Cold hands, warm hearts
In the faint glow of the festive holiday lights on West Kelowna’s Brown Road, four workers from the West Kelowna Shelter Society hunkered down in front of the Westbank United Church Friday night, trying to stay warm as they overnighted outside with only cardboard and a tent for comfort.
The sleep out was in support of A Way Home Kamloops and a first for West Kelowna.
Katherine McParland, executive director of A Way Home Kamloops, died in early December.
She had been a longtime friend of Sheldon Vance, general manager of the West Kelowna Shelter Society.
Vance wanted the managers at the sleep out to get first-hand experience of what one night would look like for some of the shelter residents.
Sleeping outside was not a new experience for Vance, who spent nine years growing up on the streets of Vancouver.
“When my dad died, I basically walked from Lethbridge to Vancouver,” he said.
Friday night’s sleep out was a first for Kayla Kleidon, the West Kelowna Shelter Society’s operations manager.
“I’ve never slept outside before and I’m terrified,” she said, adding she gets cold quickly.
She hoped the experience would help her relate a bit more to those who live on the street.
Kayla’s husband Tony, who works at the shelter, participated to have some understanding of what the residents have been through and gain compassion.
During the night, the managers took turns sleeping in the tent, while the others kept watch outside.
For Vance, Covenant House which helps homeless youth in Vancouver made a difference getting him off the street with a backpack program similar to one the West
Kelowna Shelter Society is launching.
People can donate to the society for two types of backpacks, one for $ 50 and the other for $100. The backpacks contain items people living on the street would need, such as toiletries including shampoo, soap and shaving supplies for a shower as well as blankets, hand warmers and pajamas.
The backpacks will be distributed to the less fortunate in West Kelowna.
Vance is hoping to have a mat program this winter and the shelter society can give backpacks to those who come into the shelter for the night.
Brown Road Interim Housing, which currently has 35 residents, initially began as
an emergency cold weather shelter. Now individuals come to find adequate housing.
Since July, Vance estimates 62 people have moved into different homes in Kelowna, market housing or treatment.
“We are starting to have a lot of success,” he said.
There had been an emergency cold weather shelter at Stevens Road last winter, but its cost has the West Kelowna Shelter Society looking for a less expensive option.
They have been unable to find a spot, so the society is looking at putting 15 mats in the dining area of the existing space they rent from Westbank United Church for peo
ple to come into off the streets, but Vance said there is still work to be done to firm up that location.
In the summer, the Brown Road Interim Housing was turning away about 10 people a night, but Vance said that number has gone down as shelters in Kelowna have opened.
According to Vance, last year the West Kelowna Shelter Society served about 250 people on the Westside between the Brown Road and Stevens Road shelters combined.
“If we can hand out 100 backpacks, I think we are ahead of the game,” he said.
People can make a donation for a backpack online at WKSS.org.