“I want to see people smile,” said Ellery, 13. “I just want to see people being happy.”
From a controversial beginning — when the Greater Victoria school board said it had not been properly consulted about the temporary homeless shelter becoming its neighbour — a relationship has grown.
Dubbed “An Evening at My Place,” the dinner is a gesture from the school’s media and social justice class.
The dinner takes place tonight, 5-7 p.m., at My Place in the city-owned former Boys and Girls Club building at 1240 Yates St.
The class has raised funds and prepared a dinner that they will serve to My Place residents under the direction of their teacher, Alan Barwin.
“I’m so proud,” Barwin said Wednesday. “They’ve really come together and they are so open and willing to make a difference.”
Students have created art for the dining room and multi-media presentations about what they have learned about homelessness over recent weeks to share with the community.
Ellery said she has learned a lot about homelessness and how to further educate people about poverty issues.
“I’ve learned that [homelessness] is a a bit random,” she said.
“It’s not that the people who are homeless are particularly unsuccessful or that they don’t care what they do with their lives, it’s more that they have had a sequence of events that haven’t completely worked out for them and sometimes it’s impossible to tell if you will end up in a predicament that’s hard for you.”
The exercise of learning about homelessness and preparing the dinner has made her grateful for the loving support she receives from family, teachers and friends.
“It’s made me more grateful for my family. It’s made me feel I’m very lucky that I have people who care about me and want to see me succeed — my parents, my teachers,” Ellery said.
She hopes this dinner inspires others to connect with those who have nothing and help see people housed.
“Our class goal is to get the message out that there are people who are homeless who both want to get housing and jobs,” Ellery said. The class also wants to encourage people to donate to causes for the homeless.
If nothing else, she hopes the event encourages people to say hello to the next homeless person they see.
“It can just kind of be hard to be ignored all the time.”
My Place Transitional Home, operated by Our Place, will be in the building until the end of April.
The shelter was created as a temporary fix, offered to people camping on the lawn of the Victoria provincial courthouse. It had a population of about 120 prior to Christmas.
In January, after the province provided $400,000, the temporary shelter opened its doors.
The shelter had sparked concerns among parents at Central Middle School across the street.
The Greater Victoria school board said it was only advised about the shelter just prior to Christmas break.
Concerns revolved around the safety of students, but those concerns have eased. The shelter has a security and police presence.
Controversy around safety and who would absorb the costs for security were unrelated to the school’s and students’ feelings of empathy for homeless people, Barwin said.
On Jan. 18, Don Evans, executive director of Our Place, told school trustees the shelter was having great “early successes” with some clients having secured housing and jobs and put on wait lists for jobs.
Evans told trustees the shelter staff includes three outreach workers on site around the clock, one security staff member patrolling from 6 a.m. to midnight throughout the week, a custodian and a cook.
In addition, case workers and support people come into the facility on a regular basis to work individually with residents, he said.
The shelter, open around the clock, provides shower and laundry facilities, a library, television and games. It offers around-the-clock access, allows pets and permits tents in the gymnasium so that individuals can have privacy and secure their belongings.
