Life: Anything Can Happen
I went on a two hour tour of the Calgary Drop In Center today thanks to my new volunteer role as Communications Lead for the EDS United Way Committee. It was quite the eye opening experience for the other managers I was with but something that I have made sure I am aware of for a while now. It's amazing how scared people like us can be of others that have less. What exactly are we afraid of? That they'll take something away from us? Drag us down with them?
Anyways, some of the comments that the people I went with said made me shake my head and some of the jokes were just uncalled for. And to think that I work in a civilized corporate office. Uh huh.
It was a great tour. I learned lots and then some more. Saw tons and appreciated every second of it. It made it really hard to work the rest of the day. So far I've set up a couple interviews for a leader of mine, got some sashimi and read the fast forward. Oh, not to mention now updating my blog. But all this work I do seems so trivial after going for the tour. I mean there's people there struggling to live and fighting to find themselves. All in hopes that one day they might stand back on their own two feet again in this society that makes it harder and harder to survive.
I bought a little book that the center has put together. It's called "no fixed address" and it's full of up front and personal photos and stories of some of the more frequent drop in center habitants. I love it, it really makes you understand that anything can happen to you and then the next thing you know you are on the street needing the help of others. I met with the owner of the Mustard Seed last year and some of his stories were incredible too. I mean seriously, any of us could be on the street tomorrow...and how would you handle it if you had no where to go? What if there wasn't a Drop In Center with people that dedicate their lives to helping others?
Anyways, some of the comments that the people I went with said made me shake my head and some of the jokes were just uncalled for. And to think that I work in a civilized corporate office. Uh huh.
It was a great tour. I learned lots and then some more. Saw tons and appreciated every second of it. It made it really hard to work the rest of the day. So far I've set up a couple interviews for a leader of mine, got some sashimi and read the fast forward. Oh, not to mention now updating my blog. But all this work I do seems so trivial after going for the tour. I mean there's people there struggling to live and fighting to find themselves. All in hopes that one day they might stand back on their own two feet again in this society that makes it harder and harder to survive.
I bought a little book that the center has put together. It's called "no fixed address" and it's full of up front and personal photos and stories of some of the more frequent drop in center habitants. I love it, it really makes you understand that anything can happen to you and then the next thing you know you are on the street needing the help of others. I met with the owner of the Mustard Seed last year and some of his stories were incredible too. I mean seriously, any of us could be on the street tomorrow...and how would you handle it if you had no where to go? What if there wasn't a Drop In Center with people that dedicate their lives to helping others?
Some quick facts from today's tour (http://www.cdics.com/index.html)
- Serve approximately 3500 meals a day
- Provide over 300 bag lunches daily for working poor
- Serve approximately 1200 individuals a day
- Provide Shelter to approximately 1000 people a night
- Placed people in 9,500 casual day jobs and 85 in permanent jobs in 2003
- We are assisted by over 700 Volunteers in a variety of support functions
posted by Dawne at 12:15 p.m.
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