Even though the scenery has changed drastically from her previous job, Karen Young figures the core value of her mission is pretty much the same.

Young had been president of a business and career college in Abbotsford, but decided to move on due to market conditions. With a background in fundraising for the B.C. Arts Council, a job ad for the Lookout Emergency Aid Society caught her eye.

“Fundraising for the homeless just spoke to my heart,” she says. Smiling she notes the similarity between her previous and current clients.

“I’m about helping people achieve success. The homeless are just the next level down economically (compared to former students).”

Despite what many in this relatively wealthy area code would expect, the North Shore ranks a dubious fourth in the Lower Mainland for homelessness.

Since Young became director of resource development for the Lookout Emergency Aid Society, she’s set about raising awareness.

“The people on the North Shore are the most generous when it comes to helping,” she says. “It’s just they sometimes don’t see the need with homelessness.”

North Shore Lookout shelter services range from supplying emergency shelter beds to dorms and lockers, to transition housing, supportive long term housing, outreach to impoverished street dwellers, and counseling that helps clients get on their feet.

The process of client intake ranges from the raw physical demands of sanitation to sit-down strategy sessions and support.

“We have something called bug juice,” Young explains. It’s an enzyme we have to use on people’s clothing (during intake) because of bed bugs. It’s a bit nasty to talk about, but it’s the reality.”

Sitting down with counsellors, clients form individualized long-term plans for reconnecting with housing and work.

Often substance abuse is the issue, Young says, but sometimes it’s the shock of a domestic problem.

“We get women and men who get divorced, lose their job, lose their house in the turmoil and go downward in a spiral. We’re there to say ‘what do you need to do next?’”

When it comes to addictions, the Lookout shelter aims to steer clients towards health and treatment services, without erecting too many barriers. The hard and fast rule is no drug taking on premises. There are bed checks, and police are welcome to drop into the shelter any time, Young points out.

Even as addicted street dwellers see their bodies and minds decay, outreach workers often struggle to convince them to check in for medical care.

Young recalls the case of an outreach worker named Sandra who was handing out sandwiches under a bridge in North Vancouver this year.

Sandra met a former stockbroker in the grips of alcohol addiction, and struck up a conversation.

“He smelled like death,” Sandra later told Young. “I’m from Nicaragua, and I know the smell of death.”

The man agreed to check into the shelter but resisted medical care for eight months. His health improved for a while, then suddenly took a turn for the worse. Finally he relented and checked into Lions Gate Hospital.

Five hours after checking in, he was dead.

Young says about a week later the man’s wife called the shelter. The man had never told staff he had a relative on the outside, but the woman was contacted as next of kin following the death.

“She just thanked us that he was able to die with some dignity,” Young says.

While the Lookout shelter welcomes donations for clients towards Christmas, as the temperature drops and the rains come, the organization is urging the community to meet a very basic need.

“Our supply of blankets is going way down. We give out thousands every year,” Young says. “Just wash it and bring it in. We need used stuff to keep people warm.”

Blanket donations can be made at the North Shore Lookout Shelter, 705 West 2nd St., North Vancouver.