Many of us are shopping for Christmas gifts and looking online for suggestions for gifts for people who really don’t need any more stuff. I know this is true because I am one of those people, and today my good fortune in being able to do this was brought into sharp focus.

This morning I walked downtown to a store to pick up a gift I had ordered online and then to a nearby pawn shop that provides inexpensive refills for SodaStream cartridges. On route, I passed several non-profit agencies that provide services to the unhoused. It was a cold, clear day, and most people were dressed warmly and hurrying to get indoors. Some people, though, didn’t have that choice. They are without shelter.

I have a lot of empathy for the homeless and have never felt threatened by anyone who seems to live on the streets, although I do take the normal precautions. My equanimity comes, in part, from my daughter-in-law who has worked with the unhoused for many years and has broadened my understanding of their challenges, vulnerabilities, and humanity.

So, as I passed the woman digging in the dirt beside a church, I passed her by without comment, even though I was curious to know what she thought she would find. Her two shopping carts of possessions were nearby and carefully covered in plastic to protect them from the rain.

Later I saw a man who was bent over staring intently at a point on the sidewalk that did not appear to me to be noteworthy. Close by was a man curled up asleep in a corner beside a shop wall. It was near freezing but he slept without a blanket.

It was timely, then, that I realized today that my daughter-in-law had an article published in the Edmonton Journal describing the difficulties the unhoused have in being assigned to market housing. She compares that with the successes she has found in providing them with supportive housing. It is a very moving essay.

I encourage those of you who share my concerns for the homeless to check out this article: Supportive Housing Changes Lives For Edmonton’s Most Vulnerable. It suggests a way forward that we can all appreciate.