PAYING IT FORWARD
Erica Beckstead, a recovering addict, started Whalley Santa Cause in 2011 to make a difference for the residents of the Whalley Strip
Each year around this time, gifts begin to appear at Erica Beckstead’s home.
The pile of presents starts humbly in a small spare room of her Surrey home, then it grows and grows until it spills into the living room, wraps around the Christmas tree, and brushes the ceiling.
“I get so much, it’s crazy,” Beckstead said Sunday.
By the 24th of December, this year as in last, Beckstead expects she and her dog Bella will be dwarfed by the stacks of gifts and goodies gathered and sorted into gift bags with care.
But it won’t be Beckstead or Bella or their family members who will unwrap all those presents on Christmas Day. Rather, the decorative gift bags packed with chocolate and candies, toiletries, warm winter clothes and fresh undergarments are to be handed out to some of her former neighbours — the hundreds of people who live in tents and tarps on Surrey’s so-called Whalley Strip.
It’s all part of the Whalley Santa Cause, a volunteer-driven charity Beckstead started in 2011 when she was living a couple blocks from the 400-metre long tent encampment. The gifts she and other volunteers will hand out on Christmas are bought or collected and donated by other generous residents.
Beckstead, who now lives in east Surrey and is a professional makeup artist who works on TV and film sets, is a recovered addict 10 years clean. She had never lived at the Whalley Strip herself, but it is a location that resonates with her. The cause does as well.
Beckstead teared up when asked why she does it, year in and year out.
“I do it to stay sober. I remember what it used to be like for me,” she said, pausing for a moment.
“I just thought maybe I could make a difference for somebody and they would see that there is help out there from strangers. Strangers helped me get better. I went into the recovery house and never had a relapse — thank God. When I was done I was done. I just hope that I can make an impact being kind and paying it forward.”
On Sunday afternoon, nearly 100 tents of all sizes stood wall-to-wall in pouring rain. Some were repaired with tape and others appeared to suffer from poor quality and waterlogged rain flys. There was writing on the doors of some of them.
“Your mama loves you with all her heart,” read the writing on one. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you or protect you like I promised …”
It’s cold, it’s wet, and for someone who has never lived in such conditions, it’s hard to imagine what it would feel like to wake up there each morning.
For Beckstead, the camp and its residents can’t be ignored.
“They’re all getting soaked out there,” she remarked from her basement suite in east Surrey.
“I handed out blankets the other day. I went down there and gave out sleeping bags and wool blankets and people were hurtling around me saying: ‘Oh, I need one, I need one.’ And I ran out. I felt so guilty. I was holding back the tears.”
Beckstead recently worked on a Bollywood film and brought a couple of people that she was working with to see the strip.
“I showed them and they said: ‘You have slums like India,’” she said.
The first year Beckstead tried to help its residents she put together 50 hampers with help from three volunteers. By 2016 she hit the 500 hamper mark with dozens of helpers, and this year she hopes to do just as well, if not better.
“I do it to stay sober. I remember what it used to be like for me.” — Erica Beckstead
Most of the gifts come in during the week before Christmas, Beckstead said, and she already had more than a dozen pickups scheduled over the coming week. But still more goods are needed.
The donations most in-demand are sample-sized shampoo and conditioners and deodorants. Also needed are gently-used sweaters, scarves, mitts and jackets, brandnew toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste, and socks and underwear, and re-usable cloth bags to carry it all in.
Beckstead is also looking for volunteers. Many of those who help with the charity come back to assist each year. The cause gives something back to them as well, as Beckstead began to find. Some live alone, don’t have any children and might otherwise be alone on Christmas Day, she said.
Beckstead and her charity can be reached at whalleysantacause.yolasite.com for more information.