Transcending The Issues Of Homelessness
homelessness·@sunlit7·
0.000 HBDTranscending The Issues Of Homelessness
.jpg) Our city has been out in front of the homeless situation for years. I was just mentioning that to @builderofcastles but hated to have mentioned to him that was another story I had on the backburner I hadn't gotten around to after I had just told him that about a story I had intended to do the other day. I actually have several of them but I just don't seem disciplined enough to finally get around to writing them. I remember mentioning it to @mysearchisover several months ago after seeing him post comments on one of our local blogs when people became upset the city was forcibly going to remove a tent city that popped up in the homeless park back before Christmas. We don't live in the same city but he does live in the same state I do. .jpg) The whole idea behind doing my story was prompted in part by taking my son to work in the morning and seeing the homeless people in the park around the corner from where he worked. They'd also be at the offramp to his work holding signs looking for donations. A few years ago the city tried to ban them from soliciting for donations but the ACLU sued the city. The city said they were interfering with traffic so they went to holding up signs and the ACLU sued saying it infringed upon their free speech rights to ban them from the intersections. .jpg) I'd say if there was such a thing as spoiling the homeless our city comes about as close as it gets. It wasn't an easy task to accomplish but came at the commitment of a man who ran for mayor several years ago. As a minister he worked closely with the homeless community before and after he became mayor. It started out developing solutions for low income housing working in collaboration with another man who had a penchants for rehabbing old buildings downtown for low income individuals. Together over the years their projects just flourished. Though many think the designation of The Heartside District came about as a result of George Heartwell the mayor it actually came from others who worked alongside developing the area into a vital community for the homeless. When gentrification came along the two sides often clashed as development pushed further into the area but they worked to solve their differences instead of considering the homeless as indifferent to everyone else. .jpg) The area's homeless have long been served by a place called God's Kitchen. It's run by a number of churches from the Catholic charities and their volunteers for years. It's a place that anyone can go to who is in need of a hot meal. They serve up a hot meal at noon everyday, their website says everyone is welcome, no questions or qualifiers involved. Many volunteers give up their holidays to serve holiday meals to the homeless. .jpg) .jpg) There are homeless shelters in the area and a ministry for the homeless. They have been around for as long as I can remember. There is the Guiding Light Mission and Mel Trotter Ministries. They have a requirement that anyone seeking shelter has to be in the center by eight every night. This is to keep people intoxicated or strung out on drugs from coming in and out of the shelter late at night and the people seeking shelter safe. This also though discourages a lot of the homeless from seeking the services of the shelter. One reason you see so many of them out on the streets or sleeping in the parks late at night. There is though also a shelter run by the Salvation Army down the street a ways that the police can take intoxicated persons whom they encounter or have a problem with late at night. The Salvation Army also works closely with these individuals getting them into rehab or finding solutions to their problems and homelessness, up to and including providing jobs for them. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) This past winter, as mentioned above, they opened an additional shelter because of covid as the shelters had to provide less spaces due to distancing requirements. This left many of the homeless sleeping outside in the cold where they set up a tent city in the park that's often designated as the homeless people's park. They had it going on down there, which is what I joked around with mysearchisover about. Once the news hit the press people started dropping off box loads of stuff for them. I'd drive by there early in the morning and they'd have a huge bonfire going and even somehow managed having a lit Christmas tree. When Heartwell became mayor he made it a city ordinance that the homeless could sleep in the parks but they couldn't put up tents and other means of shelter. That's why you see them a lot of times just out in the open rolled up in a sleeping bag or under the pavilion at Heartside park sleeping. Every morning the city shows up to roust them up and clean up after them. .jpg) .jpg)  Heartside park gives them their own little space to hang out in, situated along a narrow strip of green alongside the expressway it even has a small splash pad for kids to play at. There's another recreation area located on a corner downtown for them. It has a small gazebo, a bathroom and a beautiful mural painted on the wall of a building that is a depiction of our cities history. The city is also in the works to put in permanent bathrooms downtown that are equipped with special lighting that would keep any of them from going in there and shooting up drugs. The lights make it impossible for them to see their veins. .jpg) .jpg) The homeless also have their own coffeehouse. It's a place where they can congregate, get some coffee, seek companionship and do their laundry for free. It is run by D'egage' Ministries whose website boost of transforming lives and restoring hope: > Dégagé Ministries offers help and hope to homeless and disadvantaged individuals in our community. Responsive programming is designed to address immediate and long-term needs such as overnight respite for women in crisis, food, referral services and hygiene facilities. Dégagé’s goal is to assure that every man and woman who we serve knows that he/she is not alone. Many hardships exist in life and none of us are exempt from them. For those 400-500 individuals we serve daily at Dégagé, many of whom are homeless and low-income, the hardships can be overwhelming—loss of shelter, loss of employment, loss of a loved one, loss of control and loss of opportunity. And with these hardships, they lose much more. Many feel unworthy and hopeless, especially after society has looked down upon them or they have been rejected after repeatedly trying to move forward on their own. .jpg) .jpg) Up a couple blocks behind D'egag'e ministries is the Heartside Cherry Street Clinic. This is where individuals can seek free to reduced medical and dental services. There is also a place called Transitions where the homeless and low income individuals can get mental health services. .jpg)  One of the newer services being offered the homeless is a bus that can travel throughout the Heartside District where they can hop aboard and take a shower. <a href = "https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2020/11/mobile-shower-unit-for-those-facing-homelessness-launched-in-grand-rapids.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=grandrapidspress_sf&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR1qYg75qKprxEHOmqpJJCJUvGJjJfX3rcCJImEnbcEUOS3zgPR4ALATUJY">  Though a bit out of the way for the homeless community there's another Catholic ministry operated second hand store where anyone showing a document they receive any form of government assistance they can get a free bag of clothes once a month.  .jpg) Most of us would like to think there is nothing worse than being homeless but in reality there is, that would be being homeless and having no resources or infrastructure in place to help one overcome some of the burdens of being homeless. Every conceivable angle to the homeless issue and ways to support their physical, mental and emotional well being has been a concept in our city for years. They've been there long before the concept of gentrification came along but even their opinions are respected in that regard. The Heartside Neighborhood Organization includes them in their monthly meetings, they hold basically what amounts to a monthly potluck where area businesses serve them food and beverages while addressing their concerns of the ever increasing expansions around them. In this collaboration they find ways to solve the issues among them. What many saw as cruel this past winter when they tore down the homeless tent city really wasn't cruelty as much as them coming together to resolve the issue. The city expanded upon the concerns of those living around the park and addressed the issue of lack of space in current shelters by opening an additional shelter to serve the homeless. It's this kind of collaboration that builds upon a better community, one that encompasses dignity and respect. I know I wouldn't want to find myself homeless but if I did I'd surely want to pick a city that came as close as you could get to being a spoiled homeless person. .jpg)