'A CRACKHEAD'

Lou is a crack addict.

On Saturday night, he was still wound up from his most recent hit, but
thanks to a new program for Red Deer's homeless, he had a roof over
his head.

He was too wide awake at 9 p.m. to be ready to settle down for the
night at St. Luke's Anglican Church parish hall - Saturday's Winter
Inn location - so he was happy to talk about himself and the
circumstances that brought him there.

Winter Inn replaces the Inn from the Cold program, a voluntary program
run by local churches that didn't operate every night, and the city's
emergency shelter program that kicked in when temperatures dropped to
- -20C.

It is in addition to the permanent People's Place shelter, which
offers longer term accommodation for a percentage of its beds, for
periods of up to 30 days.

In the past in very cold weather, People's Place has given shelter to
30 to 50 people. The old Inn from the Cold program and People's Place
require people to be sober.

The Winter Inn program has more leeway, and as long as people are
quiet, there is some tolerance if they are under the influence of something.

The new program began on Nov. 9 and runs every night until April 15,
utilizing five local churches on a rotating basis. If the numbers rise
sufficiently, two locations could be used at the same time.

The program is run by Safe Harbour Society and has paid staffers,
thanks to a $244,000 grant from Alberta Municipal Affairs and
Housing's winter emergency fund.

The program is prepared to house up to 50 people on a first-come,
first-served basis.

There were just seven at the parish hall on Saturday, a relatively
mild night with the temperature dipping to about -7C.

Lou was the only one who hadn't bedded down for the night by 9
p.m.

He said he ended up homeless and addicted as a result of the woman he
loved having left him when he was living in Lloydminster.

The middle-aged man turned to crack.

"I am fighting drugs right now. I never did it before, until my woman
left me," he said.

"I am a crackhead."

He once made good money in the oilpatch, augmented, he said, by a
lucrative sideline of selling marijuana.

Now he's a well-known face at local homeless shelters.

Saturday night's accommodation was pretty bare bones.

"Guests," as the two young women managing the shelter Saturday night
call them, get a plastic-covered foam mattress to sleep on and that's
it.

No blanket, no pillow.

But the parish hall is warm, quiet and safe.

Most guests make a pillow out of their jackets or cover themselves
with their coats, said Jodi Brown, one of the two young women in charge.

The women check on the sleeping residents every 15 minutes or so, but
even at 9 p.m. on Saturday, all was silent, with the exception of Lou,
who was talking quietly about his life.

No coffee or snacks are provided, unless members of the church being
used for the evening have arranged something. Some provide a bag lunch
for the overnight residents to take with them, others hand out muffins
and fruit.

There is a list on the wall at the parish hall of all the days and
places that Red Deer's various soup kitchens operate.

Although Brown and fellow staffer Laurie Brake are in their early 20s,
they have plenty of experience.

Brown has helped with the Inn from the Cold program, the Safe Harbour
overnight program geared to people intoxicated or on drugs, and the
detox centre.

Brake has worked at Edmonton's Hope Mission.

Both said they do not fear their guests. They dealt well with a man on
Saturday who seemed disoriented and decided he wanted to leave but
almost immediately returned.

He got to stay.

If trouble did erupt, help would be at hand.

"There are enough people here, they would help the ladies out," said
Lou.

RCMP are also very helpful and deal well with guests when someone is
disturbed, said Brown and Brake.

Brown said she enjoys meeting the different people who come her
way.

"Listening to them, trying to understand where they have been. Just
learning from their experience," she said.

Both women said they see many of the same people they have met at
other local shelters.

One more good reason for the shelter is to provide homeless women with
an alternative to going home with someone for the wrong reasons, said
Brown.

The other churches participating in the Winter Inn program are:
Seventh-day Adventist, Salvation Army, New Life Fellowship and Deer
Park Alliance.

People can walk to the downtown locations and the Shining Mountains
motorhome will provide transportation to locations beyond downtown.