{"id":53659,"date":"2020-02-01T16:34:52","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T23:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=53659"},"modified":"2021-02-07T17:08:38","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T00:08:38","slug":"city-woman-turns-family-tragedy-into-a-win-for-the-homeless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2020\/02\/01\/city-woman-turns-family-tragedy-into-a-win-for-the-homeless\/","title":{"rendered":"City woman turns family tragedy into a win for the homeless"},"content":{"rendered":"

L<\/span>ast month, extreme cold warnings settled for a week-long visit in Calgary, leaving many people desperate.<\/p>\n

T<\/span>emperatures dipped as low as -32 C with a wind chill value of -43, which is enough to cause hypothermia within five to 10 minutes when exposed.<\/p>\n

The homeless population suffers the most during these times and Tressa Lusty, a certified yoga instructor in Calgary, has personally felt the impact after losing family to hypothermia.<\/p>\n

Dale Bear Chief, Lusty\u2019s uncle, was found frozen to death in an abandoned van on the Siksika Nation reserve in December, 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really hard and I know my auntie was completely crushed because he was just a phone call away,\u201d said Lusty.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Coats for those in need:<\/strong> Tressa Lusty posed before recent donations she has received to hand out to the homeless.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After being denied a phone call from a local store in the community, Bear Chief, who was homeless and struggling with addiction, found shelter for the night in an abandoned vehicle.<\/p>\n

His body was discovered the following morning and the family mourned what they felt was a senseless loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the first generation that didn\u2019t attend a residential school. All my aunts and uncle and grandparents did,\u201d Lusty said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was battling his own addictions and issues in life and my auntie would take care of him when he would come around.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Lusty her uncle was a wonderful person despite his struggles.<\/p>\n

Inspiration to help the homeless by her family loss, Lusty started a non-profit organization called Sweat4ACause to help warm and clothe those in need.<\/p>\n

What started as boot camp classes turned to yoga sessions where every December, Lusty would accept winter clothes or cash donations that she distributed to the Calgary homeless population directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go down and hang out at the drop-in and hand out stuff you\u2019ll see how many different nationalities, walks of life and age groups there are,\u201d Lusty said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are even pregnant women that are living on the streets, and it\u2019s so heart-breaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calgary currently has the largest homeless population in Alberta, despite the fact it has declined 19 per cent since a count was conducted in 2016 by the Calgary Homeless Foundation.<\/p>\n

Despite her work for the homeless, Lusty rejects the notion that that makes her special.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m no more amazing than the next person,\u201d said Lusty.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people can just open their eyes and rid themselves of judgments they would be doing the same thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine how different this world would be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grace Smith, who is currently enrolled at Bow Valley College to become a licensed practical nurse, said the Calgary Drop-In Centre was very busy on Jan. 17, the week of the deep freeze.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were 80 individuals who chose to sleep outside in the weather,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey slept outside as couples because they are separated at night in the drop-in centres.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
A hallway meeting:<\/strong> Two pedestrians interact for a brief moment in downtown Calgary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nursing students get hands-on experience and while many homeless people are fully capable individuals trying to transition into a new phase of life, some have disabilities that make it harder to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of homeless suffer from mental issues, which is why they don\u2019t have homes because it\u2019s hard to manage a job,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 13, a PSA<\/a> was released by the Calgary Drop-In Centre revealing a desperate need for winter clothing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tressa Lusty finds meaning in family tragedy by helping clothe Calgary’s homeless population [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":53661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S1 Homelessness and severe weather conditons","footnotes":""},"categories":[711,1109],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-53659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-mental-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/593"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53659"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54092,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53659\/revisions\/54092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}