Search Results

View the PDF file here

In the depths of winter, the sight of a makeshift tent huddled against the cold wall of a building serves as a stark reminder of societal failures. This image encapsulates the raw cruelty of homelessness, where vulnerable individuals endure freezing temperatures, exposed to the elements with little more than thin fabric for protection. Reports highlight how such encampments, often pushed to urban peripheries or against structures for minimal shelter, reflect a broader crisis exacerbated by harsh weather, leading to increased risks of hypothermia, illness, and despair. Advocates argue that this is not just unfortunate but inhumane, as cities sometimes respond with sweeps that displace people without alternatives, perpetuating a cycle of instability rather than offering real solutions.    As good and loving citizens, we grapple with the empathy this evokes, yet the persistence of such scenes underscores a disconnect between compassion and action. One practical response to this cruelty lies in repurposing empty buildings—vacant offices, abandoned hotels, or underutilized federal properties—into shelters or transitional housing. Initiatives like Oregon’s Project Turnkey have successfully converted such spaces into safe havens, providing immediate relief and a pathway to stability for those on the streets.    With estimates of surplus properties far outnumbering the unhoused in many areas, this approach could transform urban blight into communal assets. However, conflicts abound: bureaucratic hurdles, zoning laws, liability concerns, and high conversion costs often stall progress, while some homeless individuals avoid shelters due to restrictive rules on pets, possessions, or personal freedoms.     This tension reveals a deeper societal conflict between short-term fixes and addressing root causes like mental health support and affordable housing shortages, challenging us as a community to bridge the gap between good intentions and effective policy.

Published 5:35 am Tuesday, December 2, 2025 in PQB News Living on the street can make it practically impossible to keep one’s feet dry in the rainy winter months, which can result the skin breaking down and peeling away, bacterial infections, blisters and other painful conditions. “Most of the issues are preventable,” said Raquel Molina, who has been a foot care nurse with Manna Homeless Society for approximately five years. Read full article at: https://pqbnews.com/2025/12/02/foot-care-on-the-street-wet-feet-a-painful-health-hazard-for-pqb-unhoused/

By a Concerned Oceanside Resident In the picturesque coastal community of Parksville on Vancouver Island — known for its sandy beaches, retiree-friendly vibe, and quaint downtown — a dark underbelly festers unchecked as winter grips the region. While tourists flock here in summer for Rathtrevor Beach sunsets, a growing number of locals face nights of unimaginable desperation. With no permanent overnight shelter and extreme weather protocols that activate only in the most dire conditions, vulnerable people are left to fend for themselves in freezing temperatures. The result? A hidden epidemic of “survival sex,” where bodies are traded not for luxury or choice, but for a few hours of warmth in a motel room, a car, or a stranger’s home. Women and young men—the most targeted demographic groups in this crisis—bear the brunt. Outreach workers and those with lived experience whisper of a grim reality: to escape the biting cold, many offer sexual favours to strangers circling the streets in vehicles. These predators — opportunistic locals or travellers passing through on Highway 19 — know Parksville’s vulnerabilities all too well. No overnight help means easy pickings. They prowl parking lots near the community park, the beach access points, or along the Alberni Highway, watching for silhouettes huddled in doorways or tents. A warm car seat, a motel key, or even a shared blanket becomes currency. It’s not “sex work” in the empowered sense; it’s survival sex— a term used in studies across Canada for trading bodily autonomy to meet basic needs like shelter. Victims don’t advertise; who would admit it publicly? Shame silences them. They sell themselves for warmth, not safety, stepping into vehicles or rooms with people who could harm them further. Assault, robbery, or worse follow too often, yet reports stay low because trust in systems is eroded. No wonder many turn to drugs — methamphetamine, fentanyl, whatever numbs the cold and the trauma. Substances dull the chill seeping into bones and quiet the fear of the next approach. But they also heighten risks, impairing judgment in already perilous situations. This isn’t unique to Parksville, but our small-town isolation amplifies it. In Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, predators have long trolled for vulnerable women, leading to infamous cases like missing-persons inquiries. On Vancouver Island, surveys of unhoused women reveal rampant sexual violence due to lack of safe spaces. In Victoria or Nanaimo, similar stories emerge: youth trading favours for a couch, only to face exploitation. A McCreary Centre Society study on street-involved boys in Western Canada highlighted how young men, often overlooked, face sexual exploitation too — coerced or desperate in ways society ignores because it challenges stereotypes. Yet in Parksville, with its affluent image, the silence is deafening. Community “not in my backyard” resistance has stalled permanent solutions for years. As of this winter 2025 season, Parksville has no scheduled overnight shelter, according to statements from BC Housing and local reports. Past efforts, like church-rotated cold-weather mats or temporary warming centres, have been inconsistent or closed amid community pushback over location and funding. Thankfully some churches do step in heroically during cold snaps, like Oceanside Community Church, opening as a warming spot, but it’s patchwork. Extreme-weather shelters — those rare lifelines — open only when temperatures plummet to near-freezing with rain or wind, or during severe alerts. In recent years, these shelters have activated sporadically, often too late or with limited beds, leaving dozens on the streets even during arctic outflows. How bad must it get before a door opens without bureaucracy? This lack of response isn’t just inconvenient — it’s lethal in its indifference. Point-in-time homeless counts in the Oceanside area (Parksville-Qualicum) hover around 90-100 people, many of them long-term residents who’ve lived here for years but fallen through the cracks of soaring rents, mental health crises, addiction, or job loss. Daytime warming centres exist in some seasons, but come nightfall, options vanish. No motel-voucher programs, no reliable emergency beds. Citizens can’t afford $150+ for a room when minimum-wage jobs barely cover food. The Regional District and task forces talk, but nights pass without action. And so, the horrors unfold after dark. How can we, as a community, face ourselves knowing this happens blocks from our warm homes? Tourists sip coffee at cafes while, nearby, a young woman negotiates her body heat against frostbite. A teen boy, after couch-surfing fails, accepts a ride that could end in horror. Parksville prides itself on compassion — beach cleanups, food drives. But for the unhoused at night, compassion is absent. Predators thrive because vulnerability is guaranteed. Women and young men pay the highest price, their dignity eroded one freezing night at a time. It’s time to demand better: year-round low-barrier shelters, expanded supportive housing like the successful Orca Place model, and real extreme-weather responses that prioritize lives. Meanwhile, Manna Homeless Society is doing its very best searching the Parksville streets at night trying to locate these vulnerable people and offer them warmth and safety. This crisis shames us all. If we ignore it, the streets will claim more than warmth — they’ll claim lives, one desperate transaction at a time. Parksville, wake up before another winter buries our humanity in the cold. Thanks for your kindness and compassion. Robin Campbell Manna Homeless Society Monetary donations can be made by e-transfer to: MannaParksville@gmail.com Or cheques can be sent to: Manna Homeless Society PO Box 389 Errington BC VOR 1VO

Golden sandy beaches stretching for miles under a mild Vancouver Island sun. Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park alive with families building sandcastles in summer, eagles soaring overhead, and the distant call of waves crashing against the shore. Parksville, British Columbia – population just over 13,000 – is routinely ranked among Canada’s most beautiful small cities. Retirees flock here for the quiet charm, the world-famous sandcastle competitions, the pristine parks, and the promise of a peaceful coastal life. It’s the kind of place where real estate ads boast “paradise found.” But as Christmas lights begin twinkling on storefronts along Highway 19A this December, and families gather for turkey dinners and carols at the Parksville Community Centre, a growing shadow darkens this postcard-perfect scene. Just beyond the manicured lawns and oceanfront condos, hundreds of our neighbours – yes, our neighbours – are fighting for survival in the cold, wet Island winter. And in Parksville there is no extreme shelter or no emergency shelter. No warming centre open every night. No extreme weather refuge when the rain turns to ice and the wind howls off the Strait of Georgia. Not one. This isn’t hyperbole. As of this winter 2025-2026, The municipality hasn’t approved or funded an overnight shelter, despite provincial offers from BC Housing to cover the costs. During recent cold snaps, the city has extended hours at public buildings for daytime warming and handed out a few hundred self-heating meals – gestures that are kind, but woefully inadequate when temperatures drop below freezing at night. Limited extreme-weather pop-up spaces at local churches have seen pitifully low turnout, often because people living rough are too frightened, too proud, or too far gone to seek them out. The result? A homelessness crisis that is exploding quietly in one of Canada’s most affluent retirement havens. Point-in-time counts – which everyone agrees undercount the true scale – showed 103 people unhoused in the Oceanside region in 2023, up from 87 just two years earlier. Advocates say the real number is far higher now, swollen by skyrocketing rents (vacancy rates hovering near zero), job losses in tourism and service industries, mental health struggles exacerbated by the pandemic, and an influx of seniors whose fixed incomes no longer cover Island living costs. How do people end up here, in a cul-de-sac of despair in Canada’s “happiest retirement community”? Meet “John” (name changed), a 68-year-old former construction worker who moved to Parksville five years ago dreaming of beachside retirement. A fixed pension that seemed ample in the Interior suddenly vanished into $2,000+ monthly rents. Evicted after falling behind, he now sleeps in his rusted 1998 van parked in supermarket lots, moving every few hours to avoid bylaws. “I worked my whole life,” he told a local advocate. “Now I’m invisible.” Or “Sarah,” a single mother in her 40s who lost her waitressing job when tourism dipped. With no family support and waitlists for subsidized housing stretching years, she and her teenage son pitched a tent in a wooded areas near Rathtrevor – until bylaws forced them out. Now they bounce between couches and her car, the boy missing school because there’s nowhere safe to store their belongings. And then there are the extremes no one wants to believe happen in Parksville: People burrowing into storm-water culverts under highways for shelter from the rain. Huddling in dumpsters behind strip malls for a sliver of warmth from rotting garbage. Makeshift tents in community parks, soaked through after weeks of Island downpours, leading to trench foot, hypothermia, and worse. Hospitals report repeated admissions for exposure-related illnesses – one man in his 50s spent 10 days in care last year after frostbite set in. Mental health crises spike as isolation deepens; overdoses from fentanyl-laced street drugs claim lives that might have been saved with stable housing and support. This is the devastation when a community turns away. Loneliness gnaws deeper than the cold – no holiday lights to cheer you, no family dinner, just the sound of festive music drifting from homes you’ll never enter. Spiritual brokenness follows: “Where is God in this?” one unhoused woman asked a church outreach worker, tears freezing on her cheeks. Health crumbles – untreated infections, worsening addiction, suicide attempts. And society pays the hidden bill: ambulance calls, hospital beds, police time, all far costlier than prevention. Parksville’s city council has long pointed to supportive housing like Orca Place (52 units opened in 2019) as proof they’re “doing something.” But supportive housing is for those lucky enough to qualify and wait years – not for the acute crisis on our streets. When provincial funding for shelters is repeatedly offered, local leaders demur, citing “community concerns,” zoning issues, or past “chaos” from limited trials. In 2025, council even voted against reinstating a liaison to the Oceanside Task Force on Homelessness after reported tensions. Critics call it NIMBYism dressed as prudence: Protect property values and tourism brochures at all costs, even human ones. Christmas is supposed to be the season of joy, generosity, and “goodwill toward all.” In Parksville, it’s becoming the cruelest reminder of exclusion. While children unwrap gifts under twinkling trees, our unhoused neighbours unwrap another night of terror – wondering if this rain-soaked, freezing darkness will be their last. This story is unbelievable. But it’s true. And it doesn’t have to be. It’s time for Parksville to live up to its beauty – not just the beaches, but the heart we’re capable of. Demand action from council. Support groups like Manna Homeless Society and the Oceanside Task Force. Volunteer, donate, speak up. Because in a city this blessed, no one should die alone in a culvert. If you or someone you know needs help: contact Manna Homeless Society. For immediate crisis, call 9-8-8. Paradise is only paradise when it includes everyone. Clothing donations can be made at the Manna Storage Building, located across the parking lot from the Wildlife Recovery Centre at 1240 Leffler Road in Errington. We have very limited storage space so please call (or text) Robin at 250.248.0845 first regarding any items that you wish to donate. Monetary donations can be made by e-transfer to: MannaParksville@gmail.com   Or  cheques can be sent to: Manna Homeless Society P.O.  Box  389 Errington BC VOR 1VO

Thank you so much to the hard work by the HUB INTERNATIONAL Parksville team on their Winter Clothing Drive, which was evident by the pile of donations given to the Manna Homeless Society. In addition, personal donations were made by the team that included such high-demand items as women’s sanitary products, protein shakes, hand warmers and granola bars, which are so greatly appreciated.   Sarah Olsen and Bonnie Round present these beautiful gifts from Hub international Insurance, Parksville, to Raquel Molina from MANNA homeless Society (middle). Having held the event on their day off and involving spouses' participation, we are very grateful to them for holding this clothing drive. Their donations will go a long way for those who are facing cold, wet nights without food and shelter. Manna cannot understate how powerful an impact the generosity of Oceanside residents has on those experiencing hard times. Thank you to the HUB INTERNATIONAL Parksville team and everyone who supported their Winter Clothing Drive.

Dear Friends, Neighbours, and Kind-Hearted Supporters, At the Manna Homeless Society, we’ve witnessed the raw resilience of our community firsthand. Since 2011, we’ve been a beacon of hope in the Oceanside area of British Columbia, delivering emergency food packages, warm clothing, hygiene essentials, bikes for getting to work or shelter, and survival packs to those facing the unimaginable—homelessness, poverty, and the constant threat of exposure to the elements. But this winter, as temperatures drop and families huddle together in the shadows, we know food and blankets alone aren’t enough. What our brothers and sisters in need truly deserve is stability—a roof over their heads, a door they can lock, and a chance to rebuild. That’s why we’re reaching out with a heartfelt plea: We’re desperately seeking donations of used trailers, RVs, and motorhomes . These mobile homes could transform lives overnight, providing immediate, safe shelter for individuals at risk of eviction, families fleeing domestic crises, and our unhoused neighbors who brave the streets every night. Imagine a single mom with two kids pulling into a donated RV, finally able to cook a hot meal, store their belongings securely, and focus on job hunting without the fear of losing everything to the rain. Or a veteran, weathered by years on the road, finding dignity in a simple trailer that feels like home. Your gently used vehicle—perhaps one sitting idle in your driveway, gathering dust after your last adventure—could be the lifeline that breaks the cycle of despair. No need for it to be perfect; we can handle basic repairs through our volunteer network. Every donation means dignity restored, dreams reignited, and futures secured. How You Can Help Right Now: •   Donate : Contact us immediately if you have a trailer, RV, or motorhome ready to give. We’ll arrange pickup and handle all the paperwork. •   Spread the Word : Share this plea with your networks—friends, family, local RV clubs, or online groups. •   Learn More : Visit mannahomelesssociety.com or follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/p/Manna-Homeless-Society-100069028420411/). Reach Out Today: Call Robin Campbell at 250-248-0845 or send mail to us at: PO Box 389, Errington, BC V0R 1V0 Your generosity isn’t just a gift—it’s a revolution in one person’s world. In the spirit of compassion that binds us all, The Manna Homeless Society Team Serving the homeless, elderly, hungry, and poverty-stricken in Oceanside since 2011.

Melanie Peake (Personal Real Estate Corporation) recognized Robin Campbell for his volunteer work with Manna Homeless Society in the Oceanside community. Thanks to a nomination by Sandi Haines, Robin was presented with a $500 cheque for Manna. The details below can be found on Melanie Peake's Facebook Post . On this second week of Espresso your Gratitude, we are celebrating Robin Campbell whose tireless work with Manna Homeless Society is making a meaningful difference across Oceanside. Since 2011, Manna has been a lifeline for individuals, couples and families facing homelessness — delivering groceries, survival packs, bikes, clothing and respectful care. Thank you, Robin, your compassion and leadership! Also, a special thank you to Sandi Haines from Westland Insurance for nominating Robin.

As the dark clouds gather and the first heavy rains begin to fall, our hearts break a little more each night. Here at Manna Homeless Society, we’ve been out on the streets of our city, side by side with those who call the sidewalks and underpasses home. These are our neighbours—fathers, mothers, veterans, and youth—who face the unrelenting downpour with nothing but thin layers and weary spirits. Without proper shelter, they’re soaked to the bone, shivering through endless nights that steal their warmth and dignity. We’ve handed out what blankets and tarps we can, but the cold, wet reality is hitting harder than ever. Right now, we need your help to wrap our community in comfort. We’re urgently calling for gently used or new sweatpants and hoodies in all sizes—men’s, women’s, and children’s . These simple items aren’t just clothes; they’re shields against the storm, a reminder that someone cares, and a chance for restful sleep instead of endless chills. If you can spare even one pair of sweatpants or one hoodie from your closet, it could change a life this season. Drop-offs are welcome at our center or reach out to coordinate a pickup. Every donation fuels our mission to meet people where they are—with compassion, supplies, and hope. Together, we can turn the tide on this rainy despair. Thank you for being the light in our community’s storm. Let’s show our unhoused friends they’re not alone. With deepest gratitude, The Manna Homeless Society Team Clothing donations can be made at the Manna Storage Building, located across the parking lot from the Wildlife Recovery Centre at 1240 Leffler Road in Errington. We have very limited storage space so please call (or text) Robin at 250.248.0845 first regarding any items that you wish to donate. Donations can be made by e-transfer to: MannaParksville@gmail.com   Or  cheques can be sent to: Manna Homeless Society P.O.  Box  389 Errington BC VOR 1VO

Without a weather shelter in Oceanside, the less fortunate are doing their best to manage.

Bring your sweatpants, hoodies, tarps, tents and more to 826 Island Hwy W, Parksville

In the hush of a city that never truly sleeps, when the autumn chill bites through threadbare coats and the rain falls like a relentless curtain, there is a sacred summons. It whispers not from the warmth of hearth and home, but from the shadowed areas where the forgotten huddle. To step out on such nights—to carry sleeping bags , warm clothing, tents ,food and a word of hope wrapped in prayer—is to answer the heart of the Gospel. It is to embody the command of the Creator Himself: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matthew 25:35-36, NIV). In the face of the downpour, we do not merely aid the homeless and the poor; we serve the King disguised in their weary eyes. “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). Why venture forth when the wind howls and the gutters overflow? Because the love of the Creator is not a fair-weather flame, flickering only under sunlit skies. It is a fire kindled in the storm, as Isaiah proclaimed: “Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” (Isaiah 58:7). The rain that soaks your boots is the same that once flooded the earth in judgment, yet Noah built the ark amid the gathering clouds. So too must we build arks of compassion—tents pitched against the tempest, hands extended to pull the shivering from the curb. James echoes this urgency: “Religion that our Creator accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27). In a world polluted by indifference, our purity shines brightest when we wade through the rain to embrace the outcast. Yet the night will test you, not just with cold fingers and dripping hems, but with the sharper sting of discouragement. Your own heart may falter first, whispering doubts like shadows at dusk: What difference does one night make? The problem is too vast; your efforts too small. Turn back—the warmth calls. Others may join the chorus, their voices laced with concern or critique: It’s foolish to risk your health for strangers. There are no shelters ;Let someone else handle it. These are the tempests within, fiercer than any gale. But heed the apostle’s charge: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). Weariness is the enemy’s snare, but perseverance is the plow that breaks the fallow ground. Paul, battered by chains and shipwrecks, declared, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). If he pressed on through literal storms at sea, how much more should we refuse the siren’s song of self-pity on rain-slicked pavement? Discouragement from without is no less insidious—friends who mean well, skeptics who scoff, or the weary souls we serve who lash out in pain. “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character’” (1 Corinthians 15:33), yet even here, grace abounds. Remember Elijah, who fled in despair to the wilderness, only to hear the Creators still small voice amid the earthquake and fire (1 Kings 19:11-12). The rain may roar, the doubters may clamor, but the divine whisper persists: Go. Serve. Love. For in every sodden blanket handed over, every shared umbrella against the sleet, you etch eternity into the now. You become the hands of the Creator , warming the world one freezing night at a time. So rise, beloved, when the forecast darkens and the door creaks against the wind. Let no inner tremor or outer taunt deter you. The poor wait not in abstract statistics, but in flesh and bone, their stories a symphony of suffering that only your obedience can harmonize with heaven’s song. As the Psalmist prayed, “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 82:3-4). In the cold and the rain, you are God’s answer. Press on. The dawn will break, and with it, the warmth of a reward that no storm can quench. Love and Blessings, Robin Campbell Donations can be made by e-transfer to: MannaParksville@gmail.com   Or  cheques can be sent to: Manna Homeless Society P.O.  Box  389 Errington BC VOR 1VO