The Editor,
Re. "'They have killed it,' says shelter backer" (The Tri-City News, July 10).
This is complete and utter BS. This is 2013 and if society should have learned something by now, it's that we cannot rely on our government to create a healthy society.
Based on my own experience, the reason services such as homeless shelters get nixed is lack of knowledge of the citizens, citizens assuming the government will take care of them.
If people truly want a healthy community, they must look at the bigger picture. There are people everywhere struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness, homelessness and poverty. Shutting down the shelter will not take the problem out of your neighbourhoods. Wake up.
Now, you will find some of these people frozen to death in the same parks and trails you frequent with your family. Rob Thiessen made the best point in the article about having such places provide higher possibilities to get homeless people off the streets and into treatment, affordable housing, etc.
I must give kudos to Maple Ridge. While the stigma associated with homelessness still exists, it's slowly changing. I worked in the homeless shelter there for more than two years and saw schools bringing in their young children to serve and meet our clients. And any adult with judgment who took the step to educate themselves and come in the facility soon had a change of heart.
Come in and hear their stories. This is not to tug at your heart strings but to help you wake up to reality. A survey we conducted revealed that most people accessing the shelter and meal program were stricken by poverty or slipped through the cracks of government programs. Yes, there are some who do break the law and cause some to feel unsafe. But hear their stories, too.
Every group has sinners in it - even people with jobs who pay taxes.
I've surrounded myself with clean-cut, functioning people and people struggling with homelessness, poverty, addiction and mental illness, and I feel safer and more loved around the latter. They have some of the biggest hearts.
And the ones who decide to improve their circumstances, watch out, the inspiration is just amazing.
Erin Styles,
Port Coquitlam
