I, the advocate, Crystal Clear, challenge the Town of Oliver and the 15 churches we have in this small town to get funding for a shelter for men and women in Oliver.
We have 15 churches in this town, not to mention the ones that are not listed, from Jehovah’s Witness and the Sikh Temple, BC Housing; they fund the Salvation Army and the Centre of Hope in Fort St. John.
People come from all over the world to work in the orchards with no place to have a shower and sometimes not even a place to set up their tents.
We need a women’s and men’s shelter for all the transients, homeless people and tourists, or for whatever reason we find ourselves in need of these facilities.
I called a meeting with the Town council for Nov. 14 for all of these issues. Surely to God the churches can help the Town of Oliver get going on these much-needed facilities.
Our MLA Linda Larson and BC Housing has funding for this also.
We can do this if we all work together on these issues. We also need a soup kitchen every day like St. Vincent de Paul has in Prince George, on a smaller scale, of course.
Another question: Why is there no Salvation Army in this town? They have two Salvation Armies in Penticton. They have the Salvation MAT program.
Another reason we need all these facilities is the correctional jail that will be employing a lot of people with no housing.
Crystal Clear, Oliver
