By Spencer Sterritt

Homeless in Nanaimo: From needing help to giving help

Mar 12, 2017 | 10:31 AM

NANAIMO — Two generations of family in Nanaimo are helping those experiencing homelessness after struggling themselves.

After 20 years apart, Tanya Hiltz has brought her grandson Nathan Margerison into the fold of the homelessness outreach she does from her home by Nanaimo’s Wisteria Lane.

In the years since they last saw each other, Hiltz spent six months on the street with her husband Doug. They’ve now turned their home into a sanctuary for the homeless, handing out blankets, coffee and supplies.

“We do this totally because we know what it’s like to be without. We see them struggling every day and it’s not getting better out there…Where else is there to go for food? There isn’t anywhere,” she told NanaimoNewsNOW.

Their kitchen is filled with supplies and the personal items of the 20-30 regulars who visit their house.

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Several times during the interview, Doug slipped out of the room to hand out cups of coffee or speak to someone using their book nook-an outdoor cabinet filled with books, gifts and donations for those without a place to call their own.

“Everyone’s hurting one way or another. We all relate as a community,” Hiltz said.

Now she has even more help since her grandson has re-entered her life.

Margerison didn’t grow up in Nanaimo. Several years ago, struggling with an opiate and painkiller addiction to combat his anxiety and depression, he was evicted from his apartment in Duncan and tried to survive on the streets of Victoria.

After not caring about himself for years and living adrift, Margerison said he recognized a chance to enter rehab as his last option.

“I knew if I couldn’t accept this and go with it, I wasn’t going to make it past my next birthday,” he said. “I was at my end for it.”

He described getting help as a “leap of faith,” especially since his stay at the rehab facility was sponsored by the church he attended at the time.

Thankfully, Margerison is now clean and refers to himself as a recovering addict. He, his pregnant wife and son live in Nanaimo.

The day he was interviewed at Hiltz’s house was the first time the two had seen each other since he was eight months old.

He said it was fate he’d struggled with homelessness and addictions for so long and finally had a place where he could help and give back to the community he used to call his own.

“I know more than most people would learn in school, so using what I know I can work with my grandma because that’s what I know best. I’ve always wanted to help people with addictions but I’ve never had the chance until now.”

Already he’s been given a project. Hiltz said she was going to get him in touch with a regular who’s expressed multiple times she wants to go rehab.

Margerison said he was excited to undertake a new chapter in his life.

spencer.sterritt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit