Christmas gifts for the homeless in major Canadian cities: creating a website that lets people make a personal connection with people living on downtown streets

Dwayne A., a 49-year-old Vancouver roofer, wants bus tickets and gloves. Jerome L., 50, a transplanted Newfoundlander living in Calgary, is a would-be poet who wants a dictionary. Kari H., a 38-year-old widow who has battled drugs, wishes "my kids and family would talk to me again."

Their stories and Christmas wishes are found on two websites in the Canadian cities of Vancouver and Calgary that allow donors to buy a gift for a specific homeless person rather than donating money to a faceless bureaucracy. The homeless, in turn, get a present they wanted.

Dan and Jennie Keeran created the Vancouver website last year after they moved to downtown Vancouver from a small nearby community and saw how many people were sleeping in doorways and walking city streets with their belongings in shopping carts. They wanted to help city residents develop a personal connection with the men and women who don't have permanent shelter.

Homelessness almost doubled in the Greater Vancouver area between 2002 and 2005, to 2,100 people, and is projected to hit 3,200 for 2010, according to the Vancouver website. Half of the homeless are unsheltered. Over half are not on welfare and the best they can do is "binning", panhandling, part-time employment or crime. At least 75% have debilitating health problems. Aboriginal peoples represent 2% of the population, but 30% of homeless. It costs more to leave people homeless than to provide them with permanent housing and support services.

The website has a small profile of each person, including their hopes and fears as well as their Christmas wish list. Last year, donors in Vancouver provided more than 2,000 requested gifts.

The concept spread to Calgary this year at the urging of the Keeran's daughter, who lives there. The Keerans hope the concept spreads across Canada. "People are naturally afraid to approach the homeless," says Mr. Keeran. "But they are just normal people a lot of the time. Half of the homeless are working poor."

"When homeless people feel cared about, they value themselves more, and then they have the courage and hope and strength to move forward in their lives," says the Calgary website.

This story is compiled from a story in the Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail entitled “Donors get web wish lists from homeless: needy receive practical gifts in Vancouver and Calgary”, Dec. 22, 2006, and information on the websites of the Calgary Homeless Christmas Wish List at  and Christmas Wishlist: Homeless in Vancouver.

 

For other stories about homelessness and the homeless, see:

Homeless World Cup changes lives, attitudes about homelessness

Young girl's Ladybug Foundation brings hope, support to Canada's homeless

Shining shoes in London offers escape from homelessness

Childrens' bank turns street children into entrepreneurs

Volunteers build home for South African AIDS orphan family

Women 'light the dark' for their families and communities


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