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In a challenging year, we can still give thanks and give back

Thanksgiving campaign reminds us to give a little extra to those without homes
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The Island Crisis Care Society’s Blue Bank fundraiser is online this year.

It has been a year full of challenges, but has 2020 also made you grateful for life’s simple comforts?

As Thanksgiving approaches every year, the Island Crisis Care Society pauses to think about thankfulness – and encourages those in our community to do the same. Traditionally, they have done this by handing out little blue houses (BlueBanks) to offer people a chance to pause, be thankful and put in a few dollars every time they pass.

This year the campaign will be a bit different, but the idea is the same: pausing for a moment each day to think about all the things we’re grateful for and remembering others in our community who may not have as much and could use our help. The campaign and the giving are moving online, but the invitation remains to give thanks and give back.

When the government told us to stay home to stop the spread, were you thankful you had a home?

When businesses closed and work moved online, were you thankful to have a job that allowed you to work from home? Were you grateful to have cousins or friends to help with childcare?

As wildfire smoke rolled in this September did you give thanks that you could shut your windows and breath easy?

Many in our community cannot take these things for granted.

“When I think about the people in our communities that don’t have a home and are living on the streets, I’m reminded of just how thankful I am. So I hope that you will, with me, commit to giving so that we can share our hope with others,” says Violet Hayes, Executive Director at Island Crisis Care.

#BlueBank2020

Island Crisis Care provides support for people at risk or experiencing homelessness through programs ranging from emergency shelter through crisis stabilization, long term supportive housing and transition to independent and subsidized housing. ICCS recently asked some clients what they were thankful for this year:

“I’m thankful first of all to be alive and to have a safe place to go… I’m grateful every day for the staff, and thankful that even in my times of darkness and my times of light they’re always there with love and support and words of wisdom. They’ve helped me through a lot in my life,” says Audrey.

“If I didn’t have this pace to stay, I’d be a 60-year-old woman out on the streets,” says Shirley.

“I’m just so grateful to not be out on the streets, because that would be the option if I weren’t here,” says Brenda.

The #BlueBank2020 campaign will run until Thanksgiving weekend. Learn more about it, and about the work the Island Crisis Care Society does in your community by visiting islandcrisiscaresociety.ca/join-us/events/blue-bank/. We may be staying physically distant this year, but you can still connect and donate online.