The Editor,
Re: "Help homeless in the heat," the Now, June 11.
It was with sadness and disbelief that I read the recent column by Amy Reid on the plight of the homeless in Whalley’s strip. Like her, I often worried about them in cold weather but never in the summer’s heat.
Here I am, setting up garbage can lids filled with water for the animals who are suffering from the drought we are presently experiencing. In the meantime, humans could be getting very ill, or even dying from the heat, forgotten by all but a few generous souls.
I called the City of Surrey, finally reaching the right department, to inquire if we could not put in an old-fashioned drinking fountain instead of trucking up endless bottles of water, which to me made no sense whatsoever.
The man I spoke with said that bottled water did indeed make sense because they could drink the water and then sell the bottles for a few pennies, whereas, a fountain, if installed would be ripped apart within a week for metal parts to sell, leaving leakage problems to fix, and infection as well.
I remember, years back, when drinking fountains were everywhere – tall for adults, shorter for children, and sometimes a street level one for the dogs.
Of course, there would hardly be a little park with shade trees for these unfortunate people, any one of whom but for the grace of God, could be myself. As my sister likes to remind me, these are not the "good ol’ days." I need no reminding of that but do they truly have to be so awful as this? We are a heartless society indeed, if that is the case.
Sybil Rowe, Surrey
