How many times, growing up, did your mother say to you, "Clean your plate. There are starving kids in Africa!"?
Mine said it quite a bit. My grandma, too.
Sadly, nowadays, starving children aren't as far away as Africa. There are hungry kids right here, in our own community.
There are homeless people, too, believe it or not.
Over the past 10 years, our community has grown by leaps and bounds. We've welcomed many, many new residents, businesses and services to our midst. We've watched as new buildings like our new hospital and new high school have gone up, and felt pretty darn lucky.
I know I have.
When other community newspapers around the province struggle for stories to tell, our issue here at the Journal has usually been trying to squeeze all the news we have into the number of pages we're allowed every week. (Just a sidenote here - the number of pages in each week's edition is dependent on the number of ads sold, not the number of stories written. Just FYI.)
There is so much happening here.
But not all of it is good. With the good, as it goes in the world, must come the bad.
We have homeless people in Humboldt now.
Can you imagine?
Just a few years ago, I wrote an editorial about how lucky we were here, that everyone had a place to live.
We can't say that now.
Thanks to the housing boom, which benefited so many who owned property, those on the lower end of the economic spectrum are finding themselves squeezed out of places to live. Or maybe there's another reason they find themselves out of a home.
Whatever the reason, it is happening.
People are going hungry, too.
The Humboldt Food Bank has been feeding people in need in this region for years. And they have seen demand for their services rise exponentially in the last few years. And still, people are going hungry. It's not the food bank's fault. It's not anyone's fault, really. It's just reality. There are too many people in need.
What we need to focus on is not casting blame, but on helping those in need.
Some people are already doing something. A soup kitchen has been set up to open once a week. A community garden has apparently been planted. A community kitchen has been set up.
But the Humboldt region, when it puts its mind to something, is a force to be reckoned with. Look at our Hockeyville campaign, for instance.
I think we, as a community, can do more.
I think we, as a community, can build a shelter for those in need. For those without anywhere else to go. Or for those who are escaping some sort of domestic violence and need a safe place to go, within their own community.
I think we can. And I think we should.
Hockeyville was about bringing the community together so we all benefit. Wouldn't building a shelter be doing the same thing, but with even more of a local impact?
It's wonderful that we have so many luxuries in the city of Humboldt. We have a great indoor pool, a water park for kids coming soon, and other great recreational opportunities. But those were built at a time when people weren't sleeping in the ball dugouts. I think, in order for our community to keep its core values in check, our next big project should be a shelter. It's not a luxury. It's a necessity.
What do you say, Humboldt? Can we do it? KAD
