Turning Points Collaborative Society describes emergency shelter as temporary housing that provides access to case planning, referrals, meals, showers, and other essential services. Screenshot from the organization’s website.

Personal Dispatches — November 10, 2026Kelowna, British Columbia There’s something particularly exhausting about having to fight for the things that should never have been a fight in the first place. A place to sleep. A safe place to charge a …

When Asking Questions Becomes the Problem Read more »

November 6, 2026 — Kelowna, British Columbia There’s a pizza place in Kelowna that sells a pizza called The Kitchen Sink. I discovered this tonight while contemplating spending approximately forty dollars on a large pizza. Forty dollars. For a fucking …

The Kitchen Sink Is Taken, but the Garbage Can Has Potential Read more »

Untitled Original painting by Randy Millis.

Personal Dispatches — November 4, 2026 This morning, I ate pasta salad for breakfast. I wanted eggs. Toast. Coffee. Something hot. Instead, I had a chocolate bar, chili and rice, meat sticks, and pasta salad to choose from. Not exactly …

The View From the Top of a Very Small Mountain Read more »

Personal Dispatches — November 3, 2026 I’ve had a lot of things happen to me. Some of them have been difficult to believe, even as I’ve been living through them. But perhaps the most profound realization I’ve had throughout all …

The Stories We Never Hear Read more »

My belongings, hospital bed and wheelchair at Kelowna General Hospital.

A wheelchair, a hospital, a tent, and the question nobody could answer PERSONAL DISPATCHES | SPECIAL INVESTIGATION By Randy Millis | Kelowna, British Columbia | November 2026 “And if I’m not ready to go then?” “Then security will be called.” …

Discharged. Nowhere to Go. Read more »

I’m lying on a bed right now, and I’m actually crying. After everything that’s happened over the past six months—the shelters, the hospitalizations, the wheelchair dispute, losing my shelter bed, fighting for accommodation, and trying to figure out where the …

Room 301. The Oasis Inn. Of all the fucking places Read more »

Personal Dispatches — True Stories. Real People. Public Good. October 22, 2026 | Kelowna, British Columbia Today, I lost my bed at an emergency shelter. After more than three months at Kelowna Gospel Mission’s Bay Avenue Shelter, I was told …

When Mission Statements Become Muscle Memory Read more »

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The everyday inconsistencies of everything. When wildfire forces someone from their home, the question is: Where can we put them? When someone is already homeless, too often the question becomes: How do we get them out of here? Over the …

When Does a Housing Crisis Become a Housing Emergency? Read more »

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Kelowna, British Columbia — August 2, 2026 At approximately 8:37 a.m., I boarded the northbound Route 2 on shuttle bus 2930. The driver was helpful, but during our conversation he told me that only HandyDART drivers may assist manual wheelchair …

Field Note: Who Helps When the Accessible Ramp Is Still a Barrier? Read more »

It started as a childhood game. Once you learn to notice something, you begin seeing it everywhere.

When I was a kid, my mom and I played Punch Buggy. The rules were simple. Whoever spotted a Volkswagen Beetle first got to call it out. “Punch Buggy!” Before long, it seemed like Beetles were everywhere. Of course they …

Learning to See People Read more »