Alex: Tell me a little about yourself.

Wheeler: My name is Edward Wheeler. I’ve been a New Brunswick resident for 12 years. I’m a single parent, I have seven children, I’m struggling. I have a back injury, I’m unemployed, I’m not getting any assistance from welfare, unemployment—no one. I came up here, and like I said, I have a back injury. I had back surgery, and I’m just trying to recover. As I’m out here trying to find employment, I worked at a temp agency called P&P on Jersey Avenue—I’m also asthmatic. So they had me in a trailer unloading trucks, and I had an asthma attack. The minute that happened, they haven’t sent me on any more assignments. I haven’t been going to work and I’ve been homeless. People come by, I ask for change to eat. It’s hard for me to eat.

Alex: How long have you been homeless?

Wheeler: About five months.

Alex: And how’d you find out about Operation Robin Hood?

Wheeler: I was getting off the train yesterday, going to see a friend at the hospital and a college student was passing out flyers and asked for my help. And I said, “Sure.” I wasn’t doing anything at the time, so as I’m passing out flyers, and I read the flyer and it said “free lunches” and that’s something I need for myself, so as I passed out the flyers, I kept one for myself and came down here today.

Grace: And you think that we need more initiatives like this one in New Brunswick?

Wheeler: Yes we do, and not only for people like me—you have single parents, people who have lost their jobs—it’s a recession. And like I said, you all are givin’ back to me, helping me out, and so I don’t mind helping you out. I’m willing to make flyers, let people know where free lunches are, and I’m willing to hand out free lunches myself.

Alex: So Operation Robin Hood and other organizations of this kind could use your help in reaching out to the less fortunate.

Wheeler: Right, people around town who struggle, who can’t have a decent meal, who have kids that are hungry right now. If I had transportation I would take a box of lunches up to the projects or somewhere, where the homes are and hand them out myself, if I had a truck or something like that. Because there are a lot of people that are scared to ask for help that really need it. There are a lot of people who really need help but don’t know how to go about getting this type of help. Like I said, you have kids out there going hungry.

Grace: So do you think that Elijah’s Promise, which is the soup kitchen in New Brunswick, is insufficient right now because of this lack of mobility?

Wheeler: Yes, that’s one of the key reasons. They’re not mobile and a lot of people don’t have access to get down to these meals. You have people up Route 27, like in Wright place, and The Ville and The Hampton Club, all that area. You can take a bunch of meals up there and feed those people. They don’t have the transportation to get down to Elijah’s Promise.