Vida's View - April 23
Meeting Notes, April 23, 2014
We got to Sing “Happy Birthday” to Brian, and to wish Keith and Heather a Happy Anniversary. Good way to start a meeting!
Announcements:
Cleone: RIPS HAS BEEN CANCELLED! Don’t go! It is Ground Nesting Season, and we don’t want to upset the birds. If you feel you need some Nature, volunteer to help with the Fingerling Festival at Noon’s Creek Hatchery. We will plan the next RIPS in September.
Gaetan and Cleone told us about the rebuilding at Mossom Creek. They now have the final design and cost. The solution was a two-stage effort. There are three fundraisers planned to get the hammers off the ground.
Ron: SPP tickets are going well, with 400+/- sold. BRING IN YOUR MONEY! The Well is our prime sponsor, at $2500. There are $25. Gift cards available. Buy some, the whole $25. comes to us, thanks to the Well.
Al Schmelzel asks for us all to fill in the membership survey; he will send it out again. To date there have been 14 responses
Peter had the final Hockey Pool results. Of special interest was the placement of our own Brian, at last! Enjoy your $35. Brian. Don’t spend it all in one place…
The Board Meeting is/was Monday, at 7am at the Coquitlam Grill.
Ian spoke on behalf of the Alternative Funding Group, which is working on finding fundraiser(s) to replace the Golf Tournament. Get your ideas in fast!
Ann announced the MS Family Walk on April 27th, 10 am at Rocky Point.
Ann is going to Europe for six months. She donated $250. To Kids’ Camp. We will miss you, Ann. Travel safely.
Patty gave us an update on how our Youth Support programmes are paying off
Our own Darrell was our Guest Speaker. Darrell is on the Regional Committee which is seeking solutions for Metropolitan Vancouver Homelessness.
New statistics are being released after the survey of March 12th. The numbers we saw today were from the last survey.
Our mental image of homelessness is of people sleeping outside. However, there are lots of others who may be sleeping in shelters, couch surfing, or in transition homes. Many people are just one paycheck away from homelessness, the loss of which puts them behind and they just don’t seem to be able to catch up.
Darrell gave us statistics, which indicate that the instances of homelessness are increasing, particularly the numbers of people under 25, which has increased 24% in recent years. One sad item is that many homeless people feel safer sleeping outside as they are frequently robbed in shelters. About 1/3 of our homeless people have come from the rest of Canada. However, Saskatoon has a high incidence of homelessness.
Another appalling statistic is how many homeless people are hungry; half of those interviewed had no meal in the last 24 hrs. Also, there is a high frequency of people with multiple health conditions, particularly the 65% who have Hep C.
The Tri-Cities area seem to be declining in the number of homeless people, a 49% drop. We finished with an introduction to thte Coquitlam shelter, at 3030 Gordon. It has 30 shelter beds, 10 of them for transitional housing. As there was not time during the meeting, Darrel has sent out to all of us a video of one of the shelter residents. Be sure to watch it!