"...if you’re lucky enough to leave the (tramp) trail, you’ll always be a part of it,”

Every day here in Nashville, hundreds of people are looking for simple things to make their lives a little easier, a little more comfortable. From socks to drinking water to a toilet, these folks wander the streets of Nashville, hoping that someone will be able to fulfill their most basic of needs. Many don't ask for much, many don't even want much, but what they need are things that most of us take for granted. I often carry the simple items like aspirin, tampons, socks, shirts, tobacco and bus passes with me in my travels. These things go so quickly I'd need a semi trailer full of them in order to keep up with the daily demand. I used to bring power bars as well, but the damned things cost so much I can't afford to buy them any longer. In the caregiver circles I am involved in, there has been much talk about putting on a "big event" that will provide those without homes a place to come for a haircut, medical/dental attention, clothing, a meal, camp supplies, and other services such as job training, rehab, and offers of transitional housing. I've heard this talk now since about August of 07 and I'm still waiting for this big event to come together. It's not that folks aren't trying, they are. But always we're told we need to wait until someone or something else occurs first. Another meeting with the prospective landholders, another date to get a question answered, another appointment to see if so and so wants to participate. As Jeannie Alexander, new leader at the NHPP said in a recent meeting, "people are tired of waiting." We've really got to do something now, folks. Not tomorrow, not next week, not next month. NOW. And we'd probably better come to the table with more than socks and offers of a haircut, too....

Spring Break provides the downtrodden a lift

By DARLA SLIPKE

The Kansas City Star

Amos Stallings, a disabled, unemployed veteran, said being homeless was called being on the tramp trail.

Even “if you’re lucky enough to leave the trail, you’ll always be a part of it,” he said. “You always want to come back to it, but just to visit.”

On Saturday, Stallings was able to come back — just to visit — in the company of old friends at the Care of Poor People’s 15th annual Spring Break event. It offers a reprieve for the city’s homeless and needy by providing food, clothes and other necessities.

Stallings was one of hundreds who showed up for the event, held at an empty downtown warehouse.

Stallings, 52, is not homeless anymore. Severe arthritis in his shoulders, knees and spine, and neuropathy in his left thigh, prevent him from working. He said his joblessness and an addiction to crack caused him to be homeless for many years.

But about a year ago he was able to buy a house using income from disability checks. He said he tries to attend the Spring Break event every year.

Care of Poor People was started by taxi driver and author Richard Tripp. He said it was a way to bring the community together and show the less fortunate that people cared about them.

Tripp was homeless himself 17 years ago. He lived under the Broadway Bridge for about a year after hurting his back.

Tripp said that the Spring Break kept getting bigger — a good thing, since he said that situations were getting worse for many people because of the economic downturn.

“Every year we do this, and I see how successful it was, and we helped so many people,” Tripp said, “but I think to myself, ‘It would be so much better if it didn’t need done.’ ”

As he was talking, people trickled out of the warehouse carrying plates loaded with baked beans, cheesy potatoes, fruit, spaghetti, hot dogs and blueberry pie.

A middle-aged woman with a walker paused to express her gratitude.

“Thank you,” she said to Tripp. “You give us hope. Thank you.”

Volunteers spent four days setting up for the event. Tripp estimated that they had about $100,000 worth of material goods to hand out.

Volunteer coordinator Kathy Ward, 52, has been helping with this event for five years. She said she most enjoyed talking to everyone who came.

“You always get back more than you give,” she said. “It’s fantastic.”

Elsewhere in the warehouse, people browsed tables filled with clothes — piled higher than people’s heads in some places — as well as shoes, toys, books, socks and other necessities.

Santisa Cheffen rifled through the piles looking for clothes for her children, ages 1, 3, 6 and 9. Her daughter Nafisah, 6, ran back and forth between her mom and the toy table, showing off treasures she found.

“Look!” she said, grinning and flashing a pair of green-rimmed sunglasses.

A minute later she returned clutching a Dora the Explorer doll.

Cheffen’s other daughter, Khazenah, was excited to find a restaurant play set.

Some people left with trash bags full of items, while others took very little.

Wearing a stained blue jacket and flannel shirt, and missing his bottom front teeth, Charles Everett Cook, 64, wanted a nice pair of slacks.

The 6-foot 6-inch Perry, 44, who has been homeless since January, hoped to find a pair of pants that would fit.

A man named Darrell just wanted to express his gratitude.

“I didn’t come and get a whole lot because it doesn’t take a lot for me,” he said. “But some people need this. I’m grateful and appreciative for what I got.”