A glimpse of hope. [Homelessness in TO, part one]

What an amazing and humbling experience! Venturing onto the streets of the inner city was eye opening and certainly touched my heart. Though this is not my first time doing this, it feels special every time. Toronto is a city of prosperity, of hope of what some would say the Canadian dream. Toronto is the economic heart of the country, yet we have the highest poverty and homelessness rate in Canada. Toronto is home to 30,000 homeless people, of which 818 of them live on the streets.

So on this typical Canadian winter day, cold, with light flurries, I headed out onto the streets with four others to give back to the community and to share God's love. We packed a nutritious lunch with PBJ sandwiches and Macintosh and Gala apples (soft-flesh easier on their teeth), an all-natural juice box and cookies. We also bought tons of brand new winter socks, of which they appreciate a lot, sometimes even more than the meal itself! A lot of them wear the same pair everyday for several months, maybe a year, and having a new pair will mean they can change into a new pair and be comfortable!

As we lined ourselves into an assembly line to pack the lunches in front of Nathan Phillips, two middle-aged gentlemen carrying bags and wearing windbreakers approached us and asked if we were packing lunches for the homeless. We said yes. The older gentlemen replied, "Oh! We're homeless people!"  We were unsure if they really were homeless, but we didn't know much about them either. So we happily obliged and gave them two lunches.

Once we finished packing, our group splits off into two, and my partner and I headed down Bay Street. Immediately, we passed by two homeless people, at opposite corners, but they did not appear to be around, so we pledged to return at the end of our run. While walking, my partner brought up an intriguing question.

"Do you think homeless people are on the streets by choice?"  
     
What do you think? Make a note of your opinion in your mind, and come back to it when you finish reading. For me, it was a question we left in the open throughout the day, and I hope after finishing reading this entry, you would gain more insight into it. This blog may not answer the question, but it will hopefully provoke some thinking and reflection....

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An hour into the run, we continue our search for homeless people to give bagged lunches to. However, this was not an easy task! I used to frequent a wide area of the downtown core area, and I remember seeing homeless people on many of the streets. How hard was it to find one of the 818 people? Maybe our government's cleaned the streets up after G20 last year, or maybe they turned their lives around.

After venturing south to Union with no luck, we headed west. As time continued on, we still haven't given a single bag away! We were beginning to feel a bit dismayed at the slow progression of the run. Then just before we were about to head back east, we found a man with a Leafs scarf sitting in front of an LCBO. The man extended a coffee cup to passerbys. "Spare some change," he says. We introduced ourselves and  asked him if he would like a bagged lunch and socks. He replied heartily. We talked a bit and the man said he was going through a rough time. But he doesn't want to stay like this, he says he plans to be out of there someday. While listening to him, I couldn't help but notice his eyes. They touched me a lot. Looking into his eyes, I saw sadness, and it saddened me to see him this way. But out of those same eyes, I saw just a glimpse of hope. A hope of better days to come...We bid farewell, and continued our run as we continue our venture into the heart of this city....

To be continued.