There's a hard-to-forget Salvation Army television commercial from a few years ago that's getting new airtime this month. It features busy holiday shoppers rushing along a street, past a mother and child nearly invisible against a storefront. The message, delivered to the soundtrack of a soulful tune, is that the Salvation Army sees what most others don't and viewers are asked to open their eyes and hearts and give.
It's an effective message and timely, as the Salvation Army's Kettle Drive and National Christmas Campaign kicked off just recently.The bells will be ringing and kettles waiting in Toronto streets and malls for generous donations to help support the charity's programs, which provide the basic necessities of life to vulnerable people, including providing food and shelter to our city's homeless.'Opening our eyes' to those living on the streets and in transient situations is also exactly what two projects - one complete and one just launched - are looking to achieve. Last week Raising the Roof, a national charity committed to ending homelessness, released a report called Youth Homelessness in Canada: The Road to Solutions. It looked at a group of 689 street youth in three Canadian cities, including Toronto, and discovered much about who they are, where they came from and the obstacles they currently face that prevent them from getting off the streets and getting the help they need. Based on this information, the report recommends a strategy focused on prevention, emergency response and long-term action. It also notes that although implementation may be costly for taxpayers, maintaining the status quo may be more so due to associated costs of health care, criminal justice, social services and emergency shelter.And this week, the Mental Health Commission announced it will be embarking on a national research project in five cities, including Toronto, to find sustainable solutions for homeless people living with mental illness. The project will see if first providing these people a permanent place to live has an impact on the results of services provided thereafter for their mental illness. The study's organizers will similarly look for evidence as to whether taking this approach (providing housing first, then services) saves costs in the long run if it keeps marginalized individuals from falling back to hospitals, prisons and shelters.You'd hope it doesn't require full-blown national studies to inspire average people to open their hearts and give this holiday season. But for organizations like Raise the Roof and the Mental Health Commission, it's what they need to capture the attention of those in power. And though the cause, to many, should sell itself, it's smart to indicate the costs of inaction. Sometimes you've got to speak the language of government officials in order to get them to open their eyes, government coffers and give.