Real Deal Crew asks Kelowna to show compassion for homeless

UPDATE: 11:30 a.m. 

Real Deal Crew member Shilo says the group are not providing warmth and food to encourage a permanent outdoor shelter situation at Recreation Avenue, but ease the transition for homeless tenters.

She says the lack of indoor housing facilities is the reason tent city still exists, especially as temperatures drop heading into winter.

"We are actually down a facility - we just don’t have enough beds, so it’s not like we’re trying to say "people have the right to sleep outside and they should have warmth". The fact is that this site is turning into the facility that we are down right now, so if we can just make it a little easier through the transition, then we should do that. 

"These people are not choosing to be outside, we just don’t have enough spaces for them, and that’s the reality of this." 

The full-time business owner says contributions from the Kelowna community have been amazing so far, particularly donations of tents which provide personal and private space for the homeless tenters. 

Conversations about mental health and the issues faced at the site are helping to build a greater understanding of what is really going on at tent city, says Shilo. 

"The stories of people here are dynamic, absolutely dynamic. Change is hard and the more uncomfortable we feel and the more we are triggering people, it's because we are making change so I'm proud of us. 

"Honestly it’s just the love and compassion of having people show up. These are all people. We just all want to be part of the same society. There’s no us and them - it is a we - and we should all stand together and get everybody through this, especially with Christmas coming up."

Real Deal Crew is asking Kelowna locals with donations to touch base with them via Facebook first so they can distribute effectively, rather than simply dropping off items at the site. 

ORIGINAL: 5:00 a.m.

Angie Clowry is calling on Kelowna to help her Real Deal Crew, and go against the city’s wishes by donating items to homeless tenters at the Recreation Ave temporary shelter site.

The volunteer group expects the tenting situation to be short-lived given the colder temperatures setting in, and has now dubbed the site Camp Love because of the gratitude they have received from the homeless they are helping. 

They are asking residents to clean out their closets for women’s and men’s shirts, sweaters, pants, socks, boots and winter jackets, as well as spare bedding – particularly pillows and blankets – to donate. 

“While we are aware the City of Kelowna has issued a request to drop off items at other agencies, those items do not get to Recreation Avenue," says Clowry.

"We are the people who find bedding for those who arrive without anything nightly. Two women needed clean and dry clothing last night. We drove to a store to buy pants and men's socks.

"We had two new people show up without bedding last night, and we also had a need for dry bedding with the rain the night before last.” 

Clowry says when the shelters are full, RCMP and others drop off the homeless to the warming tent, which is covered in frost and barely heated to 12 degrees. On busy nights, up to 25 people have been sleeping, sitting and staying in the tent to keep warm. 

Other items that are needed include hand warmers, hot soup, hot water, hot coffee, hot chocolate, sub-zero tents and foamies or cash to purchase them, and snacks. 

"We the residents have the power to stand up for Kelowna – stand up that all of us do not want any homeless sleeping or living on our streets, as we support Housing First to get every person off our streets and into a home,” says Clowry. 

"We ask all those not OK with people living outdoors on Kelowna' streets, in the alleys and in the hills to email your MLA and MP, and demand they show up, ask for dollars to take people off the street and take the pressure off the City of Kelowna and house them first and faster!”