Residents of Fredericton's 'tent city' suddenly awash in donations
The nine people living in tents in downtown Fredericton are suddenly finding they're the focus of lot of attention — and donations.
Since last Friday, the residents of the so-called "tent city" have been repeatedly visited by people dropping off clothing and cash.
"It's overwhelming," said Donna Howe, who says she's been living in a tent for eight months.
"They're bringing winter gear, they're bringing tents, hygiene products," said Howe. "They're bringing sleeping bags, they're bringing chapstick, everything a person would need on a regular basis to live."
On Monday morning a man even donated around $3,000 in cash.
"Definitely overwhelming in capital letters for sure," said James Oickle, who says he recently lived in those same tents for 170 days.
Oickle believes that recent news stories and shared posts about the perils of being homeless in winter weather has sparked the wave of generosity.
"It seems that awareness is getting out there," he said.
On Monday afternoon some tents were so packed full of blankets and quilts there seemed to be little room for anything else.
The residents of the tents have started to haul some of the donations to other shelters nearby because of a lack of space.
Not a new problem
Howe suggested it's not just increased public awareness, but the literal increased visibility of the tents and their inhabitants that is responsible for the surge of donations.
She said the bright tents stand out against the fresh snow, and construction forced many of them to relocate from behind a water treatment building to beside it.
"Because it was summertime people really didn't see the emergency in the situation, the severity of it," said Howe. "But now that it's … close to Christmas people are becoming more sentimental."
Both Oickle and Howe point out that the homeless issue is not a new one. Many of them have been living under bridges, benches and outdoors for months, in some cases years.
The short-term burst of giving won't do much in the long-term to solve the larger issue, according to some homeless advocates.
"There's a lot of different avenues to support people," said Faith McFarland, the community development coordinator for the community action group on homelessness.
She said money and resources often go much further when used by an organization that has been working with homelessness for years.
"And I just really want to remind people that this crisis didn't create itself overnight."
