Well, the people up here have been very steady, but I've found that they are, in varied instances. It's hard to go through a week without fundraising for someone who's in trouble, someone who needs medical care or something.
For us, for Maryhouse, throughout the year it's pretty steady. People are faithful, and they donate stuff. As you said, we're not trying to fix the problem--I don't know if you can fix the problem--and Maryhouse is really answering the immediate need.
In some way we hope to change that. When we had the shelters and we had men there, we would work with the guys. Some guys were able to change their lives and get on with it. We have a very good, faithful volunteer who's in his 70s now, who was probably one of the worst men on the street when we first met him. He was able to stop drinking, he was able to get of his life back together somewhat, and he comes and volunteers at our house. He's very faithful.
Part of it happened because he could come and we would take him where he was at, and eventually he was able to say, “Yes, I can change”. I think that's similar to the Victoria Faulkner Women's Centre. We can advocate for that change, but that one-on-one is what enables people to say “I have dignity and I can change; I can move” and then have people support them in doing that. I think that's one of the hard things here: when you get a break, what are the other supports that enable you to keep going?