Good Samaritans are a lifeline for homeless communities scattered across Barrie, offering up hot meals and, in one recent case, a safe space to call their own.
After reading a BarrieToday story documenting the lives of shed dwellers in the city, one reader reached out to lend a hand, specifically to “The Mayor,” 75-year-old Rick, and his friend and shelter mate, Brad, in the encampment on Victoria Street near Anne Street.
“I would like to invite them to set their camp on my cottage property in Innisfil,” the reader wrote in an email.
He offered to invest in a shelter they could camp in, as well as a hook-up for electricity for heating. The cottage facilities would also be available to them.
The property is within walking distance to the beach, and “they can have a safe place to call home,” the reader said.
A BarrieToday reporter forwarded the offer to Rick, along with contact information.
“Yeah, that sounds good. Brad would probably like that, too,” Rick said.
“I didn’t think there was Good Samaritans still around in this world, but there is,” he added, clearly appreciative of the generous offer, with a big smile on his weathered face.
The conversation was suddenly cut short, as an SUV pulled up in front of Rick’s ramshackle shelter made of wood, cardboard, and weather-beaten tarps.
An older man gets out of the vehicle and shouts to Rick, “Are you ready for some lunch?”
“Definitely,” Rick answers.
“He comes by with a hot lunch all the time,” he turns and says to the reporter.
The man opens the hatch of the vehicle and pulls out small plastic single-serve containers of food along with a can of pop and a bottle of water and hands it to Rick.
“You have a good one. God bless you,” the man says.
“You have a good day,” says Rick. “Thank you very much. I appreciate it.”
He takes his meal and retreats to his shelter to eat his lunch.
The man, still standing by his SUV, smiles when asked why he does this.
“I’ve been fortunate, right? This country has been nice to me,” he says, adding he has called Canada home for 30 years.
“I offer them a hot meal. It’s only vegetarian, though. I give them a soup, a hot meal, a drink, and some fruit. I try to make it a complete meal.”
He usually drops by and hands out the meals on Thursdays.
“I’d like to do it more often, but I cook in my house. I really wish I could do more, and more often,” he adds.
“Don’t put my name in (the story). I’m not doing it for publicity,” he states emphatically.
The man pays the entire cost of the food and utensils out of his own pocket.
“I’m not making a difference doing 10 or 20 meals, right? And (with) one meal a week, I’m really not scratching the surface,” he laments.
“I don’t mind paying for a kitchen, if I could get a professional place, and I don’t even mind paying someone to come and cook for a few hours and then go and distribute it.”
On cold, winter days, most people he sees who are bringing food to the encampments don’t bring them a hot meal.
“I try to see that it’s still warm when I get there,” he says.
The man moves his SUV farther down the street to meet with people living in a cluster of about half a dozen shacks tucked under a few large trees.
“Hey, Stan. How are you? Is Megan in?” he asks as the residents emerge from their huts to greet him, waving and smiling.
“Whitey,” 55, who previously spoke to BarrieToday about his plight, shakes his hand.
“I brought your favourite — mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy,” the man states. “What happened to your finger?”
Whitey sighs. “I lost my finger.”
Another man, standing nearby waiting his turn for food, with a bandaged hand that is discoloured and swollen, pipes in. “I got a cyst in there from a piece of wood.”
He was cutting firewood when his hand was pierced. He eventually went to the hospital as it worsened.
Small and seemingly benign injuries can be dangerous for people living on the street without proper methods of cleaning and disinfection.
Megan, a 20-something woman, is next in line, and is also thankful for the generosity of strangers. She has been living in the Victoria Street encampment for six months.
“It means a lot,” she says. “It’s really appreciated, because times are tough for everybody. I’m grateful.”
The man distributing the food seems to be finished with his handouts, but spots a new person in the area, a 20-something man standing next to a bicycle nearby, watching the food being handed out.
“Hi. Can I offer you some lunch?” the Good Samaritan asks.
The young man named Kevin seems a little shy. “Um, yeah, sure,” he says.
“Come, come. Just because you haven’t been here earlier doesn’t matter. You’re welcome,” the man says to Kevin.
Kevin tells the reporter “there’s not enough of a system in place to help people, I guess, so I really appreciate it,” as he holds an armful of food and drinks.
Another man, John, who appears to be in his late 40s, is standing nearby and is handed food. He looks around at the other residents.
“Thank you very kindly. I get mad if people don’t say thank you. These people go out of their way. It’s not like they get paid to do this,” he says. “Did anybody say thank you to these guys? These guys go out of their way to care about you.”
“It happens,” John says of the spiral people face as they become homeless.
“You’re a paycheque away from misery. If you miss two paycheques, there goes the car, there goes two mortgage payments. And you’re done.”
After all the food is handed out, the Good Samaritan talks about the difficulty he had when he began offering meals to the needy.
At first, he couldn’t find people — they didn’t want to come out to meet him because they were nervous.
“It takes time. It takes a few months,” he says. “They get to know you, and trust is built.”
He says the Barrie Food Bank is a good option for people, but he claims many people living on the street do not want, or are not able, to provide their personal information to gain access to the food bank.
However, the food bank allows those without ID to access the services, stating on its website: “Emergency services are available three mornings a week for those without identification or (who) are living with no current fixed address. This is an offering of non-perishable and perishable options.”
He was also quite angry at the City of Barrie’s proposed bylaw last spring, banning food handouts to people in need on city property. After an outcry, the city backed away from the bylaw.
“If you can’t help him, don’t hassle him. He’s already down on his luck,” he says, speaking about the homeless.
“Nobody (is homeless) deliberately,” he adds. “OK, they have a problem — some have issues with drugs and alcohol — but it’s a disease like anything else. Why would (society) push them down? They just aren’t as fortunate as you and I.”
He says he sees one possible solution to the problem of homelessness.
“The city (should be) utilizing shipping containers,” he states. “They can be stacked three high. Just use a piece of land where hydro can be connected, and build a washroom for them. That’s all. People can donate funds, as well, to help.”
He feels the city should provide low-cost basic housing before providing millions of dollars for downtown Barrie revitalization.
