[Photo: Inside the abandoned Roosevelt Warehouse in Detroit, a body lies frozen in a block of ice. (By Max Ortiz / The Detroit News)]


Frozen in a Detroit building


In January, I came across a picture that stopped me in my tracks. It showed a sheet of ice with two legs sticking out, almost like popsicle sticks. It was the picture of a homeless man who froze to death in an abandoned Detroit building. The building flooded and encased his corpse in ice. He was discovered by urban explorers, but they didn't bother to call officials. Rather, they continued their hockey game in the flooded basement of that building. To me, this story was a gut-wrenching analogy for the tragic indifference that is so pervasive when it comes to homelessness. It's too easy to turn the other way, pretend these devastating issues aren't happening in our own communities.


The Tragedy of Indifferenceby Shannon Moriarty
category: Hate Crimes
Published January 30, 2009 @ 10:20AM PT

Every now and again when I'm scouring the web, I'll come across something that stops me in my tracks. Something that makes me sick to my stomach- literally. Something that bothers me so deeply I think about it for days.
Well, this is one of those stories.
Here's an excerpt, straight from the The Detroit News:

It starts with a phone call made by a man who said his friend found a dead body in the elevator shaft of an abandoned building on the city's west side.
"He's encased in ice, except his legs, which are sticking out like Popsicle sticks," the caller phoned to tell this reporter.
"Why didn't your friend call the police?"
"He was trespassing and didn't want to get in trouble," the caller replied. As it happens, the caller's friend is an urban explorer who gets thrills rummaging through and photographing the ruins of Detroit. It turns out that this explorer last week was playing hockey with a group of other explorers on the frozen waters that had collected in the basement of the building. None of the men called the police, the explorer said. They, in fact, continued their hockey game.
The hem of a beige jacket could be made out, as could the cuffs of blue jeans. The socks were relatively clean and white. The left shoe was worn at the heel but carried fresh laces. Adding to the macabre and incongruous scene was a pillow that gently propped up the left foot of the corpse. It looked almost peaceful.
What happened to this person, one wonders? Murder in Motown is a definite possibility. Perhaps it was death by alcoholic stupor. Perhaps the person was crawling around in the elevator shaft trying to retrieve some metal that he could sell at a scrap yard. In any event, there the person was. Stone-cold dead.
There are two things about this story that I find so devastating.
First, this story illustrates the tragedy of not having a home. The vulnerability of it; this tragic state where one can end up frozen in a block of ice in an elevator shaft. No person should have to meet his or her death in such an undignified and unfortunate manner. Where was this mans family? What happened in his life that he resorted to life on the streets? Will anyone mourn his death? These are questions I ask myself when I see homeless people who appear to have given up, who have resigned to the streets.
Second, the indifference of those who found him is perhaps most unsettling. The Detroit News Article goes on to describe how the "urban explorers" figured someone else would report this man's death. Now, I don't want to believe that the majority of people would be equally as heartless in this situation. But then again, how is this any different then when we shun those living on the streets? When we ignore them and chalk up their predicament to personal faults, Or that they "chose" to live this way? When we fail to take matters into our own hands to see that these societal injustices stop claiming lives?

See, I know this is a story about the tragic fate of one man in Detroit. But I think it's more than that. It's an analogy for the mindset of so many people when it comes to homelessness. They are indifferent. They couldn't be bothered by somebody else's misery, somebody else's pain. "Someone else will fix it." "Someone else will fund that shelter." "Someone else will help that child have a chance at a better future."
Indifference is, indeed, tragic.

winter report

the national coalition for the homeless just put out a new report it can be downloaded at http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/winter_weather/Winter_weather_report.pdf

cut and paste into your browser

Homeless Memorial Day vigil 2009

many times people come forward with names that should be on our list, here is how it happens:

My Uncle's name was Howard E. Heselton, Jr. (Hezzy) born June 20, 1950 and he died December 24, 2001."

beating and robbery of homeless man in concord

The link:
http://www.wmur.com/news/21615804/detail.html?taf=man



CONCORD, N.H. -- Three Concord residents are facing attempted murder charges in connection with what police have called a severe beating and robbery of a homeless man.

According to investigators, Thomas Croswell, Robert Potter and Jamie Locke attacked and robbed the victim Wednesday night in wooded area near the Everett Arena. Police said the assailant tried to dispose of the victim in the river.

The 19-year-old victim remained hospitalized Saturday. The three assailants are set to be arraigned Monday on conspiracy to commit murder charges.


-----------------------------------------------------


now most likely these other people camped along the river will be forced out. There is no room at the shelter in Concrod, McKenna House houses about 30 people. There is an overnight emergency shelter in a church, but folks prefer to have a place to stay also during the day. especially like today with hard rains.

we'll keep you posted

another daughter found a parent on our memorial list

It isn't a hard thing to list someone's name
someone you may have know or not,
someone from your community
who wasnt born homeless
who had a family
that disengaged or were lost

it isn't hard to answer questions when
family members find a name
of their loved one.

each name has a story
all theirs
but part mine,
part yours
and most of all how we treat each other


"The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity"
-Leo Tolstoy


"For every hour and every moment thousands of men leave life on this earth and their souls appear before God. And how many of them depart in solitude, unknown, sad, dejected that no one mourns for them or even knows that they have lived or not. “ -Fyodor Dostoevsky

next of kin

got a call from one of our local hospitals the other day. an MSW whom I have had contact with previously wanted to ask me if I knew a fellow. She said he came in for alcohol detox and quickly became unresponsive and is now on a vent. said he has no kin listed and she went through traditional channels, city welfare, police, mental health.
I didnt know him. told her I would say a prayer for him and that she finds next of kin. It is sad and true that aloholism is a little understood disease and that it ends with jails, institutions and death.

Its kind of funny to that the professional world has begun to recognize that we are in the community, that we are experts in homeless issues.

speaking at Hooksett Lions club on 9/3

Karen Angela Carter-Turgeon

Photo by Will Stewart of Fortressmanchester.com
with stroy "They call her "Crazy" Karen"


Subject: Letter to editor
To: news@manchexpress.com



Thank you Manchester Express and Brian Early for your story on Karen Carter. You certainly captured the Karen that most of us know, but there is more to her story than, “Crazy Karen”



I have know Karen Carter for many years and at our monthly counsel meeting in Laconia on Wednesday I was asked by Grandfather Donald Newell our former Chief of to share more information about our friend Karen Carter.



Before Manchester knew Karen directing traffic downtown she was a member of the Passamaquoddy Joint-Tribal Counsel ( Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes people) and the NH Native American Inter-Tribal Counsel.

While she was activist in the Manchester community she was also active in Native Rights in many ways.

In the late 70’s early 80s The Passamaquoddy tribe sued Maine in Federal Court over land rights regarding Indian Island and the small area they were forced to live in while large paper mill corporations harvested on Maine’s Indian Lands. They stated the Dept of interior failed to fulfill national guardianship duties owed to Maine’s tribes and after a long battle a Joint Memorandum between Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Negotiating committee along with the White House work Group was signed in 1978.

The battle continued until President Carter made appearance in Maine and in 1980 President Carter signed the Maine Indian Settlement Act giving $81.5 million to the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Tribes to purchase 300,000 acres of

land. Also gave tribes $27 million trust fund for economic development.



In 1986 Karen and Harold Pins produced a film “Our Lives in Our Hands” which

examines the traditional Native American craft of split ash basketmaking as a means of economic and cultural survival for Aroostook Micmac Indians of northern Maine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=189whl0Wd7o



She also served on the Board of now defucnt Sargent Museum of Archeology, which was incorporated 1994 and held Penacook artifacts from the Smyth Site and Eddy Road in Manchester. The Smyth site was an important fishing station; it was a village site for the Penacook’s and excavation of the site was of urgency to due to impending bridge construction in the mid-eighties.



While on the streets in Manchester she would sometimes say to passersby, “get off my land” or “I can’t be homeless on my own land” and knowing her background, one can understand why she laid claim to her small area in the valley of the Merrimack River.

Our neighbors who are homeless, were not born in our streets, they have multifaucited lives with various backgrounds and if we don’t take the time to know them, we miss out on understanding how we are all connected.

Cindy Carlson NH Native American Inter-Tribal Counsel







this was the article theManchester Express had already printed







ManchesterExpress
RIP Queen City's 'unofficial mayor'

by Brian Early



Highly visible Karen Carter had surprisingly big impact



"You think you own Manchester, huh? You don't. I do. Do you know who I am? I invented Dental Dams."



That was Samatha Appleton's first first conversation with Karen, the unoffical Mayor of Manchester. Appleton the director of public relations at Intown Manchester, became good friends with her. Karen would stop by and talk about Manchester and seemingly had wild stories.



"She had a way of making you almost believe them", Appleton said.

Karen didn't trust me until she knew I was friends with Appleton. Once she trusted me, she no longer yelled at me. If she saw me driving towards her, she'd stop and say something to make me laugh.

Appleton called me in tears two weeks ago. Karen Angela Carter would no longer stop by her office. She would no longer direct traffic. She would no longer stand and speak passionately about mental illness at the city's goverment meetings. She died May 13 at 3pm, she lost her battle with cancer.

In later years, she was known by many as Crazy Karen. That's what I first though of her before I knew her. But she was a caring person who fought fot the rights of others.

" She would go and stand before the Mayor and the alderman and stick up for people who didn't have a voice," remembers Tracy Deggs, a Manchester community activist. "She didn't treat the guy in the suit or the homeless guy any different. Everyone is a human being.

Sometimes she was homeless, sometimes not. Often she struggled to survive. But that wouldn't stop her from trying to donate her limited means to others. Fred Robinson of New Horizonsremembers her trying to donate a dollar to one of their fundraisers.

" you need that for yourself," He told her. "She tried to donate whatever she had."

Sean Thomas, advisor to Mayor Frank Guinta, recalls Karen as active in city life.

" She was one of the smartest people I know. She could tell you everything going on in the city," he said. " Karen knew everyone and could remember their names. Politicians wiould die for that skill."

Last year she stopped Thomas. She was hungry and asked Thomas to buy her a hot dog from a street vendor. The vendor overheard the conversation.

"Karen I will take care of you, " the vendor told her. He gave her two hot dogs and a soda. "People looked out for her."

It is difficult to know fact from fiction in Karen's life. All the infromation is hearsay, but collaborated with poelpe who knew her. Karen was born 60 years ago in Lawerence, Mass. She was born into a large family, some of whom are in Maine and California. She worked as the director of admissions at Lawerence General Hospital. She moved to New Hampshire. She worked in Concrod managing a pizza place and worked as a receptionist at a dentists office.

She served on the board of the now disbanded Sargent Museum. She wopuld frequent the Franco-American Center on Concord Street to keep up with her French.

In Manchester, she worked as an advocate for the homeless and people with mental illness. And she looked out for others. She was know to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with her limited means and distribute them to homeless folks in Manchester.

I wish I had known her sooner. But at least I was able to dance with her to the music of Del Sol during the summer park music series last year.

My favorite story is when I sat with Karen and Appleton on the sidewalk of Elm street, two professional women were walking side by side and talking.

" Single file ladies," Karen told them. "This is not a parade."




----------------------------

Our Lives in Our Hands: Film Facts
Preview available at FolkStreams http://www.folkstreams.net/film,94
1986, 16mm
49 minutes, Color
Description: This 1986 film examines the traditional Native American craft of split ash basketmaking as a means of economic and cultural survival for Aroostook Micmac Indians of northern Maine. This documentary of rural off-reservation Indian artisans aims to break down stereotypical images. Basketmakers are filmed at their craft in their homes, at work on local potato farms and at business meetings of the Basket Bank, a cooperative formed by the Aroostook Micmac Council. First person commentaries are augmented by authentic 17th century Micmac music.
Featuring: Donald Sanipass, Mary Sanipass, Paul Phillips, Harold Lafford, Marline Sanipass, Cathy Murphy, Sarah Lund, David Sanipass
Copyright: 1986 Carter/Prins
Filmmaker(s): Karen Carter, Harald Prins
Produced by: Karen Carter, Harald PrinsCinematography: Eric Muzzy, Robert Brady
Editing: Bruce Jehle
Sound: Stuart Mann
Acknowledgements: Sponsored by the Aroostook Micmac Council. Music by Stuart Diamond. Music based on a song by Micmac Shaman Chief Sagamore Henri Membertou (1510-1611). Ethnographic consultant: Bunny McBride. Assistant camera Darryl Mitteldorf. Assistant sound Linda Ende. Research consultants Harald Prins, Bunny McBride. Stills by Nova Scotia Museum, Parks Canada, Queens County Museum, Steve Lapidus. Rerecorded at Trans-Audio by Dick Vorisek. Opticals by TRI-PIX Film Service, Inc. Negative cutting by Lawrence Mischel. Color by TVC Laboratories, Inc. Special thanks to Laumic Company, Inc. and Mary Sara Archer, Thomas Augustine, Annie Bishop, Arden Bull, Dora Dow, Willard Doyen, Patrick Ende, Mary Martha Francis, Abraham Harquell, Eileen Jehle, Cheryl Lafford, Henry Lafford, Marguerite McNeal, Jerick Morey, Tania Morey, Pamela Murphy, Patricia Murphy, Sayyeda Murphy, Eric Nelson, Lisa Nelson, Michael Nicholas, Betsy Paul, Fred Peter Paul, Andrew Phillips, Betty Phillips, Elizabeth Phillips, Steve Phillips, William Phillips, Lisa Sanipass, Rolenda Sanipass, Thomas Schools, Mary Shaw, Randy Silliboy, Richard Silliboy, Joe Simon, Marty Simon, Mathilda West, Ruth Whitehead, Elizabeth Zernicke.
Funding: Sponsored by the Aroostook Micmac Council ; Funded by a major grant from the Maine Humanities Council, Inc., The Vera List Foundation, and private contributions

Distribution: Documentary Educational Resources
101 Morse Street, Watertown, MA 02472
Distributor Email: Contact
Distributor Website: Documentary Educational Resources
Distributor Telephone: 617-926-9519

What Really Happens to Mentally Ill Offenders When They Leave Prison

Please read and share this press release about the upcoming premiere of a FRONTLINE documentary, "The Released." The program looks at the lives of the seriously mentally ill who are newly released from prison and their struggles to find care and support in their communities that helps them stay out of prison and reintegrate into society.

FRONTLINE INVESTIGATES:
What Really Happens to Mentally Ill Offenders When They Leave Prison
FRONTLINE Presents THE RELEASED
Tuesday | April 28, 2009 | 9 P.M. ET on PBS





Five years ago, FRONTLINE's groundbreaking film, The New Asylums, went deep
inside the Ohio prison system as it struggled to provide care to thousands of mentally ill inmates. This year, FRONTLINE filmmakers Karen O'Connor and Miri Navasky return to Ohio to tell the next chapter in this disturbing story: what happens to mentally ill offenders when they leave prison. The Released-airing on Tuesday, April 28, at 9 P.M. on PBS (check local listings), is an intimate look at the lives of the seriously mentally ill as they struggle to remain free.

As communities across the country face the largest exodus of prisoners in history, the issue has never been more pressing. This year alone, over 700,000 people will leave prison, more than half of them mentally ill. Typically, these offenders leave prison with a bus ticket, $75 in cash, and two weeks' worth of medication. Studies show that within 18 months, nearly two-thirds of mentally ill offenders-often poor and cut off from friends and family-are re-arrested.

In 2007, Lynn Moore, armed with bottles and bricks, broke into a house looking for
Osama bin Laden. A paranoid schizophrenic with a history of drug and alcohol abuse, he was arrested more than 20 times and sent to prison for the fourth time. After serving eight months, Moore was released without supervision. FRONTLINE follows him from his first day of freedom to a homeless shelter in Canton, Ohio. "I don't think people understand how hard it is to transition from prison life back to everyday life," says Scott Schnyders, program director at Refuge of Hope, the shelter that housed Moore.

For about a month, Moore stays on his medication and does well. But when he fails a breathalyzer test, he is asked to leave the shelter-and, like the majority of
unsupervised ex-offenders, he is unable to remain on medication. After once again
searching for bin Laden, Moore resurfaces at the county jail, where he has been
charged with criminal damage for throwing rocks at a trailer. Asked about the
incident, Moore tells FRONTLINE: "It is no delusion. ... It was the devil, Antichrist,
bin Laden, Satan, Saddam." After 30 days, Moore is released from jail. But one week later, he is re-arrested.

"The realities of psychiatric treatment for those coming out of incarceration is that it
is nonexistent or very poor," says Dr. Mike Unger, a psychiatrist with a community
outreach team. "This isn't a population that's going to come with their planners and
their organizers ... and be compliant with their medications and keep them in that
perfect little medication box as they live behind a dumpster somewhere."

Finding housing is always difficult for ex-offenders, but the challenge is even more
acute for the mentally ill who need treatment. "For the severely mentally ill, there is
virtually no facility designed for long-term inpatient care," says Sherri Sullivan,
director of Bridgeview Manor, the only residential treatment center in Ohio that
accepts the indigent mentally ill. "If they exist, they exist in the form of a group
home, and most group homes don't offer treatment."

FRONTLINE also tracks down Keith Williams, a paranoid schizophrenic who had
been arrested more than 10 times since producers first met him in 2004. Now at
Northcoast, a state psychiatric hospital in Toledo, Ohio, Williams has been stabilized
on forced medications. "I'm doing a whole lot better," Williams says. "I want better
things in life than this just, you know, going back and forth to jail, back and forth to
jail."

But Northcoast, like all other state psychiatric hospitals, now provides only short-term crisis care. "The good news is that Keith is getting better," says Michelle Istler-Perry, a nurse at Northcoast. "And in a sense, the bad news as well is that because of this, he'll be sent back into the community in Toledo, and he'll be back within three months, ... probably very psychotic, and hopefully not having hurt somebody." Once released, Williams will be responsible for taking his own medication. Asked how he'll know when to take his pills, Williams tells FRONTLINE: "I would know when to take them because ... if I feel like kaboo-ka-kaboojaning, ... I mean groovy or foamy or something, ... that's when I know I already took them."

Four days after being discharged from Northcoast, Williams assaults a police officer. He is facing 10 years in prison. "We release people with two weeks' worth of medication. Yet it appears it's taking three months for people to actually get an appointment in the community to continue their services," warns Debbie Nixon-Hughes, former mental health bureau chief of the Ohio Department of Corrections. "And if they don't have the energy and/or the insight to do that, they're going to fall through the cracks and end up back in some kind of criminal activity."

Its a good day

Last fall I found a woman in the park, my peer, called herself "Lost one".
The relationship developed as they do, meeting material needs, basic food, warm socks, advocacy.

dont know that I have permission to tell her whole story, but today its Easter, a day of new beginings.


she sits here with a son that she hasnt seen in 20 years, came up to visit from down south.
she calls her daughter in nearby state as they are waiting for grandaughter to be born.

she talks to a son on computer. he in the Marines serving overseas.


she now has her disability benefits that she paid in through her years of work.

she is looking for her own apartment.

she is no longer lost, and uses her real name.


Homelessness is just a snapshot of a life:in that snap,

She was kicked out of the shelter on a rumor.

she was pushed around by the police.

she was in a tent lacking all other resources.

she was "anti-social" -labeling is so dangerous to people.

she was sarcastic and cynical-she had good reason.


today she is grateful, inside, full of hope and welcomed into our community family

She is found.

Till they all get home

flashback-Anneli Dyer

I just started getting email from a gentleman who googled Anneli's name.
It is important that we keep track of our homeless deaths because there are people who have cared about them and have lost touch.

He said" I live in San Diego, CA, and I've been trying to find old friends. I was interested in finding out more about Anneli Dyer, and your project, if I could. I knew an Anneli Dyer here in California, in the sixties, and I am saddened to hear that she may be the person on your website...I was watching a Finnish ice skater on TV and I thought of her, so I Googled her name and her name came up on your site.
My first landlady was Anneli's adoptive Mom. I lived right behind her and
her two brothers, she was voted Miss Cookie for the Girl Scouts. I was
like a big brother to her. When I was in Vietnam ( 1966-1968) we exchanged
letters( I may still have) and she was having some troubles with her Mom and
boys....when I came home I saw her a few times at Ocean Beach..., but I gradually lost touch....I've thought about her often since and I am very sad that she is gone, especially like that. I only wanted to be sure it was her, for sure, and to fill in a few more details. I've just missed her.

So there you have it. people have told me that the list is morbid. I believe that it is important, as important of keeping any persons memory alive. There may be family looking for the lost and today I am responsible.

Carl's garden

Carl's Garden


Carl was a quiet man. He didn't talk much. He would always greet you with a big smile and a firm handshake. Even after living in our neighborhood for over 50 years, no one could
really say they knew him very well. Before his retirement, he took the bus to work each morning. The lone sight of him walking down the street often worried us. He had a slight limp from a bullet wound received in WWII. Watching him, we worried that although he had survived WWII, he may not make it through our changing uptown neighborhood with its ever-increasing random violence, gangs, and drug activity.


When he saw the flyer at our local church asking for volunteers for caring for the gardens behind the minister's residence, he responded in his characteristically unassuming manner. Without fanfare, he just signed up.


He was well into his 87th year when the very thing we had always feared finally happened. He was just finishing his watering for the day when three gang members
approached him. Ignoring their attempt to intimidate him, he simply asked, 'Would you like a drink from the hose?'


The tallest and toughest-looking of the three said, 'Yeah, sure,' with a malevolent little smile. As Carl offered the hose to him, the other two grabbed Carl's arm, throwing him down. As the hose snaked crazily over the ground, dousing everything in its way, Carl's assailants stole his retirement watch and
his wallet, and then fled.


Carl tried to get himself up, but he had been thrown down on his bad leg. He lay there trying to gather himself as the minister came running to help him. Although the minister had witnessed the attack from his window, he couldn't get there fast enough to stop it. 'Carl, are you okay? Are you hurt?' the minister kept asking as he helped Carl to his feet.


Carl just passed a hand over his brow and sighed, shaking his head. 'Just some punk kids. I hope they'll wise-up someday.'
His wet clothes clung to his slight frame as he bent to pick up the hose. He adjusted the nozzle again and started to water.


Confused and a little concerned, the minister asked, 'Carl, what are you doing?' 'I've got to finish my watering. It's been very dry lately,' came the calm reply. Satisfying himself that Carl really was all right, the minister could only marvel. Carl was a man from a different time and place.


A few weeks later the three returned. Just as before their threat was unchallenged. Carl again offered them a drink from his hose. This time they didn't rob him. They wrenched the hose from his hand and drenched him head to foot in the icy water. When they had finished their humiliation of him, they sauntered off down the street, throwing catcalls and curses, falling over one another laughing at the hilarity of what they had just done. Carl just watched them. Then he turned toward the warmth giving sun, picked up his hose, and went on with his watering.


The summer was quickly fading into fall. Carl was doing some tilling when he was startled by the sudden approach of someone behind him. He stumbled and fell into some evergreen branches. As he struggled to regain his footing, he turned to see the tall leader of his summer tormentors reaching down for him. He braced himself for the expected attack.


'Don't worry old man, I'm not gonna hurt you this time.'

The young man spoke softly, still offering the tattooed and scarred hand to Carl. As he helped Carl get up, the man pulled a crumpled bag from his pocket and handed it to Carl.
'What's this?' Carl asked. 'It's your stuff,' the man explained. 'It's your stuff back. Even the money in your wallet.' 'I don't understand,' Carl said. 'Why would you help me now?'


The man shifted his feet, seeming embarrassed and ill at ease. 'I learned something from you,' he said. 'I ran with that gang and hurt people like you. We picked you because you were old and we knew we could do it. But every time we came and did something to you, instead of yelling and fighting back, you tried to give us a drink. You didn't hate us for hating you. You kept showing love against our hate.' He stopped for a moment. 'I couldn't sleep after we stole your stuff, so
here it is back.' He paused for another awkward moment, not knowing what more there was to say. 'That bag's my way of saying thanks for straightening me out, I guess.' And with that, he walked off down the street.


Carl looked down at the sack in his hands and gingerly opened it. He took out his retirement watch and put it back on his wrist. Opening his wallet, he checked for his wedding photo. He gazed for a moment at the young bride that still smiled back at him from all those years ago.


He died one cold day after Christmas that winter. Many people attended his funeral in spite of the weather. In particular the minister noticed a tall young man that he didn't know
sitting quietly in a distant corner of the church.


The minister spoke of Carl's garden as a lesson in life.
In a voice made thick with unshed tears, he said, 'Do your best and make your garden as beautiful as you can. We will never forget Carl and his garden.'


The following spring another flyer went up. It read: 'Person needed to care for Carl's garden.' The flyer went unnoticed by the busy parishioners until one day when a knock was heard at the minister's office door.


Opening the door, the minister saw a pair of scarred and tattooed hands holding the flyer. 'I believe this is my job, if you'll have me,' the young man said. The minister recognized him as the same young man who had returned the
stolen watch and wallet to Carl.
He knew that Carl's kindness had turned this man's life around. As the minister handed him the keys to the garden shed, he said, 'Yes, go take care of Carl's garden and honor him.'


The man went to work and, over the next several years, he tended the flowers and vegetables just as Carl had done.
During that time, he went to college, got married, and became a prominent member of the community. But he never forgot his promise to Carl's memory and kept the garden as beautiful as he thought Carl would have kept it.


One day he approached the new minister and told him that he couldn't care for the garden any longer. He explained with a shy and happy smile, 'My wife just had a baby boy last night, and she's bringing him home on Saturday.'

'Well, congratulations!' said the minister, as he was handed the garden shed keys. 'That's wonderful! What's the baby's name?'
'Carl,' he replied.

wanted- experienced blogger help

we need some help like
how do we get links to open up to new windows instead of the scroll hunt method
any suggestions?

the weather outside is frightful-lights are out for many

for all your complaining that you have no electricity, all one really has to do to become grateful is to drive down the highway and look towards the river, in many cities and towns, there you'll see a tent peaking out through the trees. I am sure these folks arent complaining because they dont have elcetricity. They are lucky to have a tent, a few blankets and maybe a fire.

9 years

outreach is a dance on their turf and their terms. So what were the terms in this case?
this gentleman is vietnam vet he never wanted to get a disability check, it was a dignity issue. He worked for Labor Ready the first few years out here, then when that fell away he started " canning" recycling to support himself, it was just enough for basic needs. He had little expenses living out in a tent.
He had offers to live in tent community with others, but liked his solitude; especially after his comrade (see story Cornflakes) of 8 years passed away this spring.
So this fall the vet turned 62 and decided it was time. His terms: early retirement which he was entitled because he had paid into the system.
I am happy to report that once he made the decision to ask for help, and we had him in the Social Security office, he became willing- that is the essential key- willingness.
He allowed me to gwet him to DHHS and recieve emergency food stamps and make applications for other services in which he is entitled. Then took him over to VA medical center and spent time with new homeless liasion, because he wants off the street and thinks he could get subsided housing.
In order to get there from here, he needs to go to detox and then to transitional program. He agreed.
Lisa Winn, Homeless Liasion for VAMC made a plan with him to go to Bedford for Detox then go to Harbor Homes in Nashua
Happy to say last night he was received into VA medical center in the middle of the ice storm. ( otherwise living in a tent on privite property where demolishion and construction is taking place)

Now comes the problems. Lisa says bring him in drunk and they will send him to detox immediately. She said bring him Friday morning so he can get medical clearence and then catch a shuttle.
He agrees.

then I get a call from Lisa, dont bring him Friday morning because the shuttle leaves at 7 am and he wont be ready for shuttle. Bring him thursday night.

So I go out to Vet's camp and give him news- he becomes confused and worries that plan wont happen, is he still willing to do whatever he needs to do, yes, but more worried now.

I was at VA for my own medical stuff on thursday morning and bumped into Jack C. Counselor and formerly in this job position. He told me that Harbor homes is full and has a waiting list. dont bring him in drunk, but rather as sober as possible because they wont put him on the shuttle. He also said they cant keep him overnight because VA is a clinic and not hospital so that I should ask that he stay in observation bed until shuttle on friday AM.

When I went to urgent care desk with Vet to get him checked in for medical clearence, the clerk otld me stories that I guy was shipped over to Nashua Harbor Homes and was stranded calling from the streets because no beds were available and VA detox sent him off there.

Questions, if programs are full, though there is thousands of dollars going to Vet Homelessness where is case management and if this guy ends up on a bus back to New Horizons because the system is broken, he will be dead on the street before too long, as he will return to his tent, in ill health and total loss of hope.

I will keep you posted.

forclosures

The current foreclosure crisis is affecting the entire housing market, including rental properties. Dependent on their landlord to inform them of a foreclosure, renters are most at risk of being evicted with little notice. With lower incomes and fewer resources, their options after an eviction are often limited.


"Homeless rolls grow, worry local agencies"
Needs may be greater than resources
By SHIRA SCHOENBERGMonitor staff
October 19, 2008
A lot of people are a paycheck away from becoming homeless, homeless advocates say. But John Patten wasn't.
After he lost his job, Patten received unemployment payments for 13 weeks. He had skills to fall back on - as a carpenter, electrician, plumber, machinist and automotive technician. He had a network of previous bosses and colleagues. The need to support his wife and their 3-year-old daughter gave him all the incentive he needed to look for work. It took several missed paychecks before Patten became homeless.
"When everything's stacked against you and you do whatever you possibly can, use every resource available to you, where do you go from there?" Patten said.
Patten, 30, is one of a growing number of the "newly homeless" in Concord and across the state. As the economy worsens, service providers and homeless advocates say they are seeing an influx of families facing foreclosures, evictions or unemployment who need services, often for the first time in their lives. As opposed to the "chronically homeless" who have lived without regular shelter for years and know how to use the system, the newly homeless can be left adrift, reliant on city and state services and struggling to navigate an unfamiliar network of resources. More and more often, they are families. And with winter coming, providers worry that their resources are quickly becoming inadequate to meet the need.
"The sad, sad, sad thing is that we don't have the capacity to help the number of folks that need it," said Maureen Beauregard, president of Families in Transition, which has 16 apartments with supportive services in Concord for those at risk of becoming homeless. "Unfortunately, people call Families in Transition, we say we don't have openings, perhaps you can go to a shelter or to the city. But all those services are overwhelmed." Families in trouble
Patten's descent into homelessness began with a default budget - one of many that voters across the state passed last spring in an attempt to stem rising taxes. For three years, Patten held a job in buildings and grounds for the Weare School District. As a supervisor, he earned $12.44 an hour, enough to rent a Weare apartment. His wife stayed home with their daughter.
Last spring, Patten's position was cut. He collected unemployment and looked for a job. "I looked everywhere," he said. "It went from good to okay to worse in a few months."
He worked as a grounds manager at the apartment complex where he lived until the complex was sold. He filled out more than 500 handwritten job applications and thousands more online. He contacted his former boss and others at the school district. He went to temp agencies. No one was hiring. "Now that the economy stinks, it's impossible to find any kind of decent employment," Patten said.
Although New Hampshire's unemployment rate remains below the national average - about 4.1 percent compared with 6.1 percent nationally - state experts say that those in the housing and automotive industries, like Patten, have been hit hardest.
Three months ago, Patten and his family moved into the Friends Emergency Shelter in Concord. "It was difficult," Patten said. "I never witnessed, never knew anyone in this type of situation. It was difficult to accept the fact that this was above and beyond my own control, not from bad choices."
Since then, Patten has found three jobs, paying $8 to $10 an hour - and lost them all, due to downsizing and budget cuts.
Many families face similarly difficult economic times, in Concord and statewide. Concord's human services department has seen applications jump by 15 percent over last year, and the average voucher issued has risen from $300 to nearly $350. About 90 percent of the department's assistance goes to rent, said Human Services Director Jacqueline Whatmough. "I've been here since 2001, and it's the worst I've seen by all accounts," she said.
The Friendly Kitchen, a Concord soup kitchen, used to feed an average of 65 people an evening. In recent months, the kitchen has served an average of 85 a night, said manager Jennifer Lombardo, including more families and young people. The food pantry at First Congregational Church has been serving more than 4,000 meals a month to more than 800 people - approximately double the rate of last year, according to the Rev. David Keller.
"The need at this level is increasing in ways that are alarming," Keller said. "The economy pushes downwards, and what happens to the people at the bottom? We used to say you're a paycheck away from being homeless. Now you're a flat tire away from being homeless."
Local shelters and service agencies are already seeing an increase in the number of people seeking help, as well as a change in the population.
Through June, the most recent data available, the state's homeless population has consistently been made up of about 32 percent families, according to Maureen Ryan, administrator of the state Bureau of Homeless and Housing Services.
But anecdotally, the number of families is growing. Often, these are single parents or large families facing foreclosure or eviction. In previous years, the state's homeless hotline, run by the Community Services Council of New Hampshire, averaged seven to 10 calls a day from individuals. Now it averages 10 calls a day, mostly from families.
Deziarae Lapierre, 20, who grew up in Franklin, comes from one of those families. Lapierre's mother is disabled and in debt, and gets $300 a month in disability payments. Lapierre's brother, who is in school, receives $99 a month in child support from his father. Lapierre has been looking for a job unsuccessfully since she graduated from high school. She lost her mother's Social Security benefits when she turned 18.
"That's not enough to feed three mouths, clothe them and take care of rent," Lapierre said.
About two months ago, she and her mother fought, and her mother kicked her out. She has been living in a tent ever since.
"I hope it gets better, but it's only a matter of time that people who are near homeless become homeless," Lapierre said.
Spike in foreclosures
Those who work with the homeless say that rising rents and increasing numbers of foreclosures and evictions are among the biggest problems. Joia Hughes, who runs homeless outreach programs for the Community Action Program for Belknap-Merrimack Counties, said she recently saw a family with six children facing foreclosure after their father lost his job. Sometimes, renters suffer from foreclosures too, when landlords can't pay the mortgage.
"There's a lack of affordable housing, and people are in apartments they can't afford," Hughes said. "When the economy starts to go down, they might have been scraping by, now they can't make ends meet."
Concord has seen 49 foreclosures between January and September, compared with just nine during that time in 2006, said city Finance Director Jim Howard. Rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Concord averaged $1,036 as of April, according to the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority - a figure that has risen steadily since the mid-1990s.
Beauregard said it is the "worker bees," the people working in retail downtown or at the Steeplegate Mall, who are having trouble. "Even if rents go down to $800 a month, if you're making $20,000 a year, it's hard to pay $800 plus utilities," she said. "There's been a decline in the amount of (federal) housing subsidy that goes out to poorer families, and you really need subsidy to pay rent."
Rent has become the sticking point for William Rider, 31, a welder and painter who used to make up to $30 an hour. The last couple of years, Rider has found it tougher and tougher to find steady work. His skills, he said, "are not high demand" anymore. He has gone to Labor Ready, and has even filled out an application for McDonald's - to no avail. Six months ago, he gave up his $800 a month one-bedroom apartment and moved into a tent.
"You go from the best thing in the world to nothing, sitting in a soup kitchen," Rider said, eating dinner at The Friendly Kitchen.
Meanwhile, costs of food, gas and heating oil are also rising. Lapierre said her boyfriend's food stamps are not enough to get through the month.
Seeking shelter
Patten was lucky: Friends Emergency Shelter had a vacancy when he called. Pauline Lambert, 29, who lives in a tent in Concord, has been less fortunate.
"The shelters are full every time I call," Lambert said.
One shelter Lambert has called is the Edna McKenna House in Concord, which houses 21 single men and seven women. Shelter Director Lorrie Dale said she turns away five to 10 people a day, and women's beds are rarely available.
Dale said residents stay longer than they used to. "Three to six months is turning into six to nine months," Dale said.
Beth, 47, who works as a housekeeper, recalled the struggle she faced to get a bed at McKenna House. Dale would not let residents give their last names for fear of employment discrimination. Beth, who is from Sunapee, had been working at a pizza shop, and her boyfriend was a subcontractor. They were evicted after a dispute over a loan, sold all their possessions and used the money to buy tents. The weather got cold, the boyfriend was wanted for child support payments, and the couple got drunk and argued, she said.
Beth started looking for help, but "I got turned down by every shelter I called."
She ran to the Bradford police station Sept. 25. "The Bradford officer spent two hours looking on the internet," Beth said. "Other shelters had answering machines. They said refer back to the police department. He said 'Who do you think I am?' " Finally, at McKenna House, a person picked up and took Beth in.
The 37 state-sponsored shelters serve an average of 720 people a night, according to Ryan of the Bureau of Homeless and Housing Services. An information and referral specialist at the state's homeless hotline said last week that there were approximately five free beds in the state.
"We're already unable to find shelter beds anywhere," Whatmough said. "We're hearing from all kinds of people with emergencies, and this isn't even winter yet." If Whatmough cannot place a person in a shelter, the city must pay for a motel. For the past four fiscal years combined, Concord paid $237 in motel costs. This year, it paid $1,626 in the first quarter.
Keller said that even when beds become available, it may be difficult for residents of one city to move to a shelter elsewhere. "You've gone homeless in Concord, your doctor's in Concord, your job's in Concord, getting a shelter in Dover isn't really going to help you," Keller said.
The state's homeless hotline can refer people to resources, as can local welfare offices and the Community Action Program. A new revolving loan fund has been set up through the Bureau of Homeless and Housing Services to help provide first month's rent and a security deposit to those who are homeless and have an income.
Looking ahead
With winter coming, the biggest worries for many are heat and hot water. "Our concern is if utilities are shut off this winter," Hughes said. "You may have a home, but if you don't have heat or electricity, you really can't stay."
Although it is too early to know the impact of heating oil costs, Whatmough said that in fiscal year 2007, the Concord Human Services Department had just two requests for oil, with a delivery charge of under $250. In fiscal year 2008, which ended in June, the city got 15 requests, costing around $300 for delivery. This year, that same delivery will cost $560, she said. She also worries that the elderly, who are particularly vulnerable, will be embarrassed to apply for assistance even if they need it.
The service agencies themselves are also facing tighter budgets. Whatmough's budget for this year is $388,000, a $10,000 increase over last year. But she worries that it may not be enough - she spent 26.7 percent of her budget in the first quarter. If her budget runs out, she will have to dip into a city contingency fund.
Shelters such as McKenna House are being hurt because donors have been affected by the economy.
Ryan said that during the last recession, in 2001-'02, New Hampshire saw an 8 percent increase in residents using shelters. This year, she expects a similar or greater increase. And with a large budget deficit looming, she does not anticipate that additional state funding will be available for shelters.
For many, the emergency shelters at First Congregational Church and South Congregational Church in Concord are lifesavers. The shelters open in mid-December and can host 30 people a night, with more squeezed in if necessary. Most tend to be those who have been homeless for years, Keller said.
At Friends Emergency Shelter and McKenna House, residents do chores and community service and are given resources to help with apartment hunting or job hunting. At the church, Keller said, there are no support services or expectations for residents, just a warm place to sleep. Anyone is welcome - including those with substance abuse problems or mental illness. "We start with the premise we don't want anyone to die in the winter time outside," Keller said.
For newly homeless families, Keller said, the church may not be the best place. "If a family shows up, we're going to put them up for the night, then we'll get on the phone the next day to see whether there's a place more appropriate than crashing in a Sunday school room," he said.
For Patten, this story may have a happy ending. Tomorrow, he starts a new job doing building and grounds maintenance for the state liquor stores, at $11.85 an hour. When he gets his first paycheck in two weeks, he and his wife will start looking for an apartment. He hopes to reapply for some professional certifications. One day, when he has enough saved, he wants to buy his own home.
Patten is optimistic for himself, but he has little hope for the country's overall economic situation. "Everyone's trying to fight through it just to survive."
And Patten now knows other homeless people. He sees those in the shelter, struggling in the same way that he has. He worries about the others.

returning IRAQ vets

saw a young guy downtown, just back from war. He had laptop and had made himself a dvd graphic pictures of what he had witnessed and put it to rap music. He was watching it in the park and showing others.
It saddened me. How is he going to return to his family.
I said, Hey guy you should really get rid of that thing, or you will wind up shooting yourself. He looked at me puzzled, as if to say, rid of it? these are my postcards.
told him about VA med center and counseling services available.
havent seen him around for a couple of weeks now, hope he is okay

top 10 early warning signs that you have been living outdoors too long

when:

10. You consider it "affordable housing" when you find a sale ontarps at the 98 cent Store.
9. You find you enjoy waiting in long lines. It's a great opportunityto get reacquainted with others who have been living outdoors toolong.
8. You finally get an apartment, you pitch a tent in your bedroom,first off. You don't consider buying light bulbs since you have aflashlight with batteries and a candle for backup. You remove thescreens from the windows.
7. You can't go anywhere without seeing someone you know or have goneto lunch with.
6.The cops no longer have to ask you for your ID.
5. You regularly pretend to be drunk when the paddywagon comes around, just for a place to stay for the night.
4. You don't need an address book because none of your friends havean address.
3. You don't check into the shelter anymore because you've already stayed there for their maximum two weeks this year (back before the rains started)
.2. Even though you don't do drugs or drink alcohol, you go to NAmeetings to qualify for transitional housing programs.
1. Sprinklerphobia

HoBo jungle no more

Historically, a site for resting the body, mind and spirit of travelers by rail,
"Homeward bound".
There between the railroad tracks and river they found comfort; companionship
They lit a barrel aflame to cook meager meals
warm their hands; hearts, after a day of labor
at odd jobs that no one else would do.

Tents and makeshift shacks would appear through the barren trees of autumn.
Mothers warn their kids to stay off the tracks away from hobo jungle,
My own mother's voice echoes.

In Years past Police wandered down looking for a man or runaway youth
checking ID of tramps.
Passing over the bridges in the dark, sounds of people
Just living, music from a guitar accompanied by a mouth harp,
a few good belly laughs and snoring.
In the distance a dog barks a train whistles.

Jungle people bound together through the wounds that brought them to the river.
A kind of baptismtakes place: The downward spiral from dreamers to bums.
Labeled by society they struggle:with condemnation of outsiders;
They struggle to keep hope alive,
searching beyond each new horizon closer to home.

As time passes"home"becomes no more than a word,
an image ofwhat once was, or should have been.
Now Home is where they lay their head.

A new word is introduced,"shelter" temporary!
Some stay, some return to the river fronts,
claustrophobic within the brick and cement walls
small windows that block out the star lit sky.

Now, Hobo Jungle is no more.
The romance of life on the side of the road or by the river is gone.
No more songs for "the king of the road".
The river still runs the seasons still change,
Train whistles can still be heard.

Police and city workers ravage the camps;
Havoc! Front loaders scoop little possessions one had;
thrown into dump trucksto be hauled away.
at the request of citizens
Who are bothered by your freedom?
The same freedomthat we all have Constitutionally!

And I wonder When will they come for me in my poverty?
Survivors us all the resilience and fortitudeof veterans of many wars.

Gone: the sounds of living
replaced by chants
protests of the poor for "equal protection under the law"
forced eviction; seizures
people hiding to survive.

a sleeping bag under a bridge still warm,
soldiers that never quite returned;
troubled youth that never had a chance
a rent increase a myriad of reasons
Outcasts but Citizens still!

Now "the haves" walk comfortably downtown to the city parks ;
the sounds of People living.
You'll still hear a mother tell her child to behave"Stop acting like a bum!"
Meanwhile the child playing with hers is living in a campground or lucky to have a shelter bed.

They come to visit the city during the day looking for affordable housing,
returning to their tent and campfire each night.
As time passes "home" becomes no more than a word,
an image of what once Was,
or should have been.

William Viens 2-26-48 to 4-16-08

Oh it is hard hard to figure out a persons histroy before they became homeless. I have know Bill since 1989. He has always lived outside, mostly under the 293 overpass. This much I know. He was a marine and served in Vietnam. He was wounded in his heart and spirit and he drank to push away all his bad memories.
Through the years he had many health emergencies, 2 heart attacks and still he got cleaned up enough to get himself back under the bridge. He was sick and tired of this life. He asked me several times through the years if I came upon him and he was having a heart attack or was down for the count could I please just sit with him and let him go.
I asked him if he had a DPOA, who was his next of kin, he would say my siter, or my daughter but never gave up the names.
When he arrived at the hosptial his body tempature was 81 degrees. He was warmed and put on life support. He didnt make it, I was there honoring his last wish, sitting with him and letting him go. It was humbling and an honor to help a brother pass on to his spiritual path.

Here's to you Bill, may you find the peace that you sought for so long.