This story first appeared in the Winnipeg SUN

Sometimes life pulls a fast one and you end up having a bad week.

Last week, I parked downtown at what I thought was a two-hour metered parking zone. In my hurry, I looked at the wrong sign and neglected to realize I was partly parked in a bus stop.

When I returned to my car, and ruled out any possibility of it being stolen, I realized it had been towed. At about the same time, my cellphone battery died and I felt reasonably helpless.

This wasn’t the first time I parked in the wrong spot and got towed. It actually happens to me about once a year. You’d think I would eventually learn.

Just a few days after my car got towed, I walked to my parking spot after work only to realize my car was once again gone.

It hadn’t gotten towed because it was parked on our private parking lot. Did someone steal it? At that moment, I remembered I had actually taken my car in for a wheel alignment that morning at a shop just across the street.

It’s a small example, but similar situations in grander scope happen to me every now and again.

Missed mortgage payments, a furnace that dies in the middle of winter and needs to be replaced, a car that gets written off or needs major work, a family emergency you need to travel to: These are all unexpected curve balls that can significantly change your life.

Sometimes they take a hit on the wallet, but they always cause stress not everyone is able to cope with. These things can easily lead to job loss, eviction and homelessness — especially for people who don’t have a lot of savings.

I just talked to Tom (not his real name) yesterday. He lost his place after 10 years because he didn’t have enough money anymore.

Tom is a very kind fellow who would come for meals every now and again.

Although he struggles with mental health illness, he’s had stable housing for more than a decade and was always able to get by.

Now he’s using the shelter at the Salvation Army and eating most of his meals at Siloam Mission.

I don’t know Tom very well, but I’m not sure if he has the strength to get through a tough time. I think he can be easily taken advantage of. He certainly needs someone looking out for him.

Tom is more than 80 years old. He could spend the rest of his days in a shelter.

I wish Tom’s life was part of a movie in which someone would take him under their wings and commit to investing in his life.

That kind of altruism makes all the difference in our world. No matter what services are offered, at the end of the day, real change happens when people care about people in a personal way.

We all should have one person we should be watching out for in our neighbourhood or our workplace.

They are the ones who struggled with life and need someone to help defend them.

— Floyd Perras is executive director of Siloam Mission.