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Forfurther information call or visit N inth Line at Dundas St., Oakville Soonsor Official Media Sponsor 905-257-1100 w ww.glenoaks.ca Editor: Wilma Blokhuis Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 250) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: blokljuis@haltonsearch.com Salvation Army gives hope Lighthouse shelter gives people a second chance By Howard Mozel O A K V IL L E B E A V E R S T A F F Meet Heather Missen and Bill Summerhill, the human face o f the lighthouse shelter. Neither statistics nor stereotypes, they are people whose lives were nudged on course thanks to the Salvation Army' s homeless shelter. Still getting back on their feet, both credit the caring staff at the facility for providing not only a roof over their heads and food, but perhaps the most precious gift o f all - hope. "I didn't know what to expect three weeks, the firm went under but the girl who took the intake and left her with no income and made me feel at home," said no means to pay rent. Summerhill, 60. "Personally I "It all went haywire," said can't thank them enough." Missen, whose subsequent misad Adds Missen, 21: "The staff ventures included other jobs and were really nice, no issues. I don't an alcoholic landlady who refused know what I would have done to let her collect her belongings, without that opportunity." even with a police escort. "I had In 1991, Summerhill was no money, no clothes and just struck by a forklift and severely some bread and peanut butter. I injured, forcing him to go on life was starving all the time. I defi time compensation. Last year he nitely don't want to go through suffered a heart attack and spent that again." During his first night on the five weeks in hospital. Once released, his first priority was to street Summerhill slept in the cover the $300 a month he needed back of a truck then, thanks to a for prescription medications and lady at the Burlington foodbank, as a result he couldn't make his he managed to split a bachelor rent. apartment until the sublet ended. "What's the sense of having an Another apartment in Burlington apartment and not taking your was arranged but during the 17pills if it kills you?" he said. day gap until occupancy To add insult to injury, Summerhill stayed at the Summerhill's landlord changed Lighthouse. the locks on him and refused him "I'm a survivor," he said. entry to collect his furniture and Like Summerhill, Missen belongings. Without the means to found herself at the Lighthouse legally force access, he simply for eight days after staying two abandoned his effects. weeks at a friend's place. The first Missen, who is hearing dis thing staff did was give her a $75 abled, came to Oakville from voucher for the Sally Ann Thrift Edmonton last November to work Store to buy clothes. At the time, for a commercial/residential she didn't even have a winter coat. painting company but, after only Summerhill said dinners at the Peter C . McCusker · Oakville Beaver Heather Missen, 21, and Bill Summerhill, 60, have each found temporary refuge at the Salvation Army's homeless shelter. "clean and safe" shelter were not just macaroni and cheese, but bal anced meals, and although he was embarrassed to use the facility, he remains very grateful for every thing staff did for him. In addition to bed and board, this included making phone calls, helping write referenc/letters and eventually setting him up with donated furniture for his afford able Burlington apartment. When he got sick one day, a staffer paid for cold medication out of her own pocket. They also had his prescriptions transferred from Etobicoke to a Burlington phar macy. Once at his new place, Summerhill was stunned when a Lighthouse volunteer brought him food from her own home and her husband slipped him $10. "They bent over backwards," he said. "And they didn't know ground when I got there. They treat you like a person." Summerhill also found com fort in contact with other residents staying at the shelter. "People there at the time were in the same boat as me," he said. "It was almost like' a family." After a hit-and-miss string of jobs, Missen landed a contract position at the shelter through Human Resources Development Canada and has now started a job as a professional painter with a Mississauga restoration company. Last spring, the search for a permanent Lighthouse location ignited considerable controversy when the Eighth Line site being eyed by the Salvation Army received a chilly reception by res idents in the area and precipitated the creation of a special task force which is still deliberating the mat ter. For Missen and Summerhill, there's no question the fears of some in the public are misplaced. "If people haven't been in the situation themselves they don't understand. A taste of what it's like is a different thing," said Missen, who admits to believing homeless stereotypes while back in Edmonton. "It's a shame they have to lash out and say (shelter residents) are pedophiles." She also finds it disgraceful that a few Oakvillians seem bent on pushing some of their fellow citizens out of the town where they grew up simply because they've fallen on hard times. Summerhill - who wishes peo ple would take the time to listen to the Salvation Army with an ear free of fear and prejudice - agrees. "People make a fuss about the Lighthouse but most of them have probably never been in that situa tion," he said. Missen isn't out of the woods yet, though, and has to come up with the money to pay for not only clothes and work boots but also $1,900 to replace the loaner hear ing aid she now uses. Still, things are on the mend. Summerhill, too, says his road isn't an easy one, but at least he has the Lighthouse to thank for steering his life back on track. "Things are turning around," he said. Peter C. McCusker · Oak\'ille Beaver Bill Summerhill and Heather Missen demonstrate chores they performed in the kitchen of the Salvation Army Lighthouse homeless shelter when each lived there briefly. p toNe'N p r W rf ItW Hlississatiga Okioberfesi p I T T T ln l i l i s T 'T r T P r n f - r t | ji s -]TFi " r mm m : · ·£ 3 8 H IL A R Y RADLEY Quilted Bam Jackets G ia n t C h ild re n 's P lay A re a p o n y rides, p e ttin g fa rm , fa ce p ainters, b a llo o n m akers, m agicians, h o t a ir b a llo o n s C ra ft & A n tiq u e S h o w E xh ib ito rs w e lco m e on Beer T e n t Im p o rte d W a rste in e r Beer, B ra tw u rs t & w o n d e rfu l tra d itio n a l O k to b e rfe s t fo o d s LIVE BANDS Saturday & Sunday 10am-5pm a t no charge Jf r Also available in Camel, Black aiul Brawn * 7 ^ ' r M Saturday & Sunday 10am-5pm FINE OUTERWEAR SINCE 1815 S quareO n esnapping C e n tre (Square One parking lo t opposite City Hall) - Friday: noon-midnight, Saturday: 10am-midnight, Sunday: 10am-5pm October 11 -13,2002 Admission S 10.00 per adult children under 16 (accompanied by an adult) admitted free Brandt I ocaI ted in Beautiful Dow ntow n Oukvtj , iQVLohcs-fwiv Road Fast. 905- 845-2 BBaSf \h»uL '-/uuiv *>-* Stinirthtv 9-5