How Much Is A Dollar Worth?

A great post by Pad's Chicago Blog, which can be found at this link.

How much is  a dollar worth?  Just ask a homeless person.

For just $1.00 to $5.00 a homeless person for  1 to 2 hours can:

• Drink a coffee or eat a meal.
• Sit indoors.
• Have access to a clean bathroom and sink to watch hands and face.
• Be out of the rain.
• Be safe from severe weather.
• Watch a movie matinee.
• Buy a ticket and ride the bus or train.
• Do laundry.
• Make calls on a pay phone.
• Put a small amount of gas for the day in their car’s gas tank.
• Access pool and shower facilities at a local park.

What a person can get out of it:

• Food.
• Shelter.
• Clean clothes.
• Hygiene care.
• Entertainment.
• Transportation to shelter, an interview, a job, and other appointments.
• Access to a toilet and facilities to do hygiene.
• A visit with family and friends, call to schedule a job interview.
• Social interaction and networking.
• A sense of normalcy (whatever normal is)
• Happiness.
• A love and gratitude for fellow man.

What you get:

• Happiness.
• God’s love and blessing.
• A love and gratitude for fellow man.
• Social interaction and networking.
• Increased self-satisfaction, self-love, self-worth, self-value

Pulling It Together

It is a great thing to see a community at work.

Yesterday, we had two homeless men and two people who moved into our community house and two of my children all working together at Anawim's facility in Gresham: improving gardens, spreading wood chips, getting rid of termites, organizing our online message, playing with a baby: all for the glory of God and the benefit of the poor!

Last week our vegetable garden was planted, the huge lawn was mowed and blades were sharpened.  And, of course, hundreds of people were fed, dozens of showers provided and people worshiping, same as every week.

Today, we have our homeless sponsored BBQ at 4pm.

Anawim is just so cool!

Answering a Phone Call

Yesterday, I received a phone call from a nervous neighbor.  She was polite enough, "I'm glad that someone is helping these people," she said, meaning the street folks.  However... yes, when we get a call from the neighbors there's always a "however".  She saw some folks pushing each other out in the street, cussing up a storm.  For herself, she might have been irritated, but her young daughter was there "and she could have been watching through the slits in the fence".  And she certainly heard the language.

Investigating the situation, it turns out that there was a person who was not a regular who was drinking in the church.  He was also lightly groping a couple of the girls.  Because he refused to desist, he was asked to leave. He also refused to do this.  So they had to work with him, getting him out, and this led to the front of the church, next to the street, where I guess it devolved into a pushing and cussing match, where at least one person was almost pushed into traffic.

Not good.  We need to do something about it, and we must. And I told the neighbor this.

But she was not satisfied.  She said, "Why can't these people act better when they are at the church?  Are they receiving this help for free or do they have to work for it?  My daughter said that she saw a drunk person vomiting on the church grounds while she was at the park a couple years ago?  Are people sleeping there? How many people do you have there, anyway?"  No matter what I said, I couldn't ease her upset about the fact that she is in a community that has an unwanted population that our church is pulling in.

What I couldn't say is that if we weren't creating a place for folks that has rules and food and people to watch over, then they'd be out in the community, without rules, hungry and with no one they trusted to suggest they act differently.  They'd be in someone's front yard or street-- if not yours then someone else's.

Instead, with the day shelter, they are in a safe place-- safe for themselves and safe for others.  They have a place to cook their own food, to connect in a non-violent place.  They can be respected and so not find any reason to be violent or dangerous in any way.  Sure, a few of the people will occasionally act out, but the community as a whole teaches them that such behavior isn't welcome.

Very rarely we have situations like yesterday when those who are helping snap and act in a way that in not in accord with the church atmosphere.  But that's rare, very rare.  The fact is, without the day shelters, the community would be in a worse state.

I want to keep everyone safe, and I'd like to have the neighbors be content with our work.  I am hoping that we will all be working together to create a unified community of peace and everyone working together.  I heard today that the police are directing the homeless to the day shelters to keep them out of the community at large.  That's fine with everyone.  Praise God there's a place for everyone to go.  It is our hope that our folks will eventually work for these neighbors who have problems with them now.  Maybe even to be paid.

Vital Statistics: A Summary of Portland's 2011 Street Count

Some facts from the “2011 Point In Time Count of Homelessness in Portland/ Multnomah County, Oregon”

All statistics reflect the state of homelessness on January 26, 2011.  This doesn’t give an accurate overall picture of homelessness in Multnomah County for many reasons, but the three primary reasons are:

-January is one of the lowest counts of homelessness of the year

-It is very difficult to find all the homeless.

-Many homeless ask not to be counted

Even so, this count is important because it gives a general idea of homelessness in the county, it is helpful in comparison to other cities and it helps us see the trends of homelessness.

To read the full report, please go to this link and download the free file

The Statistics:

2,727—People counted who are sleeping on the street or in vehicles or in shelters on the night of January 26.

1,928—People in temporary transitional housing on that night.

35—The percentage of increase of families who became homeless since 2009

751—Homeless children

9—The percentage of increase of homelessness since 2009

12—The percentage of veterans who are homeless

More than half of those living on the street were living on the street two years ago.

The count in East Multnomah County (East of 182^nd) increased to 92 from a single individual in 2009. (A personal note: this is because of the participation of the day shelter programs in East County)

11- Percentage of homeless in all of East County (East of 82^nd), where services for the homeless are scarce.

46—Percentage of homeless that have been homeless for more than 2 years

69—Percent of homeless that have been homeless for more than 1 year

52—Percentage of the homeless who have lived in Multnomah County for more than 10 years.  However, the majority of the general population of Oregon do not originate from Oregon.

101—Increase of beds in shelters from 2009

53—Percentage of the homeless in shelters who are a part of a homeless family

37—Percentage of homeless women

35—Percent of homeless woman affected by domestic abuse

46—Percent of communities of color (non-white) on the street.  In the general population, 29 percent are communities of color.  African Americans and Native Americans are more represented on the street than other groups.

Teach How to Fish Revisited

Probably the most popular blog post here is the article by Pam Wilson of Operation Mercy about the phrase "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."  It's a great article you can read here if you like.

Even though I have a lot of questions about this proverb, people have been quoting it a lot to me lately.  A friend of mine recently posted on my Facebook page, "We need to teach the homeless how to fish."  This is a summary statement, which really means, "We need to train the homeless so they can get jobs."   Getting the homeless work is essential, no question. Labor is a big issue among the homeless, especially with the increased competition as many people are losing jobs.

But do the homeless need to be retrained?  Sure, some could benefit from some training.  But frankly, almost all of the homeless have skills that could be used in jobs today.  I know mechanics, landscapers, carpenters, roofers, painters, bike mechanics, general handymen, and many other occupations.  These are jobs that need to be done and there is a lot of work for this kind of work.  Perhaps having regular work this way takes some time, but our folks are ready to build up a clientele.  They've got time and aren't in a hurry.  But they'd like work.  Today, if possible.

So why don't they work?  Because no one will hire a homeless person.  Employers are looking for people who are already settled.  They don't want to hire someone who might be difficult.  Even people looking for work for a day are nervous about hiring a homeless person to do work.  Or perhaps they think that a homeless person would do shoddy work.

Let's face it, the homeless don't need to "learn to fish." They need to be given a chance.  They need to be given jobs, or at least some day labor.  

If you have ever even thought about a homeless person, "That person needs to get a job," then stop and reprimand yourself for your hypocrisy unless you have hired and paid a homeless person for work. Do you want to have a church ministry? Hire the homeless to care for your church property, even if only for a day.

Don't know where to find homeless people to hire to do work for you?  If you are in the Portland area, contact me.  I'll get you a worker.  They can clean your house.  They can clean up your yard.  They can repair.  They can build wood tables.  Don't think that the homeless are inadequate.  Most of them aren't.  They just need a chance.  And maybe a little patience.

Perfect Joy

Last Friday was my last day in leadership at Sunnyside Coffee House.  My church would still be a part of cooking and serving food, once a month, but my bi-weekly visiting and praying with and serving the mentally ill and homeless of SE Portland is over.  For now.

I was pretty sad about the whole thing.  We cooked and served spaghetti (fresh basil and beef in the sauce, which was great) and then stood up to lead prayer.  I announced my leaving and that Mark Woodson would take over. Many people clapped.  Now, Mark Woodson used to lead the coffee house years before, so it was probably just joy that he's coming back.  But it felt like a slap across my face.  I've regularly worked twelve hour days for these people, making sure that had enough to eat and stuff to take home.  I've worked hard at creating a place of peace, so people would feel safe coming in, where there used to be people yelling and obnoxious shouting almost every week. I've been threatened, yelled at, cleaned up overflowing toilets, cleaned out a back storage room full of mouse feces.  We have prayed people's healings in, we had two weddings there, we showed movies, laughed and loved together.  And I was deeply shamed at the rejoicing of my leaving.

At that point I remembered a story of Francis of Assisi.  It's pretty long, so I won't quote the whole thing, but the summary is Francis saying, "Perfect joy is serving and suffering for your brothers only to have them reject you."  You can read it all here: The Perfect Joy of St. Francis

I said to myself, "Well, I guess no good deed goes unpunished.  I just need to chalk this one up for eternal reward."  I was being pretty self-pitying, really.

As the evening wore on, it was clear that it was two of us: Styxx and myself, cooking and serving and cleaning for the hundred or so people who showed up. It's a big job, but we were experienced and knew what we were in for. Pretty soon we had a number of people come up and thank us for the food, "This is some of the best food I've had."  Wow.  Many times people would come and complain about the free food they received.  This was different.  A couple came up and asked, "Could you use some help?" and I honestly replied, "Yeah, we should could."  They came in and helped serve seconds to folks as I went into the men's room to mop up an overflowing toilet.

In another twenty minutes, others, who did not ask to help, voluntarily wiped down all the tables, put the chairs  up and swept up.  Behind the counter, the couple cleaned up the counters and stove. All this work probably cut an hour off of Styxx and my evening.

A bit later Joline came up.  She's an older Native American woman who's lived on the street for many years.  She wasn't doing well tonight.  She was either a little drunk or sick or just depressed.  She said, "Thank you for all you've done.  Here's what I have."  And she put in my hand her last eighty cents.

At this point I realized that Francis was wrong.  Perfect joy isn't being rejected.  Perfect joy is working to build community where there was none before.  Perfect joy is seeing people act like Jesus, especially those whom people say could never be discipled.  Perfect joy is seeing God at work.

Cause of Homelessness: Bad Past

I have a family and a single person who have the money to get an apartment, but they can't.  Is it because of a bad credit check?  No.  Because of a bad reference?  Nope.  It is because they have a five year old felony.

Most apartments won't take you if they can show that you have significant jail time in your past. One of my friends has a job and a beautiful ten month old daughter and wife, but once the apartment managers see the jail time, he's rejected.  Even though he has had a clean record since he got out of jail and had voluntarily finished a rehab program and has a good paying job.  No one will touch him.

Another of my friends has a serious injury.  His hip is giving out and he is unable to walk very far.  He could go to the store as needed, but he can't be homeless any more.  He sleeps on one of my extra couches, but he has the money from disability to get an apartment, or at least to room with another person. But if he applies with another person, they will reject them both because he has a record, which is now six years old.

These are the people ready to get off the street.  But a number of the street folks are looking and saying, If it is this hard to get off the street, why bother trying?