The Homeless Partners Christmas Wish List is all about connection – they provide a vehicle for people in the community to listen to the stories of the homeless and send personalized gifts and messages directly to them through their shelters. Stories can be read at www.homelesspartners.com.
This year, Homeless Partners is sponsoring a High Tea at Rock Bay Landing, 535 Ellice Street, this Saturday from 1 to 3 pm. The purposes of the High Tea are:
- to provide the community with the opportunity to actually meet with the people they have pledged gifts for on homelesspartners.comwebsite in a safe and enjoyable environment;
- to send a message to the homeless that their lives and stories matter, that they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and that many in the community genuinely care; and
- to encourage different faiths to focus on the shared value of caring for those in trouble as well as establish personal relationships between people from different faith perspectives.
The High Tea will include:
- A sitar and flute musician from the Hindu community and choral selections from the Knights of Columbus
- The MC, Joel Fagan, is from Congregation Emanu-El synagogue, and
speakers from three faiths:
– Bishop Gary Gordon, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Victoria
– Rabbi Harry Brechner, Congregation Emanu-El synagogue
– Karima Ramji, from the Ismaili Muslim community - A time of gift sharing from donors to shelter guests
All faiths teach compassion for others who are struggling. Everyone has times in their lives when their situation is difficult – everybody has a story. The homeless are not all the same – each person has a unique story. Homeless Partners wants to foster not only empathy for those in trouble, but they are making an effort to use the compassion generated by this work to encourage people of different faiths to establish personal relationships, breaking down barriers, while they engage in these acts of service, shoulder-to-shoulder.
Throughout the planning of the whole project – from the interviews that are conducted at the shelters, to the different participants of the High Tea, and the general networking accomplished throughout, relationships between faiths are encouraged.
As we work together with shared values, we not only generate help for the suffering, but that work fosters an environment that is conducive to peace and empathy for our fellow humans. Promoting this message of compassion and connection makes our community a better place to live.
“The activity of Homeless Partners is to enable people in the community to connect personally with shelter guests and to involve different faith communities with a shared value of compassion for those in any need,” said Homeless Partners co-founder, Daniel Keeran.
Homeless Partners has worked with Cool Aid for the last four years. Cool Aid creates opportunities for people who are homeless or living in poverty. They provide housing, health care, support and emergency shelters, and help over 9,000 people in the Capital Region every year, at 14 locations in Langford, Victoria and Saanich.
Homeless Partners is a non-profit, self-funded program run entirely by volunteer efforts. The program is coordinated by a small number of individuals, who assist volunteers to go into shelters and personally interview the homeless. The Homeless Partners Christmas Wish List was started by Daniel and Jennie Keeran in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2005.
A shelter guest said it best: “What encourages me most is knowing that someone, who doesn’t even know me, would care.”
This is the fourth year that Victoria has participated in this project. Last year there were over 100 stories from Victoria shelters with 300 gifts requested. Everyone received at least one gift. Since 2005, the Homeless Partners Christmas Wish List has brought thousands of gifts to the less fortunate at Christmas.
Homeless Partners encourages everyone in the community to participate by going to the website, reading the stories, buying a gift and delivering them to the shelter with a caring note.
