Sunday kicked off Homelessness Action Week in British Columbia. Megan White, Bread4Life Coordinator at South Fraser Community Services which runs the only homeless shelter in Surrey, BC, spoke to SheLoves magazine on how to serve the homeless, destitute and poor with resources, dignity and Love.
“It just takes the right person at the right time with enough Love and enough care to say, ‘I’m gonna stand beside you, no matter what,” says Megan White. “And rather than forcing them to live the life that I think they need to live, meeting them where they’re at and saying, ‘I love you anyways. And we’ll pick you up from where you’re at.’”
Volunteers from Relate Church have big smiles as they serve a Thanksgiving meal at the Front Room in Surrey, BC on Sunday. Pictured on left is Megan White.
The beauty of this art show isn’t necessarily in the mastery and creativity of some of the Sunshine Coast’s best artists. What makes the Linwood House Art Experience profound, is the exhibition of professional artists right alongside art by women from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Canada.
The smile on Marcy’s (pictured below on the far left) face lit up the room as she introduced me to the art on display like a fine curator. She was so proud to show me her work, to talk about it: a beautiful piece in charcoal … circles and shapes in graphic formation. A few fingerprints pressed at the top of the page. Marcy was one of several women from the Downtown Eastside who had never done any art until this past summer when she participated in a three-day retreat at Linwood House called The Journey. Afterwards the same group of women continued their education with an eight-week course at the studio of Vancouver Artist Pamela Masik.
Marcy couldn’t be more animated than when she told me about their string art project. The day they dipped pieces of string in paint and moved them around on paper to create beautiful artwork. With every paintbrush dipped, every mark made, women who were formerly defined by their stories of abuse, poverty, addiction, homelessness or prostitution began tapping into a creativity that had never been encouraged. Never been celebrated. Until this past summer.
Now they are artists. The framed works on display don’t lie.
Then the clincher: Todd Clark, one of the professional artists exhibiting under the marquee tent that day, bought Marcy’s charcoal piece. The news spread fast. Although Marcy couldn’t be there for the moment–the Downtown Eastside artists had to leave on an earlier ferry–her Linwood House cheerleaders bounced with excitement.
“It was a tough decision,” Clark admitted. “If I could buy them all, I would have, because they’re just fabulous.” In explaining his decision for purchasing Marcy’s particular piece, he said: “The simplicity of it is so beautiful, I’d love to hang it on my wall … This is fantastic art.”
According to Sue Todd, who helps facilitate The Journey, for the women, being part of the Art Experience begins to restore a sense of dignity and value. “For many of our friends when they’re dealing with addiction and mental illness, addiction and poverty and all of the issues associated with that, there’s a dulling of creativity.” Through creating art, however, the women are reminded of the creative spirit within them. “(It) helps them see that they are more than their pain, “ said Todd. “They’re more than a drug addict, more than a prostitute, more than a homeless woman, but they actually are a creative, beautiful, inspired woman.”
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For over five years, Kelly Voros was a single mom, raising two daughters. “I struggled to give my kids what they deserved,” she says. She had great family support and her children never really did without. “But my heart always broke for other moms who didn’t have help and couldn’t give their kids a new back-to-school outfit or meet other basic needs.”
Now Voros is heading up a “New Clothes Drive” to help outfit students at several schools in Surrey, BC. We are asking people to donate new jeans and runners for these students. The families this effort is helping are mainly new immigrants and single parent families.
“It’s for kids who’ve never received new clothes,” says Loretta Hibbs, community pastor at Relate Church in Surrey, BC. “We want to give them a new pair of runners, so they can know just how valuable and special they are. When they wear a new pair of runners, they think they’re so cool.” She saved up for her own first pair of new jeans when she was 13 and still remembers the feeling well.
“It’s impossible for them to get a new pair of runners; It’s not impossible for us to give it,” adds Hibbs.
“Imagine how their lives would change if they knew Jesus and had the support of a church family?” says Kelly Voros. “It changed my life and that of my kids during the last couple of ‘single parenting’ years. Suddenly, God was beside me in every decision, over every hurdle and through every worry. We were safe.”
Voros believes it’s about so much more than a pair of runners or a pair of new jeans. “By giving these moms the ability to give to their kids we show them the love of Jesus in the most tangible way,” she says. “We are sowing seeds of love in both the moms and the kids. We’re giving hope.”
The New Clothes Drive will run through the end of September. You can bring a pair of new jeans and/or runners to Relate Church or donate towards this effort. You can also donate online here. When you donate online, please indicate that the donation is intended for the “Clothes Drive.”
Volunteers from Relate Church have big smiles as they serve a Thanksgiving meal at the Front Room in Surrey, BC on Sunday. Pictured on left is Megan White.
