Handing out food to the homeless is just a regular night for Wally.
He has been a volunteer with the Streets Alive Mission in Lethbridge for the last five years. He spends the majority of his time working the evening food truck, giving out sandwiches and coffee to those living on the streets.
“I think a lot of them haven’t had a proper chance,” he said. “I had a good upbringing. I had a good family. A lot of these people, their backgrounds aren’t good and they’ve got into different habits that aren’t good.”
Wally attributes his passion for helping others to his Christian faith.
He started volunteering in his early 20’s, when he would go to prisons to visit with the inmates. Since then he continued to find opportunities to lend a helping hand where ever he could, leading him to work with the homeless.
“I think a lot of the problems these people have had, and I wanted to visit with them. See if I could help them in anyway.”
Wally lives in the Crownest Pass and drives to Lethbridge every week to volunteer with Streets Alive. He not only helps with the food truck, but also makes time to visit with the homeless in the downtown core. The experience has given him an honest taste of reality.
“They can be happy with so little. They don’t need much. That’s one thing that’s inspired me a lot is that we don’t need much in life. Very little in fact.”
Corina Ringelberg works at Streets Alive with Wally. She added that his dedication and compassion for the homeless is inspirational.
“It’s actually quite humbling,” she said. “I think we are so involved in our own circle and little world in our own community that when you experience that first hand, I feel like I could do so much more.”
When it comes to helping someone in need, Wally explained that he could not see himself doing anything else.
“I just enjoy being with them and visiting with them. Trying to help them, listen to them,” he said. “I get very much in return. I feel like I’m blessed very big by coming out.”
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