She died where she lived: at the bus stop.

[kpete]

She died where she lived: at the bus stop.

Willie Mae White loved to dance. She told stories about her boyfriends. She treated everyone with kindness. She was homeless.

On Tuesday, White froze to death at the Joliet, Illinois bus stop she called home. She was 55 years old.
“She doesn’t have to worry about being cold anymore,” an acquaintance, Audrey Laye, told the Herald-News.

Living on the streets is dangerous any time of year, but that’s especially true when temperatures dip below freezing. In this past week, as a cold front swept through the Midwest and Northeast, at least five homeless people have died from the cold.

They include:


Willie Mae White, 55, of Joliet, who died in sub-zero wind chills Tuesday morning.

Glenn Donovan, 53, of Highland Falls, New York. He was found in the woods near the Hudson River on Friday night.

A Philadelphia man in his 30s. His body was found in the freezing cold Thursday morning. Officials have not been able to determine his name yet.

A Jersey City man in his 40s. “Even the people who saw him on a daily basis said they did not know his name,” wrote The Jersey Journal. He slept in abandoned junk cars. His body was found Wednesday morning as the temperature hit 5 degrees.

A Chicago man who remains unidentified after dying from hypothermia on Tuesday.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/01/24/3200211/homeless-deaths/

[a kennedy]

1. I'm sick over this.....

[Melinda]

2. America, America, god shed his grace on thee...

and crowned thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.

A Christian nation?

Gal. 5:13 Serve one another in love

Gal. 6:2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ

John 13:14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.

John 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Romans 12:16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Romans 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.

Romans 14:13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.

And so on, and so on...

Surely goodness and mercy... oh, wait.

[Cleita]

3. I guess city ordinances won't even allow these people to have at least a campfire to keep warm

in these temperatures. We need to do better by our most vulnerable citizens.

[G_j]

4. “She doesn’t have to worry about being cold anymore,”

that tears my heart out..

[nilesobek]

5. But we have wars to fight

and mansions to protect. So, gear up and go protect those mansions! A tax cut will solve everything. Do I need the sarcasm moniker?

[Beacool]

6. These stories are heartbreaking.

No one should be homeless in such a rich country as hours.

In my town, the now famous Hoboken, we have one shelter. The homeless go there for dinner and stay overnight. In the morning they have to leave until the evening. That's when they head to my church (Lutheran). We are the only church in town that feeds the homeless during the week. The church hall opens at 8:30 AM and closes after 12. By then the "guests", as we call them, have had breakfast and lunch. If there's left overs, they can take a doggie bag with them. The church doesn't get grants for this function, it's all done through the parishioners' donations and some businesses. It's staffed by volunteers (my neighbor, who is about to turn 96 this Saturday, is one of those volunteers).

The majority of our guests are people who would still be in the same situation even if the economy was flourishing. They are either mentally ill, alcoholics, drug addicts or a combo of all three. Some of them don't like to follow rules and won't go to the shelter. It's a tough time to get them to go indoors when the temperature dips too low. Most cities round up their homeless when it gets too cold, but they can't force them off the streets if people refuse to go to a shelter. The man who died in Jersey City had the option to go to a shelter. I assume that so did the others.

[Live and Learn]

7. How can a society allow its people to freeze to death? Despicable. nt