- shampoo, soap, and deodorant, diapers -toothpaste and toothbrushes
-combs, brushes, razors i -diapers
BRING DONA TIONS TO THE DAY OF GIVING!
Community House in Lions Park
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Ignoring Our Inner Cities
by Werner Patels, Alberta Times
When I was a teenager, my parents and I somehow ended up in downtown Tampa, Florida, on a Saturday afternoon. It was the first time I had seen a deserted, ghost-town-like inner city. Within a minute or two, a police car pulled over, and the officer advised us that we'd "better get the hell out of here."
I am a city person. I don’t mind the countryside, but I’m a “city mouse” -- always have and always will. Life in a city offers me everything I need, including public transit, which eliminates the need for me to get behind the wheel myself.
But my ideal of a great city is influenced by the magnificent cities of Europe, complete with healthy inner cities where people are not afraid to go for a stroll.
Take the inner city of Vienna, Austria, for example. A huge section of it is dedicated as a pedestrian zone (“Am Graben”, “Kärntner Strasse”), with rows of shops, restaurants and cafés. The area is crowded with shoppers, tourists and anyone who feels like going for casual walk until late at night.
You can pick up newspapers from all over the world and then walk another few steps to an adjoining sidewalk café, where you can sit down for an hour or two reading your papers, watching passers-by or allowing yourself to be dragged into a lengthy political debate by one of the other patrons.
The same great experience can be had in, say, London. Walk around any of the streets, and you’ll find plenty of sidewalk cafés, pubs or fish-and-chips places where you can enjoy a good snack and relax for a bit before heading to the next Waterstone's in search of a good book -- all the Waterstone's I have ever seen have at least two to three floors, with some even comprising five or more.
But all this is not only true of big cities. Take a town like Eastbourne, for example, in East Sussex. I used to live in the far northeast corner of Eastbourne, and taking the bus to Terminus Road, the main downtown artery, was always the highlight of my day.
On Terminus Road, everything was within easy reach: department stores, restaurants, pubs, cinemas and, again, book stores, such as WHSmith -- not to mention the fabulous palm-tree-lined promenade and the pier with its myriad forms of entertainment. And my school, which sat on a cliff not too far from Beachy Head, was just a short bus ride from there.
Interested in quality downtown living? Don’t come to Calgary
I have yet to find a place in Canada that comes even close to the ambience of such cities and towns as I have mentioned.
Toronto, even though it has a bustling and vibrant downtown core (e.g., Yonge/Dundas) is not all that safe anymore these days -- and stepping over the scores of homeless or trying not to be accosted by one makes a visit to downtown Toronto anything but enjoyable.
But Calgary seems to be headed towards an even worse fate. After five or six in the evening, downtown Calgary becomes a ghost town, populated only by the homeless, drug addicts and other "creatures" that decent people don't want to get too close to.
One woman recently complained in a letter to a local newspaper about the situation on the LRT, the city’s light-rail transit system, at night. She says that the trains are full of drug addicts and homeless, who bully and intimidate passengers in search of spare change or simply because they want to pick a fight.
I didn’t need to see her letter to know that downtown Calgary is off-limits after dark. I venture downtown occasionally, but only during the daytime. Whenever I find myself there in the evening, I get into a taxi as quickly as possible and hightail it out of there.
The problem with Calgary’s inner city core is that a lot of the coffee shops and stores close as early as five or six, some even at four in the afternoon.
If you find yourself, for example, at the corner of 5th Street and 5th Avenue after 4 PM, you won't really find anything to do or anywhere to go. All you can do is press your nose up against the windows of coffee shops or convenience stores to get a better look at their “Closed” signs.
Tourists who stay at hotels in the area, such as the Hawthorn, have literally nowhere to go. The impression of Calgary they must come away with can’t be too good -- as a quick online search of hotel reviews confirms.
Downtown Calgary is a good place to work, because there is nothing much that will distract you from your work, but if you are a tourist or even one of the unlucky local downtown residents, your only chance to do something useful or even fun is by getting out of town -- even a lot of Calgary’s suburbs are more progressive and civilized in this respect.
Do not even consider a trip to the “Red Mile” (17th Avenue) unless your intention is to run into a lot of drunks or to get involved in a fistfight or worse. Similarly, try to stay away from Centre Street and the general area of the Calgary Tower as well as the neighbourhood of the federal government Harry Hays building if you don't want to become the victim of a drug addict or an Asian drug gang.
The Eau Claire market is nice to look at during the day, but at night, it becomes as deserted and dangerous as all other parts of downtown.
It is such a shame, Calgary’s downtown could be so much more. There is no sense of community there, and I pity those who have to live downtown. The city government, clearly, has not done its job. Instead of creating a lively inner city, Calgarians now have this “black hole” that everyone in their right mind shuns at nightfall.
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Boston 3rd Grader Named An 'Incredible Kid'
(WBZ) BOSTON To look at 9-year-old Brenda Tejeda-Baez, you wouldn't know she's been through more than her fair share of adversity. In the last couple years she's been homeless, had major surgery, and worked hard to learn English - and she did it all with a smile on her face.
Thursday morning Brenda was surprised at a school assembly, when she was called onto the stage and named Boston's "Absolutely Incredible Kid."
Brenda was nominated for the honor by two of her teachers, Barbara Feeney and Mary O'Brien, and was selected from nearly 100 nominees across the city.
When you read Brenda's story, you'll understand why she was chosen.
A year ago, Brenda, her mother Dolores, and 4-year-old brother Michael became homeless. They moved into a shelter in Worcester, but that didn't stop Brenda from going to school each day at Louis Agassiz Elementary School in Jamaica Plain. Every morning for three months, Brenda and her mother got on the train at 6:00 a.m. and made their way to Boston.
"Brenda always came to school with a smile on her face and a ready-to-work attitude," Mary O'Brien wrote in her nomination letter.
The family eventually moved to a shelter in Dorchester, and more recently into an apartment right across from Agassiz Elementary.
In the middle of all of that, Brenda had an emergency appendectomy. Her teachers say she kept up with her school work throughout here recovery.
"She is a role model for all of us," O'Brien wrote.
Now back-up in time to kindergarten. When Brenda first entered the Boston school system, she spoke no English. She was in a Sheltered English Immersion classroom until this year, when she was mainstreamed because of her quick progress.
To prove her proficiency, Brenda recently took Second Place at the Agassiz Spelling Bee.
Thursday Brenda found herself back on the Agassiz stage, surrounded by her mom, her teachers, Mayor Tom Menino, Superintendent Michael Contompasis, and School Committee Chair Elizabeth Reilinger.
"We are so proud of Brenda and her family for their perseverance and hard work," Mayor Menino said. "Through all of their struggles, they have made education a top priority. Brenda sets an outstanding example of what we can all achieve if we stay focused and don’t give up."
Brenda’s prize package includes:
- $200 Target gift card;
- Two autographed copies of David Ortiz’s memoir, Big Papi: The Story of How My Baseball Dreams Came True, and an opportunity to meet him at a book signing, donated by Barnes & Noble;
- Two-week pass to Camp Ponkawissett, a summer day camp in Milton, donated by Camp Fire USA of Eastern Massachusetts;
- Two tickets to a Red Sox game and four tickets to a Boston Duck Tour from Mayor Menino;
- Backpack and school supplies donated by the Boston Public Schools Homeless Initiative;
- $20 gift card, books, and tote bags donated by Border’s;
- School supplies donated by Staples;
- New gold George Washington one-dollar coins donated by Weber Shandwick;
- “Absolutely Incredible Kids Day” merchandise – T-shirt, sticker, badge, mug;
- City of Boston baseball hat and baseball donated by the Mayor’s Office of Special Events and Tourism.
The teachers who nominated Brenda each receive a $100 Target gift card, as well as books and school supplies.
Six other received honorable mentions: Enrico Joseph of Parkway Academy of Technology and Health, Kristeon Mesa of Winthrop Elementary, Adryonna Montgomery of Mildred Avenue Middle School, Tibisay Pena of Cleveland Middle School in Dorchester, Anthony "D.J." Ramos of Blackstone Elementary School in the South End, and Angelina Rodriguez of Boston Community Leadership Academy.
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Homeless Numbers Elusive
By Sarah Bruyn Jones
Tuscaloosa News Staff Writer
Counting the homeless is an elusive task -- the population by definition is unsettled -- but a first-ever federal report, based on two-year-old data, puts the number in Tuscaloosa at 207.
Nationally, the report released to Congress on Wednesday concluded that there are 754,000 homeless each night.
Data for the state of Alabama showed 4,707 homeless people nightly, including 3,263 sheltered and 1,444 unsheltered.
The purpose of the count is to better evaluate the $9 billion spent on federal housing and service programs each year.
Those who try to count the homeless are faced with the question of where to find them or even define who they are.
The federal definition of homeless doesn’t include the friend or family member staying on the couch. And experts have noted that it is not unusual for homeless people to scatter when they hear about an upcoming count.
Shelters and transitional homes are two obvious places to start counting, but there is no way to determine who is being missed. This year, when counters in the Tuscaloosa area went to an outdoor area known to be a homeless campsite, there were plenty of tents but no people.
“There were signs of people there but we didn’t find any people," said Debbie Williams, who leads CHALENG, a Tuscaloosa continuum of care group. “So we couldn’t include them [in the count]."
Continuum of care groups are community organizations that plan and deliver housing and services to meet needs.
So when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its first annual homeless assessment report to Congress on Wednesday, officials cautioned that the data contains limitations.
For instance, the more rural an area, the harder it was to count. And community groups across the country varied in the way they conducted their counts.
All the data was collected in 2005; data from 2006 is being compiled, and 2007 numbers are still being collected.
To improve future counts, the government has established better guidelines.
The administration has asked for $1.6 billion for grants for continuum of care programs. If approved, the Tuscaloosa Housing Authority would get $141,300 and the Salvation Army would receive $78,800.
Counting the number of homeless will become increasingly more comprehensive, covering longer periods of time and including persons living on the streets.
The hope is to use the annual assessments to determine trends and the effectiveness of government-funded programs.
“This first-of-its kind study is a huge leap forward in our understanding of not only how many people are homeless, but also what their needs are," said HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson in a written statement. “This report is a powerful tool to help all of us at the federal, state and local level design more effective responses to homelessness and better help those who are living in shelters and on our streets.
“Understanding homelessness is a necessary step to ending it."
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poverty is
Lou Spironello
poverty is when they raise the price of one roll of toilet paper at the
food bank 100% within 1 month
poverty is when they raise the price of one roll of toilet paper at the
food bank 100% within 1 month and one cannot complain for there will be
consequences
poverty is when the price of one roll of toilet paper is the same price
as one can of tomato soup and in the "other" world the price of a roll
of toilet paper is equivalent to 1/3 or 1/4 the cost of a can of tomato
soup!
poverty is when one cannot "buy" a roll of toilet paper at the food bank
because one is only given 20 points per month
poverty is when a can of tomato sauce explodes in your face because
it was sitting on the shelf at the food bank for years or it was a can
that the "other" world decided to "get rid of"
poverty is opening a can of chick peas and seeing that the normal
beige/yellow colour is a dark grey
poverty is when one receives plums from the food bank which are so green
that they never ripen but one doesn't have the strength to bring them
back
poverty is when one shows the plums to someone in the "other" world and
they laugh, joke, yet do nothing after that but sit there and change the
subject
poverty is when someone says good morning to you and one chooses not
to response with "good morning" but only hello because one cannot lie
and one cannot loose anymore of one's soul
poverty is when a politician holds a poverty forum and there is no way to
attend but to walk 2 1/2 hours one way on a major highway in -12C temps
after returning back from the food bank but one decides not to go
because the energy expended will exceed any benefit
poverty is when other's believe one is not intelligent because they see
holes in the elbows of one's sweater
poverty is when they continue to mock you even after one politely
indicates to them that having holes in one's sweater has nothing to do
with one's intelligence
poverty is when they continue to mock and humiliate you even after you
tell them it is rude
poverty is when one stops attempting to educate and convince because one
knows one is not in a position of power to do so
poverty is when one has $16 dollars left to buy food but one must buy
food for the cats one is taking care of and also gives one the strength
to continue
poverty is when not one asks "how are you today?" because they have
gotten tired of hearing about one's poverty
poverty is when one must wash one's clothes by hand
poverty is when one eats rancid rice from the food bank because one
doesn't have the strength to take it back
poverty is when they profile you when you ask for a counsellor so you
are already marked and thought less of
poverty is when one is instructed to go outside the building to the
stairwell to the second floor when the hallway one is standing in leads
straight to the very stairwell one is to use but one cannot use the
inside hallway because it is the "staff" hallway
poverty is when one knows one is discriminated by the very agency one
asks for help from yet one no longer has the strength in one's soul to
fight another battle for it drains too much emotional strength out of
one's soul so one complies and the hole gets deeper for once that
threshold of of energy loss in one's soul is reached it takes 2-3 times
as much energy to get back over that threshold yet each point of contact
with an agency, a person from a "helping organization" drains more
energy than one gains through the day, or week or month
poverty is when you want to scream out at these people but you know if
you do they will label you "mentally unstable" so one stays silent and
of course on e is also labeled for that behaviour
poverty is when one phones the "stress centre" (when one had a phone
after feeling very depressed and one is told "please get off the phone
your time is up" after 20 minutes
poverty is when one cannot defecate for two days because one cannot
purchase fruits or vegetables
poverty is when one will not go on welfare because one cannot subject
oneself to any more abuse from government employees because that's what
got one in this current situation
poverty is when one asks for food and one is told to walk another hour
because "the walk is good for you"
poverty is when one uses duct tape to fix the leaks in one's boots
because one can no longer ask
poverty is when the message one is sent by the aforementioned actions of
others is that one has little value because one is poor
poverty is when verbal, emotional and psychological abuse is so
common-place that one no longer has the strength to fight back when it
occurs and causes the adrenalin realest in one's body
poverty is when one can feel the adrenalin through one's vein almost
24/7 because of the chronic stress that in the "other" world one sees it
as passivity and not as a method to protect what one has left in one's
soul
poverty is when one no longer can afford dental care
poverty is when one's knowledge of healthy nutrition, healthy lifestyle,
healthy diet dwindles to such a small flicker that one must redirect
that
Precious energy to just surviving
poverty is when one eats one 500g jar of peanut butter in two days
because one can feel that one needs that much protein
poverty is when one tells these things to others and they say nothing of
something to deflect one's statement in order for their quick getaway
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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
Views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless, its staff or board.
Editor for this issue: Virginia Sellner.
Copyrights revert back to the author upon publication.
WCH is a 501(c)(3) non-profit agency, donations are tax deductible as allowed by law.
© 2007.
Articles are published with permission of the paper listed with the article.
**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.**
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