BY ELISE STOLTE, EDMONTON JOURNAL FEBRUARY 25, 2012
Article from Edmonton Journal
Joe Doherty, a resident of Harry Holt, has gotten involved with the nearby St. Alphonsus Catholic Church. Photograph by: Bruce Edwards, The Journal , Edmonton Journal
When 16 people moved off the street to fill Eastwood's affordable housing complex three blocks from his church, Rev. Robert Kasun thought it would be a perfect opportunity for his congregation to help. But two years later, Kasun says building supportive friendships between churchgoers and people who are learning to hold down an apartment isn't easy.
"We would like to know more of them on a first-name basis, but I've also discovered, this is uphill work," said the priest of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church. "My interpretation is, people who are in a position of having been homeless have their dignity and their pride. They're going to be quite protective of having do-gooders enter into their lives."
Today, Edmonton's Homeward Trust is about to officially launch a $175,000 project to repeat Kasun's efforts citywide as part of the 10-year plan to end homelessness. They hope volunteers from the city's various faiths will build friendships with formerly homeless people to help them adjust to life off the streets.
But it's a touchy, delicate task.
"We're expecting we'll have a heck of a lot more volunteers than participants, at least to start with," said Sister Mary Clare Stack, who's organizing training for the volunteers through Catholic Social Services.
"It's incredibly delicate. We're dealing with human beings."
Kasun and his congregation started out with a free store for the residents of Harry Holt Place, providing toasters and other household appliances.
For two straight years, they have invited residents to summer barbecues, church concerts and Valentine's Day dinners. But Kasun said he still only knows one resident: Joe Doherty, who was never homeless, but lives on AISH, and moved into Harry Holt to get away from a leaky, crime-ridden apartment block.
Kasun sounds surprised at how little connection he was able to make with the others. Maybe he was misunderstood, he said. "We're not doing this because we want to have new members. We're trying to help the poor.
"You have to find subtle ways of reaching out. That's my theory at this point. Not everyone is keen on accepting your help."
The new citywide Welcome Home program is funded by donations from Enbridge Inc. and Catholic Social Services, which has the contract to run the program. They will look for about 160 volunteers to partner with 80 residents during the first year.
The residents will be chosen by Housing First support workers, and they'll be matched with volunteers who share interests in sports or other activities, Stack said.
They studied similar programs in Denver and Calgary, and will learn from mistakes, she added. For ex-ample, each group will get a shared pot of money to spend together on coffee or a movie, so no one side is always paying.
That's critical because friends are equals, she said. "If all my life I have been struggling to pay my bills or to find something to eat, and then I'm in a friend relationship with a person who is always buying the coffee, I'm still on the lower end of the scale. I can't give back, and friendship means there is a mutuality to it."
Doherty, the one resident from Harry Holt who talks regularly with Kasun, said most residents aren't more involved with the church because they don't have religious backgrounds.
The friendships that have formed in the building are between people with similar backgrounds, similar addictions and struggles, he said.
For himself, "I don't have any family in the city and I wanted to branch out and meet people, elevate my self-esteem. It has, a heck of a lot."
Now he prepares food hampers at the church every Sunday for those who need them.
estolte@edmontonjournal.com twitter.com/estolte
Article from Edmonton Journal