By Kendall Worth!
Readers of my BLOG may remember this recent post where I talked about needing a break, and an update on the mitigating social isolation project, All Together Link.
First, I want to let the readers know that All Together Link is coming to an end; with the last event planned for June 15th at the Halifax North Memorial Library. I will be making another post soon, to let readers the details of our last event. In the meantime, for a couple of more weeks, we are still holding our Wednesday Morning Coffee and Conversation Drop-ins at the North Branch Library.
I need to take a break occasionally, because when you are an advocate for people living in poverty, who have no choice but to depend on the system of Income assistance in Nova Scotia, it sometimes leaves me very frustrated. One frustration comes from knowing that I could help if I had an endless supply of money as I pointed out in this post. Of course, the fact that I do not have a million-dollar budget is beyond my control. This is why sometimes I need to take a break.
In the meantime I also need to let readers know that I have also decided, for the summer months, to scale back on my writing due to needing to work on some personal issues. Just to be clear, my journalism is not going to come to a complete stop. However, I have decided that from now until September I am going to be taking a break from talking about certain topics on my BLOG.
As this post points out, 60% of Income Assistance recipients did receive an increase starting in May 2024. This is an increase of $300.00 for the 60% or so, who qualified,, Then another increase based on indexing is coming in July. I feel that in light of all this good news, now is the time for me to take some time to see whether and how this makes a difference in the lives of the people I write about, and advocate for, through my blog. In the short term, however, even with these increases, we are still going to see the number of homeless people increasing in Halifax.
My decision is to take a break primarily, from interviewing people about their first voice stories… Stories like these: https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/2024/03/lets-call-her-mar-ille.html , https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/2024/01/an-idea-for-police-and-security-to.html , and this https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/2024/01/lets-call-him-sak-rye-not-his-real-name.html
I want to let the readers know that I checked in with these people recently, and they all got the $300.00 increase starting in May. Over the next few months, I plan to temporarily rebrand my BLOG to promote free summer events, taking place here in Halifax.
While on the subject of summer events, I want to take a moment here to give the community of people I advocate for, a reminder of this post that I wrote at the beginning of LAST summer, addressing those who have no choice to attend summer events alone. The following statements are the actual advice provided, by Julie, professionals, and some of my own words of encouragement I want to provide:
While travelling along the waterfront in these large crowds, keep an open mind always, and even though you will not likely run into people you know, if you keep your eyes peeled you may come across people you know.
If the people you run into are from your past, (maybe people you have not seen in years) the best way to avoid the possibility of getting stigmatized for being on welfare or having mental heath issues – is not to explain your circumstances. It is none of their business to know details like you work part time and certainly none of their business that you see professionals like psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and counsellors to treat your mental health issues.
The fact that money to pay your rent and bills comes from a program like Employment Support and Income Assistance is again something that is none of their business.
Some non-professionals like the idea of body cameras as talked about in this BLOG post https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/2023/07/a-benefit-of-different-type-for-income.html and benefits of body Cameras further illustrated in this BLOG post https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/2023/07/all-around-mixed-feelings.html . The cameras may be a great idea but how can Income Assistance recipients access them?
And the final piece of advice I was given is for those Income Assistance recipients who feel out of place because they do not have money to purchase an alcoholic beverage like a beer, on a restaurant patio, at a festival, or at the beer garden. They should keep in mind that #1 - there are many other people in society on that same day who are not drinking alcohol for all kinds of reasons - reasons not just financial. #2 – Those exact people you see drinking, on a day at the waterfront have a lot more to them than just drinking alcohol. Think of it this way: do you think that everyday after they get off work they head to the bar? Their lives are not always about hiding in a bar drinking, after getting off work, either
Some other posts, containing news I want to fill my readers in on, are coming soon. Also, a BLOG post bringing the Carrie Ann Bugden story to a close is coming soon, so watch for that…
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