Homeless Soccer Kicks Ass

This year I've gotten involved with Homeless Soccer program called Dreamcatchers.

The soccer's a blast. Players from our team are drawn from the New Fountain Shelter. Each Sunday at around 9:30 AM, a bus pulls out from the shelter (one of five emergency shelters set up by Gregor's HEAT team) and heads to Britannia.

On the bus are a few outreach workers and a variety of enthusiastic (and sometimes if it was a big Saturday night - not so energetic players). Ages range and so do skill levels. Some players can pass, dribble and shoot without any effort. Others have trouble standing up. I'm in the middle.

Throughout the morning, we usually drill. Our coach, a deputy fire cheif who may or may not be named Steve (I just refer to him as coach, which helps me avoid looking like an idiot for not remembering his name after meeting him half a dozen times) takes us through drills. We do all the drills any soccer team does - square passes, kicking the ball against the wall to get a perfect touch, and of course, the ol' scimmage.

Last weekend we played a game against another homeless soccer team from the North Shore who came equipped with a full kit. Our team sported fancy Rob and Big black t-shirts. Rob and Big are two gangster-looking guys. They sport baggy jeans and baseball caps. No one on the team knows who they are or why they're on our shirts - but then that's part of the fun of it all.

Atired in our Rob and Big shirts, the team assembled. We had a great crew and it was a beautiful day to be playing. Coach had set up a rough court in Woodlands Park off the drive and we started passing the ball around to get warmed up. When the whistle went, our team launched into action.

At half time, I was near dead. Slowly the team was starting to colease togeather. We were passing faster and fewer whistles were getting blown on yours truly. Everyone was working up a healthy sweat in the afternoon sun. After husling off the field we indulged in fresh oranges and a case of warm bottled water. Hello plastic intake.

Despite an earnest effort, we scored but one goal that game. A teammate from OnSite took a swift shot and put it under the fancily garbed opposing keeper's arms. It was a great victory. I won't tell you how many goals the other guys scored, but I will tell you that they were sponsored by the Whitecaps and we were sponsored by Rob and Big. I'm not saying that made a difference, but...

Next week the team will assemble again for practice. Slowly but surely we're becoming a small but tight crew. One of the ways I know is that when Earl (a player who happens to be an amazing aboriginal wood carver) or Don (super groovy hip sporty fellow) happen to not come that week, we all notice. We're from different places and certainly very different experiences, but the soccer, like it can be all over the world, is a binding force a la super glue.

Shelters form the Backbone of Marginalized Community

One of the most inspiring things I've witnessed recently has been the generosity and general sense of hope implicit in the New Fountain Shelter. Here is a community built on compassion, which helps in a very real way some of our poorest citizens.

The New Fountain, along with four other shelters has been baring the brunt of the homelessness crisis and were opened roughly half a year ago as an emergency shelter. Since then they've assisted dozens of people to find permanent housing, pick up career skills, and provided a safe and respectful place for young and old to stay.

Safe and respect are key words here. No violence or violent individuals are tolerated and mounted in the staff room is a small list of names of violent offenders who have been permanently barred from the shelter.

"They're predators," said one of the staff members. "They come here to sell drugs and prey on our clients. When they do so, we ask them politely to leave."

A few hours in one of the shelters is illustrative.

The clients vary in age and appearance. Some have recently been released from jail. Others sport large gashes and open soars. Most seem very happy to have a bed to sleep on where they need not worry getting robbed while they sleep. Almost everyone is incredibly polite to service staff who hand out syringes, medical supplies, toiletries, donated clothing, and cookies generously.

The New Fountain is also equipped with a soup kitchen where residents can come for a quick meal. In the corner there's a small TV with a small group of folks camped out around it sweating in the heat. The shelter smells of vegetable soup. Everything is clean and tidy.

Other people are in their rooms - small 10 X 10 foot rooms with a canvas sheet serving as a door. We're note talking about the Hilton here. There are two beds in each room and around 15 - 20 rooms in the shelter. Since the shelter is intended to be as low barrier as possible, pets sometimes stay with clients in their rooms.

"Sometimes a dog, cat, mouse or other animal is the only friend the person has," said one outreach worker. "If we don't let them bring in their pet, they won't come in themselves. We try to keep the barriers as low as possible so we can help as many people as possible."

Many of the residents living in the shelter these days are worried. New Fountain and the four other shelters like it opened as part of the city's HEAT (Homeless Emergency Action Team) initiative have funding for now - but that funding could well dry up at the end of June. If it does, many of the folks who now have a home (for many this is the first home they've had in years) could find themselves alone and back on the street.

The diaspora that would follow would be tragic. One of the most commendable and advantageous things about the New Fountain and other shelters like it is that they provide a hub of community. Not only do they rejuvenate people who have suffered years on the street but they provide dozens of clients with services from helping them find employment to locking down more permanent housing. Here truly is a place where everyone knows your name.

The emergency shelters are critical because they are the first rung in the ladder of recovery. Without this rung, many people will find it almost impossible to climb out of homelessness - despite an earnest wish to do so. Let's hope the BC Liberal government agrees.