Box City Review

My friend could not lead the Box City activity last night because her husband had shoulder surgery, so I told her that I would handle it. I got to the church at 6pm and there were box home sprawled across the lawn. There was only one young person from my group there at that time. We ate chili, hamburger helper and warmed ourselves by the fires in the barrels. When the other youth arrived, they had a ball building their box apartments. One of the young people brought a sleeping back and I let the other use the blankets I had in my car. Of course they had no idea that those were blankets where were used in my homeless abode--my car. I watched as they laughed and built their boxes to suit themselves. While keeping warm around the fire one of the ladies that I recognized from the Homeward Bound program came up to me to introduce herself. She told me that I looked familiar. I wanted to tell her that I had applied to the her program, but there were other people around the fire.

Around 7:30 we went on the walking tour of the places that the homeless in the city frequent. We started off across the street from the church. There was a lot of Uhaul trucks. She explained that when the temperature drops considerably there would be people who would break into the Uhaul trucks and sleep in the cab of the trucks. Then we walk down the street and come to the Northeast Community Fund. She explained that this is where the homeless come to get food and clothes. It's cheaper to get free clothes than to have to go to the laundry mat, so many come there to get new clothes. As we were walking past there we came to the Water Street Mission. This was a homeless shelter for single men over 18. she explained that there were many services for women and children, but only a few places for men and no places for boys 12-18. WHAT? I didn't understand, but she explained later.

As we were walking past the mission, "Pat" came out to ask what we were doing. He talked about living on the street for over 15 years. I didn't know if Pat was mentally ill or an alcoholic because he kept repeating himself and he kept asking us over and over again what we were doing. We later found out that Pat was abused as a child and it led to him becoming an alcoholic and he was living on the streets because he couldn't keep a job to be able to get a place to live. Pat told us how he had to fight for his things--people would try to steal his socks and shoes and stuff, she he had to keep all his stuff close to him.

While walking further on the tour we came to an overpass. The tour guide told us that there was about 17 individuals who used to live under the overpass--they had mattresses and blanket and other necessities, however, when they started doing construction there, it forced them to leave. Also, on the other side of the overpass was an abandoned warehouse that about 25 people used to live in, but since the construction company started storing their equipment there, they had to leave.

As we walked along we come to the Salvation Army that houses men, Elmwood and God's house of Love that served family and then to the Oasis Day Center. I knew that this was a place where the homeless could go, but what I didn't know was that they had a shower and laundry service that you could sign up to use. Of course you had to get there at 7am to sign up, but it was available. Then we came to the Good Samaritan Inn. They serve lunch from 11am to 1pm daily, no questions asked. If you want to eat, you can get something to eat without having to show an ID, proof of income, etc. The Good Samaritan Inn just built their new facility and 2 millions dollar building. For 2 million dollars, I was thinking they could do more than just serve lunch--they can't put some cots in there to let people sleep overnight? That's what the salvation army does. They have 40 beds and an overflow room with 30 cots. You can go there at night to sleep and then get up and get out in the morning. It's first come, first serve.

On the tour we were told that in December there is a walking memorial of the homeless who have died that year. Individuals get together and walk from the Oasis Center to Central Park. The names of the homeless that died that year are read off during the walk. We were told that the homeless are cremated and their remains are put in a sealed box and sit on a shelf in the county building. We were told about a lady who died in one of the transitional apartments and her children had to sit in the apartment with her dead body for a weekend because they didn't know who to call except her case worker at Homeward Bound on Monday morning. It was so sad. The same thing happened to a man who was homeless in a transitional home. No one found him for 3 days because he had no family. No one came to either of their funerals.

To be continued....