{"id":4060,"date":"2013-10-25T18:02:49","date_gmt":"2013-10-26T01:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/blog\/?p=4060"},"modified":"2018-10-06T14:25:14","modified_gmt":"2018-10-06T18:25:14","slug":"donna-homeless-ottawa-canada-caeh13","status":"publish","type":"videos","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/videos\/donna-homeless-ottawa-canada-caeh13\/","title":{"rendered":"Donna"},"content":{"rendered":"
Donna’s story is a perfect example of why we need to listen to our homeless friends. Donna is homeless in Ottawa, Canada. She has serious health issues, yet manages to travel over 7 kilometers every day with her boyfriend collecting cans to raise money to eat, and to fix her RV to get off the streets.<\/p>\n
One thing I have learned, is people often connect to geographic locations and that’s where they want to live. Donna was raised in the Maritimes,\u00a0 a region of Eastern Canada. Her and her boyfriend ended up in Ontario because that’s where their RV broke down and they could also get health benefits. As you’ll see in this video, Donna pretty much only had one wish: to get back home to look after her mom’s grave.<\/p>\n
Here’s the issue: services in Ottawa will never house Donna simply because she doesn’t want to live here. In her mind, although it’s been some time, she is just passing through. The other challenge is there is no grant funding to help Donna with the repairs on her RV, even though it’s not that much money.<\/p>\n
This type situation is what is often called “gaps in the safety net”, but I think it’s really because we don’t listen or use common sense. To me, it’s pretty simple – help Donna and her boyfriend get their RV fixed and get to the Maritimes = two really happy people who….now wait for it…ARE NO LONGER HOMELESS!<\/p>\n