Just got back into downtown today. Found out that there's a 30 person wait list for case management at Outside In (the youth homeless program in Downtown Portland). Found out we can't even get into the shelter as emergency cases or get emergency nights anymore because we aren't even in the system.
So can someone tell me why, when we live in the 21st century, people don't give a shit about the homeless? Nothing has been done about this. No new shelters have been implemented. Outside In can't afford the staff for their caseload. And nothing. Not one fucking thing is being done about it?
I'm 5 and 1/2 months pregnant, approximately. Due December 28th. And unless a miracle happens I'll be sleeping outside tonight under a bridge somewhere in the rain, because no one gives two shits about the homeless enough to make a real difference. WHY? It's a very simple question, why will no one answer me? Why don't people care about this? Why is nothing being done? Why is it that in one of the most homeless friendly cities in the country, I am having to sleep outside even though I'm not a drug addict, if I took a urine test it would be like, passing with a fucking rainbow, and I HAVE A GODDAMN PLAN?
Why are there only 30 beds in the emergency shelter for youth? Why does no one fucking give a shit? I wouldn't normally swear but this is really making me livid.
Showing posts with label homeless homelessness needy poor hungry cold charity donation giving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeless homelessness needy poor hungry cold charity donation giving. Show all posts
Monday, August 29, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Business Idea...
Well, to me it is a business idea. I guess it could be considered many things. See, I've had a craving lately, and not for food. A craving to create. Perhaps it's because my own life has been so utterly chaotic these last few years, I want to make myself a little bit of order to maintain my sanity. Who knows. Anyway, I got thinking, because I am of an activist/caring/fiery mind, about all the people I've met, out here and in Portland, who are homeless, feel worthless, but yet can make or do amazing, beautiful things... and just don't think about it.
I type 90 wpm. I'm also almost 6 months pregnant. I made a very stupid choice in who I listened to, and came out here regardless of different (though no better..) options. Well, I learned my lesson. And due to other things that happened, Jason's parents were good enough to spend quite a bit of money to help him and I out.. We now owe them 500 dollars. Totally understandable, though it makes me no less irritated at the circumstances in which I owe them said money, but that's a personal matter and doesn't belong here.
Anyway, I started thinking of all the homeless youth and people who feel worthless, because psychologically it's extremely traumatizing and degrading. Even the strongest in spirit will eventually be worn down. And many people I've met are amazing artists, or good with crafting, or like to knit or paint or whatever. Well, I have a proposition for them. It's going to just be a Portland thing (unless I guess other people want to donate stuff to be sold and I could use the profits to buy supplies? o_O Only reason I'm throwing that out there is I've had some unexpected offers of late and it's opening my mind to possibilities once again.)
I'm going to get some yarn and some needles and start working on a baby blanket, seeing as I'm due December 28th. But, I'm also going to start making bracelets and scarves and anklets and wrist/forearm warmers, and I'm going to start selling them. I'm going to share any materials I get that I can with other people who are interested in starting this with me, and I'll sit down by saturday market with a piece of paper and sell everything I can. I'll keep track of how much people want for x item, and I will be able to tell customers about the person who made the item, because this does tie in with Project Identity. The homeless are people too. We still have feelings, we still have desires, we still have dreams and yearnings and characteristics as individuals.
You don't lose your humanity because you're poor.
Anyway, I'm going to try to expand this.. See who all I can get interested in it, get people to teach each other how to do things. I can knit (very basically) and I know how to do macrame.. I'll take paintings and jewelry etc as well. I'm actually also hoping to get connected with a way to make stickers for cheap so I can sell them, I have a good idea for what I want it to say.
All proceeds will go back to the person who made the item, and people can donate either gift cards or cash that will go to supplies only. None of the people I get this for will be buying hard drugs with it. Period. I'll handle the gift cards/supplies, and we can do meetups in the Park Blocks or something, we can figure it out. :) I hope people like this idea, I know I do. Eventually I want to have this be a booth or a website I can do too. :)
I type 90 wpm. I'm also almost 6 months pregnant. I made a very stupid choice in who I listened to, and came out here regardless of different (though no better..) options. Well, I learned my lesson. And due to other things that happened, Jason's parents were good enough to spend quite a bit of money to help him and I out.. We now owe them 500 dollars. Totally understandable, though it makes me no less irritated at the circumstances in which I owe them said money, but that's a personal matter and doesn't belong here.
Anyway, I started thinking of all the homeless youth and people who feel worthless, because psychologically it's extremely traumatizing and degrading. Even the strongest in spirit will eventually be worn down. And many people I've met are amazing artists, or good with crafting, or like to knit or paint or whatever. Well, I have a proposition for them. It's going to just be a Portland thing (unless I guess other people want to donate stuff to be sold and I could use the profits to buy supplies? o_O Only reason I'm throwing that out there is I've had some unexpected offers of late and it's opening my mind to possibilities once again.)
I'm going to get some yarn and some needles and start working on a baby blanket, seeing as I'm due December 28th. But, I'm also going to start making bracelets and scarves and anklets and wrist/forearm warmers, and I'm going to start selling them. I'm going to share any materials I get that I can with other people who are interested in starting this with me, and I'll sit down by saturday market with a piece of paper and sell everything I can. I'll keep track of how much people want for x item, and I will be able to tell customers about the person who made the item, because this does tie in with Project Identity. The homeless are people too. We still have feelings, we still have desires, we still have dreams and yearnings and characteristics as individuals.
You don't lose your humanity because you're poor.
Anyway, I'm going to try to expand this.. See who all I can get interested in it, get people to teach each other how to do things. I can knit (very basically) and I know how to do macrame.. I'll take paintings and jewelry etc as well. I'm actually also hoping to get connected with a way to make stickers for cheap so I can sell them, I have a good idea for what I want it to say.
All proceeds will go back to the person who made the item, and people can donate either gift cards or cash that will go to supplies only. None of the people I get this for will be buying hard drugs with it. Period. I'll handle the gift cards/supplies, and we can do meetups in the Park Blocks or something, we can figure it out. :) I hope people like this idea, I know I do. Eventually I want to have this be a booth or a website I can do too. :)
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
I'll tell you the truth, Internet Dwellers..
I'm very worried. Financially, for myself and a lot of people in this country I've never even met. Friends I've had and had to leave behind, little pieces of me left with them. I carry a piece of them with me, but that's a thought for another blog, another day. Today I've got to get something off my chest.
I'm am scared. There, I said it. Me, who's been through so much crap for so long, who grew up in a motel room, who was literally homeless for a year, who's lived with sociopaths of many different arrays of psychosis, am actually scared. I'll go into my situation first, then why I'm scared for other people later. But I really need to talk about this.
It's my own fault, really. I don't consider it a bad thing, but the pregnancy wasn't exactly expected. I've been running, trying to find the green pasture, trying to find home. That feeling I've never really felt before except in my mind. That feeling of welcome, of knowing you belong. The closest I've found are Canandaigua, NY and Portland, Oregon. But that's not the point.
I guess I'm still beating around the bush about it even though I'm trying to make myself say it. I've been running for a long damn time, and I am scared.. because now I've run back to where it all started, and I have nothing. Literally, just the items I bring with me, whatever cash I have (less than 50 bucks) and a great deal of hope and inner strength. I have nowhere to go, after two weeks. My dad's giving us a place for two weeks, after that we need to find a place. I won't be able to get on TANF until I'm 6 months, approximately Sept 15thish. So, for the first time I will be actually worried. I'm 4.5 months pregnant right now, almost 5. And I won't have a solid place to stay. My dad can't afford it, and he's too far away from any decent jobs anyway, and my mom gets help from the government so that'd be pointless. I don't know what to do. I've grown up so much, become an entirely different person but at the core is still the scared me, not knowing what to do.
I'm going to have to hit churches and hope for the best, because Jason and I will get split up at shelters, if there even are any in Canandaigua. I just want a home. Stability. You know?
It's not just me I'm scared for though. The lower class is getting hit hard by all this financial bullshit, and it's only going to get worse.. Because of all the layoffs, more people are sliding downhill financially, and it really worries me.. Unless something changes, I only see bad things happening. I wish the rich would get their heads out of their ass and see people like me as people for once.
I'm am scared. There, I said it. Me, who's been through so much crap for so long, who grew up in a motel room, who was literally homeless for a year, who's lived with sociopaths of many different arrays of psychosis, am actually scared. I'll go into my situation first, then why I'm scared for other people later. But I really need to talk about this.
It's my own fault, really. I don't consider it a bad thing, but the pregnancy wasn't exactly expected. I've been running, trying to find the green pasture, trying to find home. That feeling I've never really felt before except in my mind. That feeling of welcome, of knowing you belong. The closest I've found are Canandaigua, NY and Portland, Oregon. But that's not the point.
I guess I'm still beating around the bush about it even though I'm trying to make myself say it. I've been running for a long damn time, and I am scared.. because now I've run back to where it all started, and I have nothing. Literally, just the items I bring with me, whatever cash I have (less than 50 bucks) and a great deal of hope and inner strength. I have nowhere to go, after two weeks. My dad's giving us a place for two weeks, after that we need to find a place. I won't be able to get on TANF until I'm 6 months, approximately Sept 15thish. So, for the first time I will be actually worried. I'm 4.5 months pregnant right now, almost 5. And I won't have a solid place to stay. My dad can't afford it, and he's too far away from any decent jobs anyway, and my mom gets help from the government so that'd be pointless. I don't know what to do. I've grown up so much, become an entirely different person but at the core is still the scared me, not knowing what to do.
I'm going to have to hit churches and hope for the best, because Jason and I will get split up at shelters, if there even are any in Canandaigua. I just want a home. Stability. You know?
It's not just me I'm scared for though. The lower class is getting hit hard by all this financial bullshit, and it's only going to get worse.. Because of all the layoffs, more people are sliding downhill financially, and it really worries me.. Unless something changes, I only see bad things happening. I wish the rich would get their heads out of their ass and see people like me as people for once.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Activism, ACTIVATE!
Attempt two at typing this beast out -___- Facebook, fuck you.
ANYWAY. Onto my regularly scheduled programming.
I posted a note on facebook the other day about wanting to start a food bank drive, and got some good responses from friends supporting my idea. Then, I went on Pepsi Refresh's website because I had some "Power Vote" bottle caps and decided to try it that way. I liked what I found. I voted for a fund to help get some people in a community somewhere food. Hell yeah, I'm into that.
You see, I've been one of those people who falls between the cracks semifrequently my entire life. When I was in middle and high school I got free lunches, until my last two years when it was reduced cost (25 cents for your first time in line, 50 for the second I think it was). I was one of those kids who gets a trash bag of stuffed animals and stuff for Christmas. My mom was too poor one year to afford presents for me (my parents are split up, I'd visit her every Sunday. We didn't get along too well, so I took some time away from her a couple years later that I feel guilty about, but that's a personal story for another time on another blog.)
Anyway, I've been the person who lives in the crack in the system. I should have been on food stamps when I was living in Oregon the first time, in Ohio, in Texas, and in NY. I should have gone to food banks, and I didn't even know it applied to me. In fact, in some cases it didn't.. in two of those cases I was living there illegally.
I've been homeless. I've slept outside in the cold, and found out I'm one of the few people that really has a hard, HARD time doing it- I have a bladder issue apparently due to stress and a poor diet (I don't have it anymore, ever since I am no longer homeless it's disappeared) that would wake me up every two hours having to pee because I was cold. I peed in a cup outside more times than I can count. HAVING TO is different than choosing to, let me tell you.. I didn't want to walk the 12 blocks to the nearest public restroom because at 3 am I'd have to walk by the junkies etc and that bathroom was hardly sanitary.. it was near the "Rough" part of town- and that's someone who's been homeless saying it.
Anyway, I've been cold. I've been hungry. And I want to at least give back in my life to make other people's lives better. Not because I feel like I have to karmically to rebalance the few good things I received. No. Not really that at all. In fact, it's the same reason I have a tendency to compliment people on their outfit. I do it to a random stranger a day, when I'm outside. I compliment their shirt, or their hair, or whatever I genuinely like about their attire when I'm going on my way. Not every reaction is a good one, sometimes people give you strange looks, but it's worth it for the ones whose eyes light up.
In 9th grade, I had someone tell me I actually stopped her from killing herself because of a five minute conversation in Biology. FIVE MINUTES. Just talking to someone and making them feel like a person can help
It's really amazing what little bits will add up to. I want to just.. make some people's lives better. Not because I feel it's a duty. Because I feel like it's an honor, it's something WORTH doing. I'm not saying I don't want to have wealth of my own. I do. But I still want to give back to people who have so little, because I know what it's like, and it actually hurts me in some ways to see people suffering. People I know, and people I don't. It happens in this country all the time.. The lower tier of society's poverty stricken "middle" class (which is not so much middle as poor, really) and the lower class, which I hate the term of because it makes you seem like you're a lesser person though you have to go through more, is very at risk for becoming homeless themselves.
The homeless numbers are swelling, which is putting strain on the economy even more.. It is a giant mess. Little things help.
Like... I want to start food drives for food banks. Just at local grocery stores, I want to have like.. Giant gaylords (They're these huuuuge boxes that are on pallets) full of cans and stuff to donate. It might be better to do it separately, but that's not the point. The point is, I want to give back, and try to convince people that giving back isn't just something you do because you feel you have to... Think about the person whose day you're making better. Whose week, year even, because when they needed it most, they were able to get a week's worth of food.
I want to do clothing drives and blanket making drives for the homeless. I want to do my best to help, with what I can
It'll take me a while, because currently my own housing is not the most secure, but still.. Someday, I do want to, and WILL change the world. Even if it is just my own corner of it.
ANYWAY. Onto my regularly scheduled programming.
I posted a note on facebook the other day about wanting to start a food bank drive, and got some good responses from friends supporting my idea. Then, I went on Pepsi Refresh's website because I had some "Power Vote" bottle caps and decided to try it that way. I liked what I found. I voted for a fund to help get some people in a community somewhere food. Hell yeah, I'm into that.
You see, I've been one of those people who falls between the cracks semifrequently my entire life. When I was in middle and high school I got free lunches, until my last two years when it was reduced cost (25 cents for your first time in line, 50 for the second I think it was). I was one of those kids who gets a trash bag of stuffed animals and stuff for Christmas. My mom was too poor one year to afford presents for me (my parents are split up, I'd visit her every Sunday. We didn't get along too well, so I took some time away from her a couple years later that I feel guilty about, but that's a personal story for another time on another blog.)
Anyway, I've been the person who lives in the crack in the system. I should have been on food stamps when I was living in Oregon the first time, in Ohio, in Texas, and in NY. I should have gone to food banks, and I didn't even know it applied to me. In fact, in some cases it didn't.. in two of those cases I was living there illegally.
I've been homeless. I've slept outside in the cold, and found out I'm one of the few people that really has a hard, HARD time doing it- I have a bladder issue apparently due to stress and a poor diet (I don't have it anymore, ever since I am no longer homeless it's disappeared) that would wake me up every two hours having to pee because I was cold. I peed in a cup outside more times than I can count. HAVING TO is different than choosing to, let me tell you.. I didn't want to walk the 12 blocks to the nearest public restroom because at 3 am I'd have to walk by the junkies etc and that bathroom was hardly sanitary.. it was near the "Rough" part of town- and that's someone who's been homeless saying it.
Anyway, I've been cold. I've been hungry. And I want to at least give back in my life to make other people's lives better. Not because I feel like I have to karmically to rebalance the few good things I received. No. Not really that at all. In fact, it's the same reason I have a tendency to compliment people on their outfit. I do it to a random stranger a day, when I'm outside. I compliment their shirt, or their hair, or whatever I genuinely like about their attire when I'm going on my way. Not every reaction is a good one, sometimes people give you strange looks, but it's worth it for the ones whose eyes light up.
In 9th grade, I had someone tell me I actually stopped her from killing herself because of a five minute conversation in Biology. FIVE MINUTES. Just talking to someone and making them feel like a person can help
It's really amazing what little bits will add up to. I want to just.. make some people's lives better. Not because I feel it's a duty. Because I feel like it's an honor, it's something WORTH doing. I'm not saying I don't want to have wealth of my own. I do. But I still want to give back to people who have so little, because I know what it's like, and it actually hurts me in some ways to see people suffering. People I know, and people I don't. It happens in this country all the time.. The lower tier of society's poverty stricken "middle" class (which is not so much middle as poor, really) and the lower class, which I hate the term of because it makes you seem like you're a lesser person though you have to go through more, is very at risk for becoming homeless themselves.
The homeless numbers are swelling, which is putting strain on the economy even more.. It is a giant mess. Little things help.
Like... I want to start food drives for food banks. Just at local grocery stores, I want to have like.. Giant gaylords (They're these huuuuge boxes that are on pallets) full of cans and stuff to donate. It might be better to do it separately, but that's not the point. The point is, I want to give back, and try to convince people that giving back isn't just something you do because you feel you have to... Think about the person whose day you're making better. Whose week, year even, because when they needed it most, they were able to get a week's worth of food.
I want to do clothing drives and blanket making drives for the homeless. I want to do my best to help, with what I can
It'll take me a while, because currently my own housing is not the most secure, but still.. Someday, I do want to, and WILL change the world. Even if it is just my own corner of it.
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