HOME VAN NEWSLETTER 7/25/09

DOMINOES

The effects of the mass eviction of Tent City continue to roll on. Scores of people have scattered around Gainesville searching for a place to be. Inevitably, when they are spotted,
land owners and neighborhood associations are calling GPD and requesting more evictions.

The stress level in the homeless community is about ten on the scale. It was very sad, last week, to realize that some folks who had been doing relatively well in their lives, have gone back to drinking Listerine and picking fights. Drinking in general is up from what it was before the evictions, and Listerine, unfortunately, is very cheap, in these times when so many people have lost their possessions and Day Labor is slow. Everyone whose ever had a hard day and gone home and fixed themselves a stiff drink can relate to this. Unfortunately, though, it is a downward spiral, in people's lives and in the public's perceptions of homeless people.

Those who volunteer on the streets are doing what they can. Ellen, one of our Home Vanners, goes to the library, just to be available to folks. She has a truck and has helped several people move. Elizabeth and her volunteers are making heroic efforts to find and look after the animal companions, who are also the victims of this madness, as well as doing whatever they can for the people.

There are some wonderful folks at GPD who are also doing whatever they can to ease the pain. Since people are much more likely to be able to keep their campsites if they can keep trouble makers (e.g.,., those who drink and fight and howl all night) from moving in next door, some officers are passing out their cards and telling people, "Call me if a troublemaker moves into your area, and I will evict them for you."

The homeless people, GPD, and service providers are having to deal with this enormous crisis the city has created by failing to address the needs of homeless people in a timely, compassionate and effective way. Unfortunately, this crisis is so big, no one except the city is in a position to deal with it effectively. We need to win the lottery so we can buy a big piece of land, put up a giant SRO, and hire an army of lawyers to fight the city to do it.

Still, it is a law of the universe that the pendulum only swings so far in one direction. This horror will not last forever. In the meantime, it is a matter of getting up every day and doing whatever you can, for all of us.

You newsletter readers are such an important part of the Home Van and homeless people family. I hear through the grapevine about more and more of you who are doing personal outreach in this situation, and you have been total angels about supporting the Home Van work. A day doesn't go by that we don't receive gifts - money, Vienna sausages, peanut butter, tents, toiletries etc. etc. I wondered, at the beginning of the summer, if we would survive, with the economy going south and more and more people winding up homeless. Thanks to you all, are wheels keep rolling.

In addition to all the practical needs, I am concerned about comfort care, in the face of all this. People need ways to have fun and reduce stress, so we are in the market for paperback books, games, cosmetics, little stuffed animals - anything that's fun and portable.

Blessings on you, love, arupa