As the title states, I am going to begin writing of different experiences my children and I have come across in our time together without a home. My goal in this is to show the human side of homelessness and hopefully help combat the stigma and stereotype surrounding the homeless community.
Some of our experiences were happy, some hilarious, some outrageous or frightening or even straight up heartbreaking. I hope you'll stick around, and hopefully it will catch on as a tag and others can share their experience as well.
Without further ado:
Every year the CHUM shelter here in Duluth sees over 1,000 faces in need of help. While they cannot neatly split, there are typically three groups. The first group has only been homeless for a month or less. These are the easiest to help. They usually have a recent rental history, even if it isn't perfect, they may still have a job.
The second is the group my trio and I fit in, the chronically homeless, meaning we have been homeless 12 or more months in the past 3 years. Not easy to help, though the most effort goes into this group. Many in this group have mental or physical health issues, are elderly or quite young.
Then there's the third group, who are somewhere in the middle. They of course try to help this group quickly, before they become group 2.
The most important thing to remember is, these are thinking, feeling people. Their stories are unique, their tragedies heartbreaking, their desperation palpable. Never forget. We're real.
What do you see? A doorway? I see a space out of the wind. I see a ventilation grate. It blows out warm air and spaces like this are hard to come by. This morning it was -22° f outside. The shelters are full, it's estimated only half of our homeless community is in shelter.
Places like the one above, while a small refuge from the weather, are patrolled. This one is on the side of a medical complex, the hospital and some offices. The police park between that doorway and the Emergency Room door. Little to no chance of taking advantage of the space for long.
I've taken note of these words on that grate many times, and each time it hurts my heart to read them. Today I saw the orange words added to the black. Two authors making a point together. It's kind of hard to make it out.
It reads: "People over profit. Night is cold as day. Life matters. Cause I got that."
Life is all we have, shouldn't that matter over those corporate dollar signs?
Thank you so much for sharing in this loving and caring way. I hope your words and experiences can open the eyes of many and create more Empathy in our world. I wish for everyone to have a Home. We have the resources. Hell, we have the homes! Just sitting there empty being hoarded by $%$#$%ers!
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I'm not sure the stats of Canada, but yes. Here in the states there are six empty houses for each and every homeless man, woman and child. It's an absolutely insane reality we live in.
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A realy conundrum.
What do you do? With alcoves like pictured. From the homeless point of view it is one of the best spots in town. From the hospital's point of view, they need to keep it clear for numerous reasons, the only real one being that you can't block the air flow.
It is really tragic that the people who want to help the homeless have no clue what they need. They think shelters with lines of beds and curfews are just fine, missing all the essentials that homeless really need.
Why can't we just build a bunch of these alcoves with solar walls (heaters)
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I'm a big fan of tiny houses being used to help out. A space for a person or family to call home. It's cost effective if you look at it from the perspective of the money saved by keeping people out of the Emergency Room, simply looking for warmth.
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Spot on.
We just put in a shipping container village in our town for the homeless. They turned out great.
Looks like a lot full of tiny houses set up in a trailer park configuration.
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Keep it up. I know that posts like this will change the worlds view one person at a time. It's great that Steemit allows everyone to see life from a new persons eyes everday.
Best of luck to you and your family and hope to read more about your experiences along the way. Hopefully with the help of Steemit, we can help take you and your family out of categories 1, 2, and 3 completely.
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Thank you, I really hope for that to be our future, and for more minds to be opened to the reality of others. 💙
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dear @hickorymack
you have a successful steemians, but have a doubt how can you success on steemit, becouse you are a new steemit user, so please tell me your success story, sister
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dear @hickorymack
you have a successful steemians, but have a doubt how can you success on steemit, becouse you are a new steemit user, so please tell me your success story, sister
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A powerful post. The corporate world is crumbling and things are getting better too late for some but is changing. People like you sharing these stories are forcing those crack open great work. Sending reiki vibes to you 💯🐒
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Yours is a touching story @hickorymack. You are obviously level headed, articulate and lovingly care for your family. It's only circumstance that sees you reading ventilation grills. I commend you for putting a face on the undeserved stigma of homelessness. I'm left feeling melancholy that my upvote & resteem are the only assistance that my remote location allows. Have you had much success connecting with steemians in your area?
Best wishes to you!
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I saw that first picture with your eyes. A shelter. There should be no reason at all to why this government you have and policies cant help you. Here in Canada (only saying this as I dont know how it works in the states) we have welfare. They help you find a place to live, to work and can even help you get more help to work on yourself for confidence and experience. I have used these services and they see that people are important. There should be no reason as to you you girls should be out there without a place to live. Not just stay but live. I am resteeming your post and I will continue to do so. Let's work you up to get you going again :)
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Thanks for sharing your experiences. Maybe this can help others to see the reality not virtuality of life.
Hope more join to help and those that can do more make it happen.
My respect and best wishes hicorymack keep on fighting ;)
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If we all look around at our own neighborhoods and our own homeless I think that real change can occur. The problem is that we think the issue is too big for us to address.
As a poor divorced mother of two, I would donate everything that I didn't need to local social service organizations (like Link and the Social Service League) that would either give my items to people in need for free or at a ridiculously small price. Of course, I frequented these places as well.
Again, if we help who we can in our neck-of-the-woods we can do much to combat the systems in place that seem to cause more harm than good because they are a case number and not really a human being (I don't blame the case workers.....they are overworked with too many people to help).
I really believe in the goodness of others, we just feel overwhelmed. Start small and keep giving.
God bless!
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Hickory is your motorhome running? Have you thought about leaving Minn if you could?
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