Live! from the Homeless Standdown...
Sep. 25th, 2004 09:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avanta7Typing on a government issue laptop today, so every key stroke is recorded. Such is life.
Today is the "Homeless Standdown," a one-day event to provide services to the homeless and other in-need persons. We're under the Main Street Bridge in Riverfront Park, on the north side of the Arkansas River. I'm here representing the Social Security Administration, and am sharing a canopy with a couple of representatives from the Veterans Administration and several employees from the State Department Of Human Services. (A possibly snarky comment about DHS may be provided later.)
To my left is a canopy where several hairdressers are giving haircuts and other barbering services. To the front and a little to the right are booths for voter registration, vocational rehab and spiritual needs. The National Coalition for the Homeless has a table right next to them. To the right is a display about breast self-examination. The volunteer is using the models on the display to teach women how to perform the exam.
Elsewhere are booths for medical treatment, dental, eye exams, food, clothing, and heaven know what else. I haven't had an opportunity to wander around yet. We volunteers (ha! I'm actually getting paid overtime today) have been given several bottle of water, which is sorely needed. It's a little dusty out here.
When I got here at 7:00 AM, we had no chairs. I called my husband and asked him to bring a couple of chairs from the house, and the box fan. We may be under a canopy and it's overcast today, but it's still muggy.
Only a couple of people have stopped by to see me so far today, which doesn't surprise me, to tell the truth. I need to see ID to replace someone's Social Security card. Most homeless people have no ID. So I have books to read and a portable radio to keep myself entertained. But my VA buddies are doing a booming business.
I brought a bunch of books with me to give away. They're spread out on the table next to me, and several people have taken advantage of the opportunity. I hope to give away everything I brought.
I'll be here all day.
Today is the "Homeless Standdown," a one-day event to provide services to the homeless and other in-need persons. We're under the Main Street Bridge in Riverfront Park, on the north side of the Arkansas River. I'm here representing the Social Security Administration, and am sharing a canopy with a couple of representatives from the Veterans Administration and several employees from the State Department Of Human Services. (A possibly snarky comment about DHS may be provided later.)
To my left is a canopy where several hairdressers are giving haircuts and other barbering services. To the front and a little to the right are booths for voter registration, vocational rehab and spiritual needs. The National Coalition for the Homeless has a table right next to them. To the right is a display about breast self-examination. The volunteer is using the models on the display to teach women how to perform the exam.
Elsewhere are booths for medical treatment, dental, eye exams, food, clothing, and heaven know what else. I haven't had an opportunity to wander around yet. We volunteers (ha! I'm actually getting paid overtime today) have been given several bottle of water, which is sorely needed. It's a little dusty out here.
When I got here at 7:00 AM, we had no chairs. I called my husband and asked him to bring a couple of chairs from the house, and the box fan. We may be under a canopy and it's overcast today, but it's still muggy.
Only a couple of people have stopped by to see me so far today, which doesn't surprise me, to tell the truth. I need to see ID to replace someone's Social Security card. Most homeless people have no ID. So I have books to read and a portable radio to keep myself entertained. But my VA buddies are doing a booming business.
I brought a bunch of books with me to give away. They're spread out on the table next to me, and several people have taken advantage of the opportunity. I hope to give away everything I brought.
I'll be here all day.
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no subject
Date: Sep. 25th, 2004 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 26th, 2004 09:19 pm (UTC)Discouraged? Maybe. The fact that these sorts of events are even necessary is discouraging; adding to that, the political climate in the city right now is downright hostile to the homeless.
The group spearheading this event had to beg Mayor Dailey to delay his planned "sweep-up" of the homeless camps until after the event. The mayor wants the city to be all pretty and clean before the opening of the Clinton Library in November, so he's planning on getting rid of the camps. No camps, no homeless, right? Oh, don't even get me started on the rationale behind this stupid idea.