Some believe that people’s ability to help others depends on their own wealth. However, one Canadian man who used to be homeless donated C$10,000 ($7,400) to a homeless shelter, inspiring others to do a little more to help those in need.
A man from Thunder Bay, Oratorio, has been going to Shelter House, a homeless shelter, for about five years. Despite the man was no longer living on the streets, he is not wealthy—he is still using some services provided by the shelter.
However, when he heard that Shelter House had suspended its Street Outreach Services (SOS) program in March 2017 due to lack of funds, he did something that moved the shelter staff to tears.
Accompanied by a support worker, the man gave to the charity a cheque of C$10,000.
“I actually thought I had misread the cheque,” Alexandra Calderon, the development officer at the shelter, recalled. “I was floored. The support worker actually had tears in her eyes!”
Since 2014, the program began receiving funds from City of Thunder Bay and the Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board. Despite this, the charity was forced to reduce the year-long SOS program to half a year, running only in the colder months.
Knowing who the donor was, Calderon didn’t want to accept the donation at first.
“My first reaction was he should keep this and use it for other things,” Calderon told BBC.
However, the man was “adamant that he wanted to make the donation,” according to Calderon. The reason behind his action was a simple one—he wanted his friends to be safe.
“He has a personal relationship with a lot of his friends who live at the shelter or who live at our managed alcohol program, so he wanted to make sure that there was someone that they could call when they needed help,” Calderon explained to CTV News.
The SOS program aims to help homeless, intoxicated and other at-risk people by providing goods and services for them. By providing transportation, these people are able to access help or treatment at hospital, detox centers, or shelters. The program run 12 hours during a day, beginning at 2 p.m., and two staff with the program visit encampments or parties to make sure the people there are safe.
由 Shelter House 发布于 2019年2月12日周二
According to Calderon, the man was encouraged to make the donation by a representative from Matawa First Nation. While in the shelter’s lobby, the representative gave the man’s C$10,000 to the shelter, and asked others to donate too.
The shelter was very grateful to the man, who wishes to stay anonymous, for what he has done for them. The man is a Canadian Aboriginal.
“We kept saying how grateful we were and we were all in tears and he started crying,” Calderon said.
“I’m very passionate about the work we do here at Shelter House, but it just takes it to a whole new level.” Calderon told CBC News.
Making the donation was very meaningful for the man as well.
“It was very important to him,” Calderon said. “He was very proud to make the gift.”
“He was just so happy, and so grateful that we were happy,” Calderon said.
Even before the man donated the money, the C$10,000 had a story behind it. The man was a residential school survivor—Indigenous children were forced to go to boarding schools that were run by churches and while there, the children were unable to practice their own culture and often abused. It wasn’t until 1996 that the last of these schools were closed. The money had come to the man from a government settlement.
The charity needed to raise $200,000 to keep the SOS program running all year. After the man’s story was reported by various media outlets, the charity received donations from people all across North America. They have since been able to reach the halfway point of their target amount.
Not just people from the shelter were moved by the man’s story, many other people in their community were touched by his selfless act as well.
“Anyone I ran into and told about it had tears in their eyes,” Calderon said. “One woman just started crying, she was so moved by it.”
Calderon hoped the story could inspire more people.
“It was incredibly moving and I hope it inspires more individuals and businesses in Thunder Bay help SOS get back out on the roads as soon as possible,” Calderon said in a shelter’s release.
