More Volunteers Are Attempting to Assist the Scottish Homeless
By Stephen Wilson, one of our reporters abroad
"I have also been feeling guilty about the homeless woman I saw in Glasgow. I did smile at her and perhaps that helped. I had to rush to catch my bus back to Campbeltown and I felt totally ill. I was totally exhausted and struggling to stay awake. I also had a packet of sanity towels in my bag and I could have given her them. Everything was upon me so quickly that I'm afraid I would not reach my bus plus I was feeling worried about becoming homeless myself. Our accommodation problems are quite complex," stated an exasperated Mary Hamilton, a 50 year old carer from Campeltown.
Mary has met friends and acquaintances from Campeltown who either had past experiences of homelessness or are still homeless and living in temporarily hostels for the homeless. But like many of us, she wonders what is the best way to help the homeless and even avoid the problem itself.
A graphic artist called Peter told me how the sudden death of his mother had led him to become homeless for almost a year. He survived by couch surfing. Now he knows an old friend who is in the Homeless Unit following a family conflict as well as having mental health problems. He also wonders how best to help his old friend and has offered aid.
Those are two examples of people who are seeking to help the homeless. They are part of a growing number of Scots striving to assist the homeless as best they can.
According to Homeless Project Scotland, a charity which regularly feeds the homeless three times a week in Glasgow and mans a 24-hour hotline for the homeless, in July 2022 they claimed to have received as many as 1800 applications from people who want to join and assist their project. The project is relatively new. It was largely the brainchild of Colin McInnes and Fraser Riddell, who in June 2019, resolved to simply go out on to the streets and give out some sandwiches, soup and biscuits to the homeless. They found there was so much demand they had to return back again and again with more food.
Where good people lead, other good people follow. So the project mushroomed and inspired other volunteers and supporters to step in. They currently give out more than 130,000 meals a year and keep a 24-hour helpline going to offer advice to the homeless.
It is interesting to note that the charity has no paid staff members and is run wholly by volunteers. Ordinary people as well as businesses, such as Gregg the Bakers and Tandrum Doughnuts to name but a few, constantly offer food donations.
What is wonderful about this charity is the sheer simplicity behind the notion. If you try to keep things simple, it can often yield results. You don't need a lot of resources or support to begin helping people. You just need to do something basic such as deciding to make some sandwiches and soup and taking to the streets to hand them out to the homeless. You don't need to begin with some fundraising event or endlessly wait until the ripe moment.
The main point is to use a little practical common sense, feel compassion, and seek to genuinely assist people. Small scale projects can often turn out to be best because they are more doable and don't initially require a huge amount of resources and sponsors.
The problem of homelessness in Scotland is becoming more and more acute. This is especially due to a government bent on imposing harsher austerity policies where state aid to the poor and homeless has been drastically cut over the past ten years. At present, there are an estimated 42,149 homeless people in Scotland. As many as 11,804 of them are children who are in temporary accommodations. The reasons for this growth in homelessness are mainly the staggering cost of rent, evictions, family conflict, being discharged from social institutions such as hospitals, prisons and the armed forces without a place to go, mental health problems, as well as problems related to addiction, and women fleeing from abuse.
The main point is that falling wages can no longer keep up with paying for a steep rise in rented accommodation—not to mention the bills. And social housing to aid the homeless has also been cut. We are witnessing a rising number of people queuing up for food banks and now there is even talk of opening 'warm banks' (Amer. ‘warming centers’) where people can obtain free heat in libraries!
Volunteers tend to turn up three times a week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday night to feed the homeless. The volunteers come to set up special tables where they can offer the homeless food, soup, toiletries, and clothes. They work within the vicinity of the Grant Arms in Argyle Street. The volunteers state there is a lively and warm atmosphere among them where they partake in a community which pursues the common good.
The volunteers are from different backgrounds and have different ages.
For example, there is a 21-year-old man Daniel, who is a barber from Bearsden and now lives in Drumchapel. He offers the homeless free haircuts every Friday after his job finishes. He states how he enjoys meeting nice people and helping cheer up the homeless. He states, "Everyone likes getting their haircut. They leave happy and they get to have a conversation with somebody who's trying to listen to them." So the project is not just about feeding the homeless but befriending them by offering moral support.
Another volunteer Kiera Cameron, a 21-year-old student has been a volunteer with the project for 2 years. She adores the work. She states, "I just got hooked .... I just saw the work that they do and how much it means to people. When you speak to people that are here, they just love it."
However, one of the problems is that this remains an open-air soup kitchen. The climate in Glasgow is abysmal, as it often rains. The homeless as well as volunteers are exposed to the full blast of the elements: relentless rain, a chilling wind, and even anti-social elements. However, not everyone appreciates their efforts.
Some oddballs hate the homeless! Those oddballs can actually spit on and even assault some of the volunteers. This is why the presence of stewards to protect the homeless and volunteers is important. One of the founders of the project, Colin McInnes, states he has been spat at and other volunteers have had their hair pulled by some angry people. This is why Colin McInnes is attempting to find a building where everyone can sit down and eat in doors in a warm and safe atmosphere. Colin McInnes has seen many difficult things in his time, but he is still shocked when he witnesses children coming to the feeding spot.
When Colin sees a young couple pushing a pram (Amer. ‘baby carriage’) arrive he states, "This is what we are seeing in Scotland in 2022: babies in prams at soup kitchens! It just about kills me!"
On one level, helping the homeless by feeding, clothing, and advising them can seem straightforward, but when you struggle to get them off the streets it becomes much more complicated. You can encounter stubborn resistance at a state level. Nevertheless, a start has to be made.
Homeless Project Scotland remains a catalyst for taking concrete action that gets to grip with this problem!