To the editor,
I was recently at the celebration of life for Doug Riehl. What a huge loss to his family and to our community. After the beautiful tribute to Doug, I came away with the thought, inspired by how he lived his life, that we can all do better. We must do better.
We have people in our community who can use some help. Not everyone has had the same opportunities in life. And our unhoused folks will be the first to acknowledge they don't always make the best choices in life, which we all know could be due to many factors.
We have recently and tragically lost some young community members as a result of substance use. Many of us know their parents, and we know they would have done everything in their power to help their child. When people lose the battle in spite of the help that is there for them, how much worse is the struggle for folks trying to meet their basic needs as well as battling addiction?
The bottom line is – it is very difficult to make good choices when your basic needs are not being met, such as food, personal hygiene, and shelter.
The Den Society, together with Trinity United Church, are providing a drop-in hot lunch daily for our unhoused folks, and this has evolved to be not just a free lunch, but a time of social interaction and an opportunity for volunteers to show their care and concern. Relationships are developing, trust is building, and the United Church has become a hub for safe and comfortable interaction.
Other churches and citizens contribute to the food preparation as well, and we are hearing discussions of further ways to help.
I don’t know what/where a shelter in Creston will be, my main goal personally is to find longer term living arrangements, person by person. Meantime, a place to be warm and dry, especially in winter, should be a basic human right until such suitable living arrangements can be found.
Our community, together with the Town of Creston, must make sure that our citizens have the best chance to make good decisions for themselves by ensuring their basic needs are met.
The Tuesday rallies are to raise awareness, and to remind the Town of Creston and everyone in our community cold weather is not that far away, and we need to have a plan in place to provide the basic needs for our unhoused. You may have noticed a gentleman there with a "Caution to Shelter" sign. We welcome his feedback and any other feedback. He has many valid things to say, we all want to approach this with caution to make sure we get it right.
Let’ s all do better and find a way to help our own Creston residents who can use some help. Watch for the Tuesday rallies, come and ask questions to find out how you can help. Ask your churches how they are helping and if you can assist. WE CAN DO BETTER.
- Nancy McLean, Creston, B.C.
