Get Well Soon

Prayer requests for our cook Shirley Trilsbeck. Two nights ago, Shirley and her son Jeremy slid off the highway and their vehicle rolled a couple times. Shirley suffered two fractured vertebrae, while Jeremy is ok. We pray for a quick recovery and rehabilitation for you Shirley, get well soon.

Hallelujah!

PROVINCE HELPS FUND TWO VERNON EMERGENCY SHELTERS
October 25th, 2007
CAUCUS RELEASE

VERNON - The Province has approved $249,433 in one-time funding for two temporary emergency shelters for men and women in Vernon, Okanagan-Vernon MLA Tom Christensen announced today. "The Province continues to work with the local community to develop a permanent emergency shelter in Vernon," said Christensen. "This funding helps us address the immediate need for safe, secure shelter for individuals living on our streets while a long-term solution is being finalized." Community partners, in conjunction with the Province, have developed an interim plan to provide emergency shelter at two temporary sites during the winter months while work continues on establishing a permanent low-barrier emergency shelter in Vernon. The John Howard Society - North Okanagan / Kootenay Region will receive a one-time grant of $59,180 to operate a temporary 12-bed shelter for men. The Vernon and District Women's Centre Society will receive a one-time grant of $190,253 to operate a temporary 15-bed shelter for women. "This funding enables us to help men living on our streets by providing them with much needed access to safe, secure shelter," said Barbara Levesque, executive director, John Howard Society - North Okanagan / Kootenay Region. "This brings us one step closer to a permanent shelter for homeless women in Vernon," said Ann Forrest, executive director, Vernon and District Women's Centre Society. "With this funding, we will continue reaching out to women living on the streets and build on the work that started last winter." "We are working hard to ensure that the permanent shelter meets the needs of our community," says Annette Sharkey, executive director, Social Planning Council. "This funding provides financing for interim, temporary shelters while we finalize arrangements for a long term solution." As of November 5, 2007, the men's shelter will operate at the John Howard Society's current location, 2307 43rd Street. The operating times will be confirmed at a future date. The women's shelter will open on October 27th and operate out of the Salvation Army at 3303- 32nd Ave. Clients will be able to enter the women's shelter every night at 8:00 p.m. The Women's Centre will also provide drop-in services for women from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.










We pray that our people will never again need to seek refuge in places like this...

Foodshare Conference

I had the privelege to attend a conference last Thursday and Friday about Food Rescue / Recovery or as it's called in Kamloops, Foodshare. It's a brilliant concept, that is a win-win and overwhelming benefit for all partners involved. In a nutshell, excess food is collected from local restaurants, grocery stores, and from individuals (farmers and growers) by the Kamloops Foodbank and then it is distributed to Food Share partners each and every day (minus Christmas). Over 4 million nutrious servings of food was collected from Jan - Nov 2006! Food that would have been tossed out and end up in the landfill. Food Share partners include social agencies that feed the homeless, schools (breakfast and afterschool meal programs) and churches. If all goes according to plans, perhaps Vernon will be the next community to adopt the Foodshare model. Here's a cool story that the E.D. of the Kamloops Food Bank 'shared' with us, and I thought i'd share it with you all!

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Homeless lottery winner pays it forward by Lori Jenks
Article printed in Newsbreak on Saturday, April 01, 2006

FOOD BANK volunteer Kelsey Kashuluba looks on as Marg Spina and Julie Bennett prepare fresh produce for the hungry
“Angels come in all shapes and sizes,” said Marg Spina, director of the Kamloops Food Bank.
The angel in this case was a 34-year-old, homeless ex-con who gave the food bank $1,000 after he won $10,000 on a scratch-and-win lottery ticket before paying off his debts.
“I always said that, if I ever won anything, I was going to donate 10 per cent to the food bank,” said the man, who wishes to remain anonymous.

The man won the money in February and it was gone within a month. “I just went around and paid off all of my debts and now I’m free,” he said. “I figured the money was a gift from God and wasn’t for me to keep. What do I need money for anyway? I’m living on the street carrying around 3,000 bucks in my pocket. That’d be pretty stupid. I didn’t want it, so I got rid of it.”
He wants to remain anonymous because he said his friends would give him a hard time for giving the money away. Also, it would be dangerous for him living on the street if people thought he was carrying around a large amount of money. “No one needs to know who I am anyway,” he said. “I just wanted to help the kids. If you went there and saw people trying to feed their kids, you’d have done it too. You know that, if you need food stamps to survive, you don’t have anything.”

Spina’s eyes welled up with tears when she talked about the man who has been a food bank regular for five years. “This is by far the most powerful thing that’s happened in the year I’ve worked here. It’s one of those things that happen that really strengthens your resolve to want to help. “Whatever you choose to do in your life leaves a footprint and I think about that idea when I think of him,” said Spina. “What he did has affected so many people and will continue to affect so many more. That’s what the food bank is all about: paying it forward.
“The most important thing to remember,” said Spina, “is that he made sure he came here first to give us the money because he knew he wasn’t going to hang on to it. I think it really goes to show the real essence of who he is. Whatever has happened to him in his life, he has such a strong desire to want to protect children.”

The man grew up in Alberta and moved to Kamloops five years ago after getting out of prison. “I came to Kamloops 15 years ago and thought I’d like to live here,” he said. “It’s a good place to live outside. It’s warmer than Alberta.” He’s been in and out of prison since he was 18.
He said he’s hoping to be pardoned this month and looks forward to being able to work.In Canada, a person is eligible for a pardon three to five years after serving a sentence.
Winning the money seems to have given the homeless man a new outlook on life. He spends much of his time at the Indian Friendship Society and is learning social skills he didn’t learn in prison.
“When I got out of prison I didn’t know how to relate to people,” he said. “All they do is warehouse people there. They don’t teach you any of the skills you need to survive in the world.”

A Night to Remember

I mustn't forget to mention (in my old age) last Saturday night's Volunteer Appreciation Party!

We celebrated with about 120 (and it could have been double that number!) of our closest friends a night of great food, music and speeches. I appreciate each and every one of you who have stuck with us in the toughest of times (and there have been a few) and revelled with us, in the best of times. (Many of which are still to come!) In an age, where statistics say that volunteerism is down, the market ripe with paying jobs, increased wages -it is so refreshing and rewarding that so many of you -our amazing volunteers are sticking with us! And it's so encouraging that so many more new volunteers are coming aboard. We are truly blessed by each and every one of you. A big thank you goes out to Mo and Bill for preparing such an delicious dinner spread! Steak and Lobster for next year? :)

One of Our Own

Life on the Streets by Jon Mercier
-Reprinted from Visions: BC's Mental Health and Addictions Journal, 2007, Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 15.

I've been on the streets a lot in my life. In my early teens I ran away from home. Now, at the age of 23, I find myself back on the streets for something I never thought would happen to me. I was fired from a job because I lost my temper with a customer. I didn't find a new job in time to pay my rent and was evicted.

On March 11, I went to a men's shelter in Vernon called Howard House. They helped me get on welfare and I started paying rent of $450 a month. The Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance (MEIA) only gave me hardship coverage, which means I only got three months of assistance. Come April, Howard House raised the rent to $500. I was only able to give them the $375 income assistance shelter allowance. I gave them that, but was kicked out on April 4 anyway. The money went back to welfare and I was without a place.

I heard there was another shelter that was free to stay at. But when I got there, I found it had closed due to lack of funding. I was left with no place to stay. I kept my hopes up, though, because I still had a place to eat called the Upper Room Mission. The staff there really care about the people who go there.

With the free shelter closed and a bylaw against homeless people sleeping in parks or on city streets, there was no place to sleep at night. The staff at the Upper Room Mission, however, said we could sleep in their parking lot. This is what I, along with about 20 other people, have been doing. We face many hardships, like people driving by and yelling at us. Once someone even drove into the lot while we were asleep and screeched around, doing a smoke show. Yet, ever since the newspaper wrote an article about what is happening to the homeless, many people have come to bring us food, blankets and clothing.

Since being back on the streets, my hope of getting back on my feet is falling into the dark. Before becoming homeless again, I'd been drug-free for six years. But because of depression and the stress of being homeless, I've gotten back into using ecstasy and smoking weed.

When you live on the streets with no money, crime becomes a big temptation. So far, I've been able to ignore the temptation, but for how long I don't know. Between the ages of 13 and 19, I was in and out of jail for breaking and entering, auto theft, drug charges and assault. I've been out of jail for three years now. I still have a warrant for my arrest, though, from Thunder Bay, Ontario. I can't be arrested on that warrant here unless I commit another crime and was told the warrant will be dropped if I can evade it for seven years. With three years behind me, I'm hoping I can get through the next four.

I fear that if I don't get a job and a home soon, I may find myself back in jail. Some people look at being in jail as "at least I am off the streets." As true as that is, besides having a bed and food every day, jail is much like the streets: you still have to deal with drug use, other people's tempers, and even cop-like people. This is why I would much rather find a job, get back into the working world and have a house of my own.

I want to work. I've done odd jobs for people to make money so I could eat and buy smokes. I did six days of labour on a farm for $480, and then I did one day's work putting siding on a house for $60. It's more like no one wants to hire me because I'm homeless. But I'm homeless because I don't have money to pay rent, and I don't have money because no one wants to hire me until I have a place. So it's a Catch-22.1

I've also been prescribed medication for attention deficit, split personality and bipolar disorders. The medication I was first given when I was working was not covered by any Canadian medical plan. Since being homeless, getting the medication I desperately need has been very difficult. My doctor just recently found a medicine that my BC medical plan will cover. So now I am back on medication, but it took from March 11 until May 24 for that to happen.

I've met many different people while living on the streets and not all of them are homeless. I've met a very kind and warm-hearted married couple, who are a great support in keeping my hopes of getting a job high. I'm thankful for meeting them. I also met my now girlfriend on the streets. She is not homeless, but has slept with me on the street a few nights. It makes me very happy that she understands me, and I know she's there for me no matter what I'm facing. A few other people I've met are not the best people to know, and I wish I'd never met them.

My biggest wish is that the public would realize we homeless people are just like everyone else; we're just having a rough time in our lives. Many of us have good hearts and are trying to find a home and a better life. We just have some mighty big obstacles to face.


Jon is 23 and lives in Vernon. He has two beautiful sons and, although he is homeless, he is working toward a better future.

City in desperate need of more addiction services
By Natalie Bank
Reprinted from the September 30th edition of the Daily Courier

The Vernon man who was killed in a cardboard bin was only looking for a place to hang his hat for a few hours. Days after his death, social service providers are wondering what would have happened if there had been other doors for him to knock on long before the night that became his last. Barbara Levesque and her staff at the John Howard House have been talking about the incident. She said for them, his death had a clear message: There‘s a growing need for addictions services at the street level. “The people who work in addictions services in Vernon are overloaded and we‘re also not reaching everyone who needs services and this is just a good example of that.” Levesque said there‘s a lot of people looking for addictions help in Vernon, but there‘s not always someone available to help.

The city has good addictions services, she said, just not enough addictions services. When an addict also has a serious mental health problem, it‘s even harder for them to get access to care and counselling, said Levesque. Things like a street-level outreach worker and a future downtown health clinic will help alleviate that, but it‘s almost too little, too late. “Those things are coming into play behind the wave, so we‘re playing catch up right now,” said Levesque.

Police said the 53-year-old man, who was found by recycling staff at the Vernon landfill Thursday morning, was not homeless. He did, however, have a “lifestyle” that led him to look for shelter in a dumpster on occasion, according to officers. The man, whose family requested police withhold his name, was somewhere in central Vernon, when he likely decided to lift the lid on a recycling bin and climb in. Although police haven‘t ruled out foul play, they say he may have simply been cold, a little too far from home or he‘d had enough and wanted to rest for a while. Levesque said she often hears of people sleeping in downtown dumpsters and alleys, which can be as dangerous as the parks and places they are fleeing from. Sometimes they are people with addictions, sometimes they have mental illness and, often, both. Often, too, if you heard their story, Levesque said, you‘d be surprised about where they‘re from. “I want people to remember that many people that are struggling right now with these addictions or mental health problems are not from generations of people on welfare or people who have been poor all their lives. It‘s not.” “It‘s people who are our neighbours, from the middle class, who have owned homes. People have to set aside those stereotypes now.”