CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Courtney Crosby knew she had to do something.
She was frustrated after hearing Charlottetown’s public works department had sealed up a culvert used as shelter by unhoused people struggling with addiction.
She wanted to help but didn’t have a lot of extra money. However, what she did have were friends and a mental health group she started on Facebook.
She started raising money on her Facebook page, and as the response grew and friends volunteered to help, she created a GoFundMe page to keep track of donations. She raised almost $1,000 by that point. Her original plan was to find a few individuals in need and help them substantially.
After consulting with the Community Outreach Centre, she decided to use further donations to meet the smaller, specific needs of the centre’s many clients.
Last weekend, she set up her car for curbside donations in front of the former location of the Payless Shoe store in Summerside from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Before 11 a.m., her trunk and backseat were full.
My trunk and car is full with donations for people who are faced with poverty and homelessness on our Island. I even had...
Posted by Courtney Anne on Sunday, 13 December 2020
Crosby will be collecting more goods and donations Saturday, 1-3 p.m., at 220 Water St. in Charlottetown, near the sealed culvert.
“I wanted to use my voice and to be able to gather some people so we could collaborate together to financially support some of these individuals,” she said. “That’s why I went that route, trying to turn it into a positive thing rather than just sitting and being frustrated.”
Crosby wants others to understand people who are unhoused or living with addictions are just fellow Islanders in a bad place.
“The media really painted it as only a ‘drug cave’ and I quickly learned from people that work with these vulnerable people that it is not only a drug cave. It was a home,” she said. “Regardless of whether they use drugs or not, they’re still people.”
Carah Ross, who has already donated to Crosby's efforts, knows what Crosby is talking about.
She was homeless for five years while living in Alberta and B.C. She was using heroin and doing sex work to survive. After years of trying to get clean, overdosing twice and even watching her boyfriend die from fentanyl, she got one last chance.
It was a message from her dad. He told her to come home to P.E.I. or else he’d have to cut ties.
“I can’t watch you kill yourself anymore.”
Ross was ready. And she decided if it didn’t work, she would take her own life.
“What people don’t understand is, you have to be ready to get clean,” she said.
Like Crosby, Ross thinks people want to get help but end up discouraged by the Island’s lack of resources.
It’s not enough for someone to get seven days of treatment and be put right back out on the street, she said.
“When you’re stuck in that cycle, it’s almost like you’re set up to fail. If you don’t have an address, how are you going to hand out resumés to get a job?”
Ross was pleased when she saw Crosby’s initiative on Facebook and immediately reached out.
“I knew I needed to do something to help or be involved or just spread (the word about) what she was doing,” she said.
Seek help
- If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, seek help immediately by either calling 911, going to an emergency department or by calling the Island Helpline at 1-800-218-2885.
- For information about mental health and addiction services resources in P.E.I., click here.
