Warmer Hearts beat for city’s homeless

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This article was published 11/07/2023 (788 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two sisters were living on the streets downtown and thought the world had forgotten them.

Then, they experienced the compassion of Warmer Hearts.

“We were just in front of Portage Place. They ran into us… they offered us a sandwich and they asked us our story,” said Jennifer Carter. “We need more people like that out there… When you meet them, you want to keep them close to your heart.”

Warmer Hearts is a charitable organization that takes weekly walks downtown in which they hand out food and clothing to the homeless, and stop to ask about their lives.

Carter, 39, said she and her sister Lynn were touched when they first encountered Warmer Hearts volunteers.

“They listened to us. They cried with us,” said Carter, who has been homeless intermittently since she was 18. She had two sons and a daughter, all of whom died in tragic circumstances: a highway collision, a house fire and one had a heart murmur. Currently, Carter is battling cancer.

She said Warmer Hearts volunteers regularly check in on her and her sister and give them food. They both feel hopeful and are working to get housing with a friend.

“The fact that we ran into them is a miracle on its own,” Carter said.

Warmer Hearts was founded by Marc Sweet after the troubling death of a homeless woman at a bus shack near Goulet Street and Tache Avenue on Dec. 8, 2022.

He said it drove home to him that it’s necessary to seek out homeless people where they live — on the street.

“A lot of people just want to be acknowledged and know that somebody cares,” he said.

Sweet, who was born in Winnipeg, grew up as a ward of Child and Family Services. He became homeless at the age of 15 and lived that way for six and a half years, including in Vancouver’s drug-addled downtown eastside. During that time, he survived by relying on food banks and homeless shelters.

“It was a struggle… there’s a lot of stuff that goes along with the places we have to go: there’s fights, there’s stress, there’s uncertainty. Sometimes you’re not going to get a decent meal,” Sweet said.

Sweet experienced many traumatic events, including sexual abuse. He turned to drugs and alcohol to cope with his problems. He sought help many times, but finally moved past his issues after spending 42 days in residential treatment at Kelburn Recovery Centre near St. Adolphe. He graduated from the program last month.

He works three days a week at the centre and volunteers with Agape Table, another organization that feeds the needy.

It was Sweet’s experience with homelessness and addiction that led him to develop empathy for homeless people.

“I got out there and… I’m not any better than any of them, I am one of them,” Sweet said.

Warmer Hearts has conducted weekly walks since December. They begin at Fort Street and Graham Avenue, continue to Portage Place and finish at Shaw Park. The walks normally take between six and seven hours.

Sweet said he and volunteers will sit and catch up with homeless people they meet on the walk. They assist them with things they need to get back on their feet, such as getting employment assistance payments or applying to Manitoba Housing. Sometimes, they help them check in to a detox facility and other times, they help them find a shower so they can wash their hair.

“Our group is not all about giving out things,” Sweet explained. “It’s nice being able to provide food and clothing, but our biggest aim is to make connections and speak with people.”

Sweet said it is important for people in this situation to understand there are people looking out for them, so they can maintain or reclaim their self-worth despite their circumstances.

“(We will do) anything to alleviate people’s struggles and their pain,” Sweet said.

graham.mcdonald@freepress.mb.ca