Home Van letter - 8/30/08

Dear friends,

The City Commission is meeting to discuss the site location for the One-Stop Center
this coming Tuesday at City Hall. The meeting starts at 5 p.m. We need as many advocates and supporters as possible to attend this meeting and push for a timely and compassionate siting of this facility.

My statement to the commission will be something like this:

Friday morning a polite elderly woman who looked like she had just stepped out of a commercial for baking powder biscuits rang my doorbell and asked if I had a blanket I could give her, "because I'm going to be sleeping outside tonight and I need something to lie on."

Shocks like this are becoming common for me and other service providers. We need the city to act. There have been enough committees, meetings, and task forces. It is time to do something.

Many of our homeless people are residents of the downtown Gainesville area. Homeless people are not cows to be moved from one pasture to another. They are human beings with lives. Many of them served our country during war. They have jobs and doctor's appointments. They visit friends. They go to the library to read and watch DVDs. They attend concerts on the Downtown Plaza. Please choose a site that you yourselves would find pleasant and convenient. Do not put them in an internment camp on the far edge of town. It will take courage and compassion to make the right decision. May God be with you in this matter.

arupa