By Spencer Sterritt

Families invite Nanaimo’s homeless to picnic for compassionate conversations

Jun 17, 2018 | 8:59 PM

NANAIMO — Several of Nanaimo’s homeless now know they’re part of a sympathetic community which doesn’t discriminate about their situation.

They gathered in Bowen Park Friday, June 15 for a picnic organized by a group of families from Pauline Haarer School advocating for inclusive and positive conversation about homelessness in Nanaimo.

Over a full meal of burgers, hot dogs, salads and treats, those experiencing homelessness and families bonded and shared their stories for the first successful picnic of its kind.

“This picnic is about breaking down barriers,” parent Charlene Briese told NanaimoNewsNOW. “No one is of lesser value and that’s how we need to treat each other. That’s what we want to foster in the next generation and in ourselves too.”

Brise said though there was only a small handful of guests at the picnic, she and others hope to have more visitors at future events.

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Lois Peterson, executive director of the extreme weather shelter, said it was wonderful to see the marginalized be so accepted.

“You get people together like this in a very informal setting and it opens a door that once you’ve gone through, you can’t go back. I think it’s a very subtle way of addressing fear once you get people together under any circumstance.”

The picnic unfolded in the ongoing wake of Discontent City in downtown Nanaimo. Both tent city organizers and the City of Nanaimo are collecting affidavits for an impending court battle.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit