Musing about S A etc

Originally was going to do some musing here but ended up writing the letter to the editor below. Following it are some links to stories related to the S/A and the RedZone, which for those of you who don't know is a defined area of the downtown in Nanaimo where those convicted of drug offenses in the area are not allowed to frequent.

What strikes me most about the stories of late regarding the Salvation Army charging a buck for their lunch are the asinine opinions some people have about those living in poverty. What also strikes me is that there are a growing number of people who understand poverty isn’t simply about addiction or laziness but about the utter lack of anything resembling a Social Safety Net. Sure, government provides funds to the poor but they are totally inadequate in providing the necessities that would allow a person(s) to move forward.

Poverty PIMP is a term used most often to convey a person or organization profiting excessively by acting as an agent for the poor and disadvantaged and benefiting from their misfortune. They don’t really want to see the problem eliminated, as it is not in their interest, and usually provide just enough of a service to keep the person(s) coming back for more. While the term is often associated with certain social services it is my belief that it could just as easily apply to government as well.

While providing services that allow for whatever government is in power to benefit unduly from the publicity of being seen as working on the problems of poverty and homelessness they don’t come close to providing enough to eliminate the problem. Research continually shows that adequately housed and fed individuals or families would save governments billions and yet we still see huge numbers of homeless and in BC the highest child poverty rates 7 years running in Canada.

Gordon W. Fuller

Jan. 28, 2010
VIHA plan threatens meal programs future {This story is sad and typical of VIHA and the Provincial Government. If the program shuts down it can only add to the numbers of people having to access services like the 7-10 Club [link over to the left]}

Jan. 27, 2010
Giving away meal tickets better than giving spare change

Jan. 26, 2010
400 free meal tickets go to city's hungry

Jan. 26, 2010
Red zone is still necessary

Jan. 29, 2010
Red zone has not ended drug trafficking plague
Red zone has not ended drug trafficking plague
Gordon W. Fuller, The Daily News
Published: Friday, January 29, 2010

There is no doubt that the Red Zone accomplished what it set out to do in the downtown, but only to the degree of the low level street user and dealer. One can still enter most of the bars and nightclubs in the area and within minutes secure whatever the drug of choice for the evening will be, the problem is still there but indoors. The Red Zone moved the problem into residential areas.

With a 30% increase in drug dealing and drug-related crime in 2009 one has to wonder if dispersing the dealers and addicts was really such a good idea.

Until the province and feds get off their collective butts and put funding into detox, treatment and supportive housing for recovering addicts we will always have a problem. Unless the incentive is there, what choice is there but to remain addicted? As long as the penalties for drug trafficking are seen as little more than a slap on the wrist what motivation is there for change?

Starvation Army Part Two

And so they charge again Free lunch ends . On January 20th, coincidently the day people receive income assistance, the Salvation Army started to once again charge $1.00 for lunch.

"The $1 charge is being brought back to help offset costs as they deal with growing demand."
What a crock of shit this comment is. The S/A have been, for months, quoting numbers of upwards of 200 plus people accessing the free lunch. Members of the Creative Awareness Collective have been doing counts of their own which turn up numbers half of what the S/A says are going through their doors.

The numbers are in actuality along the same lines as those of the 7-10 Club which sees on average just over 100 people coming and accessing their FREE breakfast and bag lunch program. Rob Anderson of the S/A has stated that their annual budget for the lunch program is $250,000.00. This is more than double the $110,000.00 that the 7-10 Club spent to provide its service.

Whats up with that and what are the true reasons that the Salvation Army is charging for meals? Hopefully, after wading through all the bullshit excuses, the truth will come out. Alas, as with most of what this organization does, secrecy seems to be the way.

Salvation Army drops $1 lunch cost

After a meeting held with the S/A last Thursday at which nothing was resolved another meeting was scheduled for yesterday the 15th. Prior to the meeting yesterday Wallace Malay, of the Creative Awareness Collective, and myself decided to organize a protest to be held in front of the S/A. The Collective and I got the word out to those who were being affected by the $1 charge and turnout of about 20 people with posters rallied across the street. While this was going on Wallace and a couple other members of the collective, as well as the City of Nanaimo, the S/A and others met to discuss the issue. The link that follows is the upshot of what happened at the meeting and while by no means a perfect outcome it is a step in the right direction. Personally I am hoping that people will call the S/A head office in Burnaby;

Major Brian Venables Divisional Secretary for Public Relations and DevelopmentBritish Columbia DivisionAddress:The Salvation Army 3833 Henning Drive, Burnaby BC V5C 6N5Phone: (604)296-3821Fax: (604)291-0345Cell: (778)227-7291E-mail: Brian_Venables@can.salvationarmy.org

and let them know that the charge for the meal should be lifted permanently.

While they say no one will go hungry and can access meal tickets through their Family Services program one has to ask how many appointments for tickets can be handled, on top of their regular intakes, each day?

Salvation Army suspends unpopular $1 fee for lunch
Small group of protesters says the charge is unfair
Salvation Army suspends unpopular $1 fee for lunch
Dustin Walker, Daily News
Published: Wednesday, December 16, 2009

STARVATION ARMY

This is fairly lengthy but I encourage people to read on and comment.

On December 1st the Salvation Army in Nanaimo, under the guize of promoting dignity, implemented a $1.00 charge for its lunch program. I have to ask is that what they believe a persons dignity and self worth is? This is another shameful act on the part of one of the biggest and richest global NGO's on the planet, an organization that posess so much wealth it should never have to panhandle to the public again.

I have been helping protest with a small group of Advocates, Community Awareness Cllective, headed up by Wallace Malay by collecting and distributing pennies to those who cannot afford the new $1.00 charge. After the first day or two the S/A said they would no longer take the pennies unrolled and were turning people away.

I e-mailed the following to a friend who has a number of lists and touched a nerve in the BC Division Head Office.

Good day. Some may and others may not realize that the Salvaation Army has recently started charging $1.00 for lunch when for the past 6 years it has been free. It is also useful to know that about 6 months ago they also started charing $2.00 for their dinners, they to were free for aprox. 6 years. This is an organization that takes in untold thousands and millions in donations and yet they want the poor to fund their programs as well.

Part of the Salvation Armies rational for charging for lunch is that they feel it will increase the persons self worth and dignity by contributing. In reality what it will do is remove one of the very things from the reach of the poorest of the poor that keeps them alive, many will be reduced to panhandling or other means to obtain the cost. In a province that has had the highest child poverty rates six years running, the implementation of the cost for lunch and dinner will only serve to push those in need further into the depths of poverty. Attached is a poster from a group trying to raise pennies for the poor and giving them to people so they can get a lunch. Please express your disappointment at the Starvation Armies policies by calling their offices at the following numbers;

Community Services: 250 754 2621
New Hope Centre: 250 714 1142
Admin: 250 753 8834
PS. Just informed that the Salvation Army has been telling people they will not take the pennies unless they are rolled. This is to put it mildly Bull Shit. Please call the above numbers, e-mail Rob Anderson http://ca.mc327.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=rob_anderson@sananaimo.org or Martin McCarter http://ca.mc327.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Martin_McCarter@can.salvationarmy.org or mail thier administration offices at 505 Eighth Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 1B5 and speak out.

You can also contact and express your disgust with this new policy:
Major Brian Venables
Divisional Secretary for Public Relations and DevelopmentBritish Columbia Division
Address:The Salvation Army 3833 Henning Drive, Burnaby BC V5C 6N5
Phone: (604)296-3821
Fax: (604)291-0345
Cell: (778)227-7291
E-mail: Brian_Venables@can.salvationarmy.org

I will say one thing for him he did gaurantee that people would not have to roll the pennies. So on the protest goes and has served an average of 50 people daily by giving them the funds to access lunch. If you wish to donate drop your pennies off between 10:30 and 1:30 at the Vault Coffee Shop on the corner of Wallace and Albert St. downtown Nanaimo.

Below are links to the Nanaimo Daily News stories and letters to the editor on the subject.


News Stories

Penny protest targets $1 Salvation Army lunch fee
Cost designed to reduce problems with neighbours
Penny protest targets $1 Salvation Army lunch fee (1)
Penny protest.......(2)
Dustin Walker, The Daily News
Published: Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Darrell Bellaart: Pennies are welcome
Darrell Bellaart: Pennies are welcome
Darrell Bellaart, The Daily News
Published: Wednesday, December 09, 2009


Letters to the editor

Salvation Army should not charge for lunches
Edith Cartwright, The Daily News
Published: Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Costs should not come from those most in need
Wallace Malay, The Daily News
Published: Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Salvation Army decision not based in Christianity
Madeline Bruce, The Daily News
Published: Thursday, December 10, 2009

Buck is better spent on a meal than on cigarettes
David J. Payne, The Daily News
Published: Friday, December 11, 2009

Salvation Army's reasons don't make sense
Gordon W. Fuller, The Daily News
Published: Saturday, December 12, 2009

All the needy should not be painted the same
Andre Mollon, The Daily News
Published: Saturday, December 12, 2009

One of my favourites written in 2002

This was the second post to the blog. It is one of my favourite writings and thought I would repost it.

HOMELESS

It started well before birth in the stygian depths, fetid dank moistness, of our mothers’ wombs. A self projected on us prior to conception by the abject dysfunctional behaviours of our parents and past generations. Spewed forth from the dark crevasse between our mothers’ legs we grew up fast, tormented by the misbegotten memories of incessant generational abuse and neglect. Hidden away in murky corners of basements and closets we escaped into the twilight gloom of dimly lit streets and alleyways. Sleeping in shadowy alcoves, desolate corridors, refuse and needle strewn rooms of long deserted buildings haunted by the ghosts of those gone before us. Abandoned we walk the night. Eyes glazed, legs, cheeks, and mouths wide, we take in the disease-ridden jism from the corrupt underbelly of the cold dark unforgiving city.

* And We Dream! *

Gordon W. Fuller, April 11/2002

Harmonized Sales Tax

The Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) will apply to more than twice as many things (by value) than are taxed by the provincial sales tax (PST) shifting more of the tax burden onto the average working person. This seems to have been the pattern established by the Liberal Government of BC since coming to power in 2001. Those that will benefit from the implementation of the HST will be the large corporate interests ie., big business.

The proposed HST sales tax will apply to all goods and services that the GST currently applies to as well as the many items that were not subject to PST. All goods and services currently covered only by the 5% GST will now be taxable at the rate of 12 percent. For example the tax on the food and beverages in the restaurants will go up from 5 to 12 percent.

Sure there are tax rebates and credits thrown into the mix; the Basic Personal Tax Exemption will rise to $11,000.00 from $9373.00 and individuals making under $20,000.00 and families under $25,000.00 will qualify for an annual BC HST rebate of $230.00. Approximately 15% of people will qualify for the rebate with the other 85% unable to. What the government doesn’t tell you is that with the number of new items being taxed the average person and family, even those who qualify for the rebate, will be taxed at a far higher rate than either of the above will compensate for.

GOODS: Residential fuels (electricity, natural gas) and heating; Basic cable TV and residential phones; All food products (only basic groceries will remain exempt under new tax); Non-prescription medication; Vitamins and dietary supplements; Bicycles; School supplies (books will continue to be exempt); Magazines and newspapers; Work-related safety equipment; Safety helmets, life jackets, first-aid kits; Smoke detectors and fire extinguishers; and Energy conservation equipment (e.g., insulation, solar power equipment).
SERVICES: Personal services such as hair care; Dry cleaning; Repair services for household appliances; Household maintenance such as renovations and painting; Real estate fees; Membership fees for health clubs; Movie and theatre tickets; Funeral services; Professional services such as accounting and home care; and Airline fares within Canada.
Personally I estimate my pocket book to be hit by another 1500 – 3000 dollars a year. Is the HST really a benefit to lower income wage earners? Why would the government implement the HST if they aren’t planning to increase their revenues?

Yes small business gets a harmonization and an elimination of the PST, but they, their family members and their staff all get hit when purchasing items newly covered under the HST. The government says many products will go down in price because businesses will receive a 12% tax credit for the HST they pay. Will they really? If the owners and their families are paying higher taxes on personal purchases the business will then have to make an even larger profit.

My distaste for the HST rises as the government try’s to propagandize the implementation of the tax as a benefit to lower income individuals. The bottom line is everyone will pay more even the poor.

Finally I say Gordon Cambell

HARMONIZE THIS

HST Rally in Nanaimo

Really hope to see a lot of people at this event. I would love to see the basic tax exemption raised without the HST. The HST would cost the financially challenged far more than they would benefit from an increase in the tax exemption. This event is being held in conjunction with many others throughout the province.

Harmonized Sales Tax Rally
Nanaimo
Organizer - Janet IrvineEMAIL: janetnanaimo@gmail.com
LOCATION: Maffeo-Sutton Park, Lions Pavilion
TIME: 1:00PM for this event.