A community art project in Oliver, British Columbia, raises money for the local homeless.
His wife, Alderman Oliver Dave Matz, along with local organizations, helped bring his idea to life almost two years ago.
The project includes 40 unique birdhouses on the corner of Main Street and Fairview Road.
“I don’t know where the inspiration came from. I have a lot of friends, I have a local community, [The Painted Chair]had all the poles painted for me,” Matt said.
“We then had friends and family paint the hives we built. I think I set everything up in a day.”
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People can sponsor hives and have the money delivered directly to local homeless people.
Since the project started, there are about 36 sponsors.
“I chose homelessness because it is a cause that is close and dear to me, and I have seen its impact on people. , is a universal problem,” said Mattes.
“I know people’s lives can change in an instant. When you think about how people become homeless, it often happens in just one accident.”
Meanwhile, the giant bird and each birdhouse pictured on the billboard are designed to shed light on the many factors Matt believes contribute to homelessness.
There are hives made out of food labels and campaign signs, and hives that look like Oliver’s correctional centers and school homes.
“Here we have a big bird next to us, but that has to do with the size of the problem associated with the size of our solution. There are a few things that we believe contribute to homelessness,” says Mattes.
“Because they’re all contributing factors to homelessness. They’re not the cause, but they don’t help either.”
Mattes says the problem hasn’t gotten worse since the project started, but it hasn’t gotten better. I would add that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to solving homelessness.
“There is no magic bullet here, because every homeless person has a different reason for being homeless,” he said.
For now, they’re working on replacing some of the empty poles, but I’m not sure if they’ll add more birdhouses to their collection.
If you would like to sponsor a hive, you can call Dave Mattes directly at (250)-488-5936.
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