The recent oil slump is hitting Lloydminster hard.
More than 31,000 people call the city home, and according to residents, nearly all are feeling the effects of the economic downturn.
Jobs have been lost, businesses have shut down and employment insurance is running out. Some people lost their job more than a year ago and still haven’t found work. Middle class families are utilizing soup kitchens for meals, men are shoveling driveways for extra cash and families are wondering and waiting when the economy will rebound.
The city, which sits along the Saskatchewan-Alberta border, is on edge.
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“A city on the edge” is a three-part series exploring how the recent oil slump is affecting residents of Lloydminster.Click for part one, which follows a family working hard to avoid bankruptcy. And click here for part two, which looks at the bigger picture of the problems plaguing the city as a whole.
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PART THREE: LIGHT IN A DARK TIME
It's a good day when Conor Burns is able to work for a few hours making pizza dough for minimum wage. But it’s a far cry from his previous job in management he lost a year ago.
“The uncertainty of not knowing if you're going to be able to pay for food the next day sucks,” Burns says. “This year I’ve lost my home. I've pretty much lost everything. I don't have many possessions anymore because I’ve sold everything.”
Burns has applied to numerous jobs in the past year. He can’t find work, so he’s made his own. Itdoesn’t pay – he spends his days doing community work in the city of Lloydminster.
“He has put his entire self into the community,” says Filipa Borges, who met Burns through charity work. “If he can raise money for somebody he will. He's kind of an inspiration to a lot of the people around here.”
Since he was laid off, Burns has organized numerous community events and charities including putting on the city's first-ever light parade around Christmastime and organizing a zombie walk last fall.
He says he hopes the events will distract people from their tough situation and give them something to look forward to.
“I don't want to lie down and die because my life isn't so great when other peoples’ lives aren’t so great. They're not doing it, they’re marching on. So why not link arms with them and just go together?” Burns says.
That’s how he met Borges. She owns a welding company and says business is slow. Borges made less this past year than she typically would in one month. But, that doesn't stop her from staying busy creating works of art to donate to others.
“There are people out there that are hurting a lot more than I am. There are people out there that can't put food on their table. Luckily I still can. You’ve got to do something. Everybody's down you got to help out somehow,” she says.
Demand up, donations down
The help is appreciated in Lloydminster; more people are seeking it than ever before.
Lee Mitchell often sleeps in the back of his truck. Since cooking facilities and groceries are hard to come by he gets a free hot meal from The Olive Tree, a nonprofit that serves dinner, runs a thrift store and lends support to those in need.
“I haven’t been working very much and I’m not very proud of myself right now,” Mitchell says. “But it sure is nice to come here. … I really appreciate everything the people here do. You can't say enough about them.”
Director of The Olive TreeBeckly Schille sayssince the downturn in oil, more people are accessing the organization’s services.
“Now we're seeing more you know regular families, middle class, that have lost their job recently,” Schille says. New people are coming every week so it's definitely been a big change for us.”
She says while The Olive Tree is feeding double the amount of mouths than usual, its monetary donations have been cut in half. With some extra help, The Olive Tree still meets the demand.
“The community has really come together we have significantly more volunteers than we did a year ago. And we're receiving more food donations,” Schille says.
Linking arms
Aside from organized help, there is grassroots help amongst people in Lloydminster – trading labour for a cup of coffee, fixing vandalized property for free and offering tickets to an event so families can enjoy a night out.
“You know it’s kind of funny,” Burns says. “You’d expect it to be a lot more down. But I’m finding there to be more community spirit.”
He says he plans on running for city council so he can keep working for the community but as a paying job. People in Lloydminster say they’ll continue helping one another for as long as needed and when the economy does rebound Lloydminster will be stronger and more united than ever before.