to by the competitors.

o Most creative use of time while queuing. A judged event where judging has no pre-established criteria, but judging is spontaneous and reflective of the use time is put to by the competitors.

These are the core events. A primary reality of life for the homeless and poor is unexpected variability. How the day was expected to go may well have nothing with how the day did in fact develop and go.

To reflect the ‘SURPRISE!’ factor in daily life the remaining events will be help on a random (hat draw) and spontaneous (feels like the right time) basis.

Media contact

ABHOC Communications

abhoc2010@gmail.com

***

ABHOC Press Release – 3

February 14, 2010

Abbotsford Homeless Winter Games – the competitors

All events are open to all homeless without regard to sex, ethnicity, colour, creed or any other criteria used to divide into US and THEM. Homelessness plays no favourites nor discriminates, neither do these games.

It is anticipated that competitors from third world and/or developing nations will be extremely limited as poverty denies one the ability to travel.

It is anticipated that competitors from the more enlightened developed countries will be limited as a result of national housing policies and reasonable social safety nets.

It is anticipated that the foreign country with the most competitors will be the United States  as a result of proximity and that its social organizing principle is greed.

With no national housing strategy and federal Conservative policies creating and increasing poverty in Canada, there are tens of thousands of Canadian Homeless to draw up as competitors.

Unfortunately for the homeless, with the nonsensical Housing and Social Development policies of BC’s Liberal government, most notable the unliveable Income Assistance levels and policies there are a plethora of local people who qualify to compete in the Homeless Games.

For the homeless winter is not about winter sports. It is about:

Scrambling to find shelter on those nights that lack of adequate shelter can be life threatening.

Those interrelated needs of food and bedding/clothing. Food for the calories to burn through the long, cold, wet nights. Bedding/clothing to minimize heat loss and preserve calorie reserves in order to survive the nights.Struggling to jump through the hoops and over the barriers that the nattering nabobs of negativism in the social (un)assistance system of Housing and Social Development delight in raising.

In for the long haul, endurance, striving to put one foot in front of the other and struggling forward when it feels as though you are carrying a 100 Kg load on your back. The advantage the pampered athletes of VANOC have is that they know were the finish line is. The homeless have no idea where the objective (employment, shelter, food, recovery) they struggle to reach lies. Only that it is somewhere in front of them.

An intricate survival dance performed daily, balancing food, shelter, clothing, bedding, weather conditions, police harassment, bathing, drinking water, bureaucratic idiocy, transportation, etc. Not to mention job searching, resume submission, cover letters, coping with the lack of a phone (which the government claims is unneeded for finding employment!), finding computer access for job searching and applications, etc.

A few words on the subject of all homeless are addicts – that is wrong. The members of ABHOC 2010 who were or are homeless were or are homeless as a result of issues other than addiction. Governments of all levels in Canada are making it increasing easier for citizens with no complicating factors but poverty to end homeless and on the streets of the city in which they had once been housed and ‘respectable’ citizens of.

Consider the number of athletes at the Olympics who are caught using performance enhancing drugs. They are using drugs to win in order to gain victory and avoid dealing with defeat and doing the hard work that dealing healthily and constructively with failing to win.

The homeless are using their choice of drugs to deal with issues they want to avoid dealing with and to avoid doing the hard work that dealing healthily and constructively with their issues.

Now consider the mindset of citizens of BC and their fellow Canadians vis-à-vis the Olympics.

It is a mindset focused only of the short term and thinking only of what feels good right now, ignoring the consequences of actions taken or being taken in its enthusiastic pursuit of that feels good high. It is the mindset of an addict.

In becoming a society seeking instant gratification, a society that takes the easy way out without regard to cost, Canada has become a society whose behaviours grow ever more similar to those individuals in our society who struggle with an addiction to mind altering substances

Media contact

ABHOC Communications

abhoc2010@gmail.com