We're staying put over the holidays. Park Center puts on a big Christmas Feed for our members so Dorothy and I will be volunteering our time on Christmas day helping prepare food and then serving it to our members.
I'm also considering taking some food down to Tent City again; we were there yesterday and passed out 15 Quiznos sandwiches, courtesy of my huge-hearted brother in law, Ray. Ray's been quietly helping the Homeless in and around Nashville since he learned that homelessness was such a huge problem in Davidson county and he's gone out of his way to bring food, supplies and help to the many who desperately need it.
When I mentioned I was heading to Brentwood yesterday afternoon to pick up some coats given to me by Southeast Financial Credit Union's generous employees and patrons, he took the coat off his own back and threw it into my van; "make sure someone gets this, wouldya?" he exclaimed as he walked away.
That's just the way Ray is and I can't thank him enough for his generosity and assistance.
Too bad we didn't have an entire world filled with Rays....
Johnson: No home or place for the holidays
The pull of hearth and home will have Americans on the move this weekend. AAA estimates that 53 million of us will drive more than 50 miles, and almost 9 million will wing our way over the river and through the woods this Christmas to binge and splurge with family and friends.
The National Retail Federation projects holiday sales of $475 billion, almost half a trillion bucks spent on bathrobes, bad ties, iPods, iPhones and I don't know what else. And there will be an estimated 750,000 homeless in America on the night Christians remember Christ in the creche.
The United States Conference of Mayors released its 2007 Hunger and Homelessness Survey this week. The conference surveyed 23 cities to document the magnitude of hunger and homelessness. The survey examined cities as large as Boston and as small as Santa Monica, Calif. Nashville was the only Tennessee city surveyed.
Tennessee's capital city saw an increase in the number of people in need of food over the past year. While the number of homeless individuals in Nashville declined, the number of homeless households with children rose. As was the case in many cities, mental illness and lack of affordable housing were the leading causes of homelessness. Substance abuse also caused individuals to be homeless, and unemployment was a leading reason families didn't have a roof over their heads.
Here in Knoxville, Tom von Berg, vice president of communications at Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee, said unemployment often leads to hunger in the 18-county region his agency serves. "Rural unemployment is especially difficult," von Berg said. "When industry leaves a small town, the workers are out of work, and the town loses tax revenue and doesn't have the resources to retrain workers." About 80 percent of the folks Second Harvest and its partner agencies serve are working poor. Another 15 percent are unemployed poor.
Knox Area Rescue Ministries (KARM) has fed over 30,000 meals per month every month since July, with some months up over 20 percent. "We are seeing more women with children in our cafeteria lines," said Burt Rosen, President of KARM. "With the high price of groceries and gas, KARM is serving more people who are living on the fringe but are not homeless." Meanwhile, overnight stays in KARM's emergency shelter are up over 15 percent from last year.
Rebecca Sass, director of community relations at the Salvation Army in Knoxville, said her agency has served 27 percent more people this year than last. "Our Bootstraps (transitional housing) program has a waiting list for the first time in 13 years," Sass said.
John Lawler, director of Knoxville's Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, said Knoxville will soon know better the magnitude of its homeless problem. Dr. Roger Nooe will conduct a survey at the end of January to try to identify the number of homeless in Knoxville, including the chronically homeless.
"The chronically homeless make up 10 percent of the homeless population but consume 50 percent of the resources," Lawler said. Lawler said the chronically homeless spin through a revolving door from emergency rooms to jail to psychiatric hospitals. "We're seeing more momentum than ever to house the chronically homeless," Lawler said.
Volunteer Ministry Center (VMC) fills the permanent housing slot on Knoxville's continuum of care. "We help people get out of homelessness and into a place and then work on their problems," said Ginny Weatherstone, chief executive officer at VMC. So far this year, VMC has placed 76 people in permanent housing.
Weatherstone told of a mentally ill man who had been in and out of shelters for 12 years. VMC provided a place, and a local church paid part of his rent while he worked on his issues. Now, the man is working and paying his own rent while the church helps another formerly homeless neighbor.
As our going and getting reach a crescendo, there are those with no place to go, no way to get. Sort of like that young couple 2,000 years ago who were far from home with no place to stay. Until an innkeeper opened his stable. And his heart.
Greg Johnson is an East Tennessee native and resident and writes this column for the News Sentinel. E-mail him at jgregjohnson@ho
