Florida shelters need coats, blankets, sweaters, shoes for homeless.

[madfloridian]

This article was heartbreaking to me. The various shelters for the freezing weather we have had all week managed to feed everyone, but the other items were in short supply. Hard to believe this is the same America I used to know. They have always had the shelters for the very cold weather and to feed the homeless, but they are more often running short on necessities.

If you have coats, sweaters or blankets to spare, local shelters for the homeless need them now.



CINDY SKOP | THE LEDGER
Homeless bundle themselves under blankets and in thick coats to hide from the freezing temperatures on the floor at the Talbot House in Lakeland.

“Everybody’s begging for a coat, but we’ve given out all we have,” said Frank Hammonds, who manages the day shift at Talbot House Ministries at 814 N. Kentucky Ave. in Lakeland. “And we could use socks and shoes. We have some people coming here in flip flops.”

In addition to the shelter's regular beds, Talbot House had more than 100 extra guests Wednesday night for a total of 196. Men slept on the floor in the large dining hall, while women filled the front hall. The ministry served food to 360 people.

More:

James Dancy, 62, stays outside until it gets below about 50 degrees, then looks for a place to sleep. Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the place he found was Talbot House. He waited in the dining hall, reading Loretta Lynn’s book “Still Woman Enough,” until the temperature got warmer.

Although it was warm inside, Dancy was shaking. He said he has Parkinson’s disease but hasn’t been able, despite trying for a year, to get disability.

Jim Clayton, 68, a courtly man with a silver-gray mustache, said he came to the shelter Wednesday after running out of money to stay at the motel in which he had been living. After getting physical therapy from a chiropractor here, he said, he’s waiting to learn whether he needs back surgery for several protruding vertebrae in his back.

From another article, more requests.

The Salvation Army also needs blankets, jackets and similar items for all ages.

"Any type of outerwear would be great," said Susan Hurlburt, business administrator for the agency that has facilities at 830 N. Massachusetts Ave. and 2620 Kathleen Road.

[ColbertWatcher]

1. k+r, n/t

[shireen]

2. i cannot comprehend the two extremes of wealth in this country.

I just don't understand how the people who created this financial mess can live with themselves knowing that their fellow citizens are living in such conditions. It's too much ....

[midnight]

3. I agree. The president has to step in and tell those who

created this mess, that the bailout money comes with a salary cap of 500,000. Can you imagine there was resistance.

[madfloridian]

17. I agree. To live with themselves they must have no soul.

Yes, the two extremes now are beyond understanding, and it was done on purpose by the Bush administration.

[1776Forever]

4. Don't those billionaires who run Wal-Mart profess to be Christians? Are they listening?

Maybe a petition to them might be a good thing - After all they paid $35 Million for one painting:

Wal-Mart Waltons Get All Cultural
Posted by Brooke Shelby Biggs on February 23rd, 2006

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13320

Here's a story that will make your blood boil: The Walton family, owners of Wal-Mart, the world's largest corporation, are planning a huge art museum in Bentonville, Arkansas. There's nothing wrong with a little culture in the Midwest, right?

Except when you consider how much they are spending on their little hobby, while resisting spending a fraction as much to simply pay their employees a living wage.

Rebecca Solnit's article on the subject will enrage you. She discusses a single painting the family recently bought for $35 million:

The average Wal-Mart cashier makes $7.92 an hour and, since Wal Mart likes to keep people on less than full-time schedules, works only 29 hours a week for an annual income of $11,948--so a Wal-Mart cashier would have to work a little under 3,000 years to earn the price of the painting without taking any salary out for food, housing, or other expenses.

[Baby Snooks]

5. But the Waltons are Republicans...

And so they make their fortunes off the poor and then use their fortunes to help the rich. That's the Republican way.

[Seldona]

6. I wonder just how many of their employees are on public assistance of some sort?

This should be criminal.

[krispos42]

7. I'm sure there's a free-market solution out there

Doubtless now the wealthy are swamping the shelters with pay-later, no-money-down emergency food and clothing packages to sell them. With a low low low 0% introductory APR for the first week!

Of course, it will "adjust" to about 40% on Tuesday, compounded daily, but hey, just whip out the ol' plastic! After all, you don't mind paying 35% interest on a debt that itself is acruing at 40% interest, do you???

[shireen]

14. for those who have undergone this reversal of fortune,,

i wonder if they learn anything from it. Clearly, compassion was never a strong point.

[TWiley]

8. Let their Republican Welfare Tax Cut - Faith Based Initiaves increase keep them warm at night

Why camoflauge the real impact of their Bush insanity? Outside help will only make it appear successful. Besides, there are many more homeless people in the northern states where life-threatening temperatures are present every day and night.

Send the coats to the northern states.

[1776Forever]

10. Exactly - A personal story on this - My 38 yr old ill son needed help 4 yrs ago in Fl & got zip!

Then after almost 2 years of us taking care of him we found out there was a faith-based organization that could have helped us out all those years! The Adult & Children Services didn't even know about them! How the H were we supposed to know they were even there! Disgusting to say the least!

[TWiley]

11. They dont want you to know

Funny thing about Christians .... they only want to minister to their own. Convert or get out.

[shireen]

13. that's not a fair remark

there are some wonderful Christian organizations who help people regardless of their faith. I make monthly donations to one of them, and I'm agnostic.

[TWiley]

15. So, one part of the dog does not have flea's

Does this mean that the dog does not have flea's?

"Wonderful Christian organizations" have become increasingly difficult to find as of late. Most have become thinly veiled conservative PACs under the bush administration. I don't deny that some might exist, but I do maintain that most Christian organizations do very little for a community in practical terms. They deal fear, superstition, and bull shit mostly.

I would guess that maybe 1 in 200 churches actually has a soup kitchen, or does any kind of good for a community.

[eilen]

20. Possibly where you live

In my county, most of the food pantries are run by churches.

[madrchsod]

9. the lows in illinois were higher than the lows in florida

right now it`s 45 in chicago

[madfloridian]

12. It was bitter cold here.

And most buildings here are not set up for that kind of weather. Our bird baths were frozen solid 3 days in a row. Very unusual.

[Tindalos]

16. k&r

[madfloridian]

18. Appreciated.

:hi:

[KG]

19. billions for bombs and banks, nothing for the cold and hungry.

another example of why i don't consider america the 'greatest' country.

[happygoluckytoyou]

21. maybe that scum-of-the-earth Jeb could loan them one of his flack jackets or a pith helmet? BUSH SUX