Patricia Parker knows first hand how much the help of even one stranger can change a person’s life.
Parker started Helping Hands for the Homeless Barrie — which gathers and delivers packages with basic necessities to the city’s homeless — approximately three years ago. She says she was simply looking for a way to help fill an obvious need.
"I am a single mother and I wanted to help people who were in similar situations to what I was in,” she told BarrieToday.
Over the last couple of years, Parker and a group of volunteers have regularly made their way into various homeless encampments around the city, including around Milligan’s Pond, to provide a variety of personal items and food to those who live there.
Since the temporary shelters at local hotels ended, Parker said she’s noticed a significant increase in the number of people living in those encampments, prompting her to create an online fundraiser to help cover the costs of purchasing everything from dog and cat food, backpacks, toiletries, and even camping equipment.
“They have nowhere else to go aside from the street. When I was there, the size of it had just doubled. The last time I was there might have been 10 people. This time, I wouldn’t even attempt a guess... it was just heart-wrenching,” she said.
Parker says her group is also in desperate need of nonperishable food items, women’s hygiene products and adult clothing size medium and up, including socks.
“We bring the packages directly to the encampment,” said Parker, who hopes to raise $5,000 through the online fundraiser. “I was in a rough situation and if it weren’t for the people who helped me out then, I probably would have ended up — with two children — in even worse situations than what I was in.”
The number of homeless people in need of their help continues to grow on a daily basis, she added.
“Going back just a few months, our membership level was at 30 and it’s now at 116. A lot of those are homeless people who have reached out and said, ‘We need a helping hand’. Barrie has a very caring community and I think if we all pull together we can make a difference in (their) lives," Parker said.
