The Need For More Respite Care In Nashville

Several days ago a client of mine, "Harold," began experiencing some pain in his lower back.  Harold has been on the streets of Nashville since 1983, when he was shot multiple times and still has a bullet lodged in his skull to this day.


Harold, no stranger to pain, continued on with his day while trying to "walk off" the pain, but when he went to the bathroom, he noticed that his urine appeared to have blood in it.


Harold's father passed away from prostate cancer and Harold told me that the way they discovered this cancer was that his dad had passed some blood in his urine and had gone to the hospital to figure out why.


The next thing Harold knew, his dad was dead from prostate cancer, so for Harold, seeing blood in his pee instantly scared him shitless.


So Harold made his way to the Downtown Clinic, and they then sent him over to Metro General for some additional tests.

As it turns out, Harold's problem was nothing more serious than a bladder infection; and yes, guys get them too, although it's a lot less common in men than in women.

But here's the reason I'm writing this; Harold rolled into the ER at Metro at around 6PM this particular evening.  According to Harold, the ER staff took great care of him and he was pleased as punch at the way they worked on him.  Round about 10PM however, his nurse came to tell him that they weren't going to keep him overnight and that he'd be receiving his paperwork shortly but they'd make sure they referred him to the Guest House, the only respite center for the "indigent" here in Nashville, and it is almost always filled beyond actual capacity.   

Harold informed the nurse that he would need a bus pass to get back over to the Campus and she set off to get him one.

At around 1130PM the same nurse happened to be passing through the lobby of Metro and saw Harold still sitting in the waiting area.  She asked him why he hadn't left yet and Harold told her hed still not received the bus passes, but now it wouldn't do him any good anyway, since the last bus for the evening had already run.

At that point, Harold and the nurse began exploring other transportation options; Metrogeneral  security was asked to provide a ride, but they "don't do that," as they told Harold.

The nurse contacted Metro PD to see if an officer could transport Harold over to the Guest House.  They "don't do that" either, although they do if the person is found on the street.

So Harold was stuck and considering walking the two and a half miles to the Campus.  And of course, right about this time, a cold rain began in a downpour that would have impressed Noah.

Harold then went back to his nurse and asked whether or not they could provide a cab ride to the Guest House.   The nurse went off in search of someone who could authorize this and Harold sat down to wait.

Approximately 35 minutes later the nurse returned with good news.  Metro General was springing for the cab ride.

Harold rolled into the Guest House at about 1AM.  Unfortunately, all the beds were taken so Harold was provided a chair to sit in until 530AM, at which time someone would be leaving and he'd be able to actually get a real bed.

Harold's story ends here and he had / has nothing but praise for Metro General, the CHD and just about everyone else that worked to assist him that evening.

But Harold's story is an all too familiar one for folks in Nashville who must rely on public transportation and end up sick.

Just one respite center for the homeless operates in this city and a recent vulnerability index survey performed here indicated that ER visits in Nashville by those experiencing homelessness was something like 35 percent above the national average.

With such a high number of folks accessing emergency services, it stands to reason that the demand for respite care would be high, and I suspect if you were to ask Rob Nash, the chief nurse over at the Guest House, he'd tell you that he does a booming business every day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Furthermore, Father Charlie Strobel, a well known homeless advocate and service provider here in Nashville, has been beating the drums nonstop for at least several years here to get more respite beds available to the poor and homeless.

For the most part, his requests have fallen on deaf ears, but a CHD expansion currently in the works may help to add some additional bedspace to their own respite center.

It won't be nearly enough.

Now for just a second, please think about the last time you were sick and worried about what was going on with your health.  Then I ask you to please consider what YOU, or one of your close family members might have experienced had if it been you or them in the ER on this rainy, cold night instead of Harold.

Can you imagine what it must feel like to be sick and in severe pain and not have a safe, warm bed to crawl into after you've visited your doctor?

"A hundred men will gather on a typical weekday. Maybe three will find work."

Day labor is a critical part of many of Nashville's homeless who are willing and able to work but cannot get hired at a traditional job because they lack one or more of the "required" things employers want, such as a phone, an address, an IS and/or a social security card.

Ever since I've worked these streets, day labor sites have provided, literally, the bread and butter for a huge number of my clients.  But recently work is damned hard to come by and folks I know who used to be sent out every single day are now going weeks without doing anything.

This lack of available work has hurt my clients financially as well as mentally.  No money means living off of the kindness and charity of others, which, contrary to popular belief, is something most of the homeless I know are loathe to do. 

Oh sure, there will always be those who mooch off those with more, but I'm telling you, many of my clients would much rather earn an honest day's pay than to have to stand in line at a soup kitchen or sleep under the railroad trestle another night. 

So as work dries up at day labor and folks who were actually squeaking by with a few dollars in their pockets each day, courtesy of their own hard work, are now forced to join the ever-swelling ranks of those who are standing in line at the soup kitchens and Room In The Inn, which of course places an even greater burden on those charged with assisting them. 

And if you haven't noticed by now or simply didn't realize it, when tough economic times come our way, the first thing many people cut out of their budget is gifts to charities, so the increased demand they're feeling is against the backdrop of fewer donations; a nasty situation that keeps administrators and service workers up at night with worry, guilt and sadness.  



But that kind of insomnia is nothing when one is kept awake all night because of hunger, and/or cold, and/or desperation, and/or hopelessness....




Immigration Riddle
Editorial / NYT
Published: December 29, 2008

A working-class corner of Long Island is staring at a riddle posed by hard economic times and wondering what to do.

Huntington Station is a microcosm of America in the age of suburban immigration. Shops sell pizzas and pupusas in a business district that has been revitalized by Latino entrepreneurs but has a long way to go.

Stately Victorians loom among tidy townhouses and shabby rentals. Not far from a platform where bankers board the train to Manhattan, immigrant men sleep in the woods. In the middle of it all, on Depot Road, are day laborers, 100 or more, in rain, shine or snow.

When home renovation and landscaping were booming, day laborers made the good times possible. They were a cheap, convenient way to get hard work done and were treated with tolerance. A hiring site was set up on Depot Road so they could wait in shelter and safety. Now that the local economy has flat-lined, their lives are far harder. A hundred men will gather on a typical weekday. Maybe three will find work.

The Town of Huntington is grappling again with old complaints about groups of men standing around. Last summer, in a regrettable turn, the town passed an ordinance forbidding anyone from looking for work on public property. Now it is considering phasing out its financing for the hiring site.

The town supervisor, Frank Petrone, has supported the site since it opened a decade ago, calling it a pragmatic answer to a problem of traffic management. He wonders whether it is wise to keep spending money on a hiring site where hardly anybody gets hired.

Peggy Boyd, who works for the Family Service League, a nonprofit organization that runs the site with financing from the town and two private foundations, is acutely aware of the conundrum. She and her colleagues have kept the place going, getting to know 90 to 100 of the men who gather there to find not just jobs, but also food, warm clothing and English lessons.

She understands that money is tight. But she also knows that it will take a financial meltdown far harsher than any we have seen to make the laborers disappear.

Mr. Petrone deserves credit for resisting — so far — the simple solution, which is to pull the plug and to chase the laborers into the shadows. That would defy common sense and the Constitution. The town should commit itself to keep some services going, and thus keep homelessness, vagrancy, sickness and blight at bay until the good times return.

And until then, the Suffolk County executive, Steve Levy, could also step in, with funds and leadership, to show the rest of Long Island how a community helps all its members, in good times and bad.

Update on The Laguna Beach Homeless Harassment Lawsuit

The LA Times has run a story on this "disgustation."

Hat-tip to Jackie Dowd at the 13th Juror for getting providing the link to the lawsuit......


Homeless advocates sue Laguna Beach



99

The coalition accuses the city of enacting policies designed to harass the homeless and avoid building shelters. Officials counter that it wanted to help the homeless.

By Paloma Esquivel
December 24, 2008

Early last year, Laguna Beach city officials set about addressing homelessness in the upscale enclave. They assembled a task force to study the issue, installed parking meters to collect change for social services and assigned a police officer as a liaison for the community's homeless.

But on Tuesday, homeless advocates filed suit against the city, saying its real intent was to engage in a campaign of harassment while providing no long-term, city-sponsored shelters.City leaders have chosen to attempt to eliminate the homeless, rather than eliminate homelessness," said Mark Rosenbaum, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

In a suit filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, the ACLU -- along with Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Irvine School of Law, and the Newport Beach-based law firm of Irell & Manella LLP -- accuses the city of failing to have long-term shelters, criminalizing sleeping on the street and allowing police harassment for minor or unavoidable offenses.

The city's "treatment of mentally and physically disabled homeless people violates the clear mandate of the Constitution," said Chemerinsky.

The city's Homeless Task Force reported early this year that there are 45 to 55 homeless people in Laguna Beach. Almost all met the definition of chronic homelessness, and many have a mental or physical disability. According to the suit, the city offers no transitional or emergency shelter other than a cold weather shelter, which operates between December and March.

Assistant City Manager John Pietig said officials are looking to work with regional shelters, such as a transitional housing facility that opened in Tustin this fall, to house long-term homeless persons.

As for opening such a shelter in Laguna Beach, he said, the prospects are small.

"Our city is largely built out," Pietig said. "There isn't a lot of available land to build shelters, and the land that is available is very expensive."

Despite not providing sufficient shelter, the lawsuit alleges, the city refuses to rescind an ordinance that makes it illegal to sleep on the beach, in city parks, on public streets, in alleys or in a car parked at any place in the city.

"The ordinance effectively makes it illegal to be homeless in Laguna Beach," said Jill R. Sperber, a lawyer with Irell & Manella LLP.

Pietig countered that the city had not actively enforced the ordinance since February and is looking into revising it.

"We need to see if there is a better way to do it," he said.

The suit also alleges that police officers have actively engaged in a campaign of harassment against the homeless. In January, the city touted hiring Officer Jason Farris as part of an extensive outreach effort to build trust with street people and persuade them to get aid.

According to the suit, welfare checks by the officer and others are actually an excuse to interrogate the city's homeless, wake them in the middle of the night and early morning, demand ID and search property.

Jim Keegan, a homeless advocate who has lived in Laguna Beach for 10 years, said he has worked to feed and counsel the homeless for nearly 30 years.

"The proper reaction to their stories is tears. It should make you weep," he said. "The leadership of this city doesn't seem to feel that way."

Pietig sees it differently.

"This community has really taken the time and effort to come up with a comprehensive approach to dealing with homelessness," he said. "It's disappointing people are taking this opportunity to degrade the city and its efforts."

"As the resources have become more limited, the level of scrutiny and inhumanity has risen accordingly. "

Misplaced priorities in the homeland of the free.....

'I Am So Very Tired'

By Susie Madrak Sunday Dec 28, 2008 7:15pm

A weary social worker writes:

I have had a ringside seat to the economic downturn this year. It is not an abstraction to me. The folks at the bottom are always the first to feel the pinch, when it comes. Clients of the agency I work at come through our doors every day requesting assistance with basic necessities like food, clothing, shelter and medications. As the year has progressed and New York State has chosen to repeatedly victimize its most vulnerable citizens, it has become more difficult to help people meet these needs.

I have visited food banks with empty shelves, been told clients were ineligible for help when I knew they were and had to challenge these decisions. I have sat with clients while their applications for public assistance were reviewed by fraud investigators at social services.

Our local social services department actually hired fraud investigators at the same time that it was laying off child protective workers demonstrating conclusively where our values lie and how genuinely mean spirited we are as a people.

At the federal level Social Security routinely denies people eligible for benefits in the hopes that they will not reapply. Many people who receive benefits must hire a lawyer before social security will concede that they are indeed eligible. As the resources have become more limited, the level of scrutiny and inhumanity has risen accordingly.

I have, of course read about the rising unemployment numbers and the ensuing uptick in applicants for public assistance and food stamps nationwide like everyone else. It seems the chickens of Bill Clinton's (Best moderate Republican president ever)welfare reform are finally coming home to roost. We always knew that the flaw of his plan was an economy without jobs and here we are.

The reform has no provision for an unemployment rate like we are experiencing now. Once again, our policy in practice serves to punish most harshly children and the elderly. Perhaps, it is time to repeal the child labor laws and begin allowing them to work 12 hour days again.

For nearly 30 years we have done our best to dismantle the safety net for the poor and struggling among us. I keep praying that we have reached the end of this folly. At 42, these policies are what I have known my entire work life. I dream about social service programs and rules that would treat people like human beings, rather than as an undesirable applicant to be culled out. I want so badly for us as a nation to stop punishing people for being poor, or elderly or a child of poor people.

This holiday season was hellish as I watched scores of our clients navigate the realities of a holiday with nothing but further grinding poverty. Some days I am just weary from the strain of witnessing the suffering that goes on around me. It takes a toll that is more than physical, it eats away at the soul to see people ask for so little and receive far less.

As I contemplate how to pry a few dollars from these systems designed to humiliate and degrade my clients, already struggling with being social outcasts, chronic illness, drug addiction and mental illness I sigh audibly. I read of billion dollar bailouts and disappearing pallettes of cash as I ponder how to help a family with $400.00 so they will not be homeless in three days. I am so very tired.  End

As we all are who work with those who feel the sledgehammer first, Suzie.....

" Even Mr. Obama's more ambitious goal would not fully offset as many as 4 million jobs that some economists are projecting might be lost in the coming year, according to the information he received from advisers in the past week. "

And speaking of a "failed civilization".....

CRASH TALK

Mark Winston Griffith, DMI Blog - In all my years of running non-profits and a financial institution, I was expected to account for every penny my organization received. Whether it was for a general operating grant or a cash flow loan, detailed reporting - including financial statements, budget narratives, and a description of what the money was used for - was demanded in return. And that was for private money. If my organization received government funds, the financial reporting requirements were nothing short of punishing.

So it seems nothing less than scandalous that the banks receiving public Troubled Assets Relief Program funds should be allowed to casually "decline" requests to account for that money. 21 of these banks were contacted by the Associated Press and were asked to report on how much TARP money was spent and on what. None provided specific answers. Some shrugged their shoulders and said they didn't know. You would think they were sitting in their living room and someone asked where they put the TV remote.

In fact, their responses amounted to a giant middle finger to the American taxpayer. "We've lent some of it. We've not lent some of it. We've not given any accounting of, 'Here's how we're doing it,'" said Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JP Morgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money. "We have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to.". . .

Some simple accounting on how the money was used should have been the first condition placed on banks, even if it had to be the only condition. As a friend of mine commented, there should have been a GPS tracking device, blue dye, a little red blinking light - something - attached to this money before it was just given away.

Mike Whitney,Information Clearinghouse - Consider this: the US economy is 72 percent consumer spending. That means the Gross Domestic Product cannot grow if salaries don't keep up with the price of living. Low Income Families--that is, any couple making less than $80,000--represent 50 percent of all consumer spending. These LOF's spend everything they earn just to maintain their present standard of living. So, how can these families help to grow the economy if they're already spending every last farthing they earn?

They can't.Which is why wages have to go up. The cost to short-term profits is miniscule compared to the turmoil of a deep recession which is what the world is facing right now. The present crisis could have been avoided if there was a better balance between management and labor. But the unions are weak, so salaries have languished while Wall Street has grown more powerful, stretching its tentacles into the government and spreading its anti-labor dogma wherever it goes.

The investor class has rejiggered the system to meet their particular needs. Financial wizardry has replaced factories, capital formation and hard assets while real wealth has been replaced by chopped up bits of mortgage paper, stitched together by Ivy League MBAs, and sold to investors as priceless gemstones. This is the system that Bernanke is trying to resuscitate with his multi-trillion dollar injections; a system that shifts a larger and larger amount of the nation's wealth to a smaller and smaller group of elites. . .

The bottom line is that this whole mess could have been avoided if demand was predicated on wage increases instead of asset inflation. Of course, that precludes the Fed's traditional remedies for economic malaise--easy money and massive leveraging. . .

From Bernanke and Greenspan's perspective, any small gain by workers is tantamount to communism. They will continue to do everything in their power to preserve the current labor-debasing system which keeps workers just one paycheck away from the homeless shelter. This type of hostility is neither good for the economy nor the country. It just intensifies class animosities by accentuating the chasm between rich and poor. The only way to overcome these differences is by narrowing the wealth gap and rewarding hard work with fair pay. . .

The Fed wants to stimulate demand by slashing the price of money to 0% while pumping trillions of dollars into the financial system (quantitative easing). But the millions of foreclosures, credit card and student loan defaults, indicate that the underlying economy is rapidly contracting and cannot support such an oversized system. Something's gotta'give. Homeowners and consumers are poorer than they were a year ago. They're focused on paying down their debts not creating new ones. Attitudes towards spending have changed; people are hunkering down. That's why Bernanke's radical liquidity experiment is doomed. There's no way to reflate a bubble if consumers refuse to spend.

If the Fed is serious about fulfilling its mandate, it should abandon its serial bubblemaking altogether and return to basics; productivity, good wages and sound money. The country's future rests on its workers. They don't need a bailout, just a raise.

Joshua Holland, AlterNet - There is something approaching a consensus that the Paulson Plan -- also known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP -- was a boondoggle of an intervention that's flailed from one approach to the next, with little oversight and less effect on the financial meltdown. But perhaps even more troubling than the ad hoc nature of its implementation is the suspicion that has recently emerged that TARP -- hundreds of billions of dollars worth so far -- was sold to Congress and the public based on a big lie. . .

For the most part, the press has continued to echo Bush's central assertion that there's a "credit crunch" preventing even qualified borrowers -- that's the key point -- from getting loans, and it's now part of the conventional wisdom.

But a number of economists are questioning the factual basis of the credit crunch narrative. Columnist David Sirota recently looked at those claims and concluded that Americans "had been punk'd" -- that "the major claims about a credit crisis that justified Congress cutting a trillion-dollar blank check to Wall Street were demonstrably false," and the threat of a systemic banking crash was used by the Bush administration to overcome popular resistance to the "bailout.". . .

Of course, no one disputes the fact that as the economy has tanked, the number of new loans being issued to American families and businesses has plummeted. But is because credit has dried up for qualified borrowers?

Economist Dean Baker doesn't think so. He explains the situation in simple terms: The media, he argues, "are blaming the economic collapse on a 'credit crunch' instead of the more obvious problem that consumers just lost $6 trillion of housing wealth and another $8 trillion of stock wealth." . . .

Whether good borrowers can't get credit from banks because the latter are hoarding cash or lending has stopped because of a drop-off in demand for new loans is not some wonky academic debate; it's of crucial significance. Because if lending to qualified parties has truly frozen, then even if the specific implementation of the Paulson Plan was deeply flawed, its broad approach -- "recapitalizing" banks in various ways, buying up some of their crappy paper and guaranteeing some of their transactions -- is fundamentally sound.

If, on the other hand, the primary problem is that people are broke and maxed out on debt, and firms aren't looking for money to expand, then the kind of massive stimulus package being considered by the Obama transition team and congressional Dems -- largely designed to stimulate demand from the bottom up, with public works projects, tax cuts for working families, aid to tapped-out state and municipal governments and new money for unemployment and food stamps -- is obviously the best approach to take.

NY Times - Faced with worsening forecasts for the economy, President-elect Barack Obama is expanding his economic recovery plan and will seek to create or save 3 million jobs in the next two years, up from a goal of 2.5 million jobs set just last month, several advisers to Mr. Obama said. Even Mr. Obama's more ambitious goal would not fully offset as many as 4 million jobs that some economists are projecting might be lost in the coming year, according to the information he received from advisers in the past week. That job loss would be double the total this year and could push the nation's unemployment rate past 9 percent if nothing is done.

WCBS, NY -There were more than 9,700 families in New York City shelters on Christmas morning, up 40 percent from last year and the most ever since data began being recorded. . . Hundreds of coats were distributed at the New York City Rescue Mission on Thursday morning. Sandra Clark couldn't believe the gorgeous coat she was getting. . . The line extended outside the New York City Rescue Mission because this year the need is greater than ever before: Because of the economic downtown and the harsh weather, New York Cares is running about 8,000 coats short this year and that's why they've extended the time you can make a donation.

NY Times - In the past decade, China has invested upward of $1 trillion, mostly earnings from manufacturing exports, into American government bonds and government-backed mortgage debt. That has lowered interest rates and helped fuel a historic consumption binge and housing bubble in the United States.

China, some economists say, lulled American consumers, and their leaders, into complacency about their spendthrift ways.

"This was a blinking red light,"said Kenneth S. Rogoff, a professor of economics at Harvard and a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. "We should have reacted to it."

In hindsight, many economists say, the United States should have recognized that borrowing from abroad for consumption and deficit spending at home was not a formula for economic success. Even as that weakness is becoming more widely recognized, however, the United States is likely to be more addicted than ever to foreign creditors to finance record government spending to revive the broken economy.

NY Times editorial - This year, the hunger struggle has worsened. The number of citizens turning to food stamps - a clear measure of fast-rising poverty - reached a record 31.6 million in September, up more than four million in a year. It's no surprise, then, that a politically acclaimed reform of the 1990s - 'the end to welfare as we know it' in favor of 'workfare' - is fast fraying at the edges. States are reporting a surge in applicants for the limited short-term cash aid allowed under the workfare rules. And the program's emphasis on shunting the poor toward low-paying, start-up jobs is becoming increasingly pointless as the job market ossifies'

Stanley Aronowitz, Portside - The bare truth is that what has been taken as economic expansion since the early 1970s was a symptom that the United States(and the UK and other European countries) have survived a genuine period of economic decline by means of a dramatic increase in the creation of huge amounts of fictitious capital. Fictitious capital is money that has no material basis, but is a speculation on future economic performance.

Fictitious capital is an ordinary function of the credit system. Manufacturers borrow and lend money from each other and from banks to finance purchases of raw materials and labor on the promise of a near-term repayment when the value of their respective products were realized through sales, either within the production sector or through wholesale and retail purchases. But when these loans are exchanged by banks to businesses and non- commercial consumers on a long- term basis at exorbitant interest rates, and these loans become the basis of at least 2/3 of economic activity; when consumers or business owners, some of which are banks themselves, default on a large scale on payments, and the bubble bursts the whole system reverberates collapse. . .

Another hidden fact: for thirty five years, the private sector has not produced a net increase in jobs. The growth of jobs in computer-mediated services and software production was counterbalanced by losses in manufacturing; mergers and acquisitions in the retail industry were barely matched by growth in fast food employment. In the past decade as the private sector failed to create new jobs but relied increasingly on contingent and temporary labor to meet their short-term labor requirements, the public sector- especially education and health care, became the main source of new, decent paying jobs. And as the Federal government abdicated responsibility for a variety of services, state and local bureaucracies added jobs.

Of course, besotted by the conventional neo-liberal ideology that only the private sector is a job creator, economists and politicians conveniently ignored this fact and continued to insist that whatever the service, the private sector can do it better, and more efficiently. What net increases in private sector employment occurred were largely, if not exclusively, the result of contracts awarded by federal, state and local governments who adopted both the mantra and practice of privatizing public goods. . .

In mid-December, after a virtual unconditional giveaway to banks and insurance companies of $350 billion by the Bush administration, half of the $700 billion bail-out package remained to be disbursed. On December 19, President Bush announced a $17 billion bridge loan to the major auto corporations. The remaining $333 billion could be spent on assisting homeowners suffering foreclosure or its imminent threat and putting a substantial down payment on the job creation part of the stimulus program. But there is little hope that this scenario will come about unless organized labor and social movements insist on such emphasis. For this to happen, some of Obama's most fervent supporters on the left would have to cut the assumed six months honeymoon short. They would be required to actively intervene on a number of fronts:

1. a set of proposals for a labor-intensive jobs program to accompany infrastructure development;

2. Demand the governments be the direct employer, and only absolutely necessary private contracts be let for specialized services;

3. Demand that the new jobs pay a living wage at least equal to the national average;.

4. Demand creation of labor-intensive jobs in public services and the arts;

5. Demand enactment of the Conyers Bill HR 676 providing medicare for all. Universalizing health care would create hundreds of thousands of new jobs;

6. Implement the Green Jobs program by re-opening and retooling abandoned auto and parts plants as well as building new plants to produce solar panels, windmills, geo-thermal machinery, water treatment technology and waste disposal products. These should be owned and operated by workers' cooperatives as well as letting contracts to existing manufacturers of these goods;

7. Demand rigorous oversight of employment programs to insure employment opportunities for blacks, Latinos women and the disabled.. .

He was 4 when his mother was murdered. His father was already in prison for a violent crime.

With a family dynamic like "Ryan's" it isn't hard to see how the young man - and thousands of other kids just like him - could end up homeless, hopeless and desperate.

We've got to start caring for our communities.  Our once great society is rapidly decaying into the dustbin of failed civilizations right before our eyes, yet we're too busy trying to "spread freedom" to the rest of the world to take care of our own.  

Ya reap what ya sow, America......

Troubled teens find their match with abandoned animals

FRIDAY 12 DECEMBER 2008 - Lamar, 16, lays with Caroline and King, at left, at the end of dog training class Friday at Hogan Street Regional Youth Center. Offenders living at the center learn life skills as they train live-in dogs through a program called 'Loosen the Leash'. (Robert Cohen/P-D)

By Nancy Cambria

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

12/30/2008

ST. LOUIS — Both the teen and the dog beside him were very close to dying young.

The dog, a hound peppered with flecks of German shepherd fur, had been abandoned as a puppy on an ailing street in St. Louis where homeless canines routinely scavenge for food and sleep in dank basements of collapsing homes.

And the teen? He was 4 when his mother was murdered. His father was already in prison for a violent crime. Left to an unstable network of relatives, he relied on himself to survive a world driven by meth, heroin, drug dealing and stealing.

He had a short temper. Friends died of overdoses in front of him. He didn't care whether he died.

"I was just ready to accept it at a young age," says 17-year-old Ryan, who cannot be identified while in juvenile custody at the Hogan Street Juvenile Regional Youth Center in St. Louis. The details of his background, however, have been confirmed by youth corrections officials.

As he speaks, Ryan gently sweeps aside the super-sized dog paw tapping on the table in front of him, as if looking for a hand to hold.

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Soon the dog nudges his boxy snout up onto the edge of the table.

"Down, King," Ryan says calmly while gently tugging his leash to lead the dog back to the floor.

It has been about a month since Ryan and another teen began training King and several other rescued dogs through Loosen the Leash, a new, nonprofit program under way inside Hogan Street, a state rehabilitative facility that houses some of Missouri's most serious juvenile offenders.

The program teaches teen offenders the fine details of dog training. For three months, the juveniles live with the dogs and train them, preparing them for adoptions and, hopefully, a safe and stable new home.

But in a world where teens like Ryan and dogs like King have been given few boundaries, little love and endless turmoil, it shows the juveniles something even greater. Patience, respect, praise, empathy and control don't just win over disobedient dogs, but also are the tools the teens must use to build their own second chance at a future.

Earlier this year, when Ryan learned his teenage girlfriend was pregnant, he armed himself with a baseball bat and set out to rob a known heroin dealer of $10,000.

After he was arrested, he was nearly uncontrollable in a juvenile lockup, spending hours in solitary confinement. He was transferred from a rural facility to St. Louis city's juvenile detention hall because it could better handle him. Because he was 17, he was eligible for a minimum 30-year adult sentence.

"I had the same charges as my father," Ryan says.

But St. Louis Juvenile Court Judge Jimmie Edwards took a chance on Ryan and sent him to Hogan Street, where there are no prison bars.

Ryan says he is working through his abandonment and rage, and the dog on his leash is leading his way.

"I want to use the skills I'm learning with the dogs to be a good parent to my daughter," explains Ryan, who will be released from Hogan Street in the spring. "This whole program teaches me to have patience."

INSPIRATION

Loosen the Leash was founded by Cindy Vickers, a dog trainer in St. Louis, who was given seed money by THF Realty President Michael Staenberg, a developer responsible for many of the region's Wal-Mart shopping centers.

She was inspired by the Prison Pet Partnership Program of Washington state, which matches dogs with inmates and has branched out into numerous services for former offenders.

Vickers hopes to expand her program to other juvenile facilities and open a residential dog training facility to help former offenders rebuild their lives.

Lewis Mueller, a regional administrator with the Missouri Division of Youth Services, said Vickers' program was a natural match for Hogan Street, where the teens spend their days working through the myriad emotional and physical scars that led them to commit irrational, sometimes violent crimes.

The dogs also have helped to further create a "safe haven" for adolescents who grew up in homes rife with abuse, poverty, addiction and neglect, said Valerie Valiant, Hogan Street's facilities manager.

Vickers said dogs like King are looking for trustworthy, consistent and praising leaders. For the teens, the dogs' loyalty and affection are a palpable demonstration of their own faith in another — a feeling that many of the teens shut off early in life to survive.

"Some of these kids have never been loved or taken care of in the way we are taking care of these dogs," Vickers said.

Equipped with a firm voice and free hugs and praise, Vickers said the work is an everyday reminder that inequality and poverty are the factors leading these teens astray.

"Even with a 15-year-old boy from an inner city, there's a great deal we have in common," she said. "It's the serious social injustice that sets us apart."

SECOND-CHANCE DOGS

Vickers also has an indirect goal. She hopes the teens will bring their deepening respect for the dogs back to their urban neighborhoods, where the teens and those who rescue the dogs said lucrative underground dogfighting goes mostly unchecked by police.

In these neighborhoods, pit bulls or pit bull mixes are sometimes fed gunpowder to agitate them for fighting, the teens said. Some owners have taken to "trunking," a practice of driving the dogs around in closed car trunks to terrify and anger them. Dogs that are maimed are usually discarded in the streets.

Vickers said the program does not shy away from training pit bulls like D.C., a pit bull-Labrador mix found by the nonprofit organization Stray Rescue of St. Louis. The dog was found with nine other puppies. He was so hyperactive that rescuers first named him Crazy Horse, said Stray Rescue Executive Director Randy Grim.

The teens at Hogan Street first doubted whether D.C. would ever come around, but on a morning earlier this month, the dog lay relaxed on the gym floor and began snoring. He had just followed every command in a 90-minute training session.

A fellow trainer, Lamar, 16, sat nearby, gently petting a silky dog once so nervous and that it shied away from his touch. In Hogan Street for a variety of escalating offenses, Lamar also had gotten to the point in his life where he didn't trust anyone.

"If I ain't be knowing you the rest of my life, I thought, 'Forget you,'" he says.

Perhaps that's why he says he easily forgives the dogs when they misbehave.

"I wouldn't want him to feel like I just gave up on him," he says, looking at D.C. "Like I wouldn't want anyone to give up on me just because I made some bad choices."

Ryan and Lamar have several more months at Hogan Street, but their days with King and D.C. sleeping at their bedsides are numbered.

The dogs are responding so well, Vickers said, that their pictures and profiles soon will be posted on the Loosen the Leash website for adoption.

Ryan says it will be difficult saying goodbye to King, but he also knows he has given the dog something that he, too, desperately wants.

"I know that he'd rather go to another family than not have a family at all," he says.

Nancy.Cambria@post-dispatch.com

314-340-8238

"The recession is catching many of the nation's largest cities in the middle of pioneering 10-year plans to drastically reduce the number of chronically homeless"

But we've got plenty of money to spend on wars or to give to banks, auto makers, politicians and crooks who masquerade as prominent leaders of the business community......


Economy stymies efforts for homeless
Risks progress made by cities
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tuesday, December 30, 2008

ATLANTA (AP) | Beneath the glowing red curlicues of the Coca-Cola headquarters sign, case worker Hylda Jackson bargains with one of Atlanta's left-behind.

"Are you ready, right now, this morning?" she says, kneeling beside a white-bearded man.

Harry Byrd's rumpled form is enveloped by the odor of stale beer, even before dawn.

"To do what?" he drawls.

"To go to a place to live. Are you ready right now?" Ms. Jackson presses.

A "yes" would land Mr. Byrd in his own apartment, surrounded by people ready to smooth his life's kinks.

"No," and he'll remain among the estimated 750,000 homeless sprinkled across the nation's streets and shelters each night.

He stirs, but doesn't get up. Ms. Jackson moves on. She has other sidewalks to cover, other parks to check, other bridges to pause beneath. This tug of war is bound to increase as the economy pushes more people into homelessness.

In Atlanta and other top destinations for the homeless, a sense of urgency has settled over the efforts of advocates such as Ms. Jackson.

The recession is catching many of the nation's largest cities in the middle of pioneering 10-year plans to drastically reduce the number of chronically homeless, city by city, by sweeping parks and alleys and by channeling people into apartments with built-in caseworkers.

Weary Wall Street donors have grown reluctant to open their pocketbooks to charity, and budget cuts have choked state support. By the time those dollars start flowing again, cities could be looking at restarting from scratch.

"Church officials say they wanted a sermon and carols before dinner was fed. But shelter director Robin Reilly started serving food first, saying some patrons hadn't eaten for 24 hours."

For all the good that they do, one of the most frequent complaints I hear about the local Nashville Rescue Mission is the fact that "they make you pray" while you're there.  For many, this isn't a problem and instead a real blessing, but there are also quite a few who simply aren't into the "God-thing" and find it offensive that they are forced to participate in what they consider a phony or otherwise unnecessary activity simply to get something to eat or find a place to lay their head for the night.

 For those folks, I like to tell them that it helps to understand the Mission's "mission"  when thinking about whether this is an acceptable practice or not:

(Mission statement) "Following God's command to love our neighbor as ourselves, the Nashville Rescue Mission seeks to help the hurting of Middle Tennessee by offering food, clothing and shelter to the homeless and recovery programs to those enslaved in life degrading problems. Our goal is to help people know the saving grace of Jesus, and through Him, gain wisdom for living, find fulfillment in life and become a positive part of their community."

Pay attention to the last sentence, folks, because that is where the Mission's real mission lies.  For many at the facility, what happens on this earth is secondary to the importance of getting into God's kingdom. Saving souls is the real mission here, and for the folks at the Mission, it is the most important service they believe they can offer, as it would be for any religious organization. 

Knowing this going in had made the demands of the organization a little easier to tolerate for some.  I've also had discussions with several who've argued that spending a few minutes listening to someone speak about God is a small price to pay for a meal and a bed for the night.   

Still, there are some who simply will not go to the Mission because of this.  That's too bad too, because there's no other game in town that comes close to housing as many people each night, year round, and there are a number of services available at or through the Mission that can assist one in breaking the chains of poverty and homelessness.  

There may be some shady characters hanging around, snoring can be outrageously loud, prayer is required and the feeding and shower structure is set up institution-style, but for many it is the nearest thing to home they've had in years and without the Mission, the downtown area would be absolutely shocked to see just how many people experiencing homelessness live in their midst......


Homeless Shelter Evicted After Prayer Debate
HACKENSACK, N.J. -- A Bergen County homeless shelter is homeless itself -- again.

The First Reformed Church of Hackensack dismissed the FAITH Foundation in a dispute over rules at its Christmas dinner for about 100 homeless people last week.

Church officials say they wanted a sermon and carols before dinner was fed. But shelter director Robin Reilly started serving food first, saying some patrons hadn't eaten for 24 hours.

Ms. Reilly says she'll try to find a new place to help the homeless. She's storing the group's supplies at another church for now.

It's not the first time the foundation has lost its home. Hackensack officials closed its previous building because it lacked permission to serve food there.

Stone Soup

From a client who became a friend and has begun a journey upward......

Stone Soup

As we huddled

Around the campfire

Memories muddled too

That to which we did aspire

Rose ghostly grey

Shrouding our song

In what we could not say

Where do we now belong

Some remembered sunny days

Some sang of being wrong

I thought of the different ways

I’d tried to get along

And how your voice

Had comforted me…all these years

And one specific choice

About the wailing tree…our tears

Would they there

One day mingle

Our sorrows to share

Like shit on a shingle

There beneath the highway

By the Cumberland River

From tent city did I pray

Your song would deliver

This red hot ember

My heart’s loving essence

Would you remember

My dream presence

We were one

On a cosmic highway

We crashed near this sun

Where time is counted in days

And now this grey smoke

Rising from Nashville

Searches out the words you spoke

You said heaven will

Hear my angel cries

But I’ve never seen

Such empty skies

Cold I’m unredeemed

My song hangs here unheard

We sip stone soup

Watching the last word

As it leaves our frozen troupe

This is where

My fire dies

Section 8 Reminder

The response to the opening of Section 8 apps has been tremendous, as you might imagine, given the current state of our economy. 

Because of this, it is likely that the program will stop taking apps again soon, so if you haven't gotten your application in by now, do not waste any more time in getting it done or you may miss the opportunity!

Rental Assistance (Section 8)

• Department Telephone Directory
• Section 8 to Home Ownership
• Section 8 Landlord Handbook
• Furthering Fair Housing in the HCV Family Self-Sufficiency Program

As of December 22, 2008, the Rental Assistance (Section 8) office is no longer accepting housing choice voucher registrations.
The Rental Assistance Department administers the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher and Moderate Rehabilitation Programs, federally funded rent supplement programs designed to help families find decent, safe and sanitary housing in the private market and to help those families with the cost of rent and utilities. Under these programs the family pays between 30-40 percent of its adjusted income or a minimum of $50.00 per month for rent and utilities. MDHA pays the difference. The private owner and renter both benefit. The owner receives fair market rent for his/her property, and the family gets a decent, affordable place to live.

Property in this program must meet Nashville and HUD quality standards. Participating dwelling units must pass a Housing Quality Standards inspection conducted by the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency. The Section 8 office executes the Housing Assistance Payments Contract, provides assistance to qualified families, meets with prospective owners to describe programs, handles paperwork relating to lease-ups and renewals and assists in resolving complaints or problems of participating owners and tenants.

As of May 1, 2008, the Agency has an allocation of 5,803 Housing Choice Vouchers, 119 units in a Single Room Occupancy Program for homeless individuals, and 230 units through the Shelter Plus Care Program, a program targeted to homeless individuals and families with disabilities, for a total of 6,152 units administered by the Rental Assistance Department. Other special programs include the Family Unification Program, where Section 8 Assistance is given to those families who have had or are facing their children removed from the home where lack of suitable housing is the primary reason for the removal of the children; and the Family Self-Sufficiency program, where participants are linked to services with the goal of becoming free of all governmental assistance.

In 2000, MDHA was one of three Housing Agencies in the country selected to implement a demonstration program for Section 8 to Homeownership. Assistance for qualified families is made to a lender to assist the family with their mortgage payment. Since October 2000, more than 120 families have closed on the purchase of a home and are currently receiving homeownership assistance.

Rental Assistance Forms

• Section Eight Registration Form – This form is used to apply for Section Eight assistance. It must be completed by the head of household and returned to the MDHA Rental Assistance office. Registration forms are only accepted during times when the Section Eight waiting list is open.
• Request for Tenancy Approval Form – This form is used by new applicants and current Section Eight participants wanting MDHA approval to rent a new unit. This form provides the information necessary for MDHA to determine if a family is eligible for a unit. The form must be completed and signed by both the family and potential landlord and returned to the MDHA Rental Assistance office.

"With today's economy, I notice the homeless number is rising,"

If you're homeless in Nashville, you almost certainly know at least two people here; Father Charlie Strobel and Candy Christmas.  Both have done more to assist those experiencing homelessness in one week than many of us do over our entire lifetimes. 

Candy's "bridge ministry" meets every Tuesday, rain, heat, sleet, shine or wind, and every Tuesday there will be hundreds of folks there waiting for dinner and music.  Its a great time and I'm always impressed with the caliber of the food and the entertainment that accompanies the meal.  The other thing that impresses me is the fact that, although it's definitely a religious service, people aren't forced to participate in the service itself in order to get some clhow.  some peeps just have a hard time with the God-thing, and Candy I suspect recognizes that.  She's more concerned with getting folks fed than preaching to them, and I think she also understands that sometimes, the gentle approach works better than "gunbarrel prayer" participation....



Ministry feeds the homeless under Jefferson Street Bridge

Posted: Dec 23, 2008 09:11 PM

Video Gallery <1> Ministry brings warm meal to homeless Nashvillians 1:42

More on the Web BridgeMinistry.org

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The Bridge Ministry has fed the homeless under the Jefferson Street Bridge a holiday meal for the last three years.  This year was no different.

Candy Christmas founded the Bridge Ministry in November 2004 with her husband.
She said it started with the food.

"I began to cook jambalaya and bring it every Tuesday night, and one thing turned into another," she continued.  "A lot of them are educated people who are down on their luck."

Word of mouth spread quickly and it turned into weekly meetings with hundreds of people and volunteers.

"With today's economy, I notice the homeless number is rising," Christmas added.
She said not only is homelessness rising "there are more children and families that we're feeding."

Each person that came to the holiday service Tuesday night not only got fed, but walked away with a new winter coat, hat and scarf and the promise of another service just one week away.

Michael Orand has volunteered with the ministry for six months. 

"We've got a lot of the same people that this is the only church they have, and they call it their church," he told News 2.  "I've seen people go from living under this very bridge to getting an apartment, to getting a job, and getting involved in church."

Charlie Hahn has been homeless and said he's counted on the weekly meetings to get through the tough times. 

"Whether I work or I'm hungry, they're here for me. So when I'm working, I'm here for them," he said.

The Bridge Ministry serves hot meals at 6 p.m. every Tuesday night under the Jefferson Street Bridge.

The organization runs mostly off of donations.

Washing the feet of some of Nashville's homeless provided Jennifer Barut and her nursing students a lesson in service and a good dose of humility.

The foot clinic over at the chd provides much more than just clean and doctered up pavement pounders; it provides lessons in giving, compassion, humility, and concern for one another......

Washing feet teaches students lessons

Homeless get care, attention

GANNETT TENNESSEE • December 28, 2008

Washing the feet of some of Nashville's homeless provided Jennifer Barut and her nursing students a lesson in service and a good dose of humility.

"It is true what they say about service — that you get more than you could ever give," said Barut, who teaches nursing at Motlow State Community College near Lynchburg, Tenn. She and her students participated in Project Homeless Connect earlier this month at Municipal Auditorium.

"The people served by the foot clinic that day thought that we were the ones giving to them. I wish I could convey to them how mistaken was that assumption, because they were giving to us."

The feet of each homeless person served were washed, dried and, if necessary, doctored. The students gave each person two pair of socks.

Barut, of Nashville, said one young man giggled while she scrubbed his feet, and another told her he loves playing chess and wants to go back to school but fears his long "rap" sheet might get in the way.

One woman shed tears of gratitude while getting her feet washed, Barut said, and called the volunteer workers "blessings from God."

To student Lora Loftis of Rutherford County's Lascassas community, the caregivers were the real recipients, experiencing "five full hours of blessings."

Some were hesitant

Several students said they had misgivings about foot washing, but those feelings quickly disappeared.

"At first I was a little hesitant, but after Robb explained why we were there, I was OK," said Jennifer Jones of Rock Island, Tenn. Robb is Robertson Nash, medical coordinator at the Campus for Human Development, and a clinical instructor at Vanderbilt University's School of Nursing.

"He said that, yes, foot care was greatly needed, but that was not our main purpose for the day. He told us the homeless are invisible to others, and that most of the time, they are ignored and considered bothersome," Jones said. "Washing their feet was a chance to show them that they do have a worth and to give them the undivided attention they may have never experienced."

Student Beth Baker of Winchester, Tenn., said participants also could get shoes, vision and HIV tests, dental exams and other care.

Mona Hunter of Murfreesboro helped with participants' initial assessments, which included determining their most pressing needs and asking questions about their living situations, medical information and sources of income.

Life stories show need

"I heard life stories that made me aware of the great need for volunteer services — people helping people," Hunter said.

"I realized how fortunate I am and how my problems are minute compared to not having food or shelter," she said. "It was a very humbling experience, and I walked away thanking God for my life and praying for those not as fortunate."

Jenia Nicoll of Murfreesboro said the first person she tended, a young man, looked like her brother.

"He slipped off his shoes and dirty socks, avoiding eye contact," she said. "He then rolled up his pants, to reveal another pair of pants. He told me he wore all the clothes he had because it was so cold outside. He explained that a police officer had taken him to shelter after finding him asleep on a grate.

"He was young and his eyes were the same blue as my brother's, and he had the same sad smile, and it left me shaken to the core," Nicoll said.