SERIES: GIVING BACK

You’ve no doubt heard the line, “No good deed goes unpunished.” Irman Rajpoot, owner of Calgary-based Dolphin Dry Cleaners, understands it from a gut level, as the City of Calgary seems bent on preventing him from doing it.

For the past 5 years, Imran and his family and co-workers have gathered clothing, cleaned and repaired it, and given it to the homeless each weekend. This is especially necessary in winter, but they distribute all year long. The clothing is appreciated, as are the muffins and other food items that go with it.

“We started off just giving away some clothes a few times a year,” Imran said. “Then the homeless asked us for food. So my wife made sandwiches and we gave them out with the clothes.”

Things were going along well. And then the City of Calgary stepped in. First, they told Imran he was not allowed to come to the Drop-In & Rehab Centre and distribute clothing and other items to the homeless. They said there was no law against it, but he shouldn’t be doing it. He continued on.

And then, barriers went up. Concrete barriers. This meant he could no longer pull his vans onto the sidewalk, out of traffic, and distribute clothing. Instead, he and his cohorts park blocks away and wheel racks of clothing and bins of supplies to the Centre and give them out. A hassle, but still workable.

Then the No Stopping signs went up (see image at top of story). And are being strictly enforced. Absolutely no hanging around to do good to people in severe need in Calgary. It’s enough to make you crazy.

Why does he persist?

Imran got into the benevolence business because he needed a bigger purpose.

“The trigger was low self esteem,” he said. “I needed a reason to feel good about myself. I didn’t feel my purpose on this planet meant anything to others.”

He has strong opinions about letting people struggle in the most basic ways. “I feel clean underwear is an essential human right,” he says. They give out an awful lot of that, too. In fact, they’ve given out about 16,000 items of clothing this year alone.

Imran’s customers agree with him. They donate using bins in the stores and other ways, having learned of the program through signage, on Imran’s website and by word-of-mouth.

The City backpedaled, right?

Of course, Imran has made numerous calls to the Mayor’s office to find out why this situation has developed suddenly and inflexibly. He’s more than open to a compromise. But what he’s gotten is silence. Well, that’s not quite true. He did receive an email thanking him for his efforts — which the city is making more difficult by the day.

Last week, a reporter asked the Mayor on camera why the issue has come up — especially at this time of year. She said she’d never heard about it, hadn’t been briefed on it, and could do some digging. But she had no answer at that point.

Fabricare Canada called the Mayor’s office’s media line to request an updated comment, and offered to tell the city’s side of the story. To date, the phone has not rung and the email has not chimed.

Words of warning

Imran plans to continue to find work-arounds to the situation, and to continue to serve people who need help. But he has words of warning to others who seek to do the same.

“I never wanted it in the media,” he said. “I was happily doing my thing without any issues. After it was publicized that we give away drycleaned coats, two things happened.

1. In the last 24 hours about 20 phone calls have come in from folks asking for free coats. Some folks have come into the store asking if they can go through our clothes and pick some items. We only give away clothes outside the shelter on a first-come, first-served basis. Try explaining that to someone who wants free stuff.

2. By Law officers didn’t ever bother me until after we got on the news.

“Other than the minor negatives, it’s a pleasure. I’m just validating my citizenship,” he said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Our phone lines are open and our email box is available if the mayor’s office wishes to contact us. We will update this story as we receive further information.