The road to street living is never a ‘one fits all’ story.
Through Sole Stories, Journeys of the Homeless, the Shoesters busted the myths leading to homelessness by sharing the stories of those living on Red Deer streets at the Bower Mall on Saturday.
The Shoesters are five Red Deer students enrolled in the Leadership Networks course through the Leadership Centre of Central Alberta.
The students have taken an up close and personal approach to learning about homelessness. By talking with the men, women and children who do not have a home, they learned their individual stories and want to share them with the community.
Part of the project included collecting shoe donations and providing shoe replacement for those in need.
Dena Hutchison, a Shoester, said the stories were real eye openers especially seeing the younger children, some as young as three, on the streets.
She said there are a lot of myths circulating in the community about the homeless. She said often people assume the homeless want to be on the streets, and they are all mentally ill or substance abusers.
“It’s not the case that they don’t want to work,” said Hutchison, noting you only have to listen to the stories to know this isn’t the reality.
“We are finding so far most people actually have a job. They just need steel toe boots and they can’t afford it.
“That was one of the biggest themes we found.”
Hutchison said the homeless were very open and willing to share their experiences.
The display showcased the battered shoes and a sample of written stories. Art From the Streets works were also displayed.
Once the display comes down the group will continue to participate in future shoe exchanges and other initiatives.
“We are trying to build something sustainable,” said Hutchison.
“We also got a grant, and we setting up a shoe exchange with Mark’s Work Warehouse. So they can take the people down there if they need new boots and get new boots that way.”
Shoester Elane Campbell said the Saturday event was to raise awareness and to dispel some of the illusions around homelessness.
“You hear a lot of negative comments in the community like get a job, which is not the case,” said Campbell.
“That’s not the remedy to help. I find a lot of people are living on the streets because they don’t have family and other people to help them through those rough times where many of us do have those other supporters and that keeps us housed and employed. So many people are very alone and I think that’s (where) more understanding is needed.”
Outreach worker, Mel Sawyerr of the Red Deer Native Friendship Society wrote the proposal for the Leadership Centre for the organization to take on the project.
She is also part of the Red Deer Housing Team, a collaborative housing-first project involving local organizations. Sawyerr said the City of Red Deer is doing well in tackling the homelessness issue but there is still work to be done.
“There’s a lot of conversations between the community agencies about how to best tackle this issue and how to work together,” said Sawyerr.
“That’s one of the things I noticed in Red Deer is that the community agencies seem to really pull together and have the best interest of people at heart and what to see them succeed and do whatever they can to help that person succeed.”
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com