THE CHRISTMAS PARTY
First, I want to thank all the people, the many churches and groups and
individuals, who came to our Christmas party. Everyone got Christmas stockings
and baked goods and oranges and fudge. I also want to apologize for the level
of confusion and crowding. Clearly, we have outgrown the little parking lot and
adjoining areas. There was supposed to be a church youth choir there singing
carols. I fear they might have gotten discouraged and packed it in. I would
like to think that next year there will be a wonderful Christmas party at the
new homeless center – inside with light, warmth, a Christmas tree, food on
tables. It has always bothered me that the homeless people are so incredibly
grateful for these stockings, and look forward to them so much. By mid-November
people are asking me, “Are we going to get Christmas stockings this year?” No
one should be so happy for so little, in our society overflowing with comfort
and endless stuff. But they are. In part because it means to them that there
are people out in the housed community who care about them.
TENTS/TARPS/MYLARS
This winter we have had more tent donations than ever before in our 12
years of collecting tents. I can’t tell you how grateful I am! When some
shivering, desperate person comes to my door wanting a tent – I have one! For
the first time ever, this terrible month, I haven’t had to tell anyone that I
don’t have a tent to give them! Your kindness, your willingness to spend some
real money in these hard times – I don’t know what to say except God Bless
You!! That’s what the homeless people almost always say when they receive a
tent. I also need tarps, since they add a lot of rain-proofing to the tents.
And MYLARS! More mylars. Usually the mylars I get in December last me the
whole winter with a few leftover for next winter’s start up, but this year we’re
running through them fast.
JANUARY HORRORS
A warm up, followed by a hard rain soaking everyone’s blankets and clothing
, an immediate plunge down into the twenties and thirties – this cycle over and
over again – it doesn’t get any worse than that. Every year one of our local
TV stations does a ‘feel good story’ about homeless people going into cold night
shelter. THIS IS NOT THE STORY – the story is the many hundreds of people who
aren’t in cold night shelter. The amount of cold night shelter available is
only sufficient for a small fraction of our more than 2000 homeless citizens.
Many hundreds of people are outside when the temperature goes into the
twenties.
Pat goes downtown on cold nights to make sure everyone has an emergency
blanket to wrap up in beneath their other blankets. Lately he has also been
bringing food to the folks who sleep on the pavement downtown. By nine o’clock
they are ravenously hungry. It takes a lot of calories to survive outside in
winter. One night he couldn’t make it so Freeman and I went downtown. It was
a night in the twenties and six people were sleeping on the sidewalk around the
plaza. They were under piles of everything they owned and did not even look
like people anymore. A casual passerby would have thought there were piles of
garbage and black plastic on the sidewalk waiting for a morning pickup.
Underneath each of these piles was a human being. A bit of face would peep out,
and I would hear a voice saying, “Thank you, God bless you.”
Pope Francis is calling on the entire human family – Catholics,
Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists – everyone – to come together and
take care of poor people. He is calling for a new era of love and sharing and
compassion. This is what we need. Each of us can make this happen, working
from wherever we are stationed in life. We are the only ones who can make this
happen.
Love and blessings to everyone,
arupa
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The
Home Van needs tents, tarps, bottled water, Vienna sausages, creamy peanut
butter, jelly, candles, white tube socks, batteries, 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 Citizens
for Social Justice, Inc., 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/
THE HOMEVAN IS A PROJECT OF
CITIZENS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE, INC. (FDACSREGISTRATION #CH35643). A COPY OF THE
OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE
DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE
(800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE.REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT,
APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE
STATE.
