If you live in the Peace Country, I bet you’re already sick of shovelling snow. We know the winter well.
At work the other day, a client asked me for some gloves. I checked the bin, it was empty. He didn’t complain when he left empty handed, but I could feel the heavy in his steps. Homelessness is complicated when it’s sunny, and ten times more complex when the snow flies.
So far, this winter feels more like the winters I experienced as a kid, rather than the mild ones we’ve had lately. Much of my childhood was spent splitting wood, pitching hay and straw, shovelling cow shit, and un-thawing frozen watering bowls – no matter the temperature. There was no reason to complain about -40 (though I’m sure I did plenty), because the work had to be done regardless. We knew the cold well.
When I attended Bible school in Colorado at 19, we drove to 16th street in Denver to serve at the shelter. Their winter was just starting, it was -15 or so. As we climbed out of the van, a woman approached us, asking for prayer. Being who we were, we excitedly invited her over. Seeing an opportunity, she jumped in the van, and grabbed a jacket 😂
We got her out, and a student was trying to convince her to give the jacket back; “We live way up in the mountains, and it gets really cold up there”.
Immediately, I felt my fight or flight engage. There was no way us privileged little shits just told a homeless woman that it’s colder for us. She got very upset, but eventually did give the jacket back.
I knew the cold, I knew it well. And I knew that not ONE of us knew the cold like a homeless woman.
I’m reminded of that story every winter. Us Albertan’s, we know the cold well. But not one of us knows it like that homeless woman.
We have neighbours who don’t have any options but to stay outside. Shelters have max capacity, and aren’t even safe. Cops kick you out of everywhere else. Sometimes outside is the best option, and that windchill does not play. No one should know the cold the way our improperly housed neighbours do.
We can house people, if we’d prioritize them. And if we knew the cold the way they do, I bet we’d have fucking housed them by now.
Author: Orren Anderson
Northreach – Grand Prairie, AB