7,000

House of Charity Episode Ten 6.5.09

2009-06-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

LOTS OF PEOPLE OVER THIRTY LEAD PRODUCTIVE, USEFUL LIVES.

Yeah, no kidding.

It's on a coffee cup, one that kept cropping up at odd moments. Or maybe I always noticed it because it seemed like it was yelling at me.

It resides in it's place above the desk of our kitchen manager. Err, the House of Charity's kitchen manager. I gotta stop saying that, since I'm no longer employed there.

May 31st was my last day, and I'm happy to report that it was my last day, not the sleeping program's. 104 men age eighteen and above still reside in the House of Charity each evening. For now. The future, for now, seems uncertain.

May 31st was the day a guy with a few a years on me and a tear-drop tattoo saw fit to give me a hug. And I let him--he then returned to raving about the new Transformers movie coming out.

June 1st was a day like any other, because whether I'm there or not, there are people at the House of Charity, as there are people everywhere.

People with problems. Just like people everywhere.

Just ask, folks will let you in on them. Sometimes you don't even have to ask, the information is volunteered. Like with folks everywhere.

I've spent the better part of a year working with the homeless in Spokane, and I'm still trying to figure it out. What's so different, that is. Well, there are differences. I (someone with a place to go tonight), have got that bit covered. I don't have to worry about it. It's also a safe bet that I'm starting to go a bit paranoid if I'm worried about someone taking my stuff, or them taking a knife out and waving it at me.

It's amazing that folks whom you would be hard-pressed to call paranoid if they were worrying about these things (since they happen) are able to dig themselves out of such holes. It's that paradox that I've been thinking about since I got to the House of Charity--so, you want to take those that have nothing, and yell at them to get a job, without really mentioning how, but you're willing to take someone who has so much (probably anyone reading this, considering you're reading it on a computer), and applaude us for it.

But I shouldn't be so bold, since we've all got problems. Thankfully though, when someone's driving down the street, they usually don't throw things at me. Nor do my weaknesses (a plenty, don't tell anybody) get taken advantage of for profit (http://www.bumfightsvideos.com/) or sport. At least I hope not.

Currently, though, my problems consist of how to figure out to move to New Orleans (as part of the Greater New Orleans Region of Teach for America) and teach a slug of kids that have much bigger fish to fry than doing their chemistry homework to learn to achieve the potential that they have in them.

Gah, I should be preparing (things to read) now.

But why is it a question that people over thirty could lead productive, useful lives? Doesn't make the future seem bright, really. Makes it uncertain.

Why did someone find it interesting enough to put on a coffee cup? (Not that that's a gold standard or something) but seriously, life is just starting to get good about then right?

We're not still buying the message Hollywood is selling are we? That you can never be too rich or too thin? (Sorry Wallis Simpson). I hope we aren't. (Young could be in there too.)

I think we're better than that.

I think that if we're ever going to make headway on this problem of homeless individuals we're going to need to stop looking up. Not that self-interest is a bad thing, we've got to take care of ourselves. Otherwise we're also going to be needing a lot more help. But if accumulating stuff, and getting better and better stuff, is the goal, we're all in a world of hurt. Because stuff doesn't make the world better.

Because I don't think you can be over thirty and not interesting, not to mention productive and useful (I hope).

Because despite this being my last post, there's still more story to be told (hint--I'm accepting applications for a future writer--hint), and that there are so many out there that could use a hand--and so many that are doing such amazing things.

You could be one of those people, even if you're over thirty (and maybe even if you're not).

There's so much to do, that much is certain.

Mother Teresea is purported to have said (maybe she did, maybe she didn't):

Nothing that we do matters. Do it anyway.

Kind of takes the uncertainty right out of it right? Nobody get's to ask what the point is there. Or, (because this is my last post, you have to let me throw all my quotes on the wall) one from Oscar Romero, S.J. (pretty sure on this one):

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,

it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.

Still with me? Great. That one's a bit longer. It helps. Don't understand how there could be so much brokenness in a society that's been given so much materially? You don't have to.

Because we still can do something.

Even for those over thirty, who are worried about living productive, useful lives. It's gonna take all of us, and if anyone says they're too old, or otherwise don't have anything of use to offer, well you've got your eyes, and those count (you have to see someone to listen to them), and you've got your ears (you'll need those, definitely, because when you're considered the dregs of society not many have the time for your stories--and the stories are awesome), and if you need any more encouragement, well, I've got a cup of coffee for you.

Author's Note: thanks so much for reading, everyone, since we're all busy, and I'm honored that you're using your time to listen to what I have to say. I'll be getting a blog going for my experiences with TFA, but this one didn't start until Halloween of this year, so give me some time. In the meantime, there's plenty to do.

A Link 5.11.09

2009-05-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Pete at the House of Charity for this excellent link!

http://www.hud.gov/homeless/index.cfm

House of Charity Episode Nine 5.11.09

2009-05-10T23:17:00.000-07:00

Folks, I'm back.

The long hiatus from articulating experiences at the House of Charity can be summed up in four letters--MCAT. But, for the next twenty-one days, I'll be here, or more specifically, there, at the House of Charity.

But some links before we get started.

Catholic Charities Spokane's Blog:
http://www.catholiccharitiesspokane.org/blog/

Maybe even more interesting, the 'Faithworks' newsletter this past month featured an article from the House of Charity's very own Chris Heinrich (of http://lifesspice.blogspot.com/ fame) and, as soon as it's been scanned, will be online here:

http://www.catholiccharitiesspokane.org/?page=165

(also, Chris produces some excellent writing outside of his House of Charity work. I like his 101-word submission for the Inlander--there's a link somewhere in his blog to 'That One Guy')

But where were we. Oh yeah, twenty-one more days until my time at the House of Charity comes to an end. Incidentally, that's the exact number of days until the sleeping program closes.

Just for the summer, but still.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. The House of Charity is about people. But usually, I'm talking about clients/patrons/guests. But the staff are people too. Some blog with panache, like Chris. Or there's our director, that received a police report of a body that was found, and from the approximate description and date of death, found out who it was--the person passed away three years ago.

And he remembered him. Jeff. His funeral was a few weeks ago, and his family finally knew what happened. After three years.

Then there's the staff member that patrons generally call the boss man, or, "You know, the one that walks around." He's our head of security, and when a tour I'm giving isn't quite impressive enough, I tell kids that he once trained with Chuck Norris. Which is true.

When he started a couple of years ago, the House of Charity was a very different place. Frankly, it was more dangerous--this I've been told--as people used to loiter about on the rocks near the House of Charity, in and about the abandoned buildings in the area, moving to and from the boardwalk, and Dick's Hamburgers. His work, for the past few years, has been not only buiding a rapport with some of the most dangerous people we serve, but with the local law enforcement as well.

Something about a silver-haired retired Marine, LAPD (south-central) police officer, and EMT conjures up quite a bit of respect in folks, and the best part about our security director is that he gives respect to everyone. Without exception.

And he's seen just about everything.

So, when he's worried about the sleeping program closing for the summer, that maybe more than anything else made it sink in. When someone with over thirty years of experience in law enforcement is talking about the changes that will happen in the community--even I know that I need to clam up and listen.

See, one of the things that happened the year after the boss man started working at the House of Charity was the sleeping program stayed open for the summer. Traditionally, its last night until fall would be the 31st of May, then it would re-open come October (or September, I'm not sure which), and be open for the colder winter months. The reasoning was, patrons would rather sleep outside--despite the level of danger, instability, and health problems that are avoided by sleeping in a warm bed, wearing clean pajamas, and having a hot shower every night.

And having your belongings locked away safely while you slept.

But, this year, as the vice-grip of the "great" recession tightens, the sleeping program is going to close again. Which is ludicrous. The funding necessary for the program came from a state grant, which carried with it stipulations toward ending homelessness, which are difficult for our staff to quantify. Despite nearly every week someone from our sleeping program, having their basic needs of food, shelter, and security met, finds housing on their own.

A few weeks ago it was a slight man with a conductor's cap that had an omnipresent parakeet on his shoulder who, on his last day, almost teared up in thanking us for treating him like a person, like that wasn't what he expected.

Last week it was an old electrician from Detroit, and an insightful man (I think Italian) that I really have no idea where he's from.

But past the respecting innate human dignity that is the centerpiece of what we do as an institution, let's throw some argument towards why closing the sleeping program is financially a poor move.

1. Providing access to basic shelter, saftey, and hygiene in our sleeping program cuts down on emergency room visits caused by lack of proper care, not to mention the number of E.R. visits that will occur due to trauma suffered while sleeping outside or from the effects of increased self-medication with drugs/alcohol to mitigate poor living conditions (for example, camping out in people's park). Keeping the sleeping program open will keep emergency room visits from skyrocketing.

These emergency room visits by people that cannot afford them must be paid by the hospitals, and will act to drive up health care costs and increase wait times in the emergency room.

2. Downtown Spokane businesses are going to have to put up with an increased presence of our patrons, from an increased level of panhandling, to increased levels of crime, both petty and violent. Petty crime from individuals lacking adequate housing and falling back on drugs/alcohol as coping mechanisms, and violent crime from individuals in the same situation. Increasing levels of danger is going to drive consumers, already hit hard by the recession, away from downtown, which will become increasingly dangerous. Keeping the sleeping program open is good for business, that can use all the help it can get in these times.

3. The increased levels of petty and violent crime as our patrons are put in more dire situations will cost the city more in police officer time, department resources, and will take officer presence away from other neighborhoods, making everyone less safe. Not to mention the increased expenses from all the jail time that will occur due to the increase in petty and violent crime.

On this one, it might be time to remember Malcom Gladwell and 'Million-Dollar Murray', the chronic inebriate that cost a Nevada city over a million dollars in the course of a few years in police time, emergency room visits, and detox.

Or if you're more inclined towards local's making the argument:

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/may/01/house-charity-could-cut-summer-hours/

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/may/02/house-of-charity-faces-funding-bind/

Local's like the director of Catholic Charities Spokane pointing out that it costs about $8 a night to house guys here, as opposed to about $81 nightly at Spokane County Jail.

It might be time to remember that the poor are always with us, and if they're not going to be sleeping at the House of Charity, they may be sleeping on the doorstep of downtown businesses. Or they might be drinking because life seems hopeless, fall down, and have to go to the emergency room, and you may have to wait longer to be seen for your appendicitis.

It might be time to think of our "boss man," and how the House of Charity was when he started. How much more dangerous it was, and think of what happens when people aren't treated with respect to the dignity that isn't ours to take away. It can get ugly.

It might be time to think about what we can do to keep the sleepin program open.

Because it seems like our state just tried to save money by getting rid of an ounce of prevention, and is forgetting what a pound of cure will cost--and who's going to foot the bill.

And we've got twenty-one days to change that.

Reportin' 4.19.09

2009-04-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

As the 'House of Charity' tab on the Catholic Charities Spokane website will tell you:

Life at the House of Charity through the eyes of area college students.
Thank you to EWU Journalism professor Jamie T. Neely and her students
for visiting the House of Charity. Three articles written about their
impressions of the ministry of our program and its impact on Spokane's
homeless community can be found at this link...

http://www.catholiccharitiesspokane.org/images/upload/Blended%20house%20of%20charity%20articles.pdf

It's always fun to hear what someone has to say their first time in.

Tent City, inc. 3.26.09

2009-03-26T10:03:00.001-07:00

This morning's New York Times has a cover image I wasn't sure that I'd live to see.

Fresno, California's very own shantyville. Whether we call them Hooverville's (circa 1930), Nickelsville (circa current Seattle, WA mayor) or if I'm being unfair calling them Bushville's (considering his ambitious housing-first model to significantly reduce homelessness), maybe we should just call them their city's Capital Hill.

Whatever we call them, I don't see them going away anytime soon.

(Oh, and I'm riffing on the downside of free-market capitalism with the name, not just misspelling Capitol Hill.)

House of Charity Episode 8 3.24.09

2009-03-24T10:49:00.000-07:00

Apparently, Thoreau didn't just live in the woods.

He had people over. He wrote in a journal, dickered around on his place, went to eat at Emerson's, and, most importantly--spent the next seven years folding his experience "many times thick" as he wrote his masterwork, Walden, on his experience. It took him seven years to aptly catch and recast his time by the pond. And then some.

On that note, Representative Kevin Parker's Town Hall Meeting (see earlier posts) happened on Saturday, and giving that man a tour was a touch of a shock to my system--it took a few days to sink in. And then some.

See, I give a lot of tours at the House of Charity. To local greats like Inlander reporter Kevin Taylor, or to local student groups getting a taste for the lives of the have-nots. Or, in some strange cosmic coincidence, the Bishop of Guatemala showed up one day.

One of the best ways to frame a tour is by pointing at the wall near our entrance, which has a reminder of why we're there--Matthew 25. The chapter with that Sheep and Goats business. Or, in other words, for that which you do to the least of me, you do to me. In a large measure, it's what we do. Well, in the St. Francis of Assisi sense that we need to preach the Gospel always, and when necessary, use words. Because giving with strings attached seems disingenuous.

But enough theology.

When I started in on the tour with Rep. Parker, and framed our mission with that verse, he fired back the other half.

"For that which you do not do for the least of me, you do not do for me."

My jaw went slack.

Even the Bishop of Guatemala forgot to remind me that I was only using half the idea.

That being said, as I was recovering my voice, I was met with another question.

"How does GAU affect your population?"

(GAU = General Assistance for the Unemployable, a state program that's due to be cut by Governor Gregoire's new budget. It provides those that are deemed by social service professionals to be unemployable for a certain tenure, and gives them $339 a month with which to scrape by during their recovery).

Thankfully my knee-jerk was on target.

"It's literally a lifeline for most of our clients."

Now I didn't mean literally the way we college-age types do--for emphasis. I meant that GAU being cut from our legislative budget will mean that people who are desperately in need of services will be out of luck, and by out of luck I mean that they will be filling hospital beds, psychiatric wards, and, well, the morgue.

Sounds harsh, I know.

To everyone that's feeling the sting of economic hard times, for everyone who's lost a job, or has family out of work--it's a rough stretch. But nobody feels it more strongly than those that are not able to help themselves.

Those that can't pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

To get a realistic picture, after the tour, later on during the Town Hall Meeting in earnest, our assistant director framed the issue thusly--that there will be a domino effect should GAU fold.

1. Those receiving GAU and using it to pay rent (which takes a large chunk of the $339/month, or a % when the rent is subsidized) won't be able to pay their rent any longer--and will be out on the street.

2. The housing complexes filled by those using GAU to pay rent, and also by those working individuals who pay their rent by their wages, well, when GAU goes, so do so many of the residents. So, most likely, they'll have to close. Which puts the wage-earners not even using GAU out on the street.

3. Then the social services supporting those individuals that were in housing, and the entire support network in place, well they now lack clientele--so they're out. Social service agencies close, and the city now not only has a massively increased homeless population, we're also less able to get people back into housing, because of the now-closed agencies.

Like I said, literally a lifeline. But not just for those on it. For our city. But since we're all here, let's take this situation a touch further.

4. Increased numbers of persons sleeping outside with absolutely no income, out of work due to lack of available jobs, mental health personnel to stabilize them, or housing to provide a stable environment means more crime. Lack of state funding for more law enforcement means less will be done to stymie the increase.

5. The ordinances passed by downtown businesses towards keeping downtown Spokane shopper-friendly and safe? Well, increasing numbers of homeless persons in more desperate situations makes for more panhandling downtown, and more people willing to commit crimes.

People backed into a corner aren't always friendly.

6. The physical hazards of living on the street--getting "rolled" (mugged), frostbite, hypothermia, all the trappings of the decrease in available hygiene (no end to problems there)--including the psychological burden of never quite being safe--increases E.R. visits and floods (even more so) Eastern State Hospital and the Psych floor of Providence. Not to mention the viable alternative of "three hots and a cot" (jail time) when compared to the alternative.

. . . I don't really care to go on. And this is just in Spokane.

Granted, we're in hard times.

Granted, my friend the Spovangelist has been saying that the fat is going to burn for some time now. But this isn't what she meant.

Granted, nobody really wanted to make changes when things are good.

Granted, 2009 is a year of turmoil. And upheaval. And change.

Maybe, this will be the year that we recognize our old understanding of what it means to be a homeless person (derelict, or deadbeat, or bum or lazy, or junkie) falls down dead. Because many of our homeless will be. Dead, that is.

Maybe this is the year that we recognize that, a la Malcom Gladwell (see the 'Million Dollar Murray' post from December) that there are more cost-effective ways of providing social services. That maybe this is the year that we recognize that our poorest are forced to spend the most on health care--when they go to the E.R.--because simple, affordable, preventative care is consistently unavailable.

Because an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Maybe we've forgotten that. That this ounce of prevention put in place by GAU will cost us a pound to fix once it's gone.

Maybe this is the year that was stop our neurotic fear of enabling those with horrifying addictions--as if the truism at the needle exchange wasn't true, that the best day using is worse than the worst day sober. Maybe this is the year we realize that when people are in crisis they revert to what they know. What's safe. And when they're presented with clear, viable, and possible alternatives, they make changes. Maybe we'll realize that presenting those in desperate need with more than condemnation will help them change.

Maybe this is the year that we'll see the insanity of making a goal to halve homelessness by 2015 and then pulling the only rug out from under our most vulnerable that they know.

Since if GAU leaves, we're not halving homelessness, we're doubling it.

It took me a few days to make sense of my time with Representative Parker. It took Thoreau seven years to write Walden after he left his cabin and his pond. Seven years from today, it will be interesting to see where our government has taken things. Where change was made, and where new crises forced new thinking--because knee-jerk reactions like cutting GAU may sink the ship.

Mostly though it will be interesting to see if, as a society, we fall back on our old paradigms in this crisis, or whether we feel our backs being pushed up against a collective wall, and reach for a new door.

Local Events of the Worthwhile Variety 3.22.09

2009-03-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

I copied this from the message board. If it's the Stephanie I'm thinking of, her recommendation will be spot on.

First, watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v7ZQUzr0yo

A week of presentations and panels will be held in the Teleconference Room of the Foley Library at Gonzaga University (see schedule below), in conjunction with a photography exhibit in the rare book room of Foley Library, 3rd Floor. Photographs taken by women at the Women's Hearth, a drop-in center for homeless and low-income women in downtown Spokane, are part of this exhibit. Monday's presentation will be a repeat of this afternoon's and will include the above clip. If you go to no other talks, please see this one. If you are interested in social justice issues, or if you work with homeless men and women, you really should hear Gerry speak and see some of his videos.

More about Gerry Straub can be found here
(http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week837/profile.html)
and here
(http://gerrystraub.wordpress.com/about/)

Presentation/Panel Schedule:

Sunday, March 22, 4-6 pm: Poverty and Prayer with Gerard Straub

Monday, March 23, 7-9 pm: Poverty and Prayer with Gerard Straub

Tuesday March 24, 7-9 pm: Poverty in Spokane - Hearing the Voices of Poverty (with Mary Rathert and a woman from the Women's Hearth)

Wednesday, March 25, 7-9 pm: Poverty-Global Issues - Differing Perspectives

Thursday, March 26, 7-9 pm: Poverty-Local Issues - Differing Perspectives

Friday, March 27, 7-9 pm: Personalizing Poverty: An Individual Responsibility

The House is Opened. 3.20.09

2009-03-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, a 6th District State Representative will come face to face with poverty, with a message, and a chance for those here to get to speak up. I'm excited.

http://www.houserepublicans.wa.gov/parker/

12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
"Economic Empowerment"
Catholic Charities - House of Charity
32 West Pacific Avenue, Spokane
*Please plan to have lunch before this event

Opinion Piece Re: GAU 3.17.09

2009-03-17T01:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.seattlepi.com/opinion/402126_gau04.html

"Eliminating a 70-year-old assistance program at a time when the economy is declining and unemployment is high would not only take money out of the Washington economy; it would also cause revenue shortfalls in existing successful low-income housing programs"

We are all hurt by programs like this going through the tubes.

The comments on the article are good too, and work a look. Oh, and one more on general budget crises continuing:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008861519_budget15m.html

Making Lemonade 3.16.09

2009-03-16T12:21:00.001-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/nyregion/16volunteers.html?em

Charles Bukowski 3.10.09

2009-03-10T10:37:00.001-07:00

Charles Bukowski was a prolific, prolific, poet, and novelist, and essay writer.

He covered his bases.

He also is known as the Skid Row Poet, and his subject matter is a bit harsh for most, but enjoy:

alone with everybody

the flesh covers the bone
and they put a mind
in there and
sometimes a soul,
and the women break
vases against the walls
and the men drink too
much
and nobody finds the
one
but keep
looking
crawling in and out
of beds.
flesh covers
the bone and the
flesh searches
for more than
flesh.

there's no chance
at all:
we are all trapped
by a singular
fate.

nobody ever finds
the one.

the city dumps fill
the junkyards fill
the madhouses fill
the hospitals fill
the graveyards fill

nothing else
fills.

Bukowski is interesting, because he embodies quite a bit of the worldview that one may encounter interacting with those that have been told, over, and over, and once more for good measure by our consumer-oriented society that they're insignificant and unimportant.

The part that gets me, the crazy part, really, is how many of those we serve are still full of optimism and hope.

Great Article 2.26.09

2009-02-26T20:16:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the silence, team. There are some new personal projects in the works, and as such, I'm looking to pass the torch a bit--which means I'm hassling the people I work with and know in social services to find their muse.

Regardless, this is a part of reality nobody has a name for yet, but I think we will:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nicolebrodeur/2008751187_brodeur17m.html

Cheers,

Jake

House of Charity Episode 7 2.10.09

2009-02-10T12:13:00.001-08:00

So I got my picture in the Inlander last week.

Kevin Taylor wrote a brilliant little piece on the state of affairs for the homeless in our fair city, especially on how things have changed from a year ago.

http://www.inlander.com/content/newscommentary_solving_mystery_homeless_veteran_gary_hansons_death_spokane

On that note, the issue also had this article, that touches on why homeless persons are hard to count:

http://www.inlander.com/content/newscommentary_keeping_track_spokanes_homeless_isnt_easy

People that are by definition the poorest of the poor, the cast out, those that didn't fit into any mold--that most of society thumbs their nose to--well if I were in their shoes I probably would have some qualms about standing up to be counted as well. Goes against the whole nature of the thing. But that's neither here nor there.

Kevin put my picture next to a quote, about how Gary Hanson's death was the first that affected me personally. It wasn't the best picture, but that again, neither here nor there.

For the next couple of days I was the talk of the House of Charity--everyone had read the article, everyone had something they rib me about, everyone could smile and joke about the 'movie star', or the 'celebrity'.

One lady took a half dozen of the periodicals, folded them back, and arranged them on our bookshelf so there was an embarassing string of six me's all in a row smiling awkwardly.

Then she made me sign them.

In all the hubbub about the new famous guy around, there were a few good questions.

"Who was that guy in the article?"

"Was he around much?"

"When did he die?"

Gary died in late January last year, from exposure, or foul play--as the article points out, they're not really sure. When Kevin was interviewing us about him, we honestly didn't have a lot to say. We didn't know a lot about him. Someone claimed to have heard a story that he played for the Detroit Lions. Most just knew him as one of those guys that had pretty much "always been around."

But Kevin Taylor's article wanted to do more than that. Gary's death was in a string, three homeless that had passed in a short time, one murder, one from exposure, one (Gary's) that we weren't really sure. He was trying to see how things had changed--if they had--and how our population was doing as a result. The best we could say (and Kendra said it) was that most of the well-known faces that were trying to get into housing last year did.

There had been some that we'd lost early in the year due to violence, and one man that was struck by a car just recently. But until last Saturday night, we hadn't lost anyone to exposure.

Sunday morning it was all anyone could talk about, and Sunday evening we still didn't know who it was. Waiting to see who didn't show up that night wasn't the best way to find out--and everyone did. Thinking about who we'd directed elsewhere on Saturday night (this time of year we're always full, and have a stand-by list for beds for when some don't show up for them, and when we fill those, guys go elsewhere) didn't help.

Knowing that one of the things that makes life so beautiful is that it ends doesn't help much either. Knowing that there's an urgency to living because we ought not count on tomorrow doesn't do it.

Knowing that if we can connect the striving to bring together the abstract notions of truth and beauty and justice with our day to day complacency necessary to be content with what may come gets closer to it.

It might be that there's a lady at the House of Charity that has suffered through so many of life's injustices that still can take joy in me getting my picture in the paper.

Or a man that suffers through mood swings pushing him to both extremes as result of his medication that takes the time to congratulate me on my future career (the picture said I'm headed to medical school).

Maybe it's that Gary himself was never worried. That he always had a smile for us in the evening. That he and the man that froze to death on Saturday night both had their battles to fight, but were always respectful.

It might be that often I feel if I had half the courage of some of our patrons (and staff) I don't know what I couldn't do.

That when I make my complaints, it might be a better plan to realize that the gifts I've been given far outweigh any sort of merit.

That according to some folk wisdom, if we have a bank account, a car, and some change in a dish at home, we're in the top 10% of wealth in the world.

That higher income brackets don't make for necessarily better people. Just people with more opportunity. And with opportunity comes responsibility. To those whom much is given, much is expected. Our president's wife said that.

If there's any way to honor those that have passed, those that have made mountains out of their molehills, those that had a few grains of sand to the beach of my own resources (and I'm an Americorps Volunteer), its sure as hell not to let an economic downturn dissuade us from pursuing justice. From making those abstract pursuits of truth, of beauty, of justice--making them concrete. Every day.

For Gary. For Bud. For everyone that has gone before, for those that have had an impact on us, for those whom we knew only from a distance, for those that have been forgotten already.

And for us.

New Message Board. 1.29.09

2009-01-29T12:42:00.000-08:00

Hey, look at the top-right corner of the blog.

It's a new message board so everyone can speak up, and even do so under the cover of anonymity if they need to--which is fine.

Anyways, let's start talking.

http://spokanehomelessness.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general

George Orwell on 'Reaching The Lost' 1.27.09

2009-01-27T19:39:00.000-08:00

I hope I'm not going to get angry letters from a copyrighting agency over these, but here's another from his Down and Out in Paris and London that's just brilliant. At this point, Orwell is homeless in London, and his description of life on the London streets should be standard fare. Anywho, here's what he has to say:

"Once the lodging-house was invaded by a slumming party. Paddy and I had been out, and, coming back in the afternoon, we heard sounds of music downstairs. We went down to find three gentle-people, sleekly dressed, holding a religious service in our kitchen. They were a grave and reverend seignior in a frock coat, a lady sitting at a portable harmonium, and a chinless youth toying with a crucifix. It appeared that they had marched in and started to hold the service, without any kind of invitation whatever.

It was a pleasure to see how the lodgers met this intrusion. They did not offer the smallest rudeness to the slummers; they just ignored them. By common consent everyone in the kitchen--a hundred men, perhaps--behaved as though the slummers had not existed. There they stood patiently singing and exhorting, and no more notice was taken of them than if they had been earwigs. They gentleman in the frock coat preached a sermon, but not a word of it was audible; it was drowned in the usual din of songs, oaths and the clattering of pans. Men sat at their meals and card games three feet away from the harmonium, peaceably ignoring it. Presently the slummers gave it up and cleared out, not insulted in any way, but merely disregarded. No doubt they consoled themselves by thinking how brave they had been, "freely venturing into the lowest dens," etc. etc.

Bozo said that these people came to the lodging-house several times a month. They had influence with the police, and the "deputy" could not exclude them. It is curious how people take it for granted that they have a right to preach at you and pray over you as soon as your income falls below a certain level."

Paddy is his 'tramp' friend and travel partner, and Bozo an educated street chalk artist that the two travelers were visiting in the 'den of the lost.' Frankly speaking, the passage is an indictment of the arrogance that comes from people looking to convert those living below the poverty line.

Maybe it's confusing income with spiritual health.

Or the trappings of material wealth having anything to do with a person's integrity or religious convictions.

Whatever it is, it's a bit off kilter. It's an easy-to-understand philosophy, that simply put doesn't respect the fact that the people you're reaching are people. We'd think it awfully strange of someone to hold a church service in Rockwood Bakery--more specifically, to preach at the 'lost' sitting and having coffee, or talking. It'd be damned annoying for those catching up with their friends, I think.

And that doesn't even touch on whether or not the folks at Rockwood/the lodging house have the same set of spiritual values, which is an entire other can of worms.

A bit closer to the mark (I think) is one from an HoC staff member:

"Well, when it's all said and done, and we're standing at the gates of St. Peter, there are a lot of guys here that are going to be ahead of me in line."

I may be biased, and whether or not the religious convictions of the quote are your own, the point is that it's bad enough that our entire social structure is designed to look down on the poor, the least those of us interacting with those (Orwell's words) 'down and out' can do is respect the fact that income is a poor measure of personhood, and that those folks Orwell's talking about could have at least had the deceny to hand out sandwiches if they had to preach.

Time for One for One 1.26.09

2009-01-25T23:05:00.000-08:00

This is brilliant, and incredibly encouraging:

http://freestylevolunteer.blogspot.com/

Someone decided to start "Freestyle Volunteering" in Seattle.

The idea is that they (as you can see on the page) meet at a cafe for an hour once a week with someone who's socially isolated by mental illness or homelessness. An incredibly noble idea, that must have been borne from the notion that hey, a person needs more than food and water to grow.

Warming Center 1.25.09

2009-01-25T00:45:00.001-08:00

Speaking of warming center's, we're back open for business as of tonight.

House of Charity Episode Six 1.21.09

2009-01-21T00:36:00.001-08:00

One hundred and eight. Three thousand. One hundred and fifty. Sixty one. Fifteen.

The House of Charity is chock full of numbers, each with their own weight. One hundred and eight men sleeping upstairs. Over 3,000 people in the greater Spokane area using us as their post office. Around one hundred and fifty people here for lunch.

But the only number that really mattered late this December was fifteen. That number where good business sense and morality finally clicked.

When the temperature drops below fifteen degrees, and with the prerequisite that the previous evening the shelter was full up, places like the House of Charity are allowed to open up as warming centers. Or, in other words, we're able to open up our drop-in area as a place to sleep. Men over the age of 18 are given two blankets, a pillow, and a corner of--preferably--one of our cubbies to sleep in. We generally expect around thirty men to show, since between those that are not allowed in during normal operations of the House of Charity, those (few) that simply cannot work with the structure of the sleeping program, and those that weren't able to make it in that night--it's quite the group.

These are the evenings when the definition of the toughest of the tough gets reworked. These guys are a bit rough around the edges—even by our standards. They're the least used to our services, the least familiar with the staff (me), and the least understanding oftentimes about our rules.

Which are few. The warming center is a place for sleeping, a place to be warm and quiet and inside, and that's about it. On occasion someone is too intoxicated (or full of nightmares) to not shout-out in their sleep, and so they are moved into the chapel, or another room by themselves where there's some sound proofing between them and others looking for their own peace and quiet.

Mostly the warming center is a collection of snoring sounds and dirty socks sticking out under blankets, next to mounds of clothing and worldly possessions.

Late in the month last December, when there were few options and many were out of resources, we broke records—and those records almost broke us. We had sixty one guys one night. We stayed open during hours when we were usually closed (because a warming center operates 24hrs a day).

But while we had our share of struggles, the real heroes of the cold snap were Shalom Ministries, an organization ran out of the basement of Central UMC on 3rd and Howard. They provided dinner for those that needed it every day during the week, and opened their doors when we closed ours—to give us time to clean our floors. I'm honestly not sure how their staff did it, but they deserve medals. Especially Holly.

All things considered, there's something true about Sarte’s quip that “hell is other people” when you’ve been cooped up with over a hundred people that by all rights, you may not think highly of, but you're the definition of stuck. You can't even take a walk, for some, without risking falling, and for all, without feeling the bite of the cold.

George Orwell talked about the “enforced idleness” of the poor, and that notion is seldom more true than it was during those weeks.

Traffic was in gridlock when the snow started falling, on the 18^th. By that Saturday, I was worried about our ability to hold out, especially since that was the day Shalom had to close, so we couldn’t, and we had to clean floors piecemeal, by asking people to shift from dayrooms to the dining room, and back again. Which isn't good for tempers.

All that snow and gridlock isn't much for helping volunteers arrive as, like everyone else in town, they're snowed in.

Suffice to say we as a staff were nearly pulling our hair out that week, and the week after--until the roof fell through.

Ok, so, the roof didn't actually fall in. But that's what was reported to the news stations, after a sprinkler pipe burst near an exterior wall, and the water-soaked ceiling tiles came crashing to the floor the Saturday after Christmas. Everyone was evacuated, water was shut off, and our firefighters helped us clear the 2-3 inches of standing water off our floor, before everyone came back in.

But we made it.

We pulled through. During the worst of times, when everyone, client and staff, were on edge, when we were nearly the definition of understaffed and overworked, we did it.

We did it and we didn’t even shut down the warming center on Christmas Eve.

See, the city's policy is just that--policy. That is, when the temperature gets to be above 15 degrees, warming centers are no longer activated. Because when things are "warming up," asit did on the 23rd of December--then the funding dries up. Warming centers aren't activated.

But we were. In this budget crisis (economic downturns hit all quarters), during this time of economic poverty, we ate the cost. Because if the House of Charity is about anything, it's about not forcing 40+ men to sleep outside on Christmas Eve.

And that's what makes it worth it.

Because poverty is divisive. When you tell someone you work at a homeless shelter, there's an immediate reaction. It's either a resounding "that's great!" and you're accused of sainthood, or a confused look. One extreme or the other.

A guy swung at me one night during the warming center this December (a first, in fifteen months of shelter work). On occasion, shit gets smeared in the bathroom (we do rock-paper-scissors to decide who's turn it is to clean it). Once in awhile you find yourself needing to tell someone who's life has hardened them like stone something that they aren't going to appreciate--and wondering how they're going to respond.

But for every single time we're put in a (maybe literally) shitty situation, there are a hundred smiles shared to counteract it. There are a hundred times someone says thanks for the help, and means it, a hundred times I notice an act of unprovoked kindness. A hundred little doses of genuine appreciation that are enough to melt any heart, make up for any amount of shit.

Because the House of Charity might be the only place where someone can get their smile returned. And at the House of Charity, even when there’s three feet of snow on the ground, even when we’re running near the breaking point, even when I’m getting backed into a corner by someone who’s been backed into a corner of their own, nobody has to sleep outside on Christmas Eve.

And zero outdoors on a night that important and that cold is one number worth fighting for.

Blog Bible's Getting a Bit of Ad-Space 1.20.09

2009-01-20T23:06:00.001-08:00

One of our own designed it, and frankly, I'm impressed. Go get one!

House of Charity -- Open House 1.17.09

2009-01-17T12:57:00.001-08:00

On Monday, it being National Service Day and all, we're going to be hosting:

http://www.usaservice.org/page/event/detail/dayofservicejanuary19/4v2qw

We'd love to see you here.

George Orwell on 'Fear of the Mob' 1.16.09

2009-01-16T10:12:00.000-08:00

Few know it, but George Orwell wrote an autobiographical sketch of his time spent living and working in the slums of European cities, and Down and Out in Paris and London is the result. Here he's reflecting on the modern-day slavery of the life of a Parisian plongeur, or dishwasher. It seems needless, to have free (-ish) men sweating away their entire lives in underground cellars to wash dishes for the rich to eat 'well' in a hotel. More odd still though, to Orwell, is this fear of the uneducated, poor-and-hungry, mob:

"Fear of the mob is a superstitious fear. It is based on the idea that there is some mysterious, fundamental difference between rich and poor, ans though they were two different races, like negroes and white men. But in reality there is no such difference. The mass of the rich and poor are diferentiated by their incomes and nothing else, and the average millionaire is only the average dishwasher dressed in a new suit. Change places, and handy dandy, which is the justice, which is the theif? Everyone who has mixed on equal terms with the poor knows this quite well. But the trouble is that intelligent, cultivated people, the very people who might be expected to have liberal opinions, never do mix with the poor. For what do the majority of educated people know about poverty? In my copy of Villon's poems the editor has actually thought it necessary to explain the line "Ne pain ne voyent qu'aux fenestres" by a footnote; so remote is even hunger from the educated man's experience. From this ignorance a superstitious fear of the mob results quite naturally. The educated man pictures a horde of submen, wanting only a day's liberty to loot his house, burn his books, and set him to work minding a machine or sweeping out a lavatory. "Anything," he thinkins, "any injustice, sooner than let that mob loose." He does not see that since there is no difference between the mass of rich and poor, there is no question of setting the mob loose. The mob is in facdt loose now, and--in the shape of rich men--is using its power to set up enormous treadmills of boredom, such as "smart" hotels."

Unfortunately for those living in poverty, the pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mentality of individual liberty and freedom to work work work in our country's consciousness doesn't help Orwell's realization to take root.

William Winkler Interview 1.12.09

2009-01-12T14:59:00.000-08:00

Below is a URL for a video interview of local community activist and formerly homeless individual William Winkler, done by a local film student, Jazmin Ely.

My video uploading software is, well, freeware, so apologies for the stamp in the center. The audio is poor as well, but the commentary is valid and worth turning up your speakers a bit.

Enjoy!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6994044185372754991&hl=en

Oh, the picture isn't of William. It was found on a google image search, and is available online:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennafreeman/1393093033/

I think the man in the picture is named Rob, but he mostly keeps to himself, so I'm not sure.

Malcom Gladwell Tackles Social Services Theory 12.31.08

2008-12-31T23:03:00.000-08:00

I won't spoil it for you, but Malcom Gladwell's 2006 article in the New Yorker articulates the tension well:

http://gladwell.com/2006/2006_02_13_a_murray.html

This snippet cuts to the heart of the issue, but won't make sense until the article is digested:

"Power-law solutions have little appeal to the right, because they involve special treatment for people who do not deserve special treatment; and they have little appeal to the left, because their emphasis on efficiency over fairness suggests the cold number-crunching of Chicago-school cost-benefit analysis. Even the promise of millions of dollars in savings or cleaner air or better police departments cannot entirely compensate for such discomfort."

House of Charity Episode 5 Retooled 12.16.08

2008-12-13T23:23:00.000-08:00

Truth be told, teachers that change their students' lives are few and far between, especially at the college level. Students are too good at being students by the time we hit university to run into a dynamic presence that truly breaks the mold--but we're always happy to meet the exceptions.

Fr. Steven Kuder, a Jesuit who has taught at Gonzaga for decades (not to mention being reared somewhere on the South Hill) was one for me.

His teachings strayed far and away from the proposed subject matter--and for good reason. He advocated breakfast. And sleep. He had quotes to begin each lecture, gems like "whenever I meet someone new, and they tell me their problem, I try to recognize what it is, and just how much they're willing to do to not solve it." Good stuff.

For years, he's taught an introductory religion course on both the Old and New Testament, along with a class on Christian Leadership (where, among other things, the phrase "Spiral Dynamics" first steamrolled me. The term, and the idea, are available in a book by Don Beck by the same title). One quote from the CL course before we move on: "Leadership is 10% managing the people below you, 10% the people above, and 80% managing yourself."

To help a group of privileged white kids understand the teachings of the Old Testament, he gave out a few essential rules of the desert, since that's where most of the Old Testament authors lived.

Firstly, and of paramount importance, in the desert, there's not much to go around. Sometimes there's not enough. It's a setting that may be the definition of "Privation."

This is radically different than how things are for us today. Economics studies have shown that there's really not much of an increase in felicity (happiness) when our means increase past covering the basics. These studies (and others) are available online, and are collected on another brilliant Gonzaga professor's course website.

Economist Article on the Gay Science (Economics)

http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/alfino/cfma/courses/419/economisthappiness.pdf

Chapters from relevant books are available by links on the February 20th lecture on his site (the lecture is on Money and Status)

http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/alfino/cfma/courses/419/index.cfm?semester=200720

At any rate, the articles point to the idea that at some point, the connection between how much we have and how happy we are starts to falter. But saying that quickly moves past the point that at some level there is a connection. For those living in the desert, or for those that are homeless, this is certainly the case. For those living in a culture of not having enough.

Rules of the desert are useful, then, in understanding those that are homeless, because of the similarity of circumstance. In the desert, taking care of your kin really matters. The tribe might not make it if you don't. So you stick by (and care for) your own rather than splitting your dollar up among everyone. But that's not to say that when someone lands on your doorstep you don't roll out the red carpet (think the visit to Abraham by the two angels where he had his wife prepare a feast), as a gesture. A sort of primitive golden rule, or recognizing how anyone would want to be treated if they were traveling through the inhospitable desert. Or under the boardwalk.

On the same token, there's no love lost for those that have wronged you when you're living in such conditions. Enemies need to know that you're not a group to be tangled with--or else you might not be around much longer. On the street, it's called "saving face."

But those 'sleeping out' aren't the only ones demonstrating the kind of hospitality recorded in the Old Testament. Just last weekend (specifically Saturday, 12.13.08) in the House of Charity, a family braved the frigid weather to dole out cinnamon rolls and coffee that they'd bought as they stood out front. Shortly after, a Bikers for Christ chapter came in to hand out gloves (good ones!), socks (wool!), and scripture (also good). To top all this off, a woman with her son in tow brought in around fifty blankets that she'd probably spent months collecting from around town, simply because "she remembers what it means to struggle."

This doesn't even give credit to the half-dozen or so others that emptied car-loads of blankets, or shoes, or old gloves. One lady even donated some Jello. It all helps. People like Jello.

Vancouver Mayor Putting us to Shame 12.10.08

2008-12-10T22:36:00.000-08:00

A great article on the strides the Vancouver, B.C. mayor is making on orienting his administration towards addressing homelessness within his city:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/391412_Joel10.html

Tip of the hat to Jon Phillips for the article link!

Washington State Budget Cutting 12.7.08

2008-12-07T22:44:00.000-08:00

Two Google Groups messages that we all should take a look at:

1. GAU- General Assistance to the Unemployed

One of the tools that our governor can use to balance the budget is to cut vital human services. GAU is the socially-stigmatized way that individuals who are disabled (for a myriad) of reasons temporarily are able to receive financial assistance until they can get back on their feet, and a service that will be lost come January 1st unless we do something about it:

http://groups.google.com/group/wsch_news/browse_thread/thread/54aaf6f7b1888a6e?hl=en

2. Homeless Person's Memorial Day Candlelight Vigil December 19th (Tacoma) although a Spokane Vigil would be more than excellent:

http://groups.google.com/group/wsch_news/browse_thread/thread/992949aa939db0cc?hl=en

"Life on the streets can quickly lead to death on the streets; shelter can literally mean the difference between life and death. The average age of death for homeless persons is about 50, non- homeless Americans can expect to live to age 78. People experiencing homelessness are three to four times more likely to die prematurely than their housed counterparts, according the
National Health Care for the Homeless Council."

Spokane's very own Blog Bible 12.2.08

2008-12-02T23:05:00.000-08:00

Hey Sports Fans-

The local Spokane Blog Bible is just getting collated and ready for production, and 7,000 made the cut! There are 14 different local Spokane blogs presented in a neat little stocking stuffer that everyone should pick up this holiday season. Keep your eyes peeled for this little item at local retailers this holiday season.

House of Charity Episode 4 12.1.08

2008-12-01T23:55:00.000-08:00

One of the hardest things to understand when beginning work at the HoC was the concept that, for those living on street, the cycle of the moon can affect mood.

I'm not kidding. The term lunatic having it's root in the latin lunaticus, according to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunatic) sharing it's stem with luna, the latin word for moon is based on folklore, and debunked often by scientific studies.

Here's a website doing just that (and it's for kids! There are links to dozen's of studies available here):

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/moon.html

However, the studies are society-wide, and have not been done specifically for homeless individuals, who, as a rule, spend more time outside and in the elements than do those of us living indoors. Similar to the persons inspiring the folk-lore, considering we've moved into increasing levels of comfort and separation from the elements as we've 'progressed' as a society. The homeless are in a different circumstance.

But the lunar cycle is just one of the ways in which the HoC finds it's rhythm. There's a daily ebb and flow, a similar experience throughout the week, as well as the month.

It's the yearly cycle that's most drastic. Since the brief snowfall last week, there have been more returning faces that we haven't seen since early spring than I can shake a stick at. Which means one thing--sleeping outside in Spokane is officially becoming less of a chronic condition (i.e. one that makes life difficult) and moving more into the fatal range (i.e. can be life-ending) without the proper equipment.

It also changes shelter life considerably. There are fewer open beds. Travel is difficult, since most use their legs to get them from point A to B, not to mention adequate footwear coming more and more at a premium. Making an appointment may mean getting wet feet that are hard to dry, and the extra travel time may make it hard to get back in time for lunch. Wet boots take quite a bit of time--and room--to dry. Since the outdoors are now less hospitable than the indoors, and more and more people are packing into the shared space, it's hard to get a moment to yourself (something that anyone, homeless or otherwise, needs). Tempers flare, and may result in someone being unwelcome in the shelter--a difficult position considering the outdoor temperature becoming harder and harder to bear.

In short, there is little about winter that isn't stressful on shelter living.

The Number (7294) 11.26.08

2008-11-27T02:22:00.000-08:00

In 2004, the City of Spokane counted 7,294 individuals that received services, according to the Ten Year Plan to Address Homelessness in Spokane. To the best of my understanding (and I'm really excited to be wrong about this one) this number hasn't decreased.

This report is available at:

http://www.spokanehomeless.com/sub.aspx?id=382

Spokane vs. Seattle Tent Cities (Nickelsville) 11.25.08

2008-11-27T01:48:00.000-08:00

Nickel's Ville--A Model Tent City

http://www.nickelsvilleseattle.org/
(photo taken from homepage)

The Seattle struggle against homelessness has taken a rather personal turn against Greg Nickel's, Seattle's Mayor, who is apparently not an advocate of the homeless in his city.

Thankfully, many are. In order to better facilitate a Spokane tent city, which faces very different obstacles, here are some tips from Nickelsville organizers:

Nickelsville, in contrast to a Spokane tent city (which would most likely remain in a fixed location because of a recent city ordinance with several stipulations toward it's site) moves often. So, there was a site committee to determine the next locations. Spokane's will need a site committee as well in order to determine/facilitate the location.

I'll try and get the requirements for a Spokane tent city up soon.

Nickelsville started with a donation of tents, that would seem quite necessary for a Spokane tent city, although local sponsors may be harder to come by. The structure of such an establishment would need to come from within (as at Nickelsville) in order to provide a self-sustaining community, and media attention should be directed at those within the community, rather than those that brought it into existence.

Most of the materials needed for an undertaking of this magnitude would need to be donated, so there would be a need for a donations committee, to handle supplies of the various sorts and sizes necessary for the operation.

Gonzaga University Continued Rumblings 11.14.08

2008-11-20T22:21:00.000-08:00

Recently at Gonzaga University the conversation about a university-sponsored tent city has continued, and social justice advocates in the Gonzaga Justice Club have shown their mettle in a camp out to raise awareness:

Accepting the Challenge (GU student campout)
http://media.www.gonzagabulletin.com/media/storage/paper375/news/2008/11/14/News/Accepting.The.Challenge-3543237.shtml

Gonzaga Panel on Homelessness
http://media.www.gonzagabulletin.com/media/storage/paper375/news/2008/11/14/News/Panel.On.Homelessness.Promotes.Awareness-3543260.shtml

A Letter 11.7.08

2008-11-07T14:08:00.000-08:00

This was written by one of the people I know who is homeless. It's an open letter, and is grappling with the same issues that those of us committed to the cause try to understand--but from his own perspective. For him, homelessness is not as much an abstract injustice as a daily reality. He's about my age:

Homeless. When you hear that do you think alcoholic, bum, a person who holds a sign that gave up on life, or a social disease? That is the stigma that a homeless person deals with every day.

For example, I had to carry my 'Gear' on the day I chose to go job hunting. I saw this gas station that had 'Now Hiring' on the door. So I walk in for an application, and the person working said 'It's not for this store!' I thought to myself, 'then why do they have it one their door then?' I still see that person when I buy food with my EBT card.

I can remember when I was a kid, my grandfather and I were in the park eating sandwiches. This homeless person started to walk toward us. My grandfather said, 'Don't look at him or talk to him.' I didn't know at the time, but the stigma was there.

There are some positive sides of being homeless. The friendships, for me I like the free meal sites, and the nice people who give us change. There's this couple I know that have been together longer than the average married couple. They live under a bridge.

The free meal sites, man I can't believe that the homeless population isn't getting more obese 'cause there are a lot of kind people who donate food and the churches that serve the food.

When I panhandle I am very thankful to the people who help 'kickdown' some change and maybe a dollar or two. There are some people who see that stigma and don't acknowledge us but I'm not talking about them. I'm happy for the people who say, "I've been there." You people kick ass.

But my hand is getting tired, so I'll leave you with this. What do you think about us homeless, do you see the stigma like so many others or have you 'been there'?

-CT

2008-11-04T23:16:00.000-08:00

Recently, the Gonzaga Bulletin has begun rumblings towards exciting things related to our homeless, like a university-sponsored tent city.

At least the rumblings have started:

Streetwise-
http://media.www.gonzagabulletin.com/media/storage/paper375/news/2008/10/24/Features/StreetWise-3504988.shtml

'Lip service to the city's unsolved problem-
http://media.www.gonzagabulletin.com/media/storage/paper375/news/2008/10/24/Features/lip-Service.To.The.Citys.Unsolved.Problem-3505001.shtml

Grasping the 'Homeless Blues'-
http://media.www.gonzagabulletin.com/media/storage/paper375/news/2008/10/24/Features/Grasping.The.homeless.Blues-3505007.shtml

At House of Charity, all are welcome-
http://media.www.gonzagabulletin.com/media/storage/paper375/news/2008/10/24/Features/At.House.Of.Charity.All.Are.Welcome-3511192-page2.shtml

Granted, the language used by the two editors looking to 'experience homelessness' is offensive, if not just in poor taste. Anyone who would make a joke about the 'homeless diet' even in jest probably needs their head examined, or refer to people persevering through circumstance hard to even comprehend as 'derelicts', well, at least the articles were written.

They do begin the talk of Gonzaga's involvement in a Spokane tent city--which is more than encouraging.

House of Charity Episode 3

2008-11-02T14:24:00.000-08:00

One of the nicknames of the House of Charity is the House of Chaos, and with good reason.

I've never really appreciated that nickname myself. When it's brought up, I joke that it ought to have been called the 'House of Love.' Either works, really.

One of the staff members that worked at the House before I did keyed me in on this one--one of the most important aspects of our job working at the shelter is to let people know what to expect. We need to be consistent, to provide clear and fair boundaries, and to explain why things are the way they are, so as to help the people we serve to know that the system is designed for them, not against them, that everything that is done at the House of Charity is designed, through experience, to be the most effective and efficient way of serving the people that visit us. A House of Stability.

Because there's really no telling what might happen when someone leaves our building.

When someone leaves our sanctuary, there is no guarantee except their reputation and their strength of arm (or appearance of it at least) that someone won't attack them--for their backpack, their wallet, maybe even their coat. Maybe worse. It's a far too common occurrence for the homeless population in Spokane to 'get rolled', or have their belongings 'lifted', including their I.D.'s, clothing, sometimes their savings.

This is too much of a reality to ignore, in two parts. It makes the stability portion key--when someone has been victimized, there's got to be something to fall back on. A lot of times that's us. The second part is tricky.

The second part is what we might call 'street justice', or 'saving face', or 'cred'. I'm sure all have been used. It's partly a way to feel like you're able to protect yourself from other people on the street--because they know that you're not someone to they want to upset. Lots of times after someone has been rolled, we hear about how they're going to get them back, or get even, or, a quote I heard last night, "you take from me I'll take from you."

It's like Jr. High. If you're known as the person people can push around, they will. But it's not just some small-scale getting pushed around on the playground at this point. Sometimes, what might be taken is your savings. Or your ticket home.

So people take good care of their reputations, which means for those of us working in this environment it pays dividends to not be calling people out among their peers, since, sometimes their reputation among them is the only reputation they have.

House of Charity Episode 2

2008-11-02T09:17:00.001-08:00

Same story, came from digitalagape.blogspot.com:

I'm not sure what I'd do if I had all the convinction of a Southern Baptist preacher as I was explaining my point of view to someone, and they didn't buy it.

Of course, I could be speaking out of my authority. I could be a classically-trained physicist attempting to shed light on Church doctrine, or a Michigan factory worker explaining what life is like in contemporary Buenos Aires.

Speaking outside of experience, more so than my authority.

Authority seems like a much bigger issue. Who we listen to, who's point of view we find valuable, this seems to say quite a bit about ourselves. For example, there's the bit that religious types like to invoke, about Divine authority, showing the importance of God in their lives, there are the people in my life that can tell me what to do and how to do it (to some degree parents, friends, and employers) although whether or not I choose to heed their advice, naturally, could go either way.

Then there's the bit that I've been given based on my position in life--as a high school or college senior (especially in college as a chemistry major), as an athlete, as one of the 'smart kids', or, near as I can tell, as a white male on track for fiscal success. There are people, most of the time younger people on the same path as my own, looking for pointers as they navigate the pitfalls.

This last bit is the difficult part to understand, and appreciate. Especially when a large part of my current position (that of an Americorps Volunteer at the House of Charity) involves making decisions that can radically affect other people's lives--once in awhile giving advice that, if inaccurate, could send someone on a long walk to nowhere on a cold night.

It's a strange position to find oneself in, when a fifty year old man that has spent nearly a quarter century as a Teamster is trusting me for advice on how to care for his rash (the Plan of Action there is to recommend he see a doctor). Or the lady that believes me when I tell her that the House of Charity is a safe place for her to rest for awhile, only to be woke up by a full-scale assault in progress. To be given so much trust by so many strangers who have seen more, done more, and lived more interesting lives than I may ever.

Somehow, because I'm a staff person at the House of Charity, my words count for the people that stay there. The incredible opportunity to dispense advice, or to give words of encouragement, or to simply have people laugh at my jokes, all reflect the odd position of being an authority figure among those that are, sometimes literally, twice or three times my age.

House of Charity Episode 1

2008-11-02T09:13:00.000-08:00

This post was originally laid-down on my personal blog, digitalagape.blogspot.com, but I feel like it's more appropos here:

Mostly, though, the House of Charity is an exercise in what fantastic beauty is squeezed out when you put enough people together in such a small space.

I'm serious.

I give a lot of tours where I work, and visiting the upstairs large dorm is always a highlight. 'Picture 84 men sleeping in the same space. It's a wonder there aren't more difficulties than there are.' I'm serious when I say it. Not that the area is packed, it's actually much more hospitable than any other grouping of 84 beds that I've ever seen, and much more sanitary. The staff at the House of Charity work extremely hard on that end. It's looking out and seeing the sleeping quarters of nearly ninety men all in one room that's humbling.

There's something to be said about space and how much people need it to themselves. During daytime services, the shelter I work at sees nearly 300 people come in the door, give or take. There's honestly no telling who will walk in next, be it a broke-down truck driver with a tobacco-stained mustache, or some kid younger than myself who's attempting to skip more class than he attends (high school, and as long as he's over 18, he's welcome at the HoC). Where I work transcends boundaries, all those physical, social, cultural norms that spring up when there's enough room and time for folks to get peace and quiet.

About the only cultural practice that seems to be salient through the House of Charity is the night-time rituals of slowing down that are so rarely seen in the college life. We open in the evenings, from 6 to 8pm, and men start going upstairs to bed at 7. Some play dice, some watch a bit of a movie on a portable DVD player, some read. Mostly, though, the men and women are slowing down from (often) a much longer work-day than I'm putting in, and are able to get some time to themselves. Some eat a bit--asking me to warm up a burrito they bought at the local Quik-Mart, or some fast food that they picked up on their way in.

Some have drank too much, and might totter, or talk too loudly, or otherwise disturb the peace. Most of the time these folks are hushed quickly by staff, or by other patrons. Sometimes they require coaxing, or a ride to DETOX, where they can sleep off whatever bender they find themselves on.

Once in a while when people have drank too much they're carried in by their sober friends. Mostly these guys just recognize what they'd like to have happen if the shoe were on the other foot, and sling their fallen comrade's limp arm over their shoulder, and set them where they won't tip.

It's in actions like these, where people who might literally have nothing in the world to their name save medical bills, and still take the time to help out those around them, that I'm impressed with my species, and with the earnest dignity of those so many look down upon, if they see them at all.

What it is. 10.31.08

2008-10-31T12:07:00.000-07:00

On any given day in Spokane, Washington, the commonly accepted number of homeless lands somewhere around 7,000.

This means that there are more homeless than there are total Gonzaga students--and most likely more when staff, faculty, and service crews are tallied.

The number of Seattle homeless is only about 8,000, according to shelter staff.

This leads to questions. Why Spokane? What is is that is so special about our city that lends itself so to a large homeless population? Anyone can notice the homeless, if we take the time. The visible minority panhandle under the bridge, near Dick's Hamburgers, or can be seen walking along the low-income service corridor portion of downtown (2nd and 3rd Ave) to various appointments, social services, or hanging out around and in the public library, the park, under the train bridges, or in the parking lot across from the Satellite.

This project of mine (the author) is simple--humanize the dehumanized in Spokane. Not that this is a clear, straightforward process, because those that dehumanize people in Spokane because they lack shelter, adequate support for a debilitating condition, or have clothing priorities (like warmth!) that outweigh keeping up on the latest fashion trends, well they aren't the sort of people that would become activists or advocates, or read this blog.

There's a lot of ground to cover before this project can be realized (hence the need for this online forum). Let's get started. Once we realize that it's to everyone's benefit for people to be able to live healthy, happy lives, the motivations for working to keep people in homes, off the street, and having options for employment, recreation, and enjoyment of life are obvious.

It's also difficult, given the individualistic model for success we have in our country, to understand our role in this process. Simply put, because our culture values financial success, and gives praise to the successful, then those that are poor are automatically looked down upon. This is not to say that we shouldn't give credit to the rich! But congratulating someone on their wealth oftentimes mistakes the process by which they came across their financial success. The dangerous assumption, though, is to consider a financially successful person to be a good person. Some of the values that one could reasonably associate with financial success--a strong work ethic, a 'me first' mentality toward the future, aggressiveness, domination of others, a good ability to plan, to name a few--are certainly valued in our social landscape.

These aren't necessarily the values promoted by any religion, religious philosophy, folk tradition. That being said, perhaps there's room for error.

Without alienating those of us (myself included) who have been given much, it's important to recognize that this is the case--and that those that have not been given enough are not necessarily to blame for this circumstance.

These circumstances are the ones that need changing. Circumstances that can be dehumanizing, like living on the street, are to everyone's detriment.