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?

Consider, Homeless, Poverty

Convenient concern for the homeless and poor.

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“Where was your concern for our low-income families then”?

This comment from a recent newspaper column took me back to a very similar thought I had while reading the editorial pages of all the local papers and finding letter after letter denouncing slots because “they are hard on/bad for the poor”. I was left sadly shaking my head at such blatantly self-serving morally objectionable behaviour.

I do mean to christen as immoral those who are concerned for those in need only when it is convenient or serves their self-interest and ignore those in need when it could inconveniently required effort or even (shudder) some small sacrifice or there is no self-interest to be served by being concerned for the well-being of the poor.

Immorality: something that is a cause or source of suffering, injury, or destruction: the social evils of poverty and injustice (American Heritage Dictionary).

Week in and week out papers were filled with letters about how bad for the poor slots would be, a vast outpouring of concern for the poor to the papers and to council. Before or after the slots debate?

Precisely.

Poverty

Senior Citizens hunger for – food

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A friend came up to me and sat down at the table at the Street Hope meal at Global harvest and stated, “You have to write about all the seniors needing the Food Bank.” I’ll skip the discussion as to why I had to write it instead of him and speak to his concern.

Mr. O wanted me to draw people’s attention to how fast the number of seniors who need the Food Bank in order to eat is growing. There is also growing numbers of seniors eating at the Salvation Army and/or accessing the food distributed there.

Housing costs in Abbotsford are skyrocketing. For seniors owning their own homes property tax increases outstrip available grants. For those who don’t own, rental rates are climbing with increased demand for housing providing an additional boost to soaring rent costs.

To pay for their housing seniors are being forced to reduce what they spend on food and rely more and more on charity to eat.

Compounding these concerns we are beginning to see senior/retirees who not only cannot afford food but also can no longer afford housing. They are ending up in emergency shelters – in shock and lost.

Both hunger and homelessness will continue to grow in the seniors/retirees population – until we as a society choose to say it is unacceptable and act. Volunteering at their local food bank would be a real eye-opening experience for many.

Speak to your family, friends and neighbours; write, talk and demand that our so-called leaders take action; and be a little extra generous to the Food Bank and people such as Street Hope or the Open Door seventh day Adventist church who feed so many hungry.

We may not be seeing hairy caterpillars but all the signs are that this is going to be a cold, wet, hungry winter for many senior, poor and homeless.

Homeless

Starbucks Sunday

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It was Starbucks Sunday at lunch today. Once a month the Sumas Way (near the Super 8) Starbucks provides coffee to the Open Door Church to serve with the lunch the church provides. Not only do we get the high octane of Starbucks but there is lots of coffee for seconds and thirds. On a cool rainy day such as today was, hot coffee puts a nice warm glow in your stomach.

I would be most remiss if I did not mention Cobs Bread and their weekly donation to the Open Door of bakery goods for the sandwiches they make. In particular I must mention the occasional special treat that comes in the form of leftover sweet items mmmmmmmmmmmmm. For an epicurean delight of the baked goods variety I can attest to the tastiness of our local Cobs and to their generosity in giving support to different groups the other six days of the week as well.

Although I must acknowledge that Costco’s Kirkland brand of apple caramel pie and shortbread cookies are pretty tasty, especially when hunger has sharpened the appetite and being homeless in the cold and wet weather has your body demanding extra fuel, extra calories, to burn for warmth.

A community often does not see all the little ways that franchisees and corporate citizens contribute to the community not just through big dollar donations but in the day to day, month to month contributions to local groups like the Open Door Seventh Day Adventists who use this generosity in order that there might be a little less hunger stalking the streets and homeless of Abbotsford.

So give Cobs bread a try, the great flavour is well worth the trip and take time to tell them “that homeless guy who writes all those letters and other stuff” said to say thank you for being generous and helping feed the hungry. If you get the chance, tell management at Costco “good job” for giving back to our community.

Swing by the Sumas Way Starbucks and say thank you as a citizen of Abbotsford for being part of the community. You might also want to work into the conversation a suggestion that since that is the favourite Starbucks of “that homeless guy who writes all that stuff” they might want to consider donating a Venti or two a day to fueling his fingers ….

Thank you to these and to all the businesses that give back to the community through their generosity, from homlelessinabbotsford and the many others who benefit from and appreciate their kindness and thoughtfulness.