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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI try to Pay it Forward Homeless are suffering too-Sometimes it's the little things
In November, I got deathly ill. I had to go on short term disability and there was some question if I would even get that. There was question if I would even live to the new year.
Many of my friends here and other places stepped up and helped me out so that in the time of uncertainty, I wouldn't have to worry about where I lay my head.
Fast forward to March.
I have been cleared to try to return to work. While I am scared and still not 100% I want to try.
When I get better off, I plan to do more but I have a burden for the homeless.
I am not quite sure what all I can do but I try.
When I get gas for my vehicle, I buy a sandwich and give it to the guy that is always sleeping in front of the QT.
I cleaned out my closet and got rid of a lot of clothes. In my profession, I have to dress professionally so most of them were "teacherish" but I had also collected quite a few pair of sweat pants and shirts. I also had several pairs of shoes and tennis shoes and fake ugg type boots . I realized that I had way too much when others had nothing.
There is a park across the street from where I live and the homeless hang out there a lot.
Last night we took all of those clothes and shoes and a couple of blankets (two people do not need 10 blankets) We laid them across the benches under the gazebo in the middle of the park. My spouse said we had to be careful because some people don't like it when the homeless are helped. That made me cry.
This morning when walking my dog, I noticed that all the shoes were gone as well as the blankets and almost half the clothes. Hopefully someone can find a use of all of them.
I feel much better about doing that than taking them to a goodwill where someone will charge people for things they got for free. I know goodwill does great things, but people that are homeless do not have money to shop at goodwill.
I know it isn't much, but at the moment, it was all that I could do and when I noticed that most of the things were gone, it warmed my heart that someone needed it.
If I ever win the lottery or come into any kind of fortune, I will do something to at least help the homeless in my city.
It is a shame we have such pukes in office that do not care about the problems that we face every day.
demtenjeep
(31,997 posts)if the idiots have their way with this budget and healthcare
demtenjeep
(31,997 posts)my idea if I ever had the money is to open a "store front" and let it be a hang out spot . A place where the homeless can come play checkers, read, watch TV, have a cup of coffee take a shower maybe have soup and chili things like that
I will probably never have the money but that is my dream.
demtenjeep
(31,997 posts)Talk with some homeless men or women. And/or read Eliot Lebow's Tally's Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men and Tell Them Who I Am: The Lives of Homeless Women. Lebow the latter book while he was dying of cancer.