The Home Van Food Pantry is doing a very
large business as things continue to go badly, both in terms of the economy and
the access to food in the downtown area. The Salvation Army has stopped serving
dinner except on Fridays and is planning to drop meal services all together at
the end of the year. There are also people coming down from Dignity Village to
receive food, since the kitchen at Grace is not yet operational. Although we
are a food pantry for homeless people, some elderly people who have (thank God)
a roof over their heads but not much else, are also coming to receive food. We
do not discriminate. Some people would like to be going to Grace for meals but
they've lost their bus pass (as you may recall, the city gave out permanent bus
passes to homeless people earlier this year). They have been told that bus
passes can't be replaced. It is hard to keep track of one's belongings living
of the streets (it's hard enough living inside, as I've discovered), and one's
belongings are much more likely to be stolen if you're homeless. There is also
the photo ID problem. If you lose your photo ID you cannot get service at a
food pantry or many other places. That is bureaucratic cruelty. Under the
Patriot Act photo IDs are very hard to get and even harder to replace. Is our
society really going to let people starve because they don't have the right
pieces of paper? Sounds to me like something out of Germany in the early 30s.
My Jewish friends often say that we must never forget history, particularly that
history, because, among other things, it teaches the lesson that good people can
be lulled, one step at a time, into unspeakable evil.
We might need some civil disobedience. I am
dealing with an extremely boring but non-threatening ailment called Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome, so I can't organize civil disobedience events or rallies at
this time. Maybe someone else could take this on. "HEY HEY BUREAUCRATS, HOW
MANY PEOPLE WILL YOU STARVE TODAY". Well, surely one of you can come up with
something better than that.
In case anyone is wondering, yes, I am angry
about all this.
Some of you may be wondering why we still
have homeless people downtown. There is the bus pass problem, the problem of
people with mental illness who are afraid or unwilling to go outside their
comfort zone, the old hermits who just don't want to, and others who for various
reasons don't want to be way out on the edge of town. I think Grace Market
Place and Dignity Village are evolving into good places that will solve the
problem of homelessness for many people, but in the meantime, everybody has to
eat today and tomorrow and all the other days of the week.
In the meantime, I also have a lot of
gratitude for the support so many of you are giving to to our little food
pantry. There are even elves who drop food through the hole in the screen and
disappear!
At this time, we are particularly in need of
donations of small jars of creamy peanut butter. Chunky soups, canned meats,
beenie weenies and anything Chef Boy Ardee
are also much appreciated.
love and peace to all of you!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Home Van needs tents, tarps, bottled water, Vienna
sausages, food for people who don’t have
kitchens
, candles and batteries. 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.
