The truth about empties

Many of our guests meet their daily needs by collecting and redeeming empties.   One veteran of our shelter usually forgoes our 7 a.m. breakfast to set out early and hunt down empties ahead of the competition.  Some follow the pattern of household recycling days and sift through curbside blue boxes in search of nuggets.  Some hit known good garbage cans and reach an arm in, and some go for full immersion in the big dumpsters in commercial and industrial areas.  Most stay within Richmond but one fellow cycled out to UBC last week where pickins were so good he returned the next day as well.

Last night, one of our new volunteers, Sandra, arrived with two garbage bags full of empties to hand over to our guests.  It had just started snowing,  so it was perfect timing, as the chore of collecting empties is tough enough in good weather.   I stored the empties overnight and in the morning brainstormed with staffers Frank and Hugh how best to allocate the loot.  It's always tricky to determine how to divvy up stuff like this, but we decided we'd give one bag to the veteran early birder and the other to a new fellow who had just spent his first night ever at a shelter.

Bike loaded up with a bag of empties

The veteran was delighted with the bagfull and strapped it on the back of his trusty bike.  This gift meant he wouldn't need to leave early, he wouldn't need to cycle around on snowy streets and he would be able to join us for breakfast for only the second time since November (the other time was cheque day).  He's pretty open about what he usually spends his money on and it's not how most of us would allocate our funds, but he's waitlisted for recovery and this will get him another day closer to what could be a big change in his life.




The rookie had been working for 10 years at the same place but had been laid off and fell on some hard times recently.  He came in looking disshevelled and bewildered, telling us the RCMP told him it was a good shelter and he asked permission to stay the night.   He had been called back to work starting in the morning, needed a good night's sleep and had to leave at 5:30 am, so we added "wake up calls" to our inventory of shelter services.  He hadn't shaved in a couple weeks so was happy to see a razor in the Red Cross hygiene kits we hand out to newbies.    He needs a car to get to work and had enough gas to get him there, and when we offered him the bag of empties, he was very thankful, as this would probably give him enough fuel to get him back to the shelter tonight and to work again tomorrow.    He left before breakfast, but woofed down some instant porridge, part of a large donation of porridge, coffee and pastries from Starbucks and set off with a bag lunch made by Kay.

At the shelter, we hear lots of stories about why people need things (bus fare, pain pills, etc).   You never really know who's telling the truth and who's shooting you a line.  But you learn to trust your gut instinct and lessons learned from similar encounters.  I was happy with where the empties ended up today.   Thanks to Sandra, we eased a veteran through another day -- hopefully another day closer to sobriety -- and gave a rookie a hand up that might be enough to get him quickly back on his feet, employed, and with a place to live.   Maybe one day, one or both of these guys will be playing that party game where you say three things, only one of which is true and people have to guess which one is true, and they'll say "I once stayed in a homeless shelter".  I wonder if people will guess.