My new hobby, and how to finance it
Quote: billryanGoing over my inventory and memorializing the months events.
Without the need for warm clothing, my budget bought more food and resulted in handing out over 160 bags. I worked out my first barter deal- sending three dozen blankets to a charity in Denver, where it is still winter.
My income declined this month as the monthly dividend dropped from $1.51 to $1.11, but I have some surplus funds to help alleviate this month's deficit.
I'm trying something new this week. The new bags have a couple single serving peanut butters, crackers, a banana, applesauce, a handful of grapes, a pair of socks, a toothbrush/toothpaste and some adult body wipes. Each bag has been reduced significantly, but I'll have more volume.
The shower truck begins this week, and I've started doing a weekly shift at a Catholic Workers' food kitchen, where I'm finding several like-minded people. In the volunteer's room, there is a photo with a Spanish language inscription that translates to something like this-
Those who don't think there is a point in helping the homeless have never allowed themselves to look into the eyes of a person who just received an unexpected act of kindness.
Another poster reminds us- Our job isn't to judge. Our job isn't to determine who is worthy of our help. Our tasks are simple: to lift the fallen, restore the broken, and begin to heal the hurt.
Heal them all, let God sort them out.
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And all this do-gooder feel tingly I'm the hero work reduced the homeless population by exactly, zero. It's not meant to reduce the homeless population it's meant to keep it going. It's a symbiotic relationship, they need each other desperately. There's no other explanation. Lol
https://ciceroinstitute.org/research/sex-offenders-an-overlooked-but-significant-subpopulation-of-the-homeless/
it is listed that somewhere between 0.06 to 0.13, or 6% to 13%, of the homeless in Arizona are in the sex offender registry. It is 6% of Arizona's total homeless population, but as much as 13% of the total unsheltered homeless population. Some homeless persons identify shelters as their home and are called sheltered homeless persons, but in many states said shelters are known to refuse to admit homeless persons into the shelter who are on the sex offender registry.
This sex offender subpopulation of the Arizona homeless may be due in part to the governmental policies on how to treat violent sex offenders -which essentially incapacitate them. But it is also relevant to the risk with which the homeless population might be viewed.
Arizona is not exceptional among U.S. states in these statistics. I'm not citing Arizona to impute shame on them; I specifically call out Arizona's statistics because those are the stats that may be relevant to the discussion in this thread.
\]Quote: billryanThe Cicero Institute is leading the fight to outlaw homelessness, so I doubt they'd publish anything that contradicts their agenda of spreading fear. I always did wonder who reads their crap.
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Fear of the homeless? Fear of people who commit crimes every day with their drug use, their violence, their property crimes and God knows what else. Why on Earth would we ever want to outlaw that? Why, we need more people like that and more people like you to feed them and encourage them to keep living that lifestyle. They need you and you need them, it's a symbiotic relationship. They get to survive another day and you get to feel super goody goody about yourself and put your shoulder out of joint patting yourself on the back.
Quote: billryanThe Cicero Institute is leading the fight to outlaw homelessness, so I doubt they'd publish anything that contradicts their agenda of spreading fear. I always did wonder who reads their crap.
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If you were one of the people who reads their crap, you would know that this article takes a sympathetic position, towards both the homeless and sex offenders.
That these people are sex offenders is well known. Now one discrepancy (and injustice, in my opinion) is that in some states, one can end up a registered sex offender for doing something all men and most women have done at least once- taking a leak in public. That's something a bum does every day, and while it could be done for sexual gratification (as could anything) in the overwhelming majority of instances it is not. One can also end up a sex offender by doing something that is legal in Nevada in a licensed facility- being or patronizing a prostitute- and that is also an act which when between consenting adults is hard to characterize as a danger to the public that we need protection from. But besides that, actual sexual misbehavior is part of the skill set of this depraved and self-centered population. I've seen it.
In Vegas I see a lot of bums, male bums walking around wearing that which pertaineth to a woman. They're not fooling anyone, in the condition they are in. I also see the transvestites on the Strip and Downtown and they don't fool me, but some drunk and inexperienced farm kid, they might well successfully deceive. And I suspect most of them will end up in the former category, as a bum with a beard and a pink ribbon in his hair, staggering around in a skirt. Just one more of a long series of bad choices that leads one to unsheltered homelessness.
They famously wanted to outlaw people leaving water out on private party.
Quote: billryanThe Cicero Institute is leading the fight to outlaw homelessness, so I doubt they'd publish anything that contradicts their agenda of spreading fear. I always did wonder who reads their crap.
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I'm not afraid of information. I read all sorts of stuff. The article by Cicero that I posted a link to was scholarly and non-partisan and was based on research performed by a Florida university. You might have known that if you had read it.
And I can certainly imagine you sitting around on a couch in the evening in Arizona thinking "I wonder for the hundredth time who reads that crap that the Cicero Institute publishes?" Thank you for sharing this poignant picture of yourself.
Quote: gordonm888Quote: billryanThe Cicero Institute is leading the fight to outlaw homelessness, so I doubt they'd publish anything that contradicts their agenda of spreading fear. I always did wonder who reads their crap.
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I'm not afraid of information. I read all sorts of stuff. The article by Cicero that I posted a link to was scholarly and non-partisan and was based on research performed by a Florida university. You might have known that if you had read it.
And I can certainly imagine you sitting around on a couch in the evening in Arizona thinking "I wonder for the hundredth time who reads that crap that the Cicero Institute publishes?" Thank you for sharing this poignant picture of yourself.
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Dehumanize the homeless and those who defend them. Where have I seen that before?
Quote: billryan
Dehumanize the homeless and those who defend them. Where have I seen that before?
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What have you done for the people they have harmed, and continue to harm?
Quote: AutomaticMonkeyQuote: billryan
Dehumanize the homeless and those who defend them. Where have I seen that before?
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What have you done for the people they have harmed, and continue to harm?
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You just hit the nail on the head. We now live in a society where criminals are the victims and the real victims get ignored as collateral damage. We don't have to help the real victims, we're supposed to coddle and feel sorry for the criminals. Feed them, be nice to them, so they can go on being the lowlifes of society and continue preying on us.
The voters approved eight million dollars to transform the park into the 21st Century, whatever that means. After a week-long campaign to relocate the homeless, the city cleared the few holdouts yesterday and enclosed the entire park wth a six-foot fence.
The city placed 27 people into housing/shelters. The park will be closed until the summer of 2026.
On May 2nd, the city approved a grant for the El Camino, a 1950s-era motel that the Catholic Workers recently bought and are renovating. When completed, the complex will offer permanent housing to forty senior homeless residents as well as a soup kitchen/ shower facility. Each resident will put in 200 hours of sweat equity, and time in the soup kitchen each week.
Tomorrow is the first day the shower truck will be available at the soup kitchen. It was months in the planning and involved many more hurdles than I knew. My only contribution was a check; this is the fruit of many hours of work by volunteers.
If the reports are accurate, the next Pope will be a Franciscan.
200 hours a week seems like working people until they drop.
Quote: DieterIs that an extra zero?
200 hours a week seems like working people until they drop.
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You missed the invisible comma. It should read- 200 hours of sweat equity, and work in the kitchen weekly.
They will each work 200 hours on the reconstruction project, which will open in December. Once it is up and running with 40 residents, each would work a once-a-week shift. I was surprised to see that several of the volunteers are homeless themselves.
Quote: billryanQuote: DieterIs that an extra zero?
200 hours a week seems like working people until they drop.
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They will each work 200 hours on the reconstruction project, which is scheduled to open in December. Once it is up and running with 40 residents, each would work a once-a-week shift. I was surprised to see that several of the volunteers are homeless themselves.
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Ahh, got it. A 200 hour initial investment, plus ongoing weekly time contributions.
Quote: DieterQuote: billryanQuote: DieterIs that an extra zero?
200 hours a week seems like working people until they drop.
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They will each work 200 hours on the reconstruction project, which is scheduled to open in December. Once it is up and running with 40 residents, each would work a once-a-week shift. I was surprised to see that several of the volunteers are homeless themselves.
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Ahh, got it. A 200 hour initial investment, plus ongoing weekly time contributions.
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Correct. Pride of ownership and all that.
In the 1950s, the area of Tucson between 22nd and 29th Avenues and 6th Street to 4th was lined with motels, motor courts, and was famous for its Mexican cuisine. The Tucson Greyhound track drew thousands each day of the season, and the area was quite prosperous. Now it is a half mile of abandoned buildings, many burnt out after years of being closed. The dog track burned down but the insurance had lapsed, so there was no money to rebuild or clear the wreckage.
People just pull their cars or vans over and sell burritos , fry bread and street tacos, as well as some indigenous foods that have targeted audiences.
There is a woman who sells breakfast burritos, 3/$5. After intensive negotiations, I got her to sell me 17 for $25, twice a week.
I met her at 5 AM and ate two of them. Handing out the burritos and a bottle of water to a dozen people took ten minutes. .
Breakfast is, after all, the most important meal of the day.
I'm having my home re-piped today, so I expect several days of disruption. My home's galvanized pipes have an expected serviceable life of 50 years, and was built in 1973..
It has a new roof, new HVAC, and new water heater. My next project is to enclose my screened porch and make it a true Arizona room.
Right now, that room is under-used as it is either too hot or too cold 270 days a year.
Quote: rxwineHow often and how long do you see the exact same people you give food to?
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Forever obviously, lol. All he does is give them things to keep them going in their present lifestyle, he does absolutely nothing to help them out of their predicament. It's a symbiotic relationship, they need each other desperately.
Quote: rxwineHow often and how long do you see the exact same people you give food to?
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I don't give anyone food daily. There are a couple of older people I try to find a couple of times a week, but generally, I engage targets of opportunity. Some days I go east, sometimes north, and other days south.
I'm volunteering at a food kitchen and see a lot of the same people there each day, but not in my own drives.
I saw a couple of young men talking in a parking lot. As I pulled up, one of them broke away and walked off quickly
After giving bags to the two guys, I drove towards the guy who split. As I got near, he started screaming, in a demonic gutteral voice that people needed to leave him the F alone.
We were about fifteen feet apart and I held up a bag of food and asked if he was hungry.
The raging madman disappeared in a heartbeat, replaced by a vulnerable young kid who was scared and hungry. He asked me if I had any water and guzzled down three pint bottles before devouring the orange slices in the bag. We spoke for a while, and he claimed to be a Navy vet who got kicked out and isn't eligible for any support services. He said he wanted to work but couldn't get an interview because he lacked clothing and hygiene. I gave him two new t-shirts and a pack of body wipes, and told him about two places where he could get a weekly shower and some grooming. I asked him what he needed, and he said he'd like a notebook, some pens, and a rich girlfriend.
Quote: billryan(...) and he said he'd like a notebook, some pens, and a rich girlfriend.
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"May you find what you're looking for."
Personally, I like the composition books that are a good deal at the clearance sale after the annual back to school sale.
Are you finding a sweet price/quality point on backpacks?
They are cheaper and the people see right away I'm not handing them a bag of dirty diapers or weeks-old Taco Bell.
The drawstrings were around fifty cents, and the storage bags are less than a dime. I picked up 500 Texas Steakhouse takeout bags, but feel strange handing out bags that suggest there is steak inside.
Quote: billryanSeveral companies now sell kits for the homeless, but they are overpriced, and for me shopping for the cheapest prices is half the fun.
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I tend to agree.
Clear zippy bags don't work for my purpose, but drawstring sacks might. Thanks.
Quote: billryanEncounter of the week.
I saw a couple of young men talking in a parking lot. As I pulled up, one of them broke away and walked off quickly
After giving bags to the two guys, I drove towards the guy who split. As I got near, he started screaming, in a demonic gutteral voice that people needed to leave him the F alone.
We were about fifteen feet apart and I held up a bag of food and asked if he was hungry.
The raging madman disappeared in a heartbeat, replaced by a vulnerable young kid who was scared and hungry. He asked me if I had any water and guzzled down three pint bottles before devouring the orange slices in the bag. We spoke for a while, and he claimed to be a Navy vet who got kicked out and isn't eligible for any support services. He said he wanted to work but couldn't get an interview because he lacked clothing and hygiene. I gave him two new t-shirts and a pack of body wipes, and told him about two places where he could get a weekly shower and some grooming. I asked him what he needed, and he said he'd like a notebook, some pens, and a rich girlfriend.
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You should have special cards printed it up with your name and address and instructions how they can come to your house to take a shower. You can move into a whole new realm of homeless care. I knew guys in Santa Barbara who did that, went to the Greyhound bus station and gave young guys arriving in town a card with their name and address on it. They were big-hearted generous guys just like you.
