The need is very real in Caledon

I am a 4th year student at the University of Western Ontario and during my summer I worked as an office assistant at Caledon Community Services (CCS). I never realized that during my time there, I would learn so much about my community and myself. For that, I am truly thankful.

Growing up in Caledon, I lived in a big house, my sister had two horses, and my parents bought us both cars when we graduated. Needless to say, I am spoiled. I am also naive, thinking that Caledon is the perfect place to live. I'm not saying that it isn't, I just want to acknowledge that there are some problems plaguing our region.

The other day, my boss and I watched as a man cleared out a van in a vacant lot and proceeded to put in a mattress and some speakers, in Bolton! There are more than 20 homeless citizens in this town alone ranging from 16 to 29 years of age - just imagine how many there are in the whole of Caledon? They live in vans, like the man we saw, or in barns, stairwells, in campgrounds. In the blink of an eye, this could be you or me. Rent is rising in the Caledon region and people can no longer afford to live here. There is subsidized housing but you'll have no luck getting in because the waiting list is more than 22 years.

So what do you do? I have lived here for more than 14 years, and I had no clue that any of this was going on.

There are also citizens in Caledon, who after paying rent, bills, and car insurance, are no longer able to pay a measly $30 for groceries. With Christmas fast approaching, they are having trouble buying their kids presents.

Now if I were reading this article, right now I'd be thinking, if these people can't even afford to keep their heads above the water, why would they have kids? I know, that is a very ugly judgement but it is not uncommon. I could spend my life judging others but the thing is, I do not know them. I don't know their situation.

As I said before, I never knew that any of these problems existed before I worked at CCS. Does this make me a lesser human? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. This is the situation here and now. It doesn't matter if you are learning this for the first time or if you already knew and chose to ignore it. We can only better our community if we realize that these are the issues that we are supporting when we donate to CCS.

If you took part in the Garden Foods Golf Tournament, you raised money to buy sleeping bags for the homeless, provide counselling for abused women, among other things. The Santa Fund each December helps families in our community - mothers and fathers who cannot afford to buy their children just one Barbie or Transformer. These are the dire situations that exist in our community.

Once again, maybe I am being naive to

Once again, maybe I am being nave to think that one letter is going to change the world. After reading this, people may feel compelled to volunteer, donate money, or maybe they'll just forget about it. Who knows? I didn't write this letter as a plea for donations. I didn't want to offend anybody; I just wanted to inform people. Because I myself, was informed this summer and I'm glad for once that people didn't hide the real issues from me.

Ainsley Matthews