Homeless in Abbotsford, BC

Crime Wave – Part II

I had to laugh at the letter in the March 23, 2006 Abbotsford News as last Sunday I was talking to people while waiting for the church group to arrive with lunch. Apparently several members of our luncheon group had recently been hassled by the local police. For the homeless being hassled by the police in neither funny nor is it something new, but in this case I had to laugh. They were being hassled because citizens in some residential areas have begun to suffer from a petty crime wave. Anyone who has been reading the articles on these pages is aware that I believed that such a crime wave would be a result of the City’s policies of driving the homeless out of the downtown area and away from their food sources. This also applies to the attempts to prevent church groups from being able to feed the homeless in the evenings.


The point is that people are not going to sit there quietly and starve. They are going to steal food or they will steal goods they can turn into food. That is human nature. Anyone who thought about ……. OK, I concede perhaps it was naïve of me to think that a) the City might give some thought to how to approach the homeless problem rather than just rely on the labels given to the homeless and knee-jerk reactions, and b) to expect someone in the City administration to be capable of and willing to think. Any normally intelligent human being able to put together two coherent thoughts had to be able to predict that chasing the homeless out of the downtown area into the residential was going to cause a new set of problems. Still, I for one have no expectation that the City will re-think its current actions and approach the homeless problems rationally.

I say problems because the reality is that there is not one homeless problem, there are linked groups of people and problems that get lumped into one big pile and labeled as one homeless problem. Then they try to solve ‘the problem’ and wonder why it does not work. There is no one, neat, easy solution. What is needed is a series of initiatives aimed at the specific groups of people and problems that make up ‘the problem’. This approach does not promise fast miracle cures – but it will begin to address and solve parts of the problem. We may not be able to totally solve homelessness, but we can address many of the issues and problems that have put so many homeless on our streets and help many of these people to get back on their feet. Or governments can continue their current thoughtless, wasteful course of action, accomplishing nothing but to add to the problem.

The police were hassling the homeless downtown, in part I suppose because that is where they are use to hassling them. But those homeless downtown have food and their territory and no reason to go wandering into the neighbourhoods that are suffering an increase in theft. Rather the police needed to be looking for those their harassment had caused to relocate to the residential areas of the city. But that is what happens when you use labels and stereotypes in setting your policies. You end up solving nothing and with an additional set of new problems.

As for those homeowners who are currently suffering, yes the homeless are part of the cause. But if you want to know who is responsible speak to your City politicians and administration for it was their actions that led to you current situation. And above all be sure to insist that in addressing the problems that arise from homelessness that they use common sense and thought. Or nothing will be accomplished but more wasted City resources and the creation of a whole new set of problems.

Down into the pit of despair .... OR?

I was feeling a little frustrated or depressed Sunday morning. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say frustration was letting depression in. I go along, day by day, pursuing my job search as a full time occupation and when no positive results occur (employment) it gets frustrating. That frustration leads to negative thoughts "This is pointless; I'll never find work; I am really tired of this; etc.: and I feel my old nemesis depression moving in.

So Sunday morning I went to Mill Lake Park, sat on a bench and watched the geese and ducks. Landing, swimming, feeding, grooming, going about the simple daily tasks of their lives. As I slowly relaxed I could feel the tension and frustration ease and flow out of me. Recharging my batteries watching the young children enjoy the sunny day and their visit to the park. Relaxed I took a nap. My time at the park left me relaxed and calm.

Good Mental Hygiene has become very important to me these days. When I have the need to 'stop and smell the roses' I make sure I do. The reality of my homelessness may not have changed but my attitude to life had. One lesson I have certainly come to appreciate (the hard way) is that we have a choice in how we view things. I can view things as a mess and let depression drain the colour from my days Or I can view this time as one of transition, embrace the felling of potential and change and work to reveal what it is I should be doing.

Frustration is the enemy. Taking time out to just sit in the sun, enjoy the view and the spring time antics of the birds helps me relax and in not exactly enjoy, accept this time of transition. But PLEASE Universe, let the transition be mercifully short.

Nice work if you can get it ...

“I don’t think there was any recognition of that in the budget. The best way to help the homeless is make sure they have the opportunity to find a job” Dave Hayer, MLA for Surrey-Tynehead, said Thursday the budget focuses on giving people opportunity to grow out of the lifestyle of living on the streets.

I sent the above quote to our Abbotsford Mal’s Mr. De Jong and Mr. Van Dongen asking if this was in fact the government policy and whether they agree with this policy. At this time they have not extended me the courtesy of a reply, perhaps it is that they do not view the homeless as constituents. Now I had planned to point out the ideological government doublespeak in referring to homelessness as a ‘lifestyle of living on the street’. The idiocy and ignorance of suggesting that homelessness is something one can ‘grow out of’. That before throwing the word opportunity around they might want to look up the definition:

Opportunity n. a possibility due to a favourable combination of circumstances; “now is your chance”

Chance n. 1. the unknown and unpredictable element in happenings that seems to have no assignable cause; 2. a favourable set of circumstances; an opportunity; a chance to escape.

Apparently this government's ideology is so bankrupt of ideas that to get back onto their feet the homeless are to rely on ‘the unknown and unpredictable element’. Although how they are to take advantage of ‘a favourable set of circumstances’ when faced with barriers such as no fixed address, no telephone, no access to bathing for personal hygiene, no laundry for clean clothes, no transportation, etc I do not know. Maybe, since chance implies luck the government expects the homeless to be walking out of (their once in awhile access to) a shower, in clean, presentable, donated clothes and have an employer bump into them and exclaim “You are just the man/woman I am looking for! You’re hired!” Fat chance. I guess the homeless are just on the wrong side of the Liberal’s ideological spectrum.

But forget all that. I was reading Vaughn Palmer’s column in the Saturday March 11, 2006 Vancouver Sun about Partnerships BC. The person heading up Partnerships has a base salary of $329,000 and with bonuses can make nearly $600,000. His last salary reported by the government was $499,134. Fat cat. There are 38 employees at Partnerships BC and the budget is for an average salary of $160,000. Nice work if you can get it. Obviously these people are on the right side of the government’s ideological spectrum.

Mr. de Jong. Mr. van Dongen. Mr. Hayer. Never mind about programs that would help me and other homeless be prepared to take advantage of opportunities to get employed and back onto our feet. Forget that. How do I get one of those Partnerships BC (or similar type) jobs??? Who needs a little help when they can belly up to the public trough and pig out on fat salaries $$$,$$$. I am positive that with even an average salary of $160,000 I would have no trouble ‘growing out of the lifestyle of living on the streets’. Better yet I would not have to depend on the unknown and unpredictable whim of luck or accident. Just hand me a Partnership BC salary opportunity and I will seize the opportunity for lifestyle chance.

Carpe Diem! Carpe Pensio! Carpe Spolium!!!

Before city "clean up":


















After city "clean up"

For site reference vis-a-vis split tree:

“Seeing is Believing” tour

The following exerts are from an article in The Province on March 2, 2006:

Neatly dressed Surrey businessmen and poorly dressed street people met yesterday in a program designed to show the dark side of city life. “We saw things that in day-to-day living we tend to avoid because we don’t like poverty and mental illness”, said Lloyd Craig, president of Coast Capital Savings. “Here we are in a great country and you see how absolutely desperate people can get”.

The tour was set up by the Canadian Business for Social Responsibility, a national, non-profit group that believes solutions to poverty and hunger must involve business.

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said participants came away with a good understanding of the challenges. Craig said Watts support was very important “She really understands this side of building a city. It’s more than increasing the tax abase”.

Business men willing to open their eyes and see “poverty and mental illness”, recognize “how absolutely desperate people can get”. What next? Business people whom “just want to help out”? Next you will be claiming Canadian Business for Social Responsibility. What? Abbotsford remains uncaring, Only in Surrey you say? Pity.

More of a pity is that Surrey’s Mayor “understands this side of building a city. It’s more than just building a tax base”. Would that some of our local politicians would open their eyes and see. But then they would not be able to deny the homeless, the poor and the mentally ill that have been abandoned to live on the unforgiving, uncharitable streets of Abbotsford.

The politicians, business people and good citizens of Abbotsford, Seeing? Believing?

Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put your hand and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing”. John 20:27

A matter of Choice?

The other day began with me being shanghaied into another ‘conversation’ I was reasonably sure would be neither comfortable not productive. Over recent ‘conversations’ I have come to accept that the way we view the world (and I must acknowledge, I view myself) is different enough that there are points that will never be agreed upon or seen the same way. But to me that is now OK. There was a time when I would have felt compelled to argue until I was proved correct or I would have felt there must be something wrong with me – which is why they would not agree with what I saw as right or I would have felt I must be wrong and must change. These days in acknowledging and accepting the wide differences in people, I have to accept that there are going to be many different views and ways of looking at anything. What I need to guard against is just dismissing these other points of view. These days I take opposing views and run them by friends whose judgment I trust, not because they always agree with me (they have no trouble disagreeing) but because we have a more common frame of reference. In doing this I have had them agree with someone else’s point, but express why in such a way as I could see and understand the point – and adjust my behaviour accordingly. I am still a little more sensitive to feedback from some people than I would like to be, but I am working on getting better. I have come to understand that if a friend offers feedback it does not mean they hate me, just that there is something they want to bring to my attention and have me think about. However, I do not relish a ‘conversation’ I can predict the outcome of going into.

Anyway, the point was raise was that I was and am homeless by choice. Which is a rather interesting and complex statement, containing some truth, some accuracy and a great deal of deception. It is one of those sneaky statements there is no way to safely answer. As if in walking away from my inquisitor I had turned back and asked, “Are you still sexually molesting sheep?”

Choice n.

1. an act or power of choosing
2. the thing chosen
3. alternative
4. preference
5. the best (worthy of being chosen)

What is choice? Remember the news report on the man who had to cut off his own arm to get free, get off the mountain and get the medical attention he needed to live? It would be true and accurate to say that he removed his arm by his own choice. The great deception in this statement lies in the implication that there were any other choices he could have made, that there was a good alternative to choose. What happens when there is no good choice? One is left to choose the least bad or lesser of two (or more) evils. Yes I have chosen not to pursue what for me would have been destructive and unhealthy choices. In this way I can be said to choose to be homeless. What I want to know is why the system lacks alternatives or the flexibility to offer me some choices ‘worthy of being chosen’.

Of course this is one of the points our worldview differs on. “I was homeless, this is how I got out and anyone else only needs do this”. This lumps all the homeless into one big group and as anyone who has read my words knows, I firmly believe there is no one way, no one miracle cure-all for homelessness. This has gotten me accused of thinking I am better than others. Wrong. I just think that I am unique, the result of genetics, experiences and background that no other person exactly shares. If twins, raised together in the same environment turn out to be separate and distinct individuals, I fail to see how one could deny that we each have our own (good and bad) uniqueness. That this uniqueness gives rise to the different needs that must be overcome for each different, unique individual to escape his or her homelessness. I have no interest in just forcing square pegs into round holes, forcing these individuals through a set program to toss them into shelter somewhere and saying solved. Because if one does not acknowledge and address the unique reasons that each individual is homeless they will simple end up on the streets again. Only by overcoming these unique needs can they escape their homelessness.

Two very different world views on people, their behaviours and needs:

One size fits all

vs.

We all have unique differences

In recognizing and accepting that these very different views mean we are not going to agree on any points that depend on these points of view, I tend to see nothing to be gained in replaying arguments. As pointless as arguing about sailing around the world with a person who believes the earth is flat. I know that in not agreeing with the inquisitor and thus abandoning my world view on this matter the D word will be deployed – but a dissertation on denial is for another time and place. I have learned to accept that this point, the very different views of people, means fundamental differences on the way we see ‘homeless’ and ‘choice’. I accept this difference in the way we see the situation. I just wish the inquisitor could accept that I do not agree with him – not is it necessary that I do so.

Confidence – a Casualty of War

Confidence n.

1. firm trust, belief or expectation.
2. belief in one’s own abilities.

So easily lost - So hard to find again. One forgets how much confidence underlies the ease with which we make decisions. When you find yourself on a roll and everything is going your way it is easy to decide because you firmly expect things to work out. But what happens when things have not been working out at all? Even if the fault or cause lies not with you, but in your stars. Bad timing, bad breaks or mental illness can all take choice away from you. When you find yourself freezing in panic when the phone rings, well it certainly was not something I chose to have happen. This is not a ‘wrong’ decision but your expectations shift and you begin to believe that anything that happens is going to be bad. And once you start down that road it quickly turns into a steep hill with you rocketing down into the mire of self-doubt. You question every decision, hesitate, firmly trusting that if it can go wrong it will go wrong – for you. Procrastination, flip-flopping, hesitation and avoidance all flow from this loss of belief. And it is far harder to get it back than to lose it since inability to decide carries with it its own set of problems and costs – further undermining ones self-belief.

The only way to get your confidence back is to have things start to work out. But before they can work out you have to DECIDE. You find yourself standing on the edge of a decision, but to you it seems you are standing on a precipice, with no bottom in site. Frozen. It is a long mental journey to get your confidence back and like the journey of 10,000 miles it too begins with the first step. And different decisions can seem to be the beginnings of whole new journey’s. The mental health part of my journey began with walking into Triangle Resources to begin to take their six week course. But to me the precipice was walking down the hall and putting my name on the (blank, clean white) list for one-on-one counseling. As I made choices about how I would work on my inner self and found myself getting healthier, I became confident in my choices about my mental health and so I have a firm belief in the correctness of the choices I make. If I feel the need to go to an al-anon meeting I trust that this is what I need to do and I go. But in some areas the experience has not been so positive. That is not to say that I am making ‘bad’ choices. Rather that the choices I have made have not caused positive re-enforcement that gives one a firm expectation that any choice you make will work out. For example: I have been casting my nets far and wide in my search for employment, without notable success. Now, I do not think I am making bad decisions or choices, but without a positive feedback of some kind doubt creeps in and you find yourself hesitating over things.



I have written about how ridiculous the attitude that a phone is not a necessity in getting a job, not to mention coordinating and running your life. I have felt that I really should have a phone, that it could have a positive and beneficial effect on my job search and life in general. But … without some positive feedback I found myself standing on that precipice again. Need it, how do I pay, positive credit effect of paying bill on time, what if I cannot pay, easy to contact me, no phone tag or missed opportunities, it’s a promise to pay – can I keep my promise? And around and around. Then on Saturday events developed, or is that worked out, so that in effect I was given a clear push in getting my act together and getting a phone. These days I tend to listen to these types of hints, I may not have complete confidence in my ability to decide, but I know when I must decide. Remember:
1. best decision is the right choice;
2. the next best decision is the wrong decision;
3. The worst decision is not to decide.

So when I get a big nudge telling me to decide, I decide. Although I had butterflies in my stomach the day before and a little negative voice questioned some of the decisions I made (phone, plan etc). I am relaxed with having made the decision, it is done, made and in the past and so cannot be changed. I have let it go. The thing to do now is to take full advantage of the communications available to me now that I have a phone, carpe diem (seize the day). By taking advantage of the opportunity the phone represents, the choice (to take the hint) to get the phone becomes positive re-enforcement in trusting that having made a decision it will work out. Making it easier to make and move from the multiple choices that we need to make in order to move forward with our lives as opposed to staying caught on the precipice.

But there are little things that could be done to start building up the confidence of the homeless in order to help them start to make decisions instead of freezing on the precipice. I have witnessed just how much of a positive effect the opportunity to clean up and get into clean clothes has on the homeless. It would not take much to set up a program (a test?) such that some of the homeless have access to showers, the chance to clean up, exercise good hygiene and clean clothes daily. They would start to feel better about their appearance, then themselves and to a certain extent would be wanting to continue to feel better about themselves. Once started down that road they would have to face themselves and some of their choices without an obscuring layer of dirt. Having a clearer view to see what is needed and what choices they have to make. Feeling better about yourself helps give you confidence in things working out in your favour, making the act of deciding easier. Granting the willingness to take a leap of belief in oneself. Getting off the streets involves choices. Mainly the choices of the homeless themselves. Some of the choices the other members of society make have an effect, both minor (daily bathing facilities) or major (offer of employment).

One needs to choose to change. Whether it is a nudge from the universe telling you to CHOOSE or a series of small choices/changes/opportunities that leads to a major life style CHOICE.

The question we need to address is what nudges or help can the community present that enable the homeless to begin to choose and gain confidence in what the results of their choosing are. So that they do not freeze on the precipice but are able to face and make decisions of major CHOICE. It may be as simple as giving them access to cleanliness.

Mail – another ‘little’ problem

Thanks to push, or should that be a nudge, I took a bit of a leap of faith and got a phone. I have been waffling over this issue. A phone would certainly be very handy in finding employment, a place to rent when the opportunity presents itself to get off the streets, to stay in touch with people, more importantly for people to be able to easily get in touch with me or emergencies. But it is also a promise/commitment to pay the bill when due. Fear, uncertainty about my future cash flow had me gun-shy over pulling the trigger and getting a phone – even though I know that the phone is a major advantage in finding employment and thus having the needed cash flow. But a generous act of kindness from a stranger made it clear I was suppose to jump – and so I did. As I sit here the butterflies are still fluttering in my stomach, but the die is cast and I did not let a last minute thought about mail permit me to procrastinate and not get the phone.

Mail? Phone? Connection? One of the conveniences that people take for granted is a mailing address or in the case of a cell phone a billing address. As a homeless person one is of No Fixed Address. My car license plate may have 3 letters and 3 digits like a postal code but I doubt that Canada Post would be willing to even attempt to deliver my mail to my ‘home’. So you need to find someone willing to allow you to use his or her address as a place to have your mail sent and to make arrangements for you to get your mail. Otherwise you can end up running around in circles. You need ID to get social assistance. Those without ID are denied assistance. You can get replacement ID mailed to you. No address or money? All you need is to get shelter and allowance from assistance. Wait … no ID = no assistance = no address = no ID = no help and around and around. There are many situations that require a place mail can be sent to you. You can avoid all kinds of hassle if you just have an address you can use when asked for an address in a variety of instances (not having an address to give causes people all kinds of extra headaches. Not having a mailing address is one of the little things, the little inconveniences and necessities that accumulate into a high wide barrier for the homeless.

Having a mailing address is not a miracle cure, but it is on of the issues that can be addressed. For a lucky few it may be the last piece of the puzzle that gets them up onto their feet. For others it may provide a base to build on in their struggle back to their feet. For everyone it would be access to a necessary convenience and one less distracting inconvenience/problem. I admit I have no brilliant suggestion on how this could be done, only the nagging feeling that it should not be to difficult to accomplish. So, put on your thinking caps and give me a creative, imaginative idea(s) on what to do.

A barrier is of ideas, not of things. Mark Caine

I want to thank Fred Johns for sending the idea for this to me and asking if I would write it. The writer in me has only been free for a short period and relished the compliment of being asked to write this piece. So Fred put in the Olympics, Homeless and some of the obstacles they face every day ... and out of my fevered brain poured:


The Games

Like the super bacteria that recently invaded my body, IT has spread across the media. Taking up thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of hours of radio and television airtime, forests laid waste to print the hundreds of thousands of newspaper and magazine pages, and just how many terabytes of information is on the internet is mind boggling to consider. Yes, I am referring to the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. So, to take advantage of the Olympic media frenzy I present:

The ABBOTSFORD HOMELESS WINTER GAMES

Short Track Speed

For the Homeless this does not involve racing around pylons set up on a skating rink, trying to avoid being bumped or falling. For the Homeless it is about scrambling/sprinting to find shelter on those nights that lack of adequate shelter can be life threatening. With shelter for only a few percent of the Homeless in Abbotsford it can be quite a scramble. As a strategy, I keep my 5 days in reserve for life threatening emergencies. So when the super bacterial invaded my body I was able to use one night for shelter. Of course, with the usual bureaucratic idiocy, after that there was no shelter available that could accommodate my twice daily IV antibiotic schedule, forcing me back out onto the street – spiking fevers, facing surgery to implant a drain for the puss and three (at this point) weeks of 2 ½ hour, twice daily hospital visits for IV treatment and dressing change.

Biathlon

Not two such dissimilar disciplines as skiing and shooting, but those interrelated needs of food and bedding/clothing. Food for the calories to burn through the long, cold, wet nights. Bedding/clothing to minimize heat loss and preserve calorie reserves in order to survive the nights. With the Downtown Business Association, the City of Abbotsford and the Abbotsford Police striving to prevent church groups from serving food to the hungry and distributing bedding/clothing to the cold, in the future this event will be even more difficult and demanding.

Ski Jumping – Large Hill

For the Homeless this involves attempting to jump through the hoops and over the barriers that the nattering nabobs of negativism in the social (un)assistance system delight in raising. Those workers have the killer instinct, going for the gold every time – the denial of help.

X country pursuit

A new event, added this winter. With the efforts to drive the Homeless out of downtown Abbotsford and into residential neighbourhoods, aided by some of the more ‘enthusiastic’ members of the Abbotsford Police Department (yes I have witnessed this ‘enthusiasm’ – but fortunately have avoided having it applied to my person). With the city government wearing its blindfold in regards to the Homeless this can be a very important event to the Homeless. Of course there is a great irony in the lawyers who make their living from the prostitutes, drug dealers, addicts, the mentally ill and any homeless unfortunate to run afoul of the police and courts – campaigning to drive them away from their offices and into the residential neighbourhoods of Abbotsford using the police. Still, the ability to avoid pursuit, avoid attracting the attention of the wrong police officers and remain under the radar can have very beneficial health benefits for those successful in this competition.

X country 50 Km

I feel a shared spirit with these competitors. In for the long haul, endurance, striving to put one foot in front of the other and struggling forward when it feels as though you are carrying a 100 Kg load on your back. The advantage the athletes have over me is that they know were the finish line is. I have no idea where the objective (employment, shelter, food) I am struggling to reach lies. Only that it is somewhere in front of me.

Figure Skating.

Choreography. Smoothness. Grace. Yet for all this the Olympic event requires nothing close to the intricate survival dance performed daily by the Homeless. The balancing of food, shelter, clothing, bedding, weather conditions, police harassment, bathing, drinking water, bureaucratic idiocy, transportation, etc. Not to mention job searching, resume submission, cover letters, coping with the lack of a phone (which the government claims is unneeded for finding employment!), finding computer access for job searching and applications, etc. Balancing all these different needs requires choreography and a grace that Olympic figure skaters can only envy.

Curling

This event may share the most in common with our Homeless Winter Games event as both involve throwing stones. At the Olympics this involves sliding or ‘throwing’ the stones (rocks) at targets at the end of the ice sheet surface. In the Homeless Games the stones they throw are the labels they apply to the Homeless. Bums; Addicts; Lazy; do not want to work; - these are but a few of the stone labels thrown at the Homeless.

The problem with these labels is that they are what governments base their policies on. Basing policy on labels and not reality gives you the same results you would get from building City Hall or the Legislature Building in a swamp full of quicksand and sink holes – an ineffective and disastrous outcome. In building the system upon these labels it denies those working hard to find employment the necessary help: Shelter – a place to clean up, wash clothes, dress properly for interviews and job searching, a warm, safe place to sleep, one less (major) distraction from your job search. Phone – very tough for employers to contact you for interviews or a job offer when you lack a phone. Laundry – keeping your clothing clean and presentable is not cheap and no matter how good you are, you need to dress the part to get the job. …and so on. The stones of preconceived ideas thrown and held by the government and the public are a major barrier to employment and getting back into the game of life.


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Of course we do share a major pitfall with Olympic athletes – drug use. I have never had a drug or alcohol problem (touch wood). But in dealing with the effects of the labels applied in making policy, the despair and fatigue of struggling forward to attain some unseen finish line (job! home! dignity!), or the pain of repeated frustrations and disappointments – the escape and oblivion of drugs is a constantly tempting way out. The system labels you a drug user and then beats you down until drugs become a major temptation in order to escape the bleakness of your existence.

In the struggle to avoid giving in to despair I must admit a certain envy for the athletes with access to psychological support and counseling (BOY, do I now appreciate the importance of good mental health). It is a daily struggle to maintain a positive attitude so I can attempt to overcome the barriers to getting my life back. Especially when your hopes are shattered. I found a job and it was going well. Then, literally overnight, a life-threatening bacterial infection made me a very sick man. As if the fevers, surgery to drain the puss and insert a drainage tube, and 2 ½ hours twice a day antibiotic treatments were not enough – my new employer terminated me as a result of said life-threatening illness. You go to bed with a future and wake up sick as a dog and the future disappears in a puff of smoke. Talk about struggling to maintain a positive attitude.

Above all else what I would most like to have in common with the Olympic athletes is accommodation. I do not need a fancy village serving sumptuous meals and snacks. A warm room with a bed, where I can spike fevers and suffer the chills of this infection without it being life threatening. Such are my Abbotsford Homeless Winter Games dreams.