FATHERLESS CHICAGO - MURDER CAPITAL - CHILDREN TURN TO CRIME

FATHERLESS CHICAGO YAHOO NEWS ARTICLE

"And today? The Chicago papers say that 85 percent of the children in those same public schools and in our former bungalows live under the poverty level. Nearly 80 percent of black children are illegitimate -- and most, fatherless. But those figures only give us the base for the really frightening things happening in the city that is being called this summer the "Murder Capital of America."

UPDATE ON OUR FRIEND WHO IS SLEEPING IN THE PARK AND GOING TO COMMUNITY COLLEGE

A while back we reported that a friend of ours was sleeping in the park, even in the winter and rain, but was taking a couple classes in a certificate program at a community college trying to end long term unemployment despite a college degree and some great work history by redirecting his or her career.

Our friend completed one semester with good grades but had trouble re- registering without an address the next semester and with small but important checks from a parent ending was unable to continue.

Our friend has been interviewed by outreach people from a couple programs that visited the park and it's been determined that because he is not mentally ill he isn't a priority to be taken in.

We also know of one program that has ordered homeless who were in school to quit while demanding that other homeless at the same shelter go back to school. "They just want to control."said one of those who was ordered to change their life plan or go back to the street.

 It doesn't seem that there are too many programs willing to let someone stay long enough to complete even a certificate program.

Our friend says he will keep sleeping in the park and doesn't know if he will make it to the age where he can get early social security and apply for low income housing.

One day at a time, even when you've always been clean and sober, dear friend.

CONWAY TWITTY AND SAM MOORE - RAINY NIGHT IN GEORGIA

A wonderful song that's a lot about those of us who are street homeless!

WE WERE RIVITED TO HEAR DAVID CRUZ - KTLK RADIO - SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - EXPOSE THE BEATING OF KELLY THOMAS ON THANKSGIVING NIGHT

David Cruz, radio host of his own show on KTALK radio 11 50 AM chose the Thanksgiving diner hour to play portions of a heart rendering tape of the BEATING OF KELLY THOMAS and we want to honor him for doing so.

Hearing the terrible pleaing screams of Kelly as what Cruz called  "A MOB IN UNIFORM" beat and Tazered him made us so upset we were talking about the DEATH PENALTY FOR Officer Manny Romas (not sure of the spelling here) and his hoard.   But as Cruz pointed out Romas is being tried for SECOND DEGREE MURDER which is not correct since there is evidence from the officer's threats that he intended to kill.

YOU CAN CALL THE FULLERTON POLICE AT THIS NUMBER TO ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE PROTEST 
714-566-6308

Cruz said that he's been to the LA morgue and to skid row and that he knows there is another homeless dead every day and that he was not all that interested in the homeless before this but hearing this tape which a woman colleague insisted he hear effected him "AS A HUMAN BEING and AS A FATHER!"

Luckily recorded on video the 33 minutes of beatings smashed Thomas's face  and body till he was chocking on his own blood. 

One of us thinks that maybe the Tazers used on Thomas should be inserted up the asses of the officers involved and turned on.  Some of us would enjoy watching a hanging.

WE WERE SICK! 
AND WE THANK YOU AGAIN DAVID CRUZ!

Link to David Cruz KTALK radio
KTALK DAVID CRUZ LINK

DO YOU SELL WHAT YOU FIND IN THE TRASH ? ON E-BAY?

We were just wondering since we recently met someone going through trash cans and dumpster who told us that he's been selling things he finds - even a laptop - on e-Bay!

BELL SHELTER -CITY OF BELL - SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - SALVATION ARMY - TRY THIS ONE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO GO TO SKID ROW

Bell Shelter is run by THE SALVATION ARMY

BELL SHELTER - SALVATION ARMY LINK

The Salvation Army Bell Shelter opened in January 1988 with help from Judge Harry Pregerson, who recognized a critical need for emergency shelter for homeless people in southeast Los Angeles County. The shelter is located in a converted 40,000 square foot hangar formerly used as a U.S. Army Air Base, in the city of Bell. It is the only program of its kind in California to fulfill the objectives of the 1987 Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, which encouraged the use of vacant Federal facilities as homeless shelters.

On site adult education classes offered through Los Angeles Unified School District - These classes lead to a General Education Diploma (GED), computer competency, HIV/AIDS awareness and/or a security guard certificate.

LIFE CYCLE OF A BUTTERFLY - EACH OF US IN TRANSITION

CEO SLEEP OUT - PHILADELPHIA PENNSLVANIA -COVENANT HOUSE HELPING STORM SANDY HOMELESS YOUTH

EXAMINER ARTICLE - COVENANT HOUSE CEO SLEEP OUT - AWARENESS and FUNDRAISING

Cardboard boxes and sleeping bags are the only comfort executives had as they slept outside in 12 cities across the U. S. and Canada. They did it to honor Runaway and Homeless Youth Awareness Month and to show solidarity with the young residents of Covenant House.


The idea takes some getting used to. It actually grew out of a successful night last year in New York City, where 50 executives accepted the challenge and raised $500,000 to benefit vulnerable youth.

FREEDOM WARMING CENTERS - SANTA BARBARA LOMPOC and SANTA MARIA - 2013-2014 UPDATE

FREEDOM WARMING CENTER FACEBOOK PAGE - COMMENTS HAVE LOCATIONS  2013-2014

10 emergency homeless shelter locations in Santa Barbara County, CA operating during rain or severe weather. Time of operation: 6am-6pm. Couples and pets allowed.

 HOTLINE: (805) 324-2372

 

 Email: warmingcenters@ussb.org

 

Description

The mission of the Freedom Warming Center is to relieve suffering and save lives to the unsheltered homeless on nights of severe weather conditions.

NO HASSLING & NO ID REQUIRED.

 

Call the hotline for which shelters are activated: (805) 324-2372, or Maria Long (805) 452-5466.

 Email: warmingcenters@ussb.org

 

Some current locations: Unitarian Society - 1535 Santa Barbara St, SB
St. Michaels University Church -6585 Picasso Lane, Isla Vista (10:00pm-6:00am)
Carpinteria Veterans Memorial - 941 Walnut Ave, Carpinteria
First United Methodist Church, 925 "F" Street, Lompoc
New Love Community Center, 1619 S. Thornburg, Santa Maria

***********************************************************
LAST YEAR LOCATIONS WERE : Location Sites (Friday- Sunday)
- First Presbyterian Church; 21 East Constance Ave., Santa Barbara
- Santa Barbara University Student Co-Op; 777 Camino Pescadero, Isla Vista
- Good Samaritan Shelter; 401 W. Morrison Rd. #B, Santa Maria

HOMELESS IN SANTA BARBARA ORG and STREET VOICE BLOG  (added to our blog list!)

"Last Tuesday, October 23^rd , (2012) the City of Santa Barbara approved the merging of the three largest agencies that serve the homeless in Santa Barbara County. The vote was 5-2, with Grant House and Cathy Murillo opposing.

Bringing Our Community Home, Common Ground Santa Barbara and the South Coast Homeless Advisory Committee are now The Central Coast Collaborative on Homelessness or C3H. The merger was already approved by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, but the City of Santa Maria and Carpinteria have yet to vote on the collaborative."

ASCENCIA GLENDALE and LOS ANGELES HOMELESS AUTHORITY - MORE BEDS IN GLENDALE BUT BURBANK SNOBS CAN'T FIND SPACE - OPENS DECEMBER 1st or 15th 2012

GLENDALE ARMORY COLD WEATHER SHELTER   Brittany Levine from Glendale News Press article link

"A larger winter shelter is coming to Glendale in December, but plans to create a smaller satellite version in Burbank have fallen through.

Ascencia, Glendale's largest nonprofit homeless services provider, plans to host an 80-bed shelter at the National Guard Armory on Colorado Boulevard for three months — larger than the 50-bed version hosted by the cities of Glendale and Burbank at the armory last winter.
Ascencia had planned to host a 60-bed shelter at the armory this year and a concurrent 20-bed shelter in Burbank, but an exhaustive search of roughly 30 buildings there came up short." ...

"The nonprofit doesn't have the vouchers Glendale and Burbank had to house 37 of its 90 shelter participants last year, but it still plans to provide more services than a typical shelter, such as case management and housing referrals.

“We're getting calls already from people asking about the winter shelter,” Profant Komuro said, adding that Ascencia plans to work with Burbank Temporary Aid Center to get the word out.

Since Ascencia received county funds, it must keep the shelter open to any transient who shows up, but the focus will be on local homeless. Due to its size, the shelter — which may open Dec. 1 or Dec. 15 — won't be the regional draw that the 150-bed programs were in the past, Profant Komuro said." ...

SOFA SURFERS HOMELESS CARTOON SERIES - SHANE TALKS ABOUT LOOSING A HOME

Sofa Surfers" Walsh Bros / BBC 2009



As you may know, Sofa Surfers qualify as homeless.

ONCE HOMELESS WILLIAM NOWELL CAME INTO MONEY RENTED AN APARTMENT AND GOT EVICTED ANYWAY

LA WEEKLY ARTICLE - THE MAN WHO SMELLED TOO MUCH  link to the full article.

ILLUSTRATION BY JONATHAN BARTLETT as it appears in the LA Weekly November 8 2012 edition.  Link to the full article and pictures of Mr. Nowells many bags that he brought to the apartment and had not yet unpacked when the trouble with management and fellow tennants started.

We were reading this article with interest.  We think the neighbors are a shitty people and so is the management of this building.  They stink as humans.  Nowell may have smelled bad, but so did most people until the era of indoor plumbing and hot water heaters.  We think that if they knew he smelled bad when they rented to him - and he paid a huge deposite and months in advance - then all these other tactics they did were over the top, and especially having cops show up. 

some excerpts:

"William Nowell lived at 650 Spring St. for eight months, but he never got a chance to feel at home. He never unpacked the 100 percent Egyptian cotton sheets, the printer, the kitchenware, the camera or the blender."

"Unfortunately for Nowell, smell is not one of the seven categories protected by the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status or disability. Nowell does not fall into any of them. He is, however, in poor health. The medical condition he declines to name prevents him from bathing regularly, he says. Nowell claims that past surgery has made full immersion in water difficult. Instead, he prefers to give himself sponge baths while sitting at the edge of the tub. Nowell has, though, never claimed disability in any official capacity."

WE DON'T UNDERSTAND ALL THAT STALE BREAD!

Stale bread at food banks, with shelter meals, on tables at senior centers...

Everyone knows that man can't live on bread alone! Especially not white bread.

Are store bakeries making too much to sell so they can take a tax deduction?

THANKSGIVING AND CHRISTMAS - ABOUT THE ONLY TIME MANY PEOPLE EVER THINK OF HOMELESS PEOPLE

Thanksgiving and Christmas are usually the ONLY time during the year that most people think of homeless people.  So many charities and philanthropies get involved in staging holiday dinners for the homeless at churches, shelters, and other venues.  Pictures of worn out, sick, old, and disheveled men eating their turkey meal as a break before they return to street homelessness decorate the mailings that some charities send, and certainly those homeless people exist. 

But some of these places give the impression that ALL HOMELESS ARE STREET HOMELESS and frankly, we think there are more options for street homeless than there are for people who are just experiencing homelessness for the first time due to the economic conditions in the USA - loosing homes, evicted from apartments, out of jobs, broke due to a major medical problem in the family...  or displaced due to hurricanes and superstorms.

Some shelters soliciting donations would have the average american believe that all homeless are mentally ill or have a drug problem. 

Living in poverty is stressful and depressing, but we don't hear too much about people being helped to the point where THEY ARE RECIEVING THE SUPPORTIVE SERVICES TO GET WELL.  No, what we hear about is how people who are not mentlally ill are pushed by case managers to lie that they are.  We hear about people being threatened with termination (being put back out on the street)  if they don't "comply" (obey) and people being sent to certain mental health clinics that collaborate with lies, people being sent to certain lawyers to get SSI as if these shelters have some sort of deal. 

Everybody likes the story of someone who was way down there looking up at the curb getting housing because thats drama, but if you're reading this and you are NOT HOMELESS, consider those who are simply parking overnight, sleeping in their vans, trying to go to school, trying to find work, and need a helping hand EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR!

SPOTLIGHT ON POVERTY - CALIFORNIA - HERE'S THE STATS!

If you believe stats...

SPOTLIGHT ON POVERTY link

Child poverty rate: 23%

Senior poverty rate: 18%
Women in poverty: 18%

Percent of single-parent families with related children that are below poverty: 34% ...

Why Spotlight Poverty and Opportunity?


In the United States, the wealthiest country in the world, nearly 43.6 million people live in poverty, which for a family of four means an annual income of less than $22,100 a year. During the Great Recession millions fell below the poverty line for the first time. The country’s slow economic recovery and continuing high unemployment have resulted in record numbers of families struggling to put enough food on the table and pay for housing, health care and other basic needs.

American poverty disproportionately affects children, with more than 15 million now growing up in impoverished homes. Other industrialized nations do much better. Among 24 developed nations, children in America, along with those in Greece and Italy, suffer the greatest inequalities in health, education and material well-being.

Reducing poverty is not only a moral imperative, it is vital to our nation’s well-being. Children who grow up poor too often become adults who cannot contribute effectively to our economic productivity, put a burden on the public health system or enter the criminal justice system. Economists estimate that child poverty costs the nation about $500 billion a year.

HUNTING THE HOMELESS - SANTA MONICA POLICE

"They're comfortable doing what they're doing." (Being homeless and sick.)

EACH OF US UNIQUE AND IN TRANSITION - COLORING PAGE FOR OUR HOMELESS CHILDREN (24)

BUTTERFLY COLORING PAGE FOR OUR HOMELESS CHILDREN (51)

SOMETHING IN THE AIR - THUNDERCLAP NEWMAN