It was a cold morning in Montreal Sunday and while temperatures didn’t hit the freezing mark, gusts of wind served as a reminder winter is just around the corner.
So it was a perfect day for Leila Ghaffari and others from the Montreal Toheed Society, to set up a street store at Parc Emilie-Gamelin.
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A street store is an outdoor shop where people in need can come to pick out some clothing that suits their needs.
The group is hoping not only to satisfy some very basic needs, but also to send a “message of peace and kindness to the world.”
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The aim of Sunday’s event was also to change people’s perception of the homeless.
“We may not be able to change their lives by doing this, but we may be able to put a smile on their face,” Ghaffari said of the store’s customers. “And then, we may be able to change the point of view of some people who pass by, so they don’t just walk away or ignore them.”
“The point is to show that we see them.”
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Ghaffari believes that shift in perception is a necessary precursor to meaningful change.
“We wanted to show that homelessness is a problem and we can solve it if we stop seeing the homeless as the problem,” she said. “We want to acknowledge their presence in our society, as a group in our society, not a problem that should be solved.”
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While Ghaffari admits that handing out clothing is just a small gesture, she said it was a way for the Toheed Society– a not-for-profit student organization — to create contact with the homeless community in hopes of starting a dialogue.
Street stores have been popping up around the world as part of an international movement with Montreal hosting the 535th shop, according to Ghaffari.
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