By Valerie Franklin (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: October 2, 2013
 
Most people would agree that the Warm Zone, Abbotsford’s only drop-in shelter for women on the street, is a necessity in our community. So why are they still struggling for permanent funding?
The Warm Zone has managed to scrape by for the last four years, but the threat of running out of funds has always loomed overhead. At the end of September it will leave its McCallum Road location, a hole in the wall across from Jubilee Park, for a larger facility. Yet only a fraction of the amount the program needs to function successfully is provided by government funds.
Thousands of vulnerable women in Abbotsford struggle with chronic issues in their lives: poverty, substance addiction, unemployment, hunger, physical and mental illness, disability, and homelessness. Many also work in the sex trade, putting them at high risk for disease, unintended pregnancy, and sexual or physical assault.
This is where the Warm Zone comes in. Run by the Women’s Resource Society of the Fraser Valley (or WRSFV), it gives women the chance to eat a hot meal, wash their clothes, browse the internet, and shower. It’s a safe place to catch few hours of sleep without the threat of being attacked or robbed. Sex workers can get free condoms. Women are regularly tested for HIV and hepatitis. WRSFV supplies clean needles, addictions counseling, medical services, and housing assistance. It even gives haircuts.
Perhaps most importantly, the Warm Zone is a welcoming, nonjudgmental place to connect – a place to make friends and be listened to. For many women, it’s the only stable support structure in their lives.
It has been a rocky four years as funding for the Warm Zone has come and gone. The situation looked especially grim in August 2012, but it was saved from closing at the last minute by a one-time government grant. BC Finance Minister Mike de Jong, who presented that grant, told the Abbotsford Times, “At the end of the day [the Warm Zone] team understands it needs to undertake local fundraising efforts to minimize dependence on taxpayers’ dollars.”
Why? Should a crucial social service have to rely on private donations, church money, and jewellery fundraisers to survive? The Warm Zone is the safety net for thousands of vulnerable women. Should the regional hospital start holding bake sales to cover its expenses? Should the police department?
Warm Zone coordinator Michelle Giordano told the Times it’s ironic that the provincial government has already spent several million dollars on the Missing Women inquiry but can’t afford to fund projects that would help keep women currently on the street from suffering the same fate. Our government’s current funding policies underestimate the value of non-profit organizations like WRSFV.
Not only is it sad to see an organization that does so much good struggling to survive, but it reflects badly on our entire community. You can tell a lot about a society from how it treats its most vulnerable members – and you don’t get much more vulnerable than homeless, drug-addicted, or mentally ill women.
The government needs to reexamine its funding practices and start offering stable, long-term support to non-profit organizations like WRSFV. Then the Warm Zone can stop worrying about its own survival and turn its full attention to the futures of the women at risk in our community.
