Someone Said...

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

Who Said:

"The budget should be balanced.  The Treasury should be refilled.  Public Debt should be reduced.  The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled and assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest we become bankrupt.

People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."

Was it: 

(a) Barack Obama

(b) Stephen Harper

(c) Cicero

Who said that poverty and homelessness make him feel:

Humility

Degraded

Worthless

Shame

Anger

Guilt

Hopeless

Anxious

Disgrace

Trepidation

Helpless

Stuck

Burdensome

Upset

Desperate

Alienated

Trapped

Alone

Onerous

Stigmatized

Isolated

Courage

Indignity

Misunderstood

Disgust

Labeled

Stressed

Controlled

Embarrassed

Judged

Belittled

Fearful

Humiliated

Blamed

Worried

Demeaned

Useless

Lost

Empty

Displaced

Resourceful

Dependent

Foolish

Denial

Defeated

Loathed

Weak

Stupid

Apathy

Defaced

Grouped

Demoralized

Wounded

Resilient

Durable

Vulnerable

Why!

Overwhelmed

Untrusting

Prideless

Unworthy

Disrespected

Forever?

Was it:

(a)  Mother Teresa

(b) Ron Hell

(c) Someone who's living it

If you're the first one to answer both questions correctly, a donation will be made in your name to your choice of a Thunder Bay Shelter or Food Bank.  Click on "Comments" at www.xowhat.blogspot.com

In the next few weeks, we'll be discussing

Asset Based Community Development.  

At it's core, it's about:

• generating authentic citizen communities of care...

You'll be introduced to the seminal work of John McKnight who said:

After 40 years of work in the urban neighborhoods of Canada

and the United States, McKnight paints

a scathing picture of

"how competent communities have been invaded, captured, and colonized by professionalized services" with devastating results.

Reciting a litany of lethal effects produced by service providers:

 families collapsing,

schools failing,

violence spreading,

prisons swelling

he charges them with eroding the very soul of community.

"The enemy is not poverty, sickness, and disease," McKnight writes.

"The enemy is a set of interests that need dependency, masked by service."

In your "community leadership" journey,

what do you say?

How does your style of leadership impact the community and those you lead?  What have you learned so far (with LTB) that can influence your leadership style in the future?

How are the GOALS you set at the Opening Retreat progressing?  Is it time to "reflect" and review your options?

....and there's so much more to come!

Walk A Mile, Part 2

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

Your Personal Challenge

It's the first week of December... a time when many of us shop more, eat more, socialize more, drive around more...

Rush!!!!!!  stop......

Let's walk a mile in someone else's shoes for just one week...

Join us in getting hungry for answers...

Poverty in Ontario is at an all time high. As the economic crisis grows, so does the number of people relying on social assistance and food banks.

Does a single person on social assistance receive enough income to live with health and dignity? Do The Math to find out!

Step 1:  Log into http://dothemath.thestop.org/index.php and complete the survey.

Step 2:  Track your spending for 1 week (before our next CLD).  Every penny.  Divide your monthly bills into a one week allotment.  Use the survey form on the website. 

How does your family budget compare with the max allotments for social assistance?

Step 3: Optional -  Can you NOT SPEND for 7 days - use what you have in your cupboards, cut back on driving, take public transit or car pool, say "no" to treats....for just one week...  leave your wallet and credit cards at home...

The Challenge:  How many of us are willing to step into the shoes of so many others experiencing this for real...?

Step 4:  READINGS FOR THIS MONTH:

Bookmark the site and read the links at Poverty in Ontario http://dothemath.thestop.org/links.php

Hungry?

The Dew Drop Inn at St Andrews RC Church (Red River Road) provides lunchtime meals for anyone in our community...no questions asked.   Daily, 2:30 to 4 pm.

 

Until We Walk A Mile...

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

When Does Reality Really Hit Home?

"People who are homeless are not social inadequates.  They are homeless."  -  Sheila McKecknie

April in San Francisco is more like early spring in northern Ontario, rather than the hint of summer in the rest of California.  I hadn't done my weather-homework and had only packed a light jacket expecting tropical temperatures and sun-soaked days under the Golden Gate.   With the damp ocean breezes blowing briskly, I was freezing, wishing I'd brought along a pair of gloves and my favourite scarf. No matter, the Hard Rock Cafe would warm me up and then the sightseeing would continue.  Fun atmosphere, cool folks at the bar, souvenir hurricane glass to bring back home... on with my tourist type adventure.

Little did I know at that point, that I would finally come face to face with a new understanding of one of our society's most ignored scenarios.

Belly full and admittedly a little tipsy, I turned and headed up one of San Fran's famous hills.  My face to the bright sun, and not really paying attention to what was ahead, I was startled to bump into a shopping cart.  It was driven by a craggy faced man with very gentle eyes almost hidden by a mane of eyebrows.  He smiled; I think I may have said hello.  He kept going. So did I.

I remember that moment of "shift" in my thinking from my personal expectations of my experience to what was happening on the streets.  Under stairwells, on stinky sewer grates, anywhere away from the wind, lived communities of people.  They understood each others' language, asked no questions about past lives, and shared secrets of survival.  Cardboard boxes and chunks of plastic wrap were their castles.  And, as I found out later the municipal library was their "salon", offering showers, private areas for grooming and the luxury of real toilets.

My goose bumps and failure to pack the right attire seemed so miniscule in comparison to the reality of living on the streets.  Why had I never really seen these people before?  How harshly I had judged.

Let's explore the realities of homelessness and poverty together over the next 3 weeks.  Watch for next week's "Challenge" for you and your family.  Perhaps you won't need to travel all the way to the west coast, and will "Find your heart (in San Francisco)" if you haven't already.

"We think that poverty is only being naked, hungry and homeless.  The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty.  We must start in our own homes to remedy all poverty."  - Mother Teresa

***

Where is this mural and who is the famous artist?  Be the first with the correct comment to win a Canadian book!

For a Few Pennies More

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

It's Not Just About the Bagel

The Hunger Report came out in December from the Ontario Association of Food Banks and reflects figures until September 2008.

"When children are removed from the equation, we can see that over one in four Ontarians served by food banks are working.

In addition to these figures, there are also many Ontarians turning to food banks that have recently lost their jobs and are receiving Employment Insurance.

When taking these figures into account, 19.7% of those served by food banks in Ontario are employed or have recently lost their job.

There are also many Ontarians served by food banks that are not currently employed.

43.1 per cent of all Ontarians including children report general social assistance (Ontario Works) as their major source of income.....

Over 20 per cent of all persons served by food banks in this province are persons with disabilities. This figure is well beyond the population average which reports that 13.5% of Ontarians are living with disabilities."

38% per cent of Ontarians forced to turn to food banks are children.

A Challenge for you and your family?

We read the statistics, we understand how mill shut downs along the north shore and in TBay are affecting our communities. But what's it like to live the circumstances, instead of being the bystander?

Here's the challenge...

Could you and your family live for 5 consecutive days:

a. without spending an extra dime? Eat what's in your pantry and fridge - no trips to the grocery store, no stops for bagels and coffee, no dog treats...and when you're out of gas, you hitch a ride

or

b. recording every dime you spend?

Bring the results of your experience to the next Learning Day on March 12.

Read "A Gathering Storm" http://oafb.ca/assets/pdfs/A_Gathering_Storm.pdf

- Maggie

Hope? Food For Thought

"Hope": Photo Credit Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

Where There's Hope...

Which organization has been willing to run counter to conventional wisdom, including other religious organizations?

“Leadership Secrets of the Salvation Army” (Robert A. Watson & Ben Brown): “We have always brought a message of inclusion and compassion to people used to being excluded and judged.”

Excluded and judged... Let's go behind the obvious...

What’s it like to be a homeless addict?

A homeless addict requires not only help in overcoming her addictions. She needs immediate housing. And she needs assistance in coming up with a long-range plan for a place to live once she’s clean.

She’s homeless because she doesn’t have any money. And she doesn’t have any money because she has no job and, more than likely, little experience in managing what money she’s made in the past. Even when she’s free of drugs, she may have trouble finding a job with a future without transportation. And without suitable clothes, she’ll be uncomfortable in interviews and on the job. Recognizing all those needs puts us (The Salvation Army) in the housing, job training, life skills counselling, transportation and clothing businesses.

What about her family? Perhaps she’s a single parent with children she can’t leave unattended while she works. And maybe her longtime addictions have inhibited her development as a parent and a housekeeper.

She might not know how to prepare healthy food for her family or to assume the most basic responsibilities of nurturing her children’s intellectual, emotional and spiritual growth. Understanding those dilemmas requires us (The Salvation Army) to get into daycare, after school recreation, healthcare counselling and parenting instruction.

Each of those hurdles before a recovering addict can be an insurmountable barrier. Each is an invitation to fail, to despair at that failure, and then to escape to drugs.

Just about every problem with which we struggle festers an atmosphere where nothing seems to matter, where lives seem purposeless and where the ability to influence changes seems so limited to be meaningless. People feel trapped, manipulated by powers beyond their control.

Is there an antidote? So the task really is about more than just treating a chemical dependency or providing housing for the homeless or feeding the hungry. It’s about salvaging and nourishing hope. Hope is the antidote for cynicism and despair. And you don’t have to be homeless or addicted to drugs to know you need something to combat that poison.

Source: Leadership Secrets of the Salvation Army, pages 39-40. Eaglet Publishing 2001.
With thanks to Dr. Peter Legge, CAPS


The Thunder Bay Perspective:

One food bank (St. Agnes) indicated this week that in a comparison of demand for 2007 as opposed to 2008, the numbers were up 54%. Redwood Opportunities Centre, the second largest food bank in Thunder Bay compared January-March 2007 with January-March 2008 and the increase was 57%.

In Thunder Bay:

More working poor are seeking assistance and many of the people coming to food banks are there for the first time. The very people who used to donate to food banks are now coming for assistance. Those on EI from forestry have run out of support. Some have turned to OW and many are now underemployed.

• See The Quality of Life Report distributed to you in March for more recent statistics.



• See the Lakehead Social Planning Council Website for more resources and information:
  http://www.lspc.ca/



• See Northern Ontario Growth Plan and the Rosehart Report: http://www.mndm.gov.on.ca/nordev/documents/noef/REPORT_FEB2008_e.pdf

Next Week?

We will issue a Challenge to you and your family... perhaps a different experience. Let me know if you decide to go for it.

In the meantime, how does the global economic situation affect the poor and the homeless...and you? Food for thought....talk about it...

Yours in hope,
Maggie