Should You Brave A Canadian Winter In A Car?

I'm just hearing about this, but yesterday in the Canadian Jewish News, Avrum Rosenweig printed a letter written in response to his last couple of days of blog posts written about a Jewish Canadian woman suffering from MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity) who has become homeless and is living in her car. Right? What? Did you hear about this? Here is the initial blog post, followed by the second and finally, her letter of response below. Rosenweig noted in his article, as I will also note in this post, that this woman still needs support and assistance. Personally undereducated in matters of MCS (though I will begin looking around right away) and not entirely sure how much help she still needs, I haven't the foggiest idea where to begin to help her, though I'm sure some of you do. All I know is that it's really fucking cold in Canada and surely a car is no place to survive a Canadian winter. Just after some people came forward to assist her, she wrote:

For the past year and a half, I, a Jewish woman with MCS, have struggled to survive in my car. This experience has shaken the very foundation of my belief in a good and loving God.

This summer, however, a dedicated doctor referred me to another caring doctor. He in turn put me in touch with Ve’ahavta [the Canadian Jewish Humanitarian and Relief Committee], namely Avrum.

After exhausting all potential helping avenues, I reached out to catch this last lifeline. Given my disappointment and frustration with our health care and social services, I agreed to yield my fate to members of my Jewish community.

After the articles about my situation appeared in The CJN, I cannot tell you how touched I was by the generosity of spirit and the genuine compassion of the newspaper’s readers. Given the criticism I have received and others’ judgmental attitudes, as well as the rejection, abandonment and alienation I experienced subsequent to the onset of MCS, the response of well-wishers, creative problem solving and the offer of financial assistance was a breath of fresh air.

So often people make good economic investments without a second thought. They know, based on personal intuition and/or business acumen, that the returns will be most satisfying. These past few weeks, however, I am pleased to say I have witnessed generosity beyond any rational comprehension. (This is not to discount the support of a few dear friends; a special aunt and efforts by family members).

A number of readers have suggested feasible ways for me to renew my hope to live a normal life once again. Collectively, they have begun to offer me the potential of securing shelter and money to facilitate the costly transition from my car to that of a safe and secure home, and they have referred me to a professional who specializes in the treatment of MCS.

All of these special fellow Jews, and others, have moved me in a way that is really beyond words. But since words are the only medium available to me to express this gratitude, I have put pen to paper. These angels have invested in a human life – my life.

They don’t know it yet, but by doing so they have invested in the Jewish community at large. With my renewed health, I aspire to continue the efforts to ameliorate the lives of others living with MCS.

I plan to establish an MCS support group, and later I hope to lobby for a pilot residential environment geared exclusively to the needs of those tormented by MCS.

Honestly, one would be hard-pressed to identify a better way to invest their money. After all is said and done, material things come and go. Love, compassion, kindness, pride, faith and hope endure for a lifetime and then some. To those readers who gave of their hearts and took the time to respond, you brought much warmth and comfort to my chilled existence.

And to those readers who went above and beyond that to bring about concrete changes to my declining health status and my meagre physical environment, I bless you with this sentiment. May God, whom I questioned, bestow upon you the daily compounded interest of love and good that truly does exist in the Almighty and through the Jewish people.

For more information about MCS, click here.