Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness Conference
November 23rd, 2014
Written by Rachel Siemens
Three members from the Board of Today House in Steinbach attended a homelessness conference in Vancouver and returned with renewed motivation.
Shelter Coordinator Shannon Kehler explains while in Vancouver they walked down East Hastings, which is heavily populated with homeless and looks very different from what you see walking down the street in Steinbach.
“When you see that you understand there are many layers to homelessness and it looks different in every community, but it’s there. And you go back to the key-note speaker at lunch and you look around the room and there’s a rough number, close to 1000 people there dedicating their time to helping this, so it is a huge problem. So if we can go back and tweak and fix the little problems in our own community, if everybody can do that, perhaps there is a solution to homelessness.”
Vice Board Chair Irene Kroeker says she feels part of the problem is Steinbach has an invisible-type of homeless where those struggling are not obvious to the general public. She notes she sees them, however other people may not because they’re dressed the same, look like they have a purpose to where they’re going and don’t stand out like individuals in Vancouver or even Winnipeg.
