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Spa day boosts morale
by Samantha Shirley-Urano editorial@mrtimes.com
Caring Place Ministries was full to the brim Friday with people in need who were given haircuts, manicures, clothes and food at the ministry’s annual Spa Day. Manfred Karczewski, 61, was there looking through the many piles of clothes for size 36 jeans. Karczewski said he has type 2 diabetes; over the last three years he went from being 375 pounds to 215 today. Recently he was wearing size 38 jeans, but he was celebrating the fact they were falling off him. “I plan to donate the ones I get to somebody who might need them,” he said. Karczewski has been volunteering at Caring Place for years. “It’s a good thing they’re doing,” he said. “They actually care about you.” Karczewski, like many of the people at the Spa Day, is not totally homeless. “I find it very difficult to keep my place,” he said. “Rent keeps going up, but income doesn’t go up.” Connie McGonigal, community advocate and volunteer coordinator at Caring Place, said the situations of people they serve are changing. “... Poverty isn’t just homelessness or people that have addictions or mental health issues,” she said. “Now we’re looking at people who just simply cannot afford housing, so it’s an affordable housing issue.” She said more people are being
Dorothy Lawson had a makeover at the Caring Place on Friday. Samantha Shirley-Urano/TIMES affected by this challenge, which is seen by the number of people they serve meals to each night. The Caring Place serves about 9,000 meals a month, which McGonigal said is more than past years. “That’s quite a cross-section of community members, including families and seniors and people who pay rent, but just have no money left for food,” she said. There has been an increase in people needing shelter as well. Usually not as many people need
Linda Whitford looks through piles of donated clothes. Samantha ShirleyUrano/TIMES
shelter during the summer, but McGonigal said the shelter was full this summer. There will be space available during the winter, with 30 cold/wet weather beds from November 1 to March 31. Caring Place also offers 25 emergency shelter beds every night of the year and 15 transitional housing beds. By the end of the month families needing shelter will also be able to use a home Caring Place is almost done renovating. “I think the three things we need to get out there are that in order to end homelessness we need to look at people having adequate income, having affordable housing and having those support services available for people who need them,” McGonigal said. Another community organization helping those in need at the Spa Day and every other day is the Alouette Home Start Society. Polly Emery, who works with the society, said she was involved with promoting Spa Day and collecting donations from the community. She said the response was incredible - they received at least
70 boxes of clothes, three boxes of toiletries, shoes and jackets. “We have enough shampoos and soap left over to supply the shelter for a good six months now,” she said. “It was great.” Emery explained that the society is also helping many people and families who are struggling to pay both rent and food. “It’s events like [the Spa Day] that really help because they’re getting some toiletries, clothing and some extra food,” she said. “The Salvation Army was giving away food as well, like bread, pastries and fruit. They could take as many as they wanted.” She said around Easter this year there was a family of nine who moved to Maple Ridge because the father thought he had secured a job, but it fell through. “They found themselves homeless, but between Outreach, the Caring Place and the Ministry, they all worked together to make sure they had a place to stay, proper funding, clothing and someone to work with them to make sure they had suitable housing.” Emery said she thinks Maple Ridge has great collaboration
between community organizations and the Ministry of Housing and Social Development. Another issue in the community is seniors not being able to pay their heating bill and eat. The Alouette Home Start Society and Caring Place recently helped a woman in her 80s who didn’t have heat in her house. “We have those seniors who don’t like to ask for help, who haven’t asked for help their whole lives, and are now having a hard time making ends meet,” Emery said. “...We got the call about the senior citizen, then we talked to the Salvation Army and they were wonderful and helped us out, so now she’s going to have heat. We went to visit her and I think her place was colder inside than it was outside.” Medical services are also provided monthly to people at the Caring Place, and on Friday nurses from Fraser Health attended Spa Day to give flu vaccinations. “It’s a really good way to bring the service to the client, because these are the most ostracized members of the community,” said public health nurse Bella Elphick.
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