MORE Homeless Women I've Known

[bobbolink]

"Josie's" IT job was outsourced, and after continually looking for other employment, she fell down farther and farther until she was homeless. She lived in her pickup camper with her two dogs. As has every homeless person I've talked with in depth, she said she no longer wanted to live, but on the other hand, she wouldn't leave her 2 dogs to fend for themselves. Those dogs kept her alive.

"Josie" was parking her truck in the Walmart parking lot at night as a safe place to sleep. Then a neighbor of that Walmart went on a crusade about people parking in the lot at night, and started reporting anyone there more than 2 nights. "Josie" got a loud knock on her pickup one night, and told by a deputy she would have to move her truck, as she had been there more than 48 hours. She had nowhere to go. The next day she went to the local "help" agency, and was rudely and dismissively told by the director that they had nothing for her. The director called a shelter in a nearby big city, who said they would put down her two dogs and give her two weeks in the shelter. Two weeks in a cruddy shelter in exhange for the lives of her two dogs, who had kept her alive.

This was overheard by a volunteer, the former director, who signaled to her to come back later. When "Josie" came back, this former director set her up with a nearby campground for a couple of nights, with money for propane and showers and laundromat. This enabled her to get a job at the Walmart. When the manager found out she had nowhere to live, he arranged for her to park her truck on the land of a property owner nearby, who later hooked "Josie" up to water and electricity, getting her through the winter, until she was able to save enough from her Walmart paycheck to get a small apartment for her and her 2 dogs. The same dogs that had kept her alive.

[acmavm]

1. "Josie" was very lucky. There are thousands of "Josies" and

they live out on the street with their children. And there are old people on the streets. And there are mentally ill people out on the streets. And there are veterans out on the streets.

I've known a lot of people who were/are homeless and have myself been in that position a couple of times. The first time with my Mom and my brothers and sisters when I was 10. That was a long long time ago. And instead of things getting better they are now much worse than they were back in those cold and unenlightened days of the early 60s.

This is NOT a kind nation. Not when you consider the assets it has. And the unfair distribution of wealth. And the value placed on the labors of the working man/woman as opposed to the greedy and grasping corporate CEO.

[bobbolink]

2. When "Joan" became homeless...

(I believe it was because of abuse, but I'm not certain), she went to the same agency "Josie" had gone to. Because she was much younger, they offered her assistance. They clearly wanted her to succeed, so they offered her more than is usually offered to older women. The price she paid was to constantly be told all her "problems" and be criticized for much of what she said.

When I met her, they had placed her as a manager of their thrift store. She knew that her existence depended upon their support of her, and internalized all that they said about her. It was much like that of an abused wife who feels helpless, and takes on her husbands assessment that she's the one who "make him mad", and "causes him to lose his temper". The example that really struck me is when "Joan" and I are talking about how many homeless women there were in the area, and how few resources and even less awareness and concern in the community. She was visibly upset about it, then brushed it all aside as she said, "See, they tell me my problem is that I'm too impatient." They've let her know it's a character flaw that she feels concern and compassion for those who are without home and help.

She then tells me she went to a fund-raising meeting of this agency and they said that "if you're able to help 2 out of 100, you're doing good." She said to me that she was so upset hearing that, that she left the meeting and kept thinking "What happens to the other 98?" Yet, she's just seen as "impatient".

[bobbolink]

3. More on "Jenn", from the previous thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1906672

As "Jenn's" health was steadily deteriorating from the pollution in the Section 8 apartment she lived in, her family kept saying that she was "depressed", and should seek "help". So, she went to a psychologist who had the integrity to tell her that there was nothing wrong with her. He said, "If you want pills, we can prescribe them for you, but what you're going through is a normal reaction to a very bad situation."

That's unusually truthful for a therapist to say, and unusual in this age when everything is thought to be cured by pills.

[bobbolink]

4. more on "Jessica" and "Joyce"

While in the shelter, "Jessica" talked of how the shelter directors had changed from being very supportive and caring to being quite confrontive and harsh. She said that she didn't know the reason, but that it happened after a couple of women had been at the shelter. When a pastor of a church that had been supporting the shelter was told of the problems with the confrontations, she got angry and brushed it off. "Jessica" just pulled into herself, and tried to ignore the tension, spending as much time out of the shelter as she could.

"Joyce" is going into one more winter homeless. The way she keeps warm during the winter is lining a metal baking pan with foil, filling it with votive candles, and the foil helps to reflect the heat.

[Cleita]

5. Put down the two dogs?

How harsh. It seems they could have kept the dogs in the animal shelter for the two weeks she could have stayed in the shelter. They do that in my area for people who have to go to jail and there is no one to look after their animals. It seems they could do it for homeless people.

[undergroundpanther]

6. Everything helps

If I lost my home and My cats I'd just about be ready to kill myself.

I know a few homeless people I help out.My roommate helps out when he can I have bought used camping equipment,and sleeping bags done laundry for homeless people, yes they need help.

If more people would GET the concept and go out and share what they have then more homeless people's lives can be changed by the kindness of you,me, anyone else who gives from their own hands to others what they can .Getting involved helps,becoming part of another's life,and BEING THERE often it is the support and caring emotionally and the addition of a few things shared ,Together is just enough for them to make it.

Charities do not work on a human to human basis. It is an organization that just gives stuff that comes with a cost,with overhead, politics and a Ceo to pay.Alot of money is wasted by mass impersonal charity.But a Person getting involved with another person and not only giving stuff but giving themselves is what works. Personal caring takes PEOPLE who care enough to get up, get out, dirty their own hands to get involved share and do the things like what helped the lady in the pickup and her two dogs survive.Offer propane hookup a campsite,a place for her dogs..Real life practical help.
Food and winter mittens are good, but if you really want to help get INVOLVED with helping them yourself.

[bobbolink]

11. It's always the people with *nothing*, like you, undergroundpanther, who give the most!

I have seen this over and over and over... people who have everything rarely find it in their hearts to share. There are some, but for the most part, the offers of help I've had come from those with very little.

Thank you!

:pals:

[nam78_two]

7. Quick K&R-am at work but will comment later on

Thanks for posting this!

[knitter4democracy]

8. I've heard of similar treatment for too damn many.

I did a bit of work in a homeless shelter once as a teen, and it was awful. :shudder: Just plain awful. No pets allowed, either, and the food was terrible--I know because our group cooked it and paid to eat it, too, so we could keep our costs down. The food was terrible and not very healthy (too many carbs, not enough good protein), and the adults in our group did the best they could to change the menus and make them better while we were there.

One guy helped our team on the outside of the building, and it turned out he had served in Vietnam with one of our adults. That shook Terry pretty badly. He stayed in touch with the vet, giving him his coat and shoes (they wore the same size) and all the money he had before we left.

The homeless problem is huge, and too damn many are suffering. Surely we can all band together and fix it.

[bobbolink]

12. Thanks for telling the other side of the shelter issue! So many think that's THE answer.

I'm working on a piece about shelters now.....

And, yes, Terry was an example of being shook to find out it can be *anyone*! Its so easy to dismiss us until someone finds out they have something in common with us.

Then, all too often, it scares them, and they back off even more.

[knitter4democracy]

15. No one would think shelters are the answers if they ate there.

Worst food I've ever had. All of us lost weight, even the football player in the group, to the point that the church where we worked at night threw together a huge potluck party for us on our last day when they really didn't have the money for that sort of feast. I cried, my mom cried, and the football player cried when he saw the Kansas City barbecue. Good, good, loving people. I'm still amazed at their loving generosity.

Oh, yeah, and no privacy. None. Sickening showers. :scared: I know--I cleaned them. Not enough people working to keep it clean, and it was scary. I can't even imagine what it was like at night.

[Kajsa]

9. This is how we treat our disabled, our unemployed,

our veterans, our people

What many don't realize is that they are one major catastrophe
( loss of job, major illness) away from this happening to them.

God Bless Josie and her dogs! :grouphug:

Thanks, Bobbolink, for sharing their stories with us.

:hug:

[bobbolink]

13. I don't even have any words any more for how we treat people.

I'm just royally PISSED!

:nuke:

[DaveJ]

10. She's lucky she was healthy and employable

Her I.T. career experience apparently was enough to get her in the door at Wal-mart so she can live a life of indentured servitude. Otherwise who knows what would have happened?

[PDenton]

14. If all the homeless people were to march on washington

the government would have to flinch.

The problem with the homeless and poor, they are invisible. At most they are nuisances for the temporarily wealthy to walk over or flip their burgers. Most of these white collar workers are just poor people in the waiting. Corporate America has big plans to outsource as many white-collar jobs as they can, if they can get away with it. That includes all kinds of work that Bill Clinton and the rest of his bullshit gang said were the jobs of the future.

[DaveJ]

16. They were for a short time, maybe a few still are, maybe

It's still important to have technical skills like Clinton said, the problem is how to apply them. I think people need to apply them more creatively than depending on some scumbag employer to pay them. I think there is still a lot of opportunity for those with skills and who create their own products or services, and start their own businesses.

[PDenton]

17. Starting your own business is very risky

And you are competing with global corporations. I know some folks who make boutique soaps and that sort of thing but it is dificult in this day and age to get started doing stuff like that. Most people are not interested in niche products anymore that don't have some kind of brand label. Face it, being an entrepreneur is tough.

[DaveJ]

18. I would start of doing it only for supplemental income

It's risky to depend on anything. Income from employment can end anytime too. The best thing is to have at least two incomes. The more incomes, the better.

As far as corporate competition goes, small businesses need to avoid being stomped on by those behemoths, but I think there is still plenty opportunity. No offense to your friends, but it's fairly obvious going into such a business that corporations have that market pretty much sealed tight. There are plenty of other paths to take, IMO.

[bobbolink]

19. Would you two be willing to put your heads together and come up with a plan that could work?

I'm mostly interested in homeless women who can't work, but....

You two are having a good conversation, and maybe you could toss around some ideas that could help other homeless people.

You made me think of the Women's Bean Project. When it first started, I didn't think too much of it. But, it has become quite successful, and apparently helping women.

http://www.womensbeanproject.com/

What do you think?

[NMDemDist2]

20. this is awesome! I know what I'll be buying for Xmas presents...

But the Women's Bean Project does not hire women to make and sell bean products. We make and sell bean products to hire women.

[bobbolink]

22. Hey, cool! An unintended, but very fine outgrowth of a discussion!

that is just soooo neat!

I think you just made my day...:pals:

[DaveJ]

24. That program is good, and ripe for spinoffs

My philosophy is that competition is good. When you have a new product and service, competitors' marketing can raise awareness of it and drive sales. Not to minimize the Woman's Bean Project, but it seems simple -- a business that is kind enough to hire homeless women and share its profits. There should be more business models like this. You can either create a new business that does this, or convince existing businesses to do this. Or create an employment agency that caters to the homeless. Meanwhile, people should not have to worry about becoming homeless in the first place.

[PDenton]

28. actually, the soap making business does great

But I figure the market can only support so many players in such a niche. She also does more than soap, also perfumes/cologne, shaving cream, etc., and sell them online It is a difficult thing to become an entrepneur like that because 90 percent of the population out there isn't interested in a product that costs 3-4 times what a mass-market retail product would cost.

[knitter4democracy]

21. Wasn't there a march during the Depression?

Found it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army

It was WWI vets and their families, and it ended badly. Scary.

[bobbolink]

23. Yes, and there's an important but unknown part of history attached to that....

The Plot To Overthrow FDR.

It's a video about 43 minutes long, and well worth watching.

It's the precursor for what's happened since 2000.

I asked my library to get it, and they ended up buying 6 copies of it!

[Greyhound]

27. General Douglas McArthur commanded the raid on the "Bonus Army"

assisted by Major Dwight D. Eisenhower and Major George Patton. Here's a bit to remind us of where we really live.

In the spring and summer of 1932, disgruntled, broke, and unemployed veterans like Angelo got the idea to demand payment on the future worth of the aforementioned certificates. Anywhere from 17,000 to 25,000 former doughboys formed a Bonus Expeditionary Force (BEF), otherwise known as the "Bonus Army," and-bonus certificates in hand-they marched on Washington to picket Congress and President Herbert Hoover.

While they may have fought in Europe as an integrated army, the men of the BEF did not invite Jim Crow to this battle. Arriving from all over the country, alone or with wives and children, both black and white veterans of huddled together, mostly across the Potomac River from the Capitol, in what were called "Hoovervilles," in honor of the president who adamantly refused to hear their pleas.

The House of Representatives passed the Patman Bill for veterans' relief on June 15, 1932, but the bill met defeat in the Senate just two days later. More vets swarmed into the nation's capital. Shacks, tents, and lean-tos continued to spring up everywhere, and the government and newspapers decided to play the communist trump card for the umpteenth time. Despite the fact that the BEF was made up of 95 percent veterans, the entire group were labeled "Red agitators" -- tantamount to declaring open season on an oppressed group of U.S. citizens. Right on cue, Hoover called out the troops...led by three soon-to-be textbook heroes.

...The U.S. Army assault integrated four troops of cavalry, four companies of infantry, a machine gun squadron, and six tanks. When asked by BEF leader Walter Waters if the Hoovervilles campers would be "given the opportunity to form in columns, salvage their belongings, and retreat in an orderly fashion,"

MacArthur replied: "Yes, my friend, of course." But, after marching up Pennsylvania Avenue, MacArthur's soldiers lobbed tear gas and brandished bayonets as they set fire to some of the tents. In a flash, the whole BEF encampment was ablaze.

Abuse and neglect of our veterans is a time-honored tradition in America.

[dajoki]

25. More about homeless...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=3475584

Schwarzenegger cut a $55 million-program that has helped thousands of mentally ill homeless people
California homeless program is cut

Governor signs the budget today, which eliminates a $55-million project that focused on the mentally ill.

By Scott Gold and Lee Romney, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
2:47 PM PDT, August 24, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mental25aug25,0...

The fears of advocates for the mentally ill were realized today, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated a $55 million-program that has helped thousands of mentally ill homeless people break the costly cycle of hospitalization, jails and street life.

<<snip>>

In a letter to people who had flooded his office in recent weeks with pleas to save the mental health program, Schwarzenegger had called it "one of the few voluntary or non-mandated programs available for … reduction."

The governor signed California's budget today after using his veto power to eliminate $700 million, including this program; a spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the cut.

State Sen. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento called the decision "unconscionable. He noted that despite the allegedly strapped conditions of the state, legislators managed to preserve a loophole allowing the owners of yachts, planes and recreational vehicles to avoid paying sales tax -- a measure that could cost the state as much as $45 million.

"A $45-million tax break for yacht owners stays in the budget," Steinberg said. "And a nationally recognized, incredibly effective program to end homelessness for those living with mental illness gets thrown under the bus."

[bobbolink]

26. I think I'm going to be sick. Save the homeless yachts.

DAMN!

:nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke::nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke::nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke::nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke::nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke::nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke::nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke::nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke::nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:
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[Greyhound]

29. Josie's, mine and Ms. Greyhound's stories are too similar. There are

untold millions of us that Clinton destroyed.

Here's another :kick: for the day.

[bobbolink]

30. I'm so sorry.... are you both doing OK?

:hi: