A report from the streets

The following article was written by Jacob Zinn, second-year student of Kwantlen’s journalism program. It is reprinted with permission of the author from the Kwantlen Chronicle “Homeless find refuge in Surrey suburbs”.

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Every night, in the parking lot of a low-rise Whalley building off King George Highway, dozens of workers distribute food and clothing to the homeless at the home base of NightShift Street Ministries. 

Located at 10635 King George Blvd, (*) the outreach program serves the homeless 364 nights a year, providing hot meals, blankets and clothing for the cold and wet with the help of nearly 40 churches. “We provide for those that don’t have a nourishing meal, that don’t have a fixed address,” said MaryAnne Connor, who founded NightShift in January 2004. As well as NightShift Street Ministries, Connor runs a thrift store, located next door, called Sisters, and just down the street is the Surrey Food Bank. She finds that residents are quite giving to the homeless and have helped her ministry over the years. “Ninety-five per cent of our people are volunteers,” she said. “We wouldn’t be able to do it without the generosity of the community.” Dane Watson of Peace Portal Alliance Church gets to see NightShift make a difference first-hand. He leads a group of Peace Portal volunteers two Saturdays a month, and on those nights, he’s always moved by the people he meets as they come in off the streets. He recalls a night last fall when he was working in the clothing truck and a man asked for a button-up dress shirt. When he found one, the man’s eyes lit up and he showed much gratitude to Watson. “He said to me, ‘Bless you, sir. You’ve now made it possible for me to go out tomorrow for a job interview,’” Watson said. Watson knows other volunteers have had similar experiences, and though some are initially apprehensive about meeting the homeless of Whalley, he assures them it’s safe and controlled by the ministry. “In the year and a half that I’ve been doing it, I think I had to call 9-1-1 twice,” said Watson, who acknowledges incidents have happened, but the ministry deals with them and moves on. Homelessness is less visible here than it is in Vancouver, and compared to the downtown eastside, Connor says it’s harder to notice the homeless because Surrey is more geographically spread out. “It depends on the time of night,” she said. “We serve between 100 and 150 people every night.” A 2008 report by the Tyee counted 2,592 homeless people in Metro Vancouver, 402 of whom were in Surrey. “Anyone telling me there’s 400, that’s the actual number of homeless, I would definitely beg to differ,” said Peter Fedos, program manager of Hyland House in Surrey. “If I count just between the three shelters in the area, there’s close to 2,000 different individuals that are seen every year, and I’m turning away 500 per month ‘cause I’m full.” Homelessness in Surrey suburbs such as Fleetwood, Newton and Guildford is hard for local shelters to handle. All of the 35 beds at Hyland’s Surrey location (6595 King George Hwy.) and the 10 beds at the Cloverdale location (17910 Colebrook Rd.), are full every night. “Everyone has a different situation that caused them to become homeless,” said Andrea Dodd, assistant program manager of the Cloverdale Hyland House. “Whether it’s mental health, addiction, losing their job, having no support system…. It’s not all just one group or one stereotype of homeless.” Fedos added that the only thing in common these people have is that they’re homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. “A homeless person told me, ‘Don’t confuse someone being homeless with street people,’” said Fedos, who clarified that “street-entrenched” people choose to live on the street and have trouble getting out of the lifestyle. The street-entrenched are familiar with the street and prefer to be there, according to Fedos.

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Jacob was interested in writing a story about NightShift as an assignment to do a story from the streets that connects to an issue. He felt that since suburban homelessness is a growing issue on the suburbs of Surrey, profiling the organization made for a great story from the streets. Jacob is interested in working with radio or broadcast when he graduates, either behind-the-scenes or on air.

(*) Address updated in March 2010