HOME VAN NEWSLETTER 6/28/10

GPD STEPS UP TO THE PLATE

I am deeply grateful and happy to let you know that the Gainesville
Police Department is joining in the effort to keep our homeless friends
hydrated and well through the extreme heat of this summer. They are
accepting donations of bottled water, sun screen and bug spray at their
headquarters, 721 NW 6th Street, and taking them out to areas where
homeless people camp. They have also created a flyer listing the early
warning signs of heat stroke and dehydration - what to do when these
symptoms occur - and tips to avoid these problems, even when you have
to be outside in the heat. This is beyond wonderful!!! No one knows
where the homeless people are better than GPD. Please support them in
this project by donating to them.

The Home Van has had a long and positive liaison with GPD. It all
started when one of our early chaplains observed a rookie police
officer treating a homeless person in a way he deemed unreasonable. He
wrote a fire-breathing letter to the editor about this event. Instead
of crossing the Home Van off their Christmas card list, senior officers
at GPD reached out to us and said, "When there are problems, bring them
to us, and we will work with you to resolve them." They have been good
to their word, all these years, and have helped us in many ways. We
have also been helped by kind friends at the Alachua County Sheriff's
Department.

Bottled water can also be donated to the Home Van at 307 SE 6th Street.
As usual, space is our limitation, since I run this project out of my
living room, but to this point the donation process is working well.
Kind people have also been donating money, so that we can take the Van
to Sam's Club and load it up with water. We are going out to the woods
on weekends and dropping off cases of bottled water. The homeless folks
are delighted!!!!! This is a real help for them.

One of our volunteers, Pat Abbitt, has started a recyling program at
the Williston Road Camp, for plastic. I hope we will be able to extend
that program to other areas as well. The environmental impact of all
this bottled water is distressing, but keeping people alive has to be
the top priority. I hope one of these years the City Commission will
finally decide to run a water truck out to homeless areas in the
summer, as many other cities do. (Actuallly, I hope one of these years
everyone will be inside!) In the meantime, we do what we can, with the
help of our big extended family. Blessings on all of you!!!

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The story below was sent to me by the fabulous Ellen Allen! She started
out as a Home Van sandwich maker, and then decided to start her own
program, the Good Neighbor Society. She has her "office" at the
library, where she talks with people, brings lunch to many, and - most
vital of all - helps individuals with the mind-boggling levels of
bureaucracy that must be traversed in order to get services. There are
many people in the homeless community who, like Oscar and Felix, could
make it off the streets if they had a friend and advocate to help them.



THE STORY OF OSCAR AND FELIX

By Ellen Allen./ Founder of the Good Neighbor Society



I’ve spent a great deal of time in the last several months helping two
homeless men access medical services and navigate the rest of the
bureaucracy. The first one, Oscar, has been turned down twice for
disability and is now waiting for a court hearing. if I knew at the
beginning what I know now, I might have been able to help more with the
claim. This man lives in the driver’s seat of his truck. That is the
only place there is any room since the rest of the truck is filled with
“stuff”. The second man, Felix, has also applied for disability and for
public housing. A miracle happened - he got in to public housing. He
had been turned down, but was entitled to a hearing. We opted for that
and he was not only accepted, but there was an apartment available.
He had been living in the woods since September and was feeling pretty desperate to get out .

A few days after he’d moved in, he invited Oscar to use his shower.
They were just hanging out and Oscar started having chest pain, rapid
heart beat, and numbness in his arms. Felix called an ambulance. It
turned out not to be a heart attack, but a severely blocked left artery
in his heart. They put in a stent and released him with prescriptions
for four different meds. He has a pretty severe short term memory
deficit that does not bode well for keeping up with his meds. I spoke
with a social worker at the hospital, explaining his circumstances. The
only thing she was concerned with was, would I be available for
transport. (Editor's note: In all fairness, hospital social workers are
a pretty over-worked, overwhelmed lot. I have often received calls from
Shands social workers wondering where a homeless person can stay after
discharge - and I don't know either, most of the time).

Felix was so concerned for his friend that he arranged for him to stay
with him and has taken on his care, including reminding him to take his
meds. He told me it breaks his heart to think about his friend back in
his truck, on the street. Bless his heart.

Felix is inordinately clean and orderly. He labels himself as “ocd”. As
I said, Oscar has a truck so full of “stuff”” there is only room in the
driver’s seat. I have dubbed them Felix and Oscar. They wholeheartedly
cotton to it.

Unfortunately, public housing only allows a 15 day stay for any
visitor. We are now scrambling to figure out another housed alternative
for Oscar. He is 45 years old , smart, but not really able to take care
of himself. I’ve been in touch with his family and they are not
willing/able to take him in.

Just thinking about the kindness and generosity of Felix brings tears
to my eyes. These men are family to me and also to each other. Thanks
to arupa for opening the door to so many housed folks so that we can
know the humanity of those who are presently not housed.

Oscar and Felix - chapter 2

After much scrambling and a few more miracles, Oscar is about to get
off the street/out of his truck. There's one last hurdle. He needs to
come up with a $300 security deposit. This is non-negotiable. I figure
if enough folks chip in a little, we could do it. Oscar has to be out
of Felix's apartment on Monday morning. He should be able to move in to
his own efficiency apartment by the end of the week, provided we have
the security deposit. Felix is committed to continuing to help his
friend and to teach him some independent living skills. i too will be
checking in on a very regular basis to help ensure Oscar's stability in
his new digs. I feel deep gratitude to Kent, Gail, Karen.

Latest update... I called Oscar's sister, in order to get his parent's
phone number. I told her I had gotten subsidized housing for him but
that they required a security deposit of $300. I told her I was going
to ask her parents for the money. She said she would pay the security
deposit. she was VERY happy and grateful to hear that he would be
housed. Sooooo....raising money for the deposit is no longer necessary.
YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just called Oscar to let him know and he is as delighted as Oscar is
able to be. Now we just need to fill out the paper work blah,blah, blah
and I think he should be in his apartment by the end of the week. Worst
case scenario is he'll be staying in his truck for a few days if I
can't get him an interim bed at St Francis House.

I love sharing good news.

with much love and appreciation.
ellen allen
good neighbor society


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The Home Van needs tents, tarps, bottled water, Vienna sausages, creamy
peanut butter, jelly, candles, white tube socks, bugspray, books and
games. Call 352-372-4825 to arrange for drop off. Financial donations
to the Home Van should be in the form of checks made out to the St.
Vincent de Paul Society, earmarked for the Home Van, and mailed to 307
SE 6th Street, Gainesville, FL 32601, or can be made online at
http://homevan.blogspot.com/

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Note - if you read this far, you're probably interested enough to read a little more here about the Home Van.