Monday, August 30, 2010

“This guy is a recluse”

This is a story I wrote about a year ago after spending a day talking with homeless people at the Columbia MO, Project Homeless Connect event. St Joseph is going to have their own Project Homeless Connect event on October 19th. We will need volunteers that day so be watching for more information on how you can get involved.

Ed could be your grandpa. He’s thin, dressed in a neat shirt with a ball cap on his grey haired head. He looks like he might be an older farmer or a retired construction guy. He’s a veteran. He speaks with a clear and authoritative voice. The more he speaks the more it becomes apparent why he is homeless. Ed isn’t giving us much information at first. He’s being coy about his background, or where it is he sleeps and eats each day. He’s testing us to see how long we will put up with him, can he goad us into some reaction. We’re patient and it pays off, he takes a liking to us and begins his story. “I came here to do a petition drive for an attorney. I got more signatures than anyone! The law was unfair to people who might get caught smoking pot, that one trip-up can ruin their life if the laws aren’t changed. I don’t smoke or drink but the law is unconstitutional and so I thought it was the right thing to do to try and get it changed.” Then Ed told us he can’t go to the Salvation Army anymore, his story is interesting and somewhat believable, except there is surely another side to the story. He claims to have been an activist for civil rights in Norman OK back in the 60s. He tells us stories of standing up to racism when he was involved in campus ministries. The stories continue and he is happy to talk. How much of it is true is uncertain, the fact that he could be a handful for anyone trying to help him is readily apparent. He’s smart and obviously thinks he should be above this homeless thing…but for some reason he will be back on the streets or somewhere (he still won’t really tell us what his living situation is) when he leaves this building. After almost an hour of sitting at our table and talking with us in between our conversations with others, he still won’t tell us his name. Another man comes by who knows him, “This guy is a recluse,” he jokes with us. But there is obviously much truth to that statement.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

I Never Knew...

I didn't write the following post. Couldn't write it. It was written by a friend of mine that I have known for almost 18 years. Someone I worked with for many years. I knew she had some things happen in her life long before I met her, but I had no idea.She responded to a cause request on Facebook today. The cause is Community Missions, and we provide housing and support to chronically homeless men. Here is what she wrote when accepting the request to join the cause...


Years ago, in another lifetime, I made a horrible life choice. It not only affected my life, but my daughter's. At 8:00 am Dawn was a happy 10 year old decorating her room. At 5:00 pm the same day, she and I were "displaced" -- we weren't allowed back in our home under threat of violence. We weren't allowed a vehicle for transportation. We had only the clothes on our backs. It was January. We went walking uptown. I can still feel the tears frozen to our cheeks and Dawn's small hand clenching mine so tightly she cut off my circulation. We were so scared! Thank God our church family and friends came to our aid. I never missed a day of work. Dawn never missed a day of school. I filed for a restraining order to keep Dawn safe. We wore friends' hand-me-downs to have clothing changes. Later, someone left word for me of an apartment to rent. They said our first month's rent had been paid by an anonymous donor. Our church didn't have a food pantry, but partnered with one in St. Joseph. They brought us food, clothing, appliances, furniture, but most of all the gave us hope that the light at the end of the tunnel wasn't a train. Could we have turned it all around without their help? I can't imagine how. So I go a little "ballistic" when I hear people say homeless folks choose that way of life. No, they are choosing to go on the best they can. God sent folks in my life to "bring me home". It is time for me to help others "come home". Won't you join me?

Monday, August 23, 2010

Sad for our Seniors

The woman we helped today is not homeless. She has a small apartment in subsidized housing for seniors and disabled people. She is elderly, disabled, on oxygen and a bit of a hoarder. Her apartment was clean but she just had too much stuff! The exterminators were needing to treat her apartment but there were too many things in the way. Without help she would wind up evicted. She has no family to speak of and she can't do much herself. She spends most of her time in a scooter or in her lift chair. Her speech is slow but she is a very sharp lady! And kind of funny in her own way. Where does someone like her turn for help?

InterServ's nurse got things moving and we organized a small crew to go in today and move things and clean things and work to get ready for the exterminator. We had to wrap things in plastic, throw things out, box up things, do endless laundry, you get the picture. It was a long hot day for everyone!Special thanks to Zach & Kyle who agreed to help us for a few bucks and InterServ Home Care Aide Marsha who has done an unbelievable amount of work to help this client.

It was sad that an agency like InterServ is really the only place this woman has to turn to in a time of crisis. But, at least we were able to help her and keep her in housing! In this season of United Way giving just remember that sometimes agencies are the only "family" some people have.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Just A Small Thing

There are a lot of things I take for granted in my existence of everyday life. I know how to maneuver in my world, in the place that I live. And I have the ability to manage my own schedule without too many problems. I’ve watched my kids grow up and now that they are teenagers they are getting better at managing their time and making decisions about how and when they want to do something or go somewhere. Of course, being typical teenagers they want to go somewhere and do something all the time!

But what if you couldn’t negotiate your schedule? What if you just couldn’t manage to get things in a workable order? How hard would even the most basic organizing of your life be under those circumstances?

We first met “Kyle” in our Cold Weather Shelter. At that time we operated a temporary shelter for homeless men just to get them off the street in the worst of the winter weather months. Kyle was outgoing and funny, he always had a big story to tell. He was living on the streets.

We knew that something was amiss in the way Kyle negotiated his world. He seemed like an overgrown 14 year old in many respects. Seemingly normal behavior followed by erratic and incredibly impulsive behaviors.

When Community Missions opened the Juda House we moved Kyle in and started to really work on stabilizing him and dealing with his issues. What we found was that because of his specific condition, he would always have difficulty in managing his world. The impulsive and sometimes reactionary behaviors were caused by a very real issue that could not be reversed. (I’m not being too specific here on purpose because I do not want to reveal anything that might identify this person).

Our Care Coordinators pushed him to do better, take more responsibility, make good decisions and back up those decisions with the right actions. Now we are not talking a few weeks or months of work here. This is a multi-year process. We move forward a few steps and then hit a wall or fall back to an old patter of unsuccessful behavior. The great thing about Kyle is that he almost always has a good attitude and sometimes that’s half the battle.

Just a couple of weeks ago the Care Coordinator pulled me into the office and said, “You won’t believe what Kyle did today.” I was bracing for something bad.

She proceeded to tell me, “Kyle realized that he had been scheduled for two appointments at the same place (which is about a 45 minute drive away) on two different days next week. He also knew that this was not a good thing because it meant multiple trips for someone to transport him. He then picked up the phone; called and changed his appointments so that they were on the same day and made sure that one appointment would follow the other in such a way that he would not have a long wait between appointments! He did it all on his own without any help from me!”

Kyle proudly walked into the Care Coordinator’s office and announced that he had made some changes in his appointments and was very happy to tell us that he did it on his own. He took great pride in the fact that he was able to manage something like this on his own.

It may seem like a small thing. I mean he just made a phone call and changed an appointment time right? But in Kyle’s world it was a huge step. It’s one more step that he has made in his time at the Juda House. One more step away from his life on the streets. One more step towards independence. One more step towards becoming the person he really wants to be.

But sometimes it’s just a small thing that can really make your day.


Thursday, August 5, 2010

This is Home...

This is the "home" we found. On the rock at the top of the picture you can see a few items laid out as I described in the main story. Someone is sleeping there tonight.

Lost Income, Lost Faith

His survey simply stated, "Lost Income, Lost Faith." He  is homeless, living in an abandoned building and he was eating lunch at the Open Door Food Kitchen on the day of the Summer Point In Time Homeless Count. But the thing is, his is just 1 of 50 survey sheets I tabulated today. Every one of those sheets represents a real person who was homeless on Wednesday July 28, 2010.

Volunteers and staff from local agencies counted 170 people who were homeless on that day. Emergency shelters were assisting 120 people and we found 50 living unsheltered. Both numbers represent the highest totals we have ever recorded in our community. Both numbers are very sad and distressing.

I talked to "Juan" for quite some time. He is the father of 5 children, all of whom were with him that day, eating at the Food Kitchen. His wife was working while he was taking care of the kids. Cute kids, very nice family. His oldest, a fifth grader proudly told me he was on the honor roll at his school. Juan told me how he moved to St Joseph for  a better job. Soon after he started the job he got hurt and had surgery on his back. His wife's wages couldn't cover their housing and everything else and they lost their place to live. She is fearing layoffs where she is now working, he wants to work but his back limits what he will be able to do. The family was living in their car. Seven people in a car, in the 90 plus degree heat.

Juan was able to get help for his family. He qualified for a program that helps people who lost jobs get back into stable housing. With help from InterServ and a local pastor the family was able to get out of the car and now has a place to live.

I'd like to just stop right now. End with the "feel good" story of the family of seven who got off the street. But then I look over at the pile of sheets on my desk. Those lavender colored forms that represent all the other people who are likely still on the street today. And I wonder how many people did we miss?

I walked through the woods that day, climbed a fence, poked around under a bridge. I found a place where a homeless person is staying. It's a cardboard box flattened out between a bridge pillar and some big rocks. You can't see it from the road, it's well hidden. There was a blanket in the corner and some toiletries arranged on the rock like you might arrange things on your bathroom sink area. This is someone's home. I left a bag filled with some soap, toothpaste and other similar items. That's about all I could do. Even if the person had been there I had little to offer him. The shelters are full the housing programs have waiting lists and he probably knows about the Food Kitchen.