Salvation Army: Demand for handouts will increase

Here the Army’s boss, Major Shawn Critch, responds to the claims and tells reporter Simon Jones “we can only help the people who want to be helped”.

Allegations of bullying and theft have been levelled at the shelter by the homeless. What do you say to that?

To make the assumption that things like theft and bullying do not go on does not hold water.

But having said that, it is by no means pervasive in the shelter.

I would be surprised if we did not have incidents of theft and arguments.

But if it were a significant issue we would not be at full capacity all the time.

We are bringing people from varying backgrounds together in a small community.

That concept of communal living with 50 or so people does bring with it its own challenges and dynamics.

We do have workers attached to each of the booths so residents can raise concerns when they arise.

Are there some people you cannot help?

People have to be prepared to accept help before we can help them.

I understand that people are proud and may not want to accept help — especially when they are in charge of a family.

There is a stigma attached to being helped and also to staying at the shelter — but once people get passed that, we are here to offer them whatever support we can give them.

How did you end up in Bermuda?

We came here a few years back but that was just a holiday.

My wife Brenda and I both worked for the Salvation Army in Toronto for several years and we decided that we wanted to do international service.

We thought we would end up in Africa or somewhere like that but then the position in Bermuda came up.

It was a big decision but we wanted a new challenge and it has been a great experience so far.

What have your first impressions been of the social problems faced by the country?

It is an unfortunate economic and social situation the community is facing at the moment.

When we arrived here seven months ago the level of violence had hit a spike and we saw a significant rise in the number of young black men in the 16-30 age bracket coming to us for help.

We saw an 85 per cent increase in people taking food from the food bank between April and July of 2010, compared with 2009, which demonstrates how many people have hit hard times.

At the moment we are helping a lot of people who have just lost their jobs.

There are more families struggling now than for a long time.

And we will see that continue for the foreseeable future.

What can be done to solve these problems?

I’m not convinced that these problems will just go away.

And I would not be surprised if they got worse before they got better.

We’ll have a much better idea of how deep the hole is in six months’ time.

What I can say is that more people need help now than before, and our shelter is at capacity pretty much all the time.

A lot of the people coming to us for help have lost their jobs and that is a sign of the economic times as much as anything else.

We are trying to forge new partnerships with other groups and we are always looking at ways of improving our service.

Are Bermuda’s problems unique to Bermuda?

No, I think issues are issues and Bermuda is facing a lot of problems that other countries across the world also have to face.

Dysfunctional families, violent crime, and homelessness — these are all problems that every country faces.

In a small community they may just appear to be larger problems.

When I was working in Toronto and Newfoundland there were similar problems.

How does the Salvation Army move forward in Bermuda?

We have to keep our ear to the ground and react to what we hear.

At the moment people have a lot of questions about how they are going to cope and how they support their families.

Our sense is that this is a rising issue as people are being laid off from work. I don’t think it’s peaked for us yet.

The people who do have savings will begin to run out of money and that is why we have seen as many as 50 people a day at our food bank.

Our evening meal programme fed 11,000 people in 2010.

We have been working on a plan for the next six months to help provide support for the families who need us but we are also looking to join forces with private companies, churches and other groups.

The churches have come in for criticism from some quarters for not doing enough to help those on the breadline. What do you say to this?

I believe the churches are making a real difference.

We are working together and targeting the needs in each area.

The churches may not be highly visible but you cannot underestimate the effect that this coming together of churches has had in the community.

It’s all about finding ways of connecting with the community and building a sense of community.

That sense of community is struggling right now and there is a sense of fear in the shadow of violence and crime.

We have a member of staff who has worked here for many years.

She used to walk around the neighbourhood in her lunch hour but does not do that anymore.

So people have already adjusted the way they live their lives.