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Living on the streets – the hard cold reality!

April 20, 2016 Caryn Walsh

Living on the streets – the hard cold reality!

Living on the streets. It’s like many things in life and you don’t know something until you experienced it.

Imagine this:  winter is coming.  It is wet and dismal, with ongoing rain and the incessant aching of muscles fighting off the freezing cold.

For some, ’home’ is an entrance to a doorway in a back street city building, and for others, they call a particular bench in a local part their ‘patch.’

Dinner (if they are lucky) consists of whatever they can scrounge out of the bin and be content with scraps given to them by compassionate passers-by.

I often observe them and quietly ask myself ‘what has happened in their life to get them here?’  What untold troubles, crisis or pain have they been through to render them homeless – where they never know where the next meal or place to stay is.

In Sydney, many ‘travel’ the streets with their best friend.  Often their dog.  I see them everywhere.

We were working with Vinnies in Albury. What a great outfit led by a visionary and empowered woman, Pat Fogarty.  She and her dedicated team, spread throughout Deliniquen, Albury and Wagga, make finding somewhere safe to safe their most important mission every day.  They home hundreds of men, women and children hence ensuring they are safe, fed and warm.

In addition, community based organisations like this are fighting to keep people alive. As a result, often, they are the unsung heroes of the day.

We salute you all.

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