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December 2007 A publication of The Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless 907 Logan Avenue Cheyenne, WY 82001-5247 307-634-8499 307-634-9089 fax © 2007 email: wch@vcn.com |
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 Thank you to King Soopers, Albertsons, Shari's, Perkins, and all the individuals who brought in
special foods, and volunteered their time to make Thanksgiving at the WCH Welcome Mat a special time.
Donations still needed for the closet include clothing racks, shoe racks, hangers, Those interested in help with resumes, applications, interviews will be able to learn skills for successful job application and obtain clothing that will provide them with outfits for job inteviews and office jobs. WCH also has a clothing closet for everyday clothing. Donations needed for this closet include jeans, sweat shirts, flannel shirts, sweaters, socks, boots and shoes. Donations to either closet need to be brought to 907 Logan Avenue. For more information contact Virginia at 634-8499. For the 17th year The Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless will be sponsoring Homeless Memorial Day on December 21 at 12:00 noon in front of the State Capitol Building. There will be music and speakers honoring those who died homeless on the streets of this country during the past two years. In Cheyenne in 2007 there were 2 who died and in 2006 there were 12. Because of bad weather in 2006 that caused cancellation of the event those who died in 2006 will be remembered in this year's event with those from 2007. Pastor Bill Jividan of Beacon Hill Baptist Church will lead the event. Speakers will include Mayor Jack Spiker, Rev. Jon Laughlin, Grace United Methodist Church, Richard McCullough, Crossroads Clinic, and Rev. Elizabeth McVicker, Cheyenne Interfaith Hospitality Network. Earl Janack, Slow Trucks Turning, will provide music. Please plan to attend this memorial. For more information contact Virginia at 307-634-8499. 
Those interested in participating in these classes will need to sign up in the WCH office, 907 Logan Avenue. For more information contact Virginia 307-634-8499. Sharon Lockwood Director of Women and Children's Programming Central Wyoming Rescue Mission Central Wyoming Rescue Mission (CWRM) has been deeply rooted within the Casper community since 1978. Its humble beginnings were in a small building on CY Avenue with the name Soul’s Anchor. In 1991, the Mission’s name was changed to Central Wyoming Rescue Mission (CWRM) when it moved to 230 North Park Street. CWRM is now the largest provider in Wyoming caring for the needs of the homeless. CWRM provides food, clothing, showers, laundry, referrals, and intensive case management for men and women through its Emergency Shelter Program. The Mission’s Residential Program meets long-term needs of residents who want to work to end their cycle of homelessness. Along with work therapy, healthy recreation and employment training, guests in Residential Program attend intensive classes to help overcome their life controlling issues. CWRM focuses on helping individuals in nine target areas: poverty, addictions, emotional issues, education, employment, medical, housing, family issues, and spirituality. The Mission is grateful for other agencies within the community, collaborating with any other human services agency that can provide help for the homeless. To address the needs of the growing population of homeless women and children, CWRM expanded its programs to provide a separate facility for women and children. The Transformation Center (TTC) provides a secure haven for women in crisis. TTC serves a vast community of women and children, including inmates released from the jails and prisons who do not have a structured alternative for housing or lack direction following their release. TTC also serves women with severe addictions. Many females are waiting to get into an inpatient treatment program. TTC, like our men’s shelter, receives referrals from various treatment facilities desperately needing to place individuals on the verge of relapse who are on the waiting list for their facility. TTC also serves as a safe place for women and children fleeing from domestic violence. Often times, TTC is the only facility open in the late hours when aggressors abuse their victims. Staff members work in conjunction with domestic violence shelters to house battered women until there is an opening at their facilities. The philosophy of CWRM’s Transformation Center is that every woman and child was created with value and purpose endowed by their Creator. The hardships of life seem to wound and tatter that truth causing them to feel worthless and directionless. Many homeless women and children have experienced severe abuse throughout their lives. The Mission’s goal is to restore the foundational principle of their value and purpose.
Judy successfully graduated from Residential Program and completed an internship at the Transformation Center. She is now a full-time staff person and is helping other women discover their worth and purpose in life. The Transformation Center continues to be an anchor for homeless, abused and lost women and children. TTC is a haven for those who have been drowning in a sea of trouble. TTC will continue to keep its doors open 24-hours a day, 7 days per week, thanks to the generosity of the Casper community. Billy Shore Share Our Strength
On yet another Hinges of Hope trip we learned that the ratio above is mirrored in many aspects of life here. The Royal Sonesta Hotel has only 260 employees compared to the 450 once responsible for outstanding service. Only four of the city's nine hospitals are in operation. There are 5,000 fewer registered nurses in the state than before. Emergency room visits average eight hours. Restaurants cannot find trained servers. Schools lack quality teachers. But the ratio of smiles to tears has finally begun to improve. In contrast to previous trips, this time we saw signs of more needs beginning to be met. You would find it deeply satisfying to see how Share Our Strength efforts translate into progress for the children of this region, nearly two and one half years after the storm that forever changed their lives. The Martin Luther King School, which we helped salvage and clean during the service day of our 2006 Conference of Leaders, opened in August and has 650 students with the highest test scores in the system, even though they still have no textbooks. At the Samuel L. Green charter school, kindergarteners through eighth-graders harvest carrots and broccoli in the sprawling Edible Schoolyard. A medical clinic opened by two nurses provides high-quality health care for those with diabetes, hypertension, asthma and depression. One of the co-founders, Patricia Berryhill, donated her own home to be refurbished for use as the clinic. The other, Alice Craft-Kerney, told us, "It's been a very rewarding faithwalk." The nurses couldn't be more different than the Parkway Diner's owner, or the principals of the two schools we visited. But all had one thing in common. Their gamble to return and rebuild was sustained not by money or government support, nor knowledge or certainty they could succeed against such long odds, but by the one thing more powerful: faith. Faith in themselves and faith in the power of community prevailed and will continue to prevail. Everyone we met - whether nurse, principal, student, chef or hotel bellman - went out of their way to thank us for coming and to plead with us to continue to share their story. Share Our Strength's grants serve as a timely and critical bridge for organizations like those above who wait for public funding to clear the bottlenecks of the bureaucracy. And by returning to New Orleans month after month, for more than two years, and bringing hundreds of leaders from other parts of the country to bear witness, we offered something just as valuable to people scarred by broken promises: We did what we said we would do. There's more to tell, and New Orleans still has a long way to go. I'll share further thoughts once I get home, regroup and reflect. Billy Shore BY BRUCE LESLEY AND DARLA GRIFFIN The Cincinnati Enquirer
In fact, the very foundations of child development are compromised by homelessness. Brain development, language acquisition, motor skills - all can suffer serious harm from the deprivation and instability that result from this condition. Children in Kentucky who experience homelessness are more likely to get sick,&ngsp; suffer emotional and physical abuse, and fall behind in school. Infants who are homeless start life needing special care four times more often than other babies. Homeless children have twice as many ear infections, four times as many asthma attacks, and twice as many hospitalizations as other children. One in four homeless children witness acts of violence within their families. Nationally, 5,000 unaccompanied youth die each year from assault, illness or suicide. This is not the formula for a successful student or a productive member of society. Data released for the 2005-06 school year indicates that 84 percent of homeless children in Kentucky are sharing housing with others while another 3 percent are living in shelters, cars, parks, motels or substandard housing. The whereabouts of another 13 percent are unknown. As a country, we are called to do everything we can to support our most vulnerable children and families. However, debates in Washington over who is actually homeless prevent us from helping those most in need. Incredibly, across the country, 63 percent of the children who are identified as homeless by the Department of Education are not considered homeless by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. And in Kentucky, about 85 percent of homeless students (more than 14,500 kids) fall through this bureaucratic gap. Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Ky., has been a champion for this underrepresented population. In Washington, he is doing everything possible to cut through the legalese in order to provide homeless children and families with the support they need to get back on their feet. In the House, Davis has introduced legislation to do just that. More than 40 organizations across the country, including First Focus, National PTA, YMCA of the USA, National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, and many others, support the approach Mr. Davis's bill takes to strengthening the definition of homelessness. We know we can rely on his continued leadership to ensure that federal policy meets the needs of homeless children and families, not bureaucrats in Washington. And he should be commended and praised for his efforts. The American people should be telling starving children with no place to go that help is on the way. After all, it's not the children's fault. Bruce Lesley is president of First Focus, a Washington-based lobbying group. Darla Griffin is program manager of the Northern Kentucky Housing and Homeless Coalition Inc. Cities Cracking Down on Groups Feeding Hungry, Says New Report
The report details how local governments across the country are using a wide variety of ordinances, policies, and tactics to restrict groups that share food with poor and homeless people. The report also offers examples of more constructive alternatives to these counterproductive laws. "Punishing charitable groups and people for the 'crime' of feeding their hungry fellow human beings is appalling," said Maria Foscarinis, Executive Director of NLCHP. "It is also counter-productive: cities should be working with these groups, not against them. "The criminalization of homelessness in the United States is a severe problem, with cities across the country implementing measures that ban eating, sitting, or sleeping in public. While these regulations have been on the rise over the past 10 years, laws targeting local churches and other groups who feed or shelter homeless people mark a disturbing new trend that threatens the well-being of America's most vulnerable citizens. "Restricting the feeding of homeless people in public spaces nationwide is just another veiled effort to push the visible poor out of downtown America," said Michael Stoops, Acting Executive Director of NCH. The report covers a diverse list of cites around the country in which unfair restrictions on sharing food have been enacted and enforced. These cities are: Atlanta; Baltimore; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Cincinnati; Dallas; Denver; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Gainesville, Fla.; Hempstead, N.Y.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Las Vegas; Miami; Orlando, Fla.; Pinellas Park, Fla.; Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; Santa Monica, Calif.; Sarasota, Fla.; Tampa, Fla.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Wilmington, N.C. The report also offers alternatives to these restrictions, including steps that cities like Cleveland, Ohio have taken to combat hunger without criminalizing sharing efforts. "Constructive programs like Cleveland's suggest that alternatives to food sharing restrictions do exist," said Tulin Ozdeger, Civil Rights Program Director at NLCHP. "They show that local governments can successfully work together with homeless advocates to reach a common goal: ending hunger and homelessness. "The report is available for download at NLCHP and NCH. For more information on the report, contact NLCHP Civil Rights Program Director Tulin Ozdeger, 202-638-2535 or NCH Acting Executive Director Michael Stoops, 202-462-4822). Reprinted from the November 2007 NCH Newsletter. By DAVE NORTHFIELD www.kgw.com NE News Channel 8
"I am not trying to bash homeless people," wrote one Corbett area resident in an email to KGW News. "But one has to wonder where these people are going to the bathroom on a daily basis, dumping their garbage, and it does not fully make sense that these usually beautiful green spaces are not as safe as they could be for joggers and dog walkers." The city has received several complaints about homeless camps, primarily in Southwest Portland. A KGW investigation found one camp in the Corbett area above I-5, just a few feet from a residential neighborhood. Near what appeared to be a recently inhabited campsite were groceries and garbage, including a used hypodermic needle. "Our intention is to try to move as many people as we can from streets to housing," said Heather Lyons, Homeless Services Director for the City of Portland. "But we have a nickel's worth of resources for a dollar's worth of problems." Lyons says the city's reaction to the homeless camps "depends on the situation." She said if the camp has grown too large or has become a source of criminal activity, then police should step in. Still, Lyons said "None of us want people in the criminal justice system just for being homeless." Lyons said the city has arranged for 220-250 more spaces in local homeless shelters during the winter months. Those spaces are availabe at the Portland Rescue Mission, Harbor Lights, and the Salvation Army for men, and at Transition Projects for women. As for responding to the homeless camps near residential neighborhoods, Lyons says a higher number of complaints would probably trigger a quicker response from the city. Bonnie Briggs
TDRC was founded in May of 1988 in response to the homeless situation in general. They drew up the State of Emergency Declaration and presented it at Holy Trinity Church on October 8, 1988. Their focus was advocating for housing and to have homelessness treated the same as a natural disaster and for Government to put money into building safe, clean, affordable housing. TDRC also called for a national housing program as Canada is the only country in the industrialized world without one. They endevoured to raise public and governmental awareness of this very extensive and growing catastrophe. TDRC advocated for the 1% Solution in which all three levels of Government would spend an additional 1% of their budget on building affordable housing. Some of TDRC’s projects have been the aforementioned 1% Solution, hot weather alerts, work around ending freezing deaths, Tent City, intervening in a street count of the homeless run by the city, National Housing Day, etc. They also published a newsletter called The National Disaster Post which was published every few months and highlighted many aspects of homelessness as well as discussed many issues related to life on the street. The Homeless Memorial has been run jointly by TDRC and Holy Trinity Church. They meet the second Tuesday of each month to name, memorialize and remember homeless people who have died on the street. There is a short service in which the names of those who have died were read out. After this, a moment of silence is held to remember them and people are invited to say a few words about homeless people they know who has died. A wreath is laid and a song is sung. Then everyone is invited into the church for lunch. The latest venture of Cathy Crowe, who is a co-founder of TDRC, is a book entitled Dying For A Home: Homeless Activists Speak Out. She interviewed ten former homeless people who were activists, including yours truly and wrote about the interviews in her book. This book offers several solutions to ending homelessness as well as insights into the lives of the people in her book. Dying For A Home is selling well across the country and is available online at Dying for a Home. TDRC decided to never take funding from the Government so that we could remain independent. Their main funding sources have been private donations, union and labour donations as well as funding for special projects. But now that funding has dried up. TDRC has sent out many funding appeals and some money has come in, but they need more in order to continue their work. TDRC is facing a winter filled with much work including extreme freezing temperatures, shelter closings, and potential deaths on the street. They are also faced with criminalization of homelessness, panhandling, and the worsening of poverty. TDRC needs to be able to continue their work in order to save lives and keep housing on the public agenda. TDRC has a new focus;&bsp; the war in Afghanistan. They will launch their new campaign on October 27, 2007 at 1:00 PM at the US Consulate at 360 University Avenue. The closest subway stop is St. Patrick. It will be called housing, not war. And will be in partnership with the Canadian Peace Alliance. They will be asking people to sign a declaration calling on the Federal Government to implement a Housing Not War strategy and they will be demanding that the $18.1 billion allocated for the war be spent on housing for Canada’s homeless and other social programs. The plan is for this campaign to be sent from city to city in a nation-wide demand for “Housing Not War”. It will be similar to the Homelessness is a National Disaster campaign in 1998 where several cities including Vancouver and Ottawa endorsed the disaster declaration. Homelessness is still growing in Canada, and shows no signs of stopping. The situation is far worse than it was in 1998. The atmosphere on the street is far more volatile and increasingly dangerous for homeless people as well as the front-line workers making TDRC’s work more imperative and even more necessary than ever before. Homelessness is as life-devastating and catastrophic as any natural disaster such as a tornado or a hurricane, but it was man-made; a disaster that, ultimately, has a man-made solution. All it would take is public and political will. So, can TDRC make it to their tenth anniversary? That depends on whether they can get the funding they need. TDRC needs the public’s help to move forward. They will accept funding by cheque or cash. Toronto needs TDRC and their major work and advocacy. If you need a tax receipt, cheques can be made out to the “Phoenix Community Works Foundation” and write on the bottom of the cheque that it’s for the “Homeless Project”. If you don’t need a tax receipt make the cheque out to the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee. Either way send to the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, 6 Trinity Square, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 1B1. Thanks for any and all help you can offer. TDRC and the homeless thank you. Wyoming Winds
is published by the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless |
The WCH Dress for Success Clothing Closet is now open for homeless individuals
New classes at the WCH Richards Center have started.
One success story is Judy Philo. When she first came to the Mission she was very broken and had lost her will to live. She carried severe pain and emotional heartache throughout her life. Judy had years of counseling searching for answers. Because of the severe trauma she experienced throughout her life, she felt no relief from the pain. Judy was shuffled from counselor to counselor and tried various antidepressants, but felt no relief from her suffering. She was out of work for over 10 years due to her inability to function emotionally.
Judy enrolled in the Mission’s long-term Residential Program and started to see great change during the first four months. She attributes the transformation to the faith-based component of the Mission’s program. Judy expressed that her entire outlook on life was altered because she discovered she had a purpose in life. The love and warmth she felt from the staff helped promote the healing she began to experience. The effective tools she obtained through Program classes facilitated a change in her negative pattern of thinking. She now has a brighter outlook on life in relation to her beliefs, values, and principles.
It's a miracle I was able to finish my oversized Po' Boy sandwich this afternoon at the Parkway Diner in New Orleans. It's even more of a miracle they were able to serve it. Like the entire neighborhood, the restaurant was flooded when the levees broke during Hurricane Katrina. But after being evacuated, owner Jay Nix and his sisters and nephew eventually fought their way back as have 288,000 others, about 63% of New Orleans' pre-storm population.
Homeless children. It's not something you may think has an impact on everyday life in Kentucky. With the media transfixed on the presidential primaries, casino gaming and the "superbug" virus, the plight of homeless kids is an issue that has largely been ignored by our politicians and by the press. Despite living in the most powerful nation in the world, our state still has pockets of extreme poverty - including more than 17,000 children suffering from this perilous problem.
Washington, DC, November 15, 2007 - The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) and the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) have released a new report entitled Feeding Intolerance: Prohibitions on Sharing Food with People Experiencing Homelessness.
Walkers and joggers along Terwilliger Boulevard near OHSU can see the them if they look down the hill through the trees: tarps and tents from a group of homeless people camped in the green space.
TDRC is presently out of money. Who is TDRC you ask? The Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, an anti-poverty group based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. After nine years of operation, they have closed their office and had to let staff go.
