Vancouver charity aiming to keep the city's most vulnerable warm and safe as temperatures drop
Temperatures are expected to dip below zero this weekend, a forecast that can be frighteningly cold for those who call the streets their home.
Hundreds of people gathered outside of the Lotus Light Charity Saturday to receive supplies, including food and clothing.
One of the people waiting in line was Tony Cairns.
"It’s very important," he said. "Because they care about people and that's a big thing."
Cairns has been homeless for two years. He calls donation drives like the Lotus Light’s winter event vital.
"The lineup has grown around the block in the last three years,” said Floyd Wong, the vice president of Lotus Light Charity Society.
The charity has been holding the event for 27 years, and Wong says the demand has been at an all-time high this year.
"Prices have gone up, rent has gone up, everything has gone up, and so the needs have increased,” he said.
The latest city stats show at least 2,000 people in Vancouver were homeless in 2020. It’s a number that Wong believes has only increased in the past two years.
Organizers expect to deliver packages to 1,000 people.
As temperatures drop, the need to help the city’s most vulnerable rises.
"Homelessness is a key, significant challenge for Vancouver," said Insp. Terry Yung of the Vancouver Police Department.
"Now the winter is coming up, we really worry about people living on the streets. Nobody, as I said earlier, nobody should be hungry or cold."
The VPD and BC Ambulance partner with Lotus Light each year to help the charity hand out donated items.
“We should ask ourselves, how can we be more inclusive?" Yung said. "How can we help people in need? We can all talk about it, but here today, we’re making a difference.”
This weekend, the city has issued an extreme weather alert and has opened warming centres until Tuesday.
It’s an option for those experiencing homelessness as temperatures drop, but for Cairns, it’s just the reality of sleeping on the street.
"When you're homeless, you're used to the weather, doesn't matter if it's raining, snowing or whatever, you get used to it,” Cairns said.
Instead, he said he’s focusing on the donated items, many of them basics that people with homes may take for granted.
"There's free socks, there's toothbrushes, toothpaste, and a lot people need it, eh?" He said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.