HOMELESSNESS

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  • THIS PAGE IS NOT MEANT TO DEPRESS THOSE WHO ARE FEARING HOMELESSNESS THEMSELVES.
  • Outrageous things are happening to our fellow human beings who just happen to be homeless . Do you care , or are you one of the ones who looks the other way ?
  •  IT IS TO LIGHT A FIRE UNDER SOME OF US TO BE HAPPY WITH WHAT WE HAVE AND SHARE SOME OF OUR RESOURCES.     
  • WALK IN SOMEONE ELSE'S SHOES.
  • HOW CLOSE ARE YOU TO BEING HOMELESS ?
  • PLAY THE  GAME TO FIND OUT HOW PEOPLE CAN BECOME HOMELESS.

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------------SIDE NOTE ---------Op-Ed:

 New Las Vegas Law Against Feeding Homeless Underscores City's Real Motivations

Op-Ed by: Tim King Salem-News.com
The city most efficient at creating homeless people now says they will arrest you if you feed them.The rest of the article can be found here

 

---------------------SIDE NOTE--------------

Feed Homeless, Face Arrest
Food Not Bombs Group Face Harassment
© Sandra Williams

Apr 9, 2007

 There are some crazy laws that make it illegal to feed homeless people in public places. Food not bombs have been continuing to face arrest by feeding hungry people.
Eric Montanez, 21, from the group Food not bombs, was charged with violating a law against feeding homeless people in Orlando Florida. -(The rest of this article is available only in archives , and you have to pay for it. )

 

 

 

---------------------------------SIDE NOTE------------Monday, February 05, 2007

The War on the Poor escalates in Orlando

 

This article is about the ever growing draconian measures being taken by the the City of Orlando and many others. You can feed the birds but not a human being in Orlando. This article makes me wonder if I will have to go jail to feed someone because they are poor someday. Giving food to the poor has become a criminal act in cities around the country. I hope ours is not next.

The entire article can be read by clicking here
TODD LEWAN, AP National Writer Sat Feb 3, 4:49 PM ET

ORLANDO, Fla. - At Lake Eola park,

there is much beauty to behold: robust palms, beds of cheery begonias, a cascading lake fountain, clusters of friendly egrets and swans, an amphitheater named in honor of Walt Disney.

Then there are the signs.

DO NOT LIE OR OTHERWISE BE IN A HORIZONTAL POSITION ON A PARK BENCH ... DO NOT SLEEP OR REMAIN IN ANY BUSHES, SHRUBS OR FOLIAGE ... per city code sec. 18A.09 (a) and (o).

Visit the park's restrooms, and you'll find this sign on the wall above the hand dryers:

BATHING AND/OR SHAVING IN RESTROOM IS PROHIBITED ... per city code 18A.09 (p) ... LAUNDERING CLOTHES IN LAKE EOLA PARK IS NOT PERMITTED.

 

 So , instead of trying to help these people ,

they are arrested , or anyone who trys to help them are arrested. Why not put some of the money that was spent for these "beautiful places" into building a shelter , or at least a place for showers and food ? 

  People who are desparate to be clean , or who need to eat  are not humiliating themselves in order to harrass anyone.

They just want to have the basics just like anybody else.

 IT IS OUTRAGEOUS THAT THE WAY OUR GOVERNMENT IS HEADING , THE LAWS FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE ARE MAKING THEM FEEL EVEN LESS LIKE A HUMAN BEING.

 

 

 

 

*IF YOU ARE HOMELESS ,AND NEED HELP , GO HERE FIRST :

THE WORKING HOMELESS NETWORKING PAGE

 

The page listed directly above does not always work . If it is not currently working , try this page , which is another Homeless/Poor people's networking and information site :

http://www.sparesomechange.com/

 

 

 

This is a user friendly search engine for the site listed above. Thank you Elaine of TSA !

SPARE SOME CHANGE DOT COM SEARCH AND REFERANCE PAGE

 

 

 

ANOTHER OUTRAGEOUS  INCIDENT     HAPPENING TO OUR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS WHO JUST HAPPEN TO BE HOMELESS ! ! !

This is a real happening all over the  United States.

I know it to be true .

I was riding the bus this past winter ,and there was a homeless man on the bus in just a hospital gown on the bus right near where I was sitting . He only had one leg , the other leg , which was a stump , was infected and that is why he was in the hospital . The man was weak ,and when the bus stopped suddenly , he fell on the floor . He didn't want help up , because he was so humiliated.

 THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS . The people in our country should be ashamed . The land of the free ? Equal justice for all ? Only those with a home and money apparently .-soulight 7/02/07

 

 Homeless dumping
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Homeless dumping is the practice of hospital employees or emergency workers releasing homeless patients on the streets instead of placing them into the custody of a relative or shelter or retaining them in a hospital where they may require expensive medical care. [1] [2]

Associated Press; February 9, 2007; Los Angeles. A hospital van dropped off a homeless paraplegic man on Skid Row and left him crawling in the street with nothing more than a soiled gown and a broken colostomy bag, police said.... Police said the incident was a case of "homeless dumping" and were questioning officials from the hospital.[3]

Associated Press, October 25, 2006; Los Angeles. "L.A. Police Allege Homeless Dumping." Authorities have launched a criminal investigation into suspected dumping of homeless people on Skid Row after police witnessed ambulances leaving five people on a street there during the weekend.

 

 References
^ "Dumped On Skid Row", 60 Minutes. Retrieved on 2007-05-21. 
^ "L.A. charges hospital in dumping of homeless", MSNBC, November 16, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-05-21. 
^ Police probe alleged L.A. homeless dumping: Hospital van reportedly spotted dropping off paraplegic man on Skid Row, MSNBC via Associated Press, February 9, 2007

 

STORY ON "60 MINUTES" ABOUT HOSPITAL DUMPING

 

 

 

 

*NO MATTER HOW LITTLE YOU HAVE YOU CAN ALWAYS GIVE SOME OF IT AWAY-CATHERINE MARSHALL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Try this game and see what happens !

 

HOBSON'S CHOICE

 

Since most people who are homeless play the game above and lose, here is a page of shelter directories :

 

HOMELESS SHELTER SEARCH FOR THE US AND CANADA

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*"I asked God, why do You allow so much suffering in the world?     Why is there hunger, war, and disease?    Why don't You dosomething about it?          And God said, "That is why I made you!"

- Sufi teaching story

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*How close are you to becoming homeless ?

 

• You could be rich and living on credit and beyond your means and become homeless in an instant when your shaky financial structure topples over.

 

• Or , you could be a person just about ready to leave a mental institution and you are thinking : "Where do I go now ?"

 

• Maybe you are a disabled person who finally got your disability(after fighting for it for 2 years) ,and you found out that the government has decided that disabled people can live below the poverty line !?!?

 

• You could have just come home after taking your kids to daycare , and all the locks are changed and your husband won't return any calls.

 

 

Being poor is hard.

 

Being disabled is hard.

 

Having a temporary rough spot in our lives is hard.

  

  But it seems that if you are homeless you are invisible. Not even thought of as a human being.

 

What would you do if you became homeless ?

 

 Where would you go?

Who would help you ?

 

This page is a collection of stories from homeless people ,for homeless people ,and for those of us who need to wake up and help our fellow human beings.  tips from homeless people on how to sleep , eat ,get clean . . .

 

And, hopefully , some links that will open our eyes about the "UNTOUCHABLES "of the United States. 

 

 India is not the only country where there is a caste system.

 

SOULIGHT

 

 

*The first section is from a web site started by a homeless man :

He was publishing a homeless handbook.

 

After the first three chapters , it stopped. I don't know how much longer the handbook will even be on the net , so I am printing the whole thing on these pages.

 

 

HUMBLE HARV'S HOMELESS HANDBOOK

 

 

 

 

 

* "When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed". - Mother Teresa

 

 

 

 

Here is a blog by a homeless lady . I

t seems to still be going as of October 2006 :

HOOPTYLIFE DOT COM

 

 

Join hands across the seas with the World Homeless Union

 -- an informal association of socially responsible neighborhood, community, city, county, state, national and international educational, civic, social, cultural, religious and political groups, clubs, associations, alliances, coalitions, churches, charities, agencies, institutions, corporations, unions and other organizations --

 in unity and solidarity with the millions of homeless, and with the billions of near-homeless men, women and children struggling for freedom from poverty and oppression throughout the world.

THE WORLD HOMELESS UNION

 

 

 

 

Here are some quotes from the next site , called

"Being Homeless in America"  

• "Before becoming homeless I didn't know what it really meant. Most people today don't either. I would like to express, from experience, what it's like being homeless, trying to get meaningful employment while homeless, and what it takes to get out of homelessness. 
•    Many websites and news articles dwell on homeless people  panhandling, sleeping on sidewalks, drinking in public, or pushing shopping carts loaded with junk. While some people are like that, it's far from reality for most homeless.  
• Over 700,000 Americans are homeless at any given time. 

• Holding a job that pays enough to save toward housing is extremely difficult while being homeless. Many do day-labor or other intermittent low-paying jobs (the working poor), but seldom make progress. With constructive assistance many could achieve a productive and rewarding life, and contribute to society, rather than live in poverty. . . Finding and maintaining employment at a living wage is hard enough for most people. Lacking housing, transportation, and other basic essentials vastly multiplies the difficulty. 

• Many homeless can't work enough, with physical or mental problems, to even begin to afford housing. Disability or social security income, if they can get it, often isn't enough. 

• Where I live lower cost housing is rapidly being replaced with expensive condos. A typical single family home is now over   $200,000.  Mobile home parks keep closing while many of the residents can't afford to relocate.

• While Florida has high job growth, 83% of those jobs pay less than a living wage.
• Low unemployment doesn't mean the jobs pay enough to live on. 
•  Often shelters are built where there is a lack of real jobs,  maintaining the homeless with little hope of progress, while communities with jobs don't want the homeless or shelters where they live (NIMBYism, not in my back yard).

   If you know of programs that are making real progress, please let me know.  Your comments and suggestions are welcome." (His e-mail is on his page.)   

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