Your Voice Matters

Greetings, my homeless friends and neighbors, and others:

RGR was privileged to be at two important events this Saturday morning. One was the official announcement of Jackie Biskupski's intent to challenge incumbent Mayor Ralph Becker for Salt Lake City Mayor in 2016. The other was Clean Air No Excuses 2 at the Utah State Capitol. I estimate about 1,000 people were there, which is, unfortunately, about 1/3 the number who attended the 1st rally last year.

I feel fortunate to have the time and energy to support and attend these kinds of things. I know many of you don't for various valid reasons. But so many others don't for the wrong reasons.

"What will my friends think?"

"What will my co-workers think?"

"What will my boss think?"

"What will my bishop, or other religious/spiritual figure think?"

"It won't make any difference."

"I don't get involved in politics."

"I don't vote. My one vote doesn't matter."

As a person who has been involved in politics, advocacy, and activism for several years, in one capacity or another, I tell you, all those excuses are fallacies that a lot of politicians and religious leaders are very comfortable, even glad, having most of us believe. The truth is that these things are only true if we refuse to get involved.

Now, my homeless friends and neighbors can say, and with good reason, "I can't register and vote because I don't have an address." Some of my friends with felony convictions feel they are at the same disadvantage.

While these are valid concerns, as far as homeless people are concerned I believe that you can. It's my understanding that as long as you have somewhere other than a PO Box to receive your mail, you can register to vote. In fact, I think you can just put an intersection and a zip code on you voter registration application!

I am not sure about the law pertaining to felons and voting. No one can vote while incarcerated, of course. If a person convicted of a felony serves their time, however, I see no reason why they shouldn't reclaim their right as a citizen to vote. If it is indeed the law that felons cannot vote, it needs to be changed, and only felons can change it, by speaking up and advocating.

RGR will be checking with the Salt Lake County Clerk's Office on Monday, and will report back to you about your rights to register and vote.

Your opinion, your voice, and your vote  do matter.

Stay active and Stay involved ---RGR 

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SPECIAL REPORT: Are We Doing Enough?

Greetings my homeless friends and neighbors and others: 

Your editor helps with outreach for a local free clinic every week in the Rio Grande neighborhood where he used to, and all of you still, unfortunately, live. I feel privileged to do so, love doing so, and wish I could do so more frequently. It is one of the most effective outreaches this formerly homeless man has ever participated in, reaching a couple dozen people every week, helping them receive better access to healthcare, and better treatment when they must see a medical provider.

But, I received some sad news yesterday, in fact, I watched as it happened.

A man in his forties was found dead in a port-a-potty by the entrance to the men's side of The Road Home. 

I was told that this man's name was Gino. I was told that he had very recently been released from jail. I was told he had a drug use problem. I was told he had lived on the streets of Salt Lake City for a long time.

I don't think I knew or ever met Gino, but I would not want my worst enemy to die like Gino died.

I think we should all hang our heads in shame that this can happen in our city, our state, and The United States of America.

At last year's Homeless Candlelight Vigil, we honored 70-80 people who died on the streets of our city. Although this was fewer than last year, it is still too many. This year, I am aware of five people, including Gino, who have already died homeless and alone right here in SLC. ONE is too many. Gino is too many.

Rest in peace, Gino. I am sorry that we did not do enough to help you, our brother.

Stay clean and stay alive ---RGR

PS: I was unable to find anything in our newspapers about this, nor did I hear anything on today's news so far. 

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Related Links: 

Operation Safe Winter Video 

Bill Moyers: How Many Homeless People Will Freeze to Death This Winter? 

Spare Change or Real Change?

Greetings, my homeless friends and neighbors and others. 

Well as far as I can tell, there are no "Homeless hate bills" being proposed during the 2015 Utah Legislative session. That's good. Last year, panhandling was restricted in certain areas, and I'm sure there are still people who would like to banish it from our city and state altogether.

What I want to ask people is, "What is so bad about another person asking you for money that bothers you so much?"

And in the same breath, I would answer that question, "It is our shame that in this city, state and nation that anyone should have to resort to standing on the street corner and ask strangers for money to eat, and to simply survive."

We should be ashamed. We should be uncomfortable.

I could never swallow enough of my pride to panhandle, even in five long years experiencing homelessness. I applaud anyone who can do so, and think that most of the people we see panhandling truly need to do so.

There are better ways to help homeless people than giving them money, however.

If you are in the downtown Salt Lake City area, look for bright red parking meters that look like the old-fashioned meters our city has recently replaced. Put your change in them every time you see one. The money in these meters goes to a program called HOST, which stands for Homeless Outreach Service Team. 

Although this image is one from the holidays, the HOST program operates year-round, and is still a program of the Sal Lake City Police Department. It was originally operated by Sgt. Michelle Ross, and took quite a different and more personal form. Sgt. Ross convinced representatives from several homeless service providers to come together and speak face to face with homeless people about their challenges and needs. Now it is these meters and certain police officers in a specially marked patrol car working to rapidly get homeless people ID, housing, and other things and services they desperately need. 

Please, rather than giving your money directly to panhandlers, some of whom may not be homeless at all, "Turn spare change into real change." Give to the charity of your choice, and to HOST.

Stay honest, and stay hopeful ---RGR 

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Related Links:

HOST Website : Information about which organizations benefit from HOST, and a short video.

Police: HOST is a better way to help Salt Lake City's homeless

By Bob Mims The Salt Lake Tribune 

SLCPD HOST Page 

Salt Lake City Corp. info on HOST 

It's About This and Not about That

Greetings, friends and neighbors: 

I had the privilege to sit in on a meeting of SLC Mayor Ralph Becker's homeless commission yesterday at Salt Lake City Public Library's Main Branch. I only heard about it at the last minute, by complete chance. Thank you Kerry Steadman of Salt Lake County.

The Road Home's Matt Minkevich gave an excellent presentation. I want to say to the "Homeless Advocate" named Anne, "Thank you for sharing your homelessness experience story, but you painted a very unfair picture of 'the Homeless.' " "Homeless people," for the most part, are just like anyone else you might meet in your work, church, grocery store... ." Perhaps it's because you chose to become homeless (by your own admission, to have money for dental care), that you view things the way you do.

Everyone involved at the "higher level" insists this is about how to best serve our homeless brothers and sisters, say this is about how to help them, and not  about moving or not moving The Road Home, but the media insists on making this the issue. I again want to say that moving shelters and/or services is simply not the best option, for a number of reasons.

One thing I am not hearing in this conversation, nor in anything I have read about it is, whatever is decided, where do our homeless friends live while the shelters are being re-located? Where do these people go for services while they are being moved or revamped? 

This what should be first and foremost in our minds as we consider solutions to help those who need our help. 

Hi Debbie! Oh, and to the gentleman who says it's so easy to live at The Road Home day in and day out: What are you smokin'?" 

Stay in motion and stay hopeful. ---RGR

Related story links:

http://www.sltrib.com/staff/?ID=52 

http://www.sltrib.com/news/2088723-155/city-council-skeptical-of-mayors-homeless

http://fox13now.com/2015/01/26/homeless-shelter-commission-conducts-first-meeting/ 

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865620459/Study-of-location-of-citys-homeless-services-providers-a-courageous-conversation.html 

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One Size Does Not Fit All

One size never fits all. 

America has always been lauded as the country of rugged individualism, and teamwork. The two ideas seem to contradict one another, but there is no limit to what can be done when a group of visionaries put their heads together. That's the USA I grew up in, and the one that I love. 

I also feel that it is one that is fast disappearing. Everyone wants to dress the same, with the same hairstyle. The buildings all look the same in the same neighborhoods. Even all the new cars look a lot alike to me. 

Now I hear some of you saying, "You're just becoming old and jaded." Nothing could be further from the truth. Right now my life is better than it has been in a mighty long time. 

So why this unease about the current and future state of our nation? 

Because, even though many people are good at identifying our social issues, and some may even want to do something about them, most  embrace a one size fits all approach. This is especially true with homelessness and related societal ills, such as substance use/abuse, mental illness, health care and medicine, housing models, judicial, penal, and law enforcement systems. A homeless person is a homeless person, right? they are all addicted, crazy bums who need to be punished and locked up! 

Nothing could be further from the truth. Just as each of us is an individual, perhaps part of a family, so it goes with every single homeless person you see (or don't see, depending on how you position your nose). They are men, women, teens, and young children who were and/or are someone's baby, spouse, brother, sister, mother, father. They are human beings, stuck on the same twirling, speeding pebble as the rest of us. Most of them became homeless because the help they need is not available to them, or they were preyed upon by another person, place, or thing. Some of them continue to be victimized and suffer because of a system that either traps them in place, or has let them down completely. 

I began to care about myself again, and work toward stability and self-sufficiency because a few individuals made me feel like I was no longer invisible, was not an animal or a number, but a person who needed their help. I know that I wasn't the only person they helped, but they made me feel like I was, and that made all the difference in the world. It got me where I am today, and thinking about where I want to be tomorrow. 

Now each and every day I get closer to the person I always wanted to be. Because someone cared for me as an individual. 

We will never eliminate homelessness. For every person we help, another comes along that needs our compassion. 

But, if we start looking at people, instead of problems, individuals, instead of groups, and start applying healing to them holistically and personally, we will make greater progress toward a just and equitable society than we ever have in the history of humanity. 

It is up to us. No one else can do it.

Stay cool, and stay you. ---RGR

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Parallel Problems, Multiple Solutions

Greetings brothers and sisters:

There are a multitude of parallel problems associated with homelessness. Among these are substance use and abuse, mental health issues, and often legal issues enter the picture.  Homelessness is a tapestry of frustration, illness, mistrust, and despair. 

For homeless people, survival and self-improvement is a daily regimen.

You must go here to eat at this time. You need to be over there for a shower, and another place for clean clothes. You have this appointment with that agency this morning, and another across town for a different kind of help. .If you're a single mom, or a family with one parent or the other lucky enough to find work for a day or so, you are dragging the kids around, and seeing to their needs before yours.

You may have to replace vital documents that were lost or stolen. You will rush around to fill out papers to get papers, then fill out the same papers along with the new papers, asking the the same questions over and over, time and time again. You rarely, however, will get to see the same person.

You hurry, and you follow up, and are told to wait, often for a very, very long time - not hours or days or weeks, but often years. You are reduced to a case or file number in nearly everyone's eyes. You're just one in a million people seeking the same help. There are a million things to do to solve your issues. Each solution is crucial and taxing.

You are discouraged to the point of tears, and some o you give up before you are able to get the help you need. This only prolongs or resets the processes required to get your life back.

The old saying goes, "Good things come to those who wait." There are many recently homeless people who can attest to the truth of this adage. They recently, some after many years, turned a key in a lock, and stepped into their brand new home.

Anyone can do this. I have. Many of my friends have. All it takes is the patience of a saint, the determination of an ant trying to move a rubber tree plant, and the belief that you are better than your circumstances. Just like anything worthwhile in life, ya gotta want it, and ya gotta take yer licks and pay yer dues.

Since there are so many associated challenges, there are also a multitude of solutions. They are not always easy to find. Don't give up. You can do it. Just get back up and brush off the dust and carry on in a new direction. People will help you, if you keep helping yourself. 

Stay safe and be hopeful ---RGR 

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Resurrection

Greetings all my brothers and sisters:

Welcome, or welcome back.

I have started and ended and restarted this blog so many times. I felt it was time to resurrect it again.

You see, I have been given and created so many new starts in my life, it's the least I can do, right?

And there are millions of homeless people in this country who deserve a second, third — hell, 100th chance! We all need to be resurrected every once in a while. Like M. Manette in A Tale of Two Cities, "Recalled to Life."

The best thing I think I can do @ this point, is to ask all of you, "What would you like to see here? What do you find useful? What do you find interesting?"

I ask these questions of you in hopes of creating answers both on the blog and the Facebook page.

My vision is to present ways by which homeless people can help themselves and one another, while also suggesting ways by which we can all help homeless people.

Impossible or I'm possible?

Prayers and wishes and intentions can do little.

Action, advocacy, and even activism, when deemed necessary, are the ways to make the world a better place, or at least our little corner of it.


Have a good Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Help Homeless People ---RGR

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