The Tribune

By PAVEL BAILEY

BISHOP Walter Hanchell said his organisation needs help to fight the stark rise in homelessness and hunger in New Providence over the past few years.

“Over the last, not just the last few months, over the last couple years we’ve seen a great increase in homelessness throughout New Providence,” the founder and president of Great Commission Ministries said. “We’ve struggled to get people in homes or in our shelters or if our shelters are full, we try to get them into some other facility or hotel if necessary.

“We’ve found a lot of mothers sleeping in abandoned buildings with their children, we’ve found mothers staying on the beaches in their car with their children who get evicted or lost their jobs. Some because of COVID and others because of other situations. And definitely there has been a great increase, and something has to be done.”

Bishop Hanchell said he’s seeking the help of the government and public donors to establish a new homeless shelter on Carmichael Road before the end of next year.

“We decided that what we will do is construct a 100-bed facility, state-of-the-art homeless shelter on Carmichael Road that can accommodate men, women and children in one facility and that will alleviate the homeless problem.

“We’re seeking to get support from the government, and we’ve spoken with the minister responsible and we’re also seeking to get the support of the general public because it’s costing us $3m which we plan to raise and have constructed by mid-2023, God willing.”

He also hopes that the government will approve an increase in its yearly subvention to Great Commission to further the group’s charity work.

When asked if inflation has affected Great Commission’s work, the bishop said that it has. He said that more and more Bahamians are struggling to pay for groceries which in turn has led to more people coming to his outreach centre for help than ever before.

“It has affected us in that we have more persons who were not coming in who are coming in now because their dollars are not stretching because of the inflation. And they need more help and so subsequently we need more help. We need more resources, we have to buy food more regularly and even in greater quantities now to accommodate so we are seeking additional funding from the public and from the government to make sure that people don’t go hungry because it’s so vital that everybody has to eat.”

He said even small donations — as little as $30 a month — can go a long way to help his outreach centre.

“We have people that support us regularly, but we don’t have sufficient financial support to carry the load. So, we need more donors, we need more businesses to help us. We need more churches to help us,” he said.

He also encouraged those in need to seek help rather than to just take “shortcuts” through crime.

“We tell them to find somebody who can help. Maybe a church or civic organisation or Social Services, if you need help seek help. If you need food go find Social Services, Great Commission, Salvation Army, Red Cross, find some organisations that focuses on that.

“Don’t just take any shortcuts. We want people to make sure they do the right things. As we know poverty drives crime so rather than going in that direction, we want people to just reach out to different organisations that can help, and things will get better after a while.”