Sleeping out.

The logo the students used for the sleep-out.

Often Dunedin students are stereotyped as hard drinking and irresponsible. It was great seeing various groups just enjoying time together, conversing, playing games and sometimes singing. No alcohol in sight.

I took this at about 3:30 a.m.  Most people hunkered down to sleep. 

It was great that no strong wind was blowing... still chilly to sleep though.

This is a Radio New Zealand photo of me with David Clark the Dunedin North Member of Parliament.  This was at lunch time on Friday. We both had busy afternoons and changed into much warmer layers of clothing by the time the sleep-out opened. I enjoy his company. 

The Dunedin Night Shelter Trust is working hard to raise enough money to purchase the buildings it currently rents. We need $595,000 and so far have raise around $380,000. We are going public now to the people of Dunedin seeking donations to get us over the line. We have a few Trusts to apply to, but will be relying on the generosity of Dunedin people. The momentum is happening. We are receiving assistance from the local newspapers, some local rich folk are helping us to reach other rich folk and local community leaders are lending their support.

There is a volunteer centre at the Otago University and it is run by a vivacious, articulate and energetic young woman. She took it upon herself to work with us to create a much bigger, higher impact sleep out to raise awareness of the issue and to raise money. She brought together a group of keen university students and we have had 200 people sleeping out in the Octagon, the centre of Dunedin City.  July in Dunedin is the coldest winter month. This year has been a very cold winter so it made the prospect of sleeping out in the centre of town a scary thought. Four of us, two trustees, the local member of parliament and another visitor slept out last year and I can tell you it was freezing, and that was in April. 

This group of students were absolutely amazing. I sat in on their committee meetings and did a little bit of negotiating with the local city council staff and the Cathedral in the centre of the city. The cathedral was only too happy to loan us the use of their kitchen and their toilets. The council staff agreed to us using the Octagon area. When I had a meeting with the Mayor he said he would shout us two "portaloos". (Temporary toilet facilities)  When his staff followed up on that the Portaloo company gave us four at no charge to us or the mayor.  The students in their organising received quite a lot of support from businesses in town.  

So I spent Friday night in the centre of town sleeping out with two hundred students, the local Labour party Member of Parliament, the co-leader of the NZ Green party, two city councillors and my good friend John who is a fellow Night Shelter Trustee.  Buskers, mainly students from the University music department came to entertain, and a magician gave us a great routine.  They had a sleeping bag race, a cardboard shelter building competition and first thing in the morning, Zumba to wake everyone up. Compared to last year it was not as cold and was simply a lot of fun. I helped with the setting up and the cleaning up. It was great mixing with these young people and made me feel younger.  We were interviewed by the local Newspaper, the local TV came and the National Radio program interviewed us and inserted us into their program.  I was also thrilled because members of my chaplaincies visited during the evening. Two Fire engines from the central station paid a visit with some of them giving a donation. They were very warm and affirming. The on duty ambulance crews visited us and between calls spent time there chatting. It was great to have their support. I got an hour or two of questionable sleep, but the sleep deprivation, the friendship and conversation was well worth it. So far the amount raised is in excess of $7000. As well as this the Lions Club from Port Chalmers where we live visited and handed over a $1000 cheque. The mayor opened proceedings and it was noticeable that he said "WE will get there. We will have a night shelter." That is the feel we are getting particularly through this sleep-out. Dunedin City is starting to "own" the Night Shelter cause. Dunedin is starting to take responsibility to help us as a trust to own these buildings. The Students had as their theme, "DunedinhelpingDunedin."  We have our street appeal happening this coming week. We are picking up that theme as well. We will be standing at supermarkets and street corners holding buckets hoping for donations. It is a very busy time, but as my friend John says, "We can see light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not a train coming the other way."

Me being "me".

Staff at a local bank took up a collection for the Night Shelter- $500 

My friend won a prize with this photo of the Iona Church on a hill above Port Chalmers' main street.

The little Sawyers Bay Church. 

The damaged noticeboard - the edging had come off when it was kicked off it's uprights.

Built in a better time...
When we walked into the local Church on Sunday, the lady elder who looks after the place was giving the announcements. They have responsibility for two Church buildings. There is a quaint little timber Church in Sawyers Bay named "Emmanuel". That is the building they are using at the moment. Then there is the granite stone historical Church which overlooks Port Chalmers. It is named "Iona" and has an historical clock. Usually they meet on alternative Sundays in each building, but Iona Church is being restored. The clock, important to Port Chalmers community, is being started again this Sunday. The elder, who does a marvelous job, announced that the noticeboard at Iona had been ripped off its uprights and needed to be repaired. I am sure she looked at me at that point in time? It was interesting....there is an "odd" man who lives in Sawyers Bay. He is quirky. He wears robes, and crosses and a variety of outlandish clothing. He feels like he is a bit of a prophet. His name is Andrew, and he comes to the local Church from time to time. He had noticed that the noticeboard had been kicked down, so with a precious bit of his rope had tied it up again. I got talking to him on Sunday asking how much damage had been done and he seemed a very nice amiable guy, offering to help me fix it.  After Church I went to Mary the elder and offered to repair the noticeboard. We went, picked it up and on Sunday afternoon I repaired it, sanded and repainted the edging. Today we went around and replaced it on its uprights.  I got to look at it and decided that it was a reasonably frail construction. It would have been easy to kick it down, with small nails holding it in place. It was put there, I decided, when the local vandals respected Church buildings and left them alone. I have bolted and screwed it back into place. It will look nice for the dignitaries coming to the start-the-clock ceremony on Sunday. I am tending to become church-handyman and that's OK.
Hopeful trend...
It was communion time on Sunday and they handed around communion, little individual glasses for the wine. It was an embarrassment for those who prepared because there were not enough glasses for the number attending. They were used to smaller numbers coming to church. We are pleased because even though it is a small church, there does seem to be more consistent attendance, and there is a warm feeling, laughter, support and care expressed among the small group. I am lined up to lead the service next Sunday. I have been asked to include children (there are two in the one family) in the service. It will be the second time I have preached this year and the first service I have led. I checked with one man about hymn tunes I have chosen to use.  I said, "I'm on deck next week." "Yes" he replied, "I was so pleased to hear that. You have the right sort of charisma to be doing that!" .... I told them, "It will be different! It may be the first and last time you ask me." A younger woman said to my wife, "Don't let them talk him into doing it all the time. He is meant to be retired!" I'll report on how it goes... I will have to be all ready, prepared and gadgets in place by 10 a.m. We have got used to leaving home two minutes before Church and arriving on time. I'll need to get back into that busy Sunday morning mode this weekend.
Night Shelter AGM.
We had our Night Shelter Trust Annual General Meeting. I had to write a report, and run the meeting. I was re-elected chairman again. I was a bit reluctant. The deputy chair who ran that part of the meeting described the job as "relentless" and he is right. We are raising funds to purchase the building - we needed to go public and ask for people to donate for operational costs, it looked like we were going to run out - the manager is off with "Post Traumatic Stress disorder" because of a nasty incident at the shelter - I have to negotiate what leave he can have on what pay... and we are not flushed with funds - but the people of Dunedin are stepping up and supporting us - we need to thank them - but there is trouble at Phoenix lodge and we have to sort it out- there are funding applications I need to be doing... etc. etc.  I have lost sleep worrying about it all. Every day there are phone calls and emails to respond to, meetings to attend and things to do. I am out of my comfort zone and busy, it does not feel like I am retired - I just don't get paid for it. I am keen to hang in there with the Night Shelter Trust at least until we own the building. 
Christmas Day dinner.
There is a charitable Trust who has taken over the running of Dunedin's community Christmas Day dinner.  We organised our last one last year after running it for 25 years. This group are doing it in the town hall. They look like they have a great line up of sponsors and donors. They are hoping for greater numbers than ours had, and the mayor is attending theirs.  They graciously touched base with me the other day, and included me in a photo in the newspaper. They want to carry on the "spirit" of what we did.  I have a mixture of feelings. I will probably be a bit jealous if theirs is more successful than ours was. I should not be, but it is a human reaction. - Some of their sponsors we had asked for help, but they had refused us. I guess because we were running it in a Church. - I got to thinking that I will miss having Christmas with some of our old friends, the street characters of Dunedin. - I will miss the busyness, the wave of generosity of people, the volunteers. - Then I am concerned about some aspects of their plans, but is my concern genuine, or is it just because they've seen a better way to do things?  I hope they have a great day. It will go well, they must do it in a way they are comfortable with and theirs' will evolve just like ours did. I am thrilled it is not dying out. On the day I guess I will feel strange just having family around but that too will be a special treat - they have missed out on attention for years.
On my facebook timeline I shared two thoughts.... both seem relevant .. somehow?

Sleeping rough.

Me waking up.

Taken while I was asleep. The politician is in the cardboard box behind me, sheer luxury.

Our lounge before our horde of guests came. It was cold!

John LeBrun, me and David Clark MP 

A photo somebody took of me preaching at Knox Church on April 6th. Perhaps my last sermon.

Sleeping Rough experience
My daughter works for the Dominican Sisters in NZ and they have donated $1000 toward the Dunedin Night Shelter campaign to purchase our buildings in Dunedin. She sent this report out to the Sisters of our night of sleeping rough in the centre of town.

Dunedin Night Shelter Trust – Octagon Adventures

The royal couple weren’t the only ones to spend time in the Dunedin Octagon on Sunday, 13^th April 2014. My father, David Brown (middle in the above photo) along with John Le Brun (left), both trustees of the Dunedin Night Shelter Trust, and David Clark MP (right), spent Sunday night in the Octagon to increase the profile of the campaign to raise funds for the purchase of the present buildings of the Dunedin Night Shelter. The campaign is called “Eat the Elephant!” with the price tag on the buildings as the Night Shelter’s elephant – to be eaten “One Bite” at a time! The present buildings are ideal providing a big enough space for a good-sized Night Shelter, providing short term emergency accommodation for men, as well as the Phoenix Lodge which is the first home for ex-prisoners trying to make a positive adjustment to a better life. The need for both of these aspects of the Night Shelter’s work is increasing, with a 46% increase in the last year.

Sunday night was VERY COLD and WINDY, with even my father’s heavy toolbox being tossed in the wind! The news that the NZ Dominican Sisters had “taken a bite” by donating $1,000 was a good encouragement for surviving the wind and the cold! They also had a good crowd of visitors over the night, including Judith Anne and Father Kevin Toomey, and even managed some sleep amongst it all. David Clark, being the Member of Parliament, got the fridge box to sleep in and hence managed to sleep the best of the three! The Otago Daily Times promoted the event the week prior, with the radio station Classic Hits interviewing them after they survived the night. For a night they experienced a wee bit of what the homeless do – vulnerability and exposure to the elements. They are pleased with the publicity and feel like there is a crowd of people behind the work.                                                                                                                                     ~ Angela McMorran             It is a good summary of what we were doing but in fact there were four of us who spent the night there. Keiran read about it on facebook, liked our cause and joined us for the night. He was an interesting guy. You reached out to shake his hand and he would explain - "I don't shake hands, I'll give you a hug though." It was refreshing. But I enjoyed the guests....
Guests visiting
We set up a tarpaulin to protect us from the wind and a few picnic chairs. We had various guests call in and chat and it turned out to be a very social night. Friends called by to chat. I had one guy call in and he declared that I needed a scarf and that he would bring one. He disappeared and did not return for a long time. I was beginning to think he had forgotten me but when he did return he had the scarf, his wife and some food his wife had prepared. Another woman friend had texted me concerned that it was too cold to sleep out. She decided to visit and was simply delightful company joining in the conversation before cycling off again. At one stage I heard a voice call my name and a young guy from our drop-in centre came. He wanted to tell me he had participated in a "three peaks" race that day. It is a race that takes the runners up three mountains (big hills) on the outskirts of Dunedin. The run is about 26k long and quite exhausting. He was proud of himself and I was proud of him. He had come a long way in the years I had known him. It was nice that he had seized the opportunity to come and catch up with me. Another man came with hot chocolates and stayed to chat. At one stage there was a group of about eight guys just chatting and talking about community issues, life and "stuff."  I really enjoyed the discussion, quite blunt and honest, and yet full of insight and wisdom born of life experiences. I thought later that in my circles we men seldom get time to "chew the fat" in that way. We have meetings for a purpose and often do not have free time to really pursue subjects. During the night with various people I discussed theology, politics, homelessness, fitness, life changes, unemployment and finance. I enjoyed the discussions of the night, there is nothing like chatting with good people and widening your experience of life as you learn of their views and experiences.
Sleeping rough means rough sleeping.
Sometime after 11 p.m. we crawled into our sleeping bags and attempted to sleep. The bar across the street cranked up the music; street cleaners came with their machines; it was virtually daylight with all the street lights; trucks collected rubbish; cars drove past and the cold wind blew. I did get some sleep but three of us got up about 5 a.m. and went to the 24 hour shop for coffee and further conversation.  If I was homeless I would certainly find a quieter, less exposed and darker spot to sleep rough in. It was a new experience in life.... we have one committee member who is already suggesting that it be an annual event. 

Dunedin Christmas dinner & a weak week's end....

 Pictures from a Multi-cultural night held at Space2B recently.

Sunday Blues
My brother (Now very sick in hospital after a fall off a ladder last Sunday) is a minister in Australia. He has the "gift of the gab", the sort of guy who could sell fridges to Eskimos. He is older than I am and runs a successful church in Melbourne. I was interested to hear him say, "It's the preaching I find hard to cope with these days." I find the same, but probably for different reasons. Today after Church I said to my wife that "next year will be a long year. Can't I retire early?" (we are retiring at the end of 2013) To my surprise she responded with "Yes." Even she, who is the stable, optimistic, never-say-die, workhorse of the family is growing despondent. I guess I don't fit the ministry role any more, I feel I am on a different wave length than my congregation and it is difficult, probably for them and for me. Anyway a measure of Sunday blues has dogged me this afternoon.
Bounced back from the flu.
I had three days at home early this week feeling very ill with the flu. Over the last three days I have been improving. This afternoon with my friend I have jogged for 25 minutes. (walking back to the cars) I am not 100% yet but I was pretty pleased with how I coped. It was a good feel being active again. On Friday I had some concerns with my "bionic plumbing" (Catheter & bag) and rang my district nurse. She was busy telling me that such things happen if you are a bit strenuous. I informed her I went running and she had a laugh, asking, "Do you really?" 
Night Shelter Annual General Meeting
The Dunedin Night Shelter Trust has its AGM this Thursday night. I have yet to prepare a report. We are hoping to make it a bit interesting with the use of power points etc. I have a lot of work to do so that I can look semi intelligent at Space2B at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. I spent a bit of time at Phoenix Lodge this week. I really think we are meeting a need and the potential for helping young men makes this venture worth while.
Christmas dinner preparations
My wife and daughter are buying things for the Christmas Day dinner. Pavlovas were on special at a shop so these were snapped up. Today lemonade was going for $1 a bottle at a supermarket, with a limit of four. My daughter and son-in-law bought 4 each. My wife visited the supermarket twice buying four each time. We have guests ringing up to book in and thankfully volunteers phoning up too.  I will enjoy the day, I always do even though this is the 24th year of running it. You might like to volunteer? Here is the blurb we send people interested in volunteering... It will give you some idea of what we do.

"This will be our 24th year that we have provided this meal. We offer a free meal and company on Christmas day. It is a hot Christmas meal and we seat people in tables of about eight to ten people with a host, so that there is the opportunity of conversation and care. People receive a small gift as part of the celebration and we sing a few carols just prior to dinner.

It is for any who would like company or need a free treat on Christmas day. We have sometimes had families who are in need, often had pensioners and others who find Christmas alone tough going. Transport is offered if that is needed on the day.

If you would like to volunteer there are three ways where we use volunteers. 

1.    On the night of 23^rd we set up the tables, prepare vegetables and decorate the area. We start at 7 p.m. and people go when they want to. We try to make it a fun night with cups of tea, Christmas music playing and Christmas cake. Generally people come and enjoy the setting up process.

2.    On Christmas day itself we need responsible people with cars who can assist to transport people to or from the dinner. We give drivers a list of people (Generally just one trip each) and you are asked to ring your passengers on Christmas Eve to confirm pick up information etc. We get people delivered to the church by about 11:30 a.m. and generally taken home at about 1:45 – 2 p.m.  You may be willing to help in this way.

3.    On Christmas day we need people to do various things for a start. There are Pavs to cream and final things to prepare. Then when people arrive we need people to welcome them, give them a drink and chips and make them feel at home. We have one or two hosts per table who look after the people at their table. They get their guests’ food from the servery and eat their own meal with them, encouraging conversation and friendship. Then of course there are endless dishes to do, people take turns doing that. ;-)

Most volunteers we have really get a kick out of the day. It is simply good fun to be part of a big celebration. We try to treat all people with respect and friendship. There are a wide number of reasons people are there and a wide range of different types of people.

Feel free to ring me if you have any enquiries."