| January 2005 A publication of The Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless NASNA member 907 Logan Avenue Cheyenne, WY 82001-5247 307-634-8499 fax: 307-634-9089 © 2005 email: wch@vcn.com PAGE DOWN FOR TABLE OF CONTENTS |
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Wyoming Winds is published by the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless, 907 Logan Avenue, Cheyenne, WY 82001-5247. phone: 307-634-8499; fax: 307-634-9089. email: wch@vcn.com Editor for this edition of Wyoming Winds is Virginia Sellner. Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless, its staff or board. Copyrights revert back to the author upon publication. WCH is a 501(c)(3) all volunteer non-profit agency depending upon the community, foundation and corporate grants for funding. Donations may be mailed to 907 Logan Avenue, Cheyenne, WY 82001-5247. If you would like your donation to be used for a specific need please indicate this on your check. © 2004 **In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.** Homeless agency tries new solution By Crystal Yednak Chicago Tribune staff reporter Katherine runs her hands over every towel, every knickknack, every plastic fruit magnet on the refrigerator door as she leads an extensive tour of her new one-bedroom apartment in Downers Grove. Just a week earlier, she was sleeping on a light-blue, 2-inch-thick pad on a church floor in Glen Ellyn after about two years of homelessness. Now she delights in the idea of having "company," and she jumps to write down her address in large cursive letters. Her home is one of 12 that DuPage PADS, or Public Action to Deliver Shelter, aims to give people who don't have hope of finding a place to sleep other than in a shelter and who also have a mental-health issue or medical disability. Like other cities and counties, DuPage County has its own plan to end homelessness in 10 years, but advocates have found reaching that goal will require a shift in thinking. The old approach was to give people in shelters a list of tasks they had to accomplish before they could earn a home, such as holding down a job or attending counseling, said Jean Rosio, program director for DuPage PADS. But advocates say they've concluded that homeless people can't attack the other problems in their lives when they are consumed by anxiety over where they will sleep that night. "People shouldn't have to earn housing. It's a right," said Carol Simler, executive director of the organization. DuPage PADS has received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to cover the cost of leasing apartments for the persistently homeless and providing supportive services to help keep them in housing. Five people have moved in, ending their stays in shelters. The organization needs furnishings and supplies for seven other apartments before people can move into them. The budget does not cover most of the furniture and other household items, so the agency is looking for volunteers to outfit an apartment, said Jana Holmstrom, coordinator of the permanent supportive housing program. For example, Katherine's apartment was decorated by an adult Sunday school class from Naperville Christian Church, which even provided a Christmas tree with twinkling rainbow lights and gifts to put under it. Additional funding is hoped for so DuPage PADS can find permanent housing for 50 people over the next five years. "This population is costing this community more dollars to be homeless than if they were housed," Simler said. "These are people who are in a shelter every night and have little hope of anything else." Most of the people who fall into this group have no one to call on for support. "We're going out and talking to people who haven't been approached in a long time. Agencies have given up on them," Rosio said. One of the people who just moved into a home was giving away his Social Security check to other people because he wanted to help them. Now, staff members help him to manage his money. "Housing first means we're not going to set up barriers so they can't get housing," Rosio said. The staff doesn't present them with a list of rules and demands that must be met because some are not ready for that. "That's why they're on the streets," she said. The staff will meet at least once a week with each person to help put in order the other things they'll need. They will apply for benefits such as food stamps or Social Security, try to find part-time work, attend to medical needs, work on budgeting and cleaning, and get into counseling if needed. Once the participants start earning income, they will pay 30 percent of it toward rent, Holmstrom said. "I never owned anything or had a new car that belonged to me. I was just always trying to make ends meet," Katherine said as she led her tour. "I was just working on survival, really." Katherine, who asked that her full name not be used, spent her nights at various shelters, carrying belongings such as boots and clothes in plastic garbage bags. The staff came to know her and decided she would be a good candidate for the permanent supportive housing program. When Katherine found out she would have a place to live, she said she felt as if she were in shock for about 10 days but tried to keep it inside. "You're with all those people in the shelter, and you wish for all those people to have a place," she said. "So you don't want to say, `I got a place!'" Katherine was a stay-at-home mom for many years. Her husband died in 1993. About two years ago, after relying on family for help and moving from place to place, she found herself without a home. She spent the first of what would be many nights sleeping on a pad on the floor. On the first night on the mattress with the maroon-flowered comforter in her own apartment, she fell asleep in less than five minutes, Katherine said. She picks up a handmade quilt of brightly colored fabrics that the church left for her. "Feel how heavy this blanket is," she said. She knows the value of such things. She opens the linen closet and points out everything from the shampoo to the fabric-softener sheets. Holmstrom and other staff members will work with Katherine on her plan to get a job, a car and a phone. Katherine already has checked out the bus line in her neighborhood. During her time on the street, she carried the schedule for many bus lines in her bag so she could get around to the shelters, which move to a different site each night. But the route near her new home is one of the few routes she doesn't know. It was bitterly cold when she set out to find the bus and Katherine was pleased to be able to say, "I don't have to be out here today." Instead, she went back to her apartment. Katherine hopes to help other people coming into the program to get used to life on their own. "A home is from where you work out all things," Katherine said. "Try to be without one for a while, and you realize all it consists of." Wrapping up the tour, Katherine said the apartment has everything she needs. "Not to mention all the special things," she said, pointing to a decorative key box church members hung in the kitchen. "Tomorrow, I'll put my keys in here," she said. Learning to Help Himself, He Now Tries to Help Others By JOHANNA JAINCHILL NY Times Mr. Martin was homeless for two years. He slept in subways, in building hallways and basements, or on the street wrapped in cardboard. On the worst days he would deliberately get arrested to secure a place for the night. It is hard for Mr. Martin to believe he has been off the streets for almost a year. The transition has not been easy. "Being homeless, you feel rejected from society and accept that you are going to stay in that situation and live like that," he said. "Now I get paranoid on the streets. I force myself to go outside to go the hospital or see my family." For the first four decades of Mr. Martin's life, a place to sleep was not a problem. The oldest of three siblings born in Harlem, he was shining shoes at 5 to help support his family. When Mr. Martin was very young, his father left, he recalled. Despite being a promising student and athlete, Mr. Martin quickly started drinking and using drugs, and he joined a gang. By 21 he had two daughters and had married and divorced their mother. He took custody of his daughters and held several jobs to support them. "I always gave my daughters everything they needed," he said. "They always went to school and had enough to eat." But once his children were grown, Mr. Martin's drug use intensified. He started using crack and drinking heavily. He was arrested many times for selling drugs; in 1990 he was sent to prison for four years for felony possession. Adding to Mr. Martin's problems was the fact that he was bipolar and schizophrenic, but he sought no treatment. He became estranged from his family, including another daughter, who is now 8. Eventually, with no money and no home, he went to stay with his mother. After her death in 2001, Mr. Martin, unable to pay the rent for her apartment, became homeless. Sometimes he used city shelters, but abject conditions and violence made them less appealing than the streets. Hardest for Mr. Martin was not being able to shower or use a bathroom, and how he was treated by others. "I would get kicked and beaten when I slept sometimes," he recalled. "People see a homeless person and think you're in that situation because you want to be. You feel so rejected sometimes, you don't care if you live or not." Mr. Martin suffered terrifying episodes of schizophrenia and manic-depression. He also developed arthritis in his legs, which made it difficult to walk. Then, in 2003, he suffered a stroke, which may have saved his life. He realized that he was dying and needed help. After being released from the hospital, he sought treatment for his mental problems and arthritis and found Rosa Orihuela, a caseworker at the Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens, one of the seven charities supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. "We gave him emergency food and clothing," Ms. Orihuela recalled. "He couldn't walk well and was in so much pain from sleeping on the ground." Not long afterward, Mr. Martin had hip replacement surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital. Queens Case Management, an affiliate of Catholic Charities, assisted him in reinstating his Medicaid and a monthly disability check of $750. Just after he recuperated, a man he met at church offered him a tiny room that he could afford. He was off the streets for the first time in three years. In October of this year, all tenants were evicted. His check would not cover the cost of a security deposit and the first month's rent on a new room. He called Ms. Orihuela and she secured $450 from the Neediest Cases Fund to help him move to the place where he now lives. Now, Mr. Martin is trying to make the most of his new opportunity, and of the help he received from Catholic Charities and the Neediest Cases. He has re-established relationships with his daughters and has met his grandchildren. He needs a second hip replacement, but is hopeful that he may soon walk without a limp or a cane. On Sundays he helps distribute food to homeless people, and hopes to do more when he is able. Mr. Martin credits Catholic Charities with making him want to help himself. "They made me want to stand on my feet," he said. "I didn't want to let them down." From Mike Sekuloff This year (2005) I would like any one who is interested in this Pickers Picture Project (another P3) to join me in this picture-thon. The idea is to capture as many different people who are bottle picking or panhandling during the year 2005. The pictures do not have to be great pictures. The pictures will be posted on a web site to be announced January 2005. The picture must have this information.
I will catalog all picture and have them posted, with a statement on poverty from all photographer's. Send your pictures and statements to sekuloff@telus.net Please reply if you plan on participating. Sometime in November our computer crashed - and it took us until the end of December to get any of it up and running again. At this time we still have not been able to find a lot of the pictures that had been stored on the computer prior to this breakdown. The breakdown put is way behind in getting our publications on line - and the first issue or two in 2005 may be without any photos, art work, etc. Please bear with us on this issue - we'll have it all together before long!!!! We found a great young man who is assisting us and we anticipate being fully up and running in another month if not sooner. Homeless Memorial Day, December 21, 2004 dawned cold and clear. Those remembering the homeless who died in Cheyenne, Wyoming and around the country and world gathered in front of the state capital building at 12:00 noon. Rev. and Mrs. Jim Ryals opened the memorial with their music. Rev. Bill Jividan followed the Ryals with prayer. He then introduced formerly homeless Herman Thunder Hawk who spoke about his experiences living on the street. Richard McCullough, outreach worker for Cross Roads Clinic (Healthcare for the Homeless) followed. Richard's speech is printed below. Governor Dave Freudenthal closed the gathering with some insights into homelessness in the state of Wyoming. Richard McCullough: It is my job to reach out to homeless wherever they are. I find them
Homelessness has many faces.
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