Mobile Loaves & Fishes Blog

"Brrr! It's cold...and wet, too."

I remember that day in October 2007. I had awoke around 6:00 a.m. under the bridge I slept under for the past few months and noticing a cold front blew in overnight I commented, “Brrr! It’s cold this morning.” I was speaking to another fellow camping under the same bridge and his response was, “Yeah, and it’s wet, too. It’s raining out there.”

As I rolled up my bedroll, I gathered my things and started to leave. He sat idle, drinking his breakfast, and said, “You should stay up here awhile.” I wish I could have waited for the rain to stop, but I had to go “to work”. Work for me consisted of standing on a corner for 10-16 hrs. per day attempting to panhandle enough money, to purchase my “medicine”, on a daily basis. My name is Gary and I am a recovered Heroin addict.

My first winter ‘on the streets’ was in 1999. I remember approaching a truck that was handing out sandwiches and warm drinks with a friend. My friend, female, did not have a coat and the temperature was in the 30’s. The truck belonged to a non-profit organization of Christians called Mobile Loaves and Fishes, and they frequented areas where the homeless and working poor gathered to ‘assist’ them. A female volunteer asked my friend where her coat was. When she responded she did not have one, the volunteer took her own coat off and gave it to her without pause. To me this was ‘loving your neighbor as yourself’, similar to the commandment Jesus spoke of to the Pharisees in the Bible’s Book of Matthew (22:39).

In January of 2007, back on the streets, I experienced a period of two days when the temperatures did not rise above 30 degrees for 2-3 days and two days of sleet and rain. I felt fortunate to have already received a coat, blankets, and sleeping bag to gather in at night time when the temperature dropped to the low twenties. God, once again working in my life, allowed me to find an open door in back of an empty church, which is where I slept for two nights, leaving before daybreak to avoid being discovered for trespassing. I found out later, several homeless had died during those nights from staying out in the elements unprotected.

At the time I mentioned in the opening, I had a drug habit that cost an average of $60-$100 per day, and I felt fortunate if I had a “taste” to get started. Regardless of the weather, I did whatever it took to earn enough to supply my drug habit. The cold front that came in seemed a bit early and I had not acquired a coat or sweater yet, and a rain coat was something my habit did not allow me to afford. I had looked around and found a terry cloth bath robe. It was the only clothing object with long sleeves. I decided it was better than nothing. The only problem was it was ‘pink’! I faced the humiliation of wearing it in public because that is what my disease of addiction told me I had to do. Gratefully, I did not have to stand in traffic very long before a gentleman, waiting on the light, stepped out of his truck and handed me the coat he was wearing, saying “get that pink thing off”. 

I am thankful there are some Christians and compassionate people in Austin, TX who willingly and unconditionally give to others, without regard to why other people are living like they are living. While addiction and alcoholism affect a lot of people living on the streets, it is not the only reason many are out there. The economy, psychological, and physical disabilities often times place individuals in such situations. It is not always by choice, but the fact remains, many have nothing but the clothes on their back.

As the cold, wet weather has begun to approach, I felt compelled to share these experiences with you and others. Knowing we all have our own responsibilities and with the holidays approaching, our minds focus on taking care of our own personal business while the less fortunate often stand, too humiliated to ask for help. Please take the time to consider them and offer spare coats, blankets, and sleeping bags. While they may not be living next door, in God’s eyes they are your neighbors. Sharing His love and blessings for you with others, they too will be drawn to Him. My God is a loving and forgiving God and  I have shared how others showed His love to me; by His love and grace I have remained drug and alcohol free since November 1, 2008. Thank you for listening and considering others. The love you share may help others achieve a meaningful and fulfilling life.

– Gary M.

An Open Letter to the Citizens of Austin, Texas from Richard Troxell

This letter was written by RIchard Troxell, President of House the Homeless one of the strongest advocates surrounding the issue of homelessness in Austin.  I believe it is important that all sides be heard in this debate.  Mobile Loaves & Fishes believes that the answer to all of these systemic issues that exacerbate homelessness is affordable, permanent, sustainable housing and living wage jobs.  Mobile Loaves & Fishes believes that through the implementation of its Habitat on Wheels housing model (www.mlfnow.org/HOW) that we can mitigate over a relatively short period of time this sore on our society we call panhandling.  We are emphatically against any additional criminalization or any expansion of the panhandling ordinance in Austin.

-Alan
 
House the Homeless Takes a Stand
As we are well aware, the Downtown Austin Business Alliance (DABA), the East Sixth Street Community Association (ESCA) and Sixth Street Austin (aka) Pecan Street Owners Association), among other businesses, which includes, but certainly not limited to, the Alamo Draft House, B.D Rileys, Iron Cactus Cafe, the Margarita Bar, El Sol Y La Luna, Parkside, Blind Pig, and the Old Pecan Street Cafe are all promoting the expansion of the anti-panhandling ordinance from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM to around-the-clock, 24 hours a day, in the downtown area.   House the Homeless (HTH), the oldest, grassroots, all volunteer, action homeless organization in the State of Texas, made up of people experiencing homelessness, formerly homeless people and others wishing to end homelessness, is strongly against the expansion of this ordinance.  Although HTH has stated repeatedly that it does not condone panhandling, and it outright condemns aggressive panhandling, its members will fight to their last breath for a person's right to ask his or her fellow human beings for help.

A Fair Wage For A Fair Day's Work
The President of ESCA has said with conviction that "All of our businesses pay a Living Wage or more than a Living Wage." This is a blatant untruth.  Upon investigation, House the Homeless has learned that none of the businesses listed here pay a Living Wage. In fact, they all take advantage of a loop hole in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 for which businesses had previously lobbied Congress.  Presently, the Federal Minimum Wage is $7.25 an hour, which is less than $15,000 per year.  Where people are earning a living based on "tips", employers can pay these employees as little as $2.13 an hour so long as you and I, as patrons, bring the wage up to the Federal Minimum Wage. We tip to express our gratitude to individuals who provide us good or exceptional service as a way of saying "thank you".  Who among you realize that you are being relied upon to provide the base pay of each and everyone of these employees? (Note. B.D. Rileys pays its' employees only $2.81 per hour).

Again, this gouging of patrons merely brings the pay amount up to the Federal Minimum Wage, which has been widely known to be wholly inadequate to attain housing.  In fact, according to the last several US Conference of Mayors' Reports, insufficient income is a leading cause of homelessness. They point out that no where in America, can a person earning at the Federal Minimum Wage get into and keep basic rental housing.    What ever happened to "A Fair Wage For a Fair Day's Work"?  Do these businesses act responsibly or morally if they don't even pay their
employees enough to make ends meet so they can afford basic housing? 
 
Employers who benefit from the labor of their workers need to ensure that the people working for them are able meet their core needs.  This is known as a Living Wage.  This means, at a minimum, paying a person who works 40 hours in a week enough to afford basic food, clothing and shelter (including utilities).

Lack of Cooperation and Resistance:
Unfortunately, neither DABA, ESCA, nor 6ixth Street Austin have participated in or contributed one thin dime to alleviating the root causes of homelessness.  When the City of Austin reached out to the Federal government and borrowed eight (8) million dollars to create the current ARCH, the only DABA contribution was to insist that there be metal detectors at the front doors.   In addition to serving as president of House the Homeless, I operate Legal Aid for the Homeless, the 5th Resource Center for the homeless since I started in 1989.  None of these business organizations have supported any of these centers.   It was in 1995 (circa) that House the Homeless first engaged the DABA (then known as DAA) when it pressed for the passage of the “No Camping” Ordinance.  The issue set the city on fire.  House the Homeless took out a full-page ad in the Sunday Austin American Statesman showing how it was cheaper to house and job train all homeless people, as opposed to jailing them.  However, facts such as those did not deter the DAA. Everyone had a position and everyone chimed in.  Steve Fromholtz, singer/songwriter, camped out with us, as did Molly Ivans, who said "Outlaw camping?  That's just silly.  I'm a Texas gal and I like to camp."  Bruce Springstein was in town and in support, he gave House the Homeless proceeds from his t-shirt sales.  All the while, the DAA insisted that this was an “urgent matter”, and that once they got immediate relief, we could "slow things down and start looking at deeper, more substantive issues and causes of homelessness."

Additionally, rather than pay wages that would enable minimum wage workers to avoid experiencing homelessness, the DAA has dipped into the city coffers and funded in part, their own private police force - The Downtown Rangers.  They are separate and apart from our police force - the Austin Police Department.  But they didn't stop there.  The DAA said that it was "the homeless who were filling our jails with drunken episodes, and thus creating the need for a "Community" Court.  House the Homeless contended that this was not true.  Later, when the statistics came out showing that the biggest offenders were University of Texas students, the DAA remained undeterred by the facts, and went on to press for the creation of the Community Court, separate from the Municipal Court only one block away.  And again, this comes at a significant cost to taxpayers. 

*Note:  Today, in the Austin Metropolitan Area there are only two (2) substance abuse treatment beds for single, adult males outside of the criminal justice system.  They have it set up so that these beds are reserved for people who are in violation of the "Quality of Life Ordinances," i.e. no sitting, no lying down, no camping, etc. These are all ordinances promoted by these businesses directed at people experiencing homelessness and all under the banner of urgency.  This refrain has been repeated over and over again with the passing of each "Quality of Life Ordinance" - no camping, no sitting, no lying down, no aggressive panhandling etc., all of which the DAA has rushed
toward passage declaring an urgent need each time. With no subsequent significant efforts to address the root causes of homelessness being offered, House the Homeless can no longer consider espousers of such mantra as "honest brokers". 

In a city that so dramatically lacks resources for people experiencing homelessness; (If you have ever played musical chairs as a child, you know that 4,400 people cannot easily fit into 650 emergency beds) can we constitutionally pass muster under the necessity argument?  And in a City where 55,000+ University students are channeled into the Entertainment District would we be able to defend exclusionary practices regarding freedom of speech arguments? 

The Criminalization of the Homelessness 

In fact, actions by the DAA have collectively created what House the Homeless refers to as the Criminalization of Homelessness Cycle. 

The Cycle works like this: 

(1) businesses pay so little that is causes minimum wage workers to fall into homelessness;

(2) there is a wholly inadequate response with  less than 650 emergency shelter beds (for every man, woman and child), for an actual head count of about 4,400 people;

(3) The City Council (at the urging of the DAA passes "Quality of Life" laws against camping, sitting, lying down, loitering, solicitation, etc.;

(4) citizens can't pay $200-$500 fines and must work for free "Community Service."  Some have called this "slave labor;"

(5)workers are later jailed when Class C criminal tickets go to warrant and people are forced to panhandle to survive, but are labeled "criminals;" and

(6) people can't rent or find jobs due to their criminal records
and remain homeless.

The DAA continues to say that they are attacking the act, not the actor.... and panhandling, not the people who are panhandlers.  But there is danger in this broad brush approach.  The Chronicle just published an expose entitled Panhandlers for God.  They focused on an organization calling itself Austin Restoration Ministries or ARM.  Theywere described as an organized group of panhandlers who aggressively demanded attention and money to support what was described as a dubious substance abuse treatment ministry.  The first thing that we need to note is that ARM's behavior as described is clearly illegal under the Anti-Aggressive Solicitation Ordinance. Also, as depicted, it should be repudiated.  What was described was a highly organized scam, relying on intimidation to commit highway robbery.  House the Homeless would be among the first to condemn the suggested activity. 

However, one does have to ask why the citizen who was interviewed failed to act and report the illegal activity, and then press for a legal response of the existing law, to have it stopped.   There is something very disquieting in this and the recent findings of  the ACLU and their Open Records Request. This revealed that the point person for the DAA anti-panhandling initiative, Bill Brice, likewise had not attempted to use the existing law before he and his business buddies
launched into yet another "emergency" response to pass laws against persons experiencing homelessness. Nonetheless, the alleged activity cited in the Chronicle is that of an organization, not individuals.
 
But the question of reporting is greater than just this limited view. I’ve read in two reports and had one conversation that Front Steps is supporting the expansion of this ordinance because of two frightening encounters with aggressive panhandlers by their Board members. This unacceptable behavior and should not be tolerated.  The suggestion that they should have reported the incident to the Police was waved off with “neither they nor the aggressive panhandlers would have waited for the police to arrive.”  Well maybe the victim would not wait, but I’ll guarantee you that the person standing on the corner is not about to abandon his or her corner.  And how are they going to know that you placed a call to the police on your cell phone?  They wouldn’t. Life is not always convenient.

There is a law in place against aggressive pan handling and just because we would be too inconvenienced to have it enforced is no justification to enact yet another law...especially one that curtails freedom of speech.  Again, I guarantee you that if you pull one of the aggressive panhandlers away from their source of income for half a day to explain their aggressive behavior, you will see a sea change.  But as it sits now we see no complaints and no efforts to enforce the current law.

Targeting the Homeless:

As stated, the DAA and all these businesses continue to contend that they are "not targeting the homeless; rather, they are targeting behavior”.  Really?  Consider this: when House the Homeless pointed out that firemen were stepping into traffic (with bag pipes) to solicit motorists for money, an exception was made and a state law was changed.  What will happen when the Salvation Army asks for an exception for its bell ringers?  When the Austin Advocate asks for an exception for its
vendors, will it be granted?  

The other day while leaving ARCH and racing to a meeting, a person experiencing homelessness ran up to me and presented me with a ticket that he had received for "Aggressive Panhandling."  He is a struggling Austin Musician who plays an acoustic guitar, is homeless,  and plays with his guitar box open for contributions. He insisted that he had no sign and the only words that came out of his mouth were song. Racing away, I told him how important it was that I get a copy of the ticket.  Clearly he was not aggressively panhandling. But the question sits on the table like an 800 pound baby elephant. 

If this ordinance were to be expanded, in the "Live Music Capitol of the World", would you again write an exception to the ordinance to allow for such activity in the downtown Entertainment District?  Firemen, bell ringers, newspaper solicitors... how many exceptions before the charade is
exposed and it becomes clear to everyone that people experiencing homelessness are being targeted.

What about the Neighborhoods?

The DAA and all the associated businesses cry for relief from the "siege" they suffer under by people experiencing homelessness, and those who panhandle for survival.  But what do they say about their concern for the neighborhoods around them who would clearly then become victims of the relief that they seek.  The business mentality is, "I got mine...good luck to you."  Is that good community partnership?  No.  It is elitism.  Good community citizenry is evidenced by the City of Austin, who pays a living wage to the least among its employees and to Travis County, who worked to get to that position, and to CVAN R Automotive, Wheatsville Co-Op, Run Tex and others who pay living wages or have pledged to work toward them because it is the ethical thing to do.   This is a new day and a new way.  We must all be our brother's keepers. Everyone should be paid a fair wage for a fair day's work, and everyone should have a roof over their head (other than a bridge).  Until that day, House the Homeless will continue to stand up with our brothers and sisters who ask, "Buddy, can you spare a dime." 

What Do The Surveys Say? 

On Tuesday, August 19, 2008, the City of Austin received the results of its Commissioned Solicitation Survey from the University of Texas School of Social Work.  They had interviewed 103 individuals, specifically excluding any kind of organized solicitation, and found that:

(1) These individuals were soliciting (panhandling) for daily survival and

(2) Making persistent efforts to work, with a long work history.  They found that 51 percent of those surveyed wanted job training and 52 percent were looking for work.   

In the Community Action Network (CAN) Unsheltered Homeless Count Survey, conducted in Austin in May, 2007, over 200 respondents were interviewed.  When asked as to the cause of their homelessness, 100 said it was because of "being unable to pay either their rent or mortgage."  Another 188 said it was "due to unemployment." 

In a third survey, this time conducted by the City of Houston Health and Human Services Department, 345 persons were interviewed.  When asked their reason for their street solicitation,
250, or 72.5 percent, stated "income for survival."  When asked if they enjoyed street solicitation, 280, or 81.2 percent, said "No."  When asked what would be required for them to stop street solicitation, 196, or 56.8 percent, responded with "employment." 

A fourth survey was conducted by House the Homeless, Inc., in Austin in November, 2007.  In this instance, 526 people experiencing homelessness were successfully interviewed.  Thirty-six point eight (36.8) percent said they were working at the time of the interview. *Remember, the U.S. government found 42 percent of those experiencing homelessness nationwide were working at the time of their interview.  When asked if they would work a 40 hour week job if they were sure it would pay them enough to afford basic food, clothing and shelter (including utilities) (in other words, a living wage), 468, or 90.7 percent, said they would work 40 hours for a Living Wage. 

In a subsequent fifth survey, conducted January 1, 2009 by House the Homeless, 429 people experiencing homelessness were interviewed.  When asked for the cause of their homelessness, "job loss" and "insufficient income" ranked as the 1st and 2nd answers respectively. 

The findings from the surveys are self evident. People want to work, and they want to be paid living wages. But, regardless, the DAA has once again refused to not take responsibility for their role in both creating and maintaining homelessness in our town by failing to pay fair living wages.  They continue to act as non-community partners who are some how entitled to their own private police force, their own set of laws and a separate court system all at the tax payers' expense, while at the same time, failing to exercise basic moral and ethical standards by paying a fair wage for a fair day's work.  Instead, they are relying on the compassion of their patrons to step up and fill their moral void while they press for more and more laws and ordinances to isolate and insulate themselves and their businesses.

Needs and Solutions:

Bottom line...people experiencing homelessness fall into two distinct categories:  those who can work and those who cannot work. 

• We must help complete the work of the "Let's Get to Work" Task Force. We must ensure that their idea of involving Community Sponsorship to move people out of transitional housing, secure basic additional education and then secure Living Wage jobs on a temporarily supported basis is paramount for the basic health of our community. It is simply not reasonable to expect that after we have put them through the Continuum of Care Process and brushed them off, dried them out and prepared them for work, that we can simply then put them back into an under-funded economic system and expect them to thrive. The rate of recidivism will be close to 100 percent. As long as there is no clear pathway that will move people from homelessness into emergency shelter, then into transitional housing and then into a living wage job that affords them regular housing and a reasonable opportunity to remain housed, while receiving adequate health care, then for that homeless individual, Front Steps, Caritas, House the Homeless and all the rest of us are falling short.
• We must promote such innovative programs as Habitat on Wheels being promoted by Mobile Loaves and Fishes that offers truly affordable housing based in a true community of active participation and love.
• We must put our preconceived prejudices aside and seriously consider and actively promote the type of "Wet Housing" that is being promoted by Front Steps. The current approach to substance abuse is limited, exclusionary, prohibitively costly and simply not working.
• For those who cannot work, we need the federal government to fix the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) levels so that people can be housed.
• For those who can work, we must provide a Universal Living Wage. Imagine working five or six days a week and with no time off and no vacation. If you were to let the stress overwhelm you and not show up just one day, you are quickly on a direct path to homelessness. And to expect that these same workers who work a full-time job at McDonalds, who still do not have enough to pay the rent after exposure to constant performance and time pressures while sweating over a hot grill, can long avoid homelessness is short sighted and unrealistic. The Federal government isn't moving so fast to include the minimum wage worker. So we as affected Austinites must act. We must provide our own leadership to create change.

Since House the Homeless first devised the Universal Living Wage Formula in 1997, the Federal government has created "Locality Pay," and the U.S. Military has moved from the VAH pay system to BAH - Base Housing Allowance, which recognizes that we are a nation of thousands of economies.  And now the Federal government, itself, recognizes geographic considerations as well through its Locality Pay enhancement stipend program.  That just leaves "We the People" out.  Just as the Federal government abdicated its role of housing our nation's poor under the Regan Administration, causing homelessness to percolate up in our urban centers (Austin included), it would seem that they are leaving the wage issue to us as well. 

The Federal government isn't moving so fast to include the minimum wage worker in their new found realization tht the wage must be indexed to the local cost of housing because again, we are anation of thousands of economies...Every time that Congress raises the Federal minimum wage, it is tamped down by short sighted business interests that fail to realize the potential retraining cost savings. And the limited increases are always an amount which is less than that needed to enable workers to reach the Federal Poverty Guideline.  The result is economic slavery of millions of people, now evidenced by the 3.8 million people experiencing homelessness nationwide and over 4,000 in Austin again this year.  So we as affected  Austinites must act.  We must provide our own leadership to create change. 

Conclusion: 

If we were to ask a person experiencing homelessness for a letter grade on how we are doing, and if they were honest, the answer would be "F".   The problems of homelessness are being left up to the communities of America to resolve.  And resolve them we must, but it will require that each of us participate as cohesive community partners...with no exceptions. This is a new day with new opportunities for our businesses to assume the leadership roles that they deserve. But until our businesses recognize this and join hands with us in a force strong enough to defeat homelessness, this societal disease will only continue to grow and divide our community. 
 

I went to the corner and held up a sign today
Someone rudely told me "I have bills to pay"
 
I thought how lucky a roof and a bed
Luxury like that would go to my head
 
How can you sit there and look down your nose
Because my hair is messy, or maybe my clothes
 
All you see is someone you think is drunk or full of drugs
Someone diseased and full of bugs
 
It's amazing how totally wrong you can be
I'm completely sober, no bugs, AIDS, or VD
 
I'm a good girl, God's laws I don't break
But tonight you'll sell yourself for a few drinks and a steak
 
Although it may take 4 hours because of people like you
to get "two burgers please" from the dollar menu
 
It wouldn't take much just a five or a one
Not your car or house or fist born son
 
What harm would it be for you to give
a little money to help me live
 
And although my life is harder than you could have guessed
I smile through each day knowing I am truly loved and blessed
 
-Deborah Smith 2009

UN World Habitat Day: How Can We Make Housing Noteworthy?

While sitting at a business conference recently somebody asked the question “what can I do to get my business noticed?”  The answer was simple: do something noteworthy.  Do something noteworthy…that makes sense!  Now, noteworthy…what exactly is noteworthy today?

The tabloids can’t seem to get enough of health care reform, Letterman, and the economy, but that’s not what I want to talk about right now.  I want to talk about home.  For the people who have homes, housing isn’t really a noteworthy topic.  Like Leigh mentioned earlier, home is often a quiet backdrop for the news of a life—the births the deaths, the joys and the sorrows. 

But, for a full third of our nation, home is a noteworthy topic.  For these 95 million people home isn’t a given.  It is a search, a hope, a goal.  Whether they have housing problems because of poverty, mental illness, or loss of family, they have them.  Many of these people are chronically homeless, and some are working 3 jobs and still unable to afford decent housing for their families. 

Here’s some food for thought via The World Habitat News page:

-One out of every three city dwellers n the world – nearly a billion people – lives in a slum. (Slum indicators include: lack of water, lack of sanitation, overcrowding, non-durable structures and insecure tenure.)

-The number of low-income families in the US that lack safe and affordable housing is related to the number of children that suffer from asthma, viral infections, anemia, stunted growth and other health problems. About 21,000 children have stunted growth attributable to the lack of stable housing; 10,000 children between the ages of 4 and 9 are hospitalized for asthma attacks each year because of cockroach infestation at home; and more than 180 children die each year in house fires attributable to faulty electrical heating and electrical equipment.

So I am asking you: do something to make housing a noteworthy and newsworthy topic today as part of The UN’s World Habitat Day.  Talk with co-workers, blog, tweet…heck, even THINK about it for a day.  Who knows what will come out of it!

-Rachel

UN World Habitat Day: Do You Take Your Home For Granted?

In the mix of the hustle and bustle of daily life, I’d be willing to bet that most of us take for granted that we have a home.  Think about it.  Most of the time I come home, set down my things, take off my shoes, check the mail, get something from the fridge…and never even think about how lucky I am to actually have a home.  I wonder why?  I mean…if you own a home it is probably the single largest purchase you’ve ever made.  Seems like an odd thing to take for granted. 

I spent this past weekend nesting in my house.  I bought pumpkins for the front porch, rearranged furniture, cleaned from floor to ceiling, installed a couple of items, hung a few things, etc.  It all looks great…if I do say so myself.  But, after I finished and I sat down to write a blog entry recognizing “World Habitat Day” I got to thinking about how lucky I actually am to get to do laundry in my own home.  To collect the items I collect for my home.  Obviously, some of these things are frivolous…like pumpkins, but my home also provides me the most basic of necessities….a place to bathe and clean myself, to cook and nurture myself, to rest and rejuvenate myself.  How is it that I can take cooking, cleaning, and sleeping for granted?!?! 

My work as the Development Director for Mobile Loaves & Fishes has certainly opened my eyes to the issues of homelessness, poverty, and hungry.  So it should be no surprise to me that a home is important…but somehow I fail to recognize this on a daily basis.

Today is World Habitat Day.  A day to “reaffirm that adequate shelter is a basic human right, and we focus on the housing conditions of cities and towns around the world. We also use this day to remind the world of its collective responsibility for the future of the human habitat.”

So in honor of this day, I’ve set a small goal for myself…when I come home each evening and cross the threshold of my home that I remember how lucky I am to have a place to call my own.  It’s a modest home, but it’s mine.  I find solace and serenity there.  Each day as I come home I’ll say a prayer for the thousands of those out there who don’t have what most of us call a luxury, but is in fact a necessity. 

I won’t pretend that my meager goal will solve the issue of homelessness.  I do think, however, that just recognizing our own blessings can change the way we view others as we pass them on the street corners or step over them in doorways.  It’s a shift in the way we think of others.  If we change the way we think, we change the way we act…and in doing so, hopefully we’ll treat every human being with the dignity and respect they deserve. 

-Leigh

UN Habitat Day: Is Your House a Home?

Is your House a Home?  I ask this question in honor of UN World Habitat day (details here).

To truly understand homelessness you must first understand what “home” is.  To understand home you must first be sure that you too are not homeless.  Let me tell you a little about me to help us understand the concept of home.

 

On September 22^nd my wife Tricia and I celebrated 25 years of marriage.  We have also lived in the same home for those 25 years here in West Lake Hills part of the Austin, Texas metropolitan area.  During those 25 years we have had four children of our own and a niece that we were blessed to raise.  Our family has never moved.  During these 25 years we have been a member of the same church community and our children all attended the same schools.  Many even shared some of the same teachers.  Our family was involved in scouting, sports and many other extra-curricular activities that rooted us into our community.  It is virtually impossible to go anywhere in our community without running into someone we know from these 25 years of being deeply rooted in this community.  For us it is H-O-M-E.

 

Recently, we floated a trial balloon to our kids that we might be interested in selling our home; that perhaps God was calling us into a different direction.  Well…you would have thought Armageddon had come!  We were witnessing the beginnings of the Mutiny on the Bounty!  The kids were not only infuriated but they rejected this “call” outright.  What ensued was a wonderful conversation of us travelling down memory lane and all that had happened in our home over these many years.  We began to realize that the mortar that held the bricks of our home together were the stories and memories that flowed from our home over these many years.  To pull this very deep tap root from the ground would render us homeless.

 

Steven Bouma-Prediger and Brian Walsh in their groundbreaking book Beyond Homelessness talked about the phenomenology of home and listed eight characteristics that made up home.  These eight characteristics of home are:

1.       Home is a place of permanence

2.       Home is a dwelling place

3.       Home is a storied place

4.       Home is a safe resting place

5.       Home is a place of hospitality

6.       Home is a place of embodied inhabitation

7.       Home is a place of orientation

8.       Home is a place of affiliation and belonging

 

To understand homelessness we must first understand what H-O-M-E really is and understanding this will uncover that many of us, even though adequately and perhaps richly housed, are too homeless.

 

 

Societal Honey- What the #Homeless Have in Common with the Honey Bee

My daughter Taylor wrote this as a paper for one of her classes at Mount St. Mary's University.  Her daddy is proud and I thought you would enjoy.

-Alan

I pass them everyday. They are always there, without fail. Usually I just walk around and don’t even give them the time of day; sometimes they get in my face from out of nowhere, and I flinch, as to avoid fully encountering their presence. Today, however, I broke my pattern. Today I stopped and let them charm me with their story.

People see bees as two things: a popular Halloween costume and a pesky insect, buzzing in the ear, relentlessly seeking the nectar that surrounds us. The bees tell me otherwise. As I watch them, swarming the trashcan like electrons to the nucleus of an atom, my rhythm syncs with theirs. 

I dive into their world and suddenly feel isolated, unwanted. People walk by and don’t even look at me. The buzz of thought fills my head, and I wonder where they came from. Surely the campus trashcans are not their natural habitat. Have they been abandoned by their colonies, left to survive in the man-made wild? Do they have a family or a life away from the Mount? Empathy for the bees inundates me. I feel their pain, rejected by the world, misunderstood. Nobody wants them. They stick together as rejects of the world, thriving off the company of kindred souls.

The sting of a bee is undesirable at best. It has always annoyed me, subsequently having to deal with the throbbing, the itching, the piercing pain, until alas it dissipates. This sting defines the bees, but now I see that that characterization is perhaps unjust. The bee stings defensively, not offensively. They do not swarm around in search of their next victim, but rather only sting when intruded upon. They are not evil and malicious, but rather guarded and protective. Their desire is not to harm, and passersby remain hassle-free. 

But still, people cannot stand them. It seems like such juxtaposition that something as sweet as honey can come from this seemingly vile insect. If we just got rid of them, people say, then they would not bother us any more. No more bee stings. No more swarming around our trashcans. HELLO!!! ATTENTION: WORLD! If we killed off all the bees, then who would pollinate our plants? The existence of our vegetative food supply lies in their ability to pollinate, and do not even get me started on a world with out honey!

We are so quick, as a human race, to judge solely based on the qualities that bother us. Bees are so helpful, yet we write them off because they could potentially sting us. Your neighbors could be the nicest people in the world, but because of the way they dress, you won’t talk to them. We are unable to see far enough beyond the traits that we deem undesirable to find the person within. 

I drive past them everyday. They are always there, without fail. Usually I just drive on by and don’t even give them the time of day; sometimes they come to my window, and I look away, as to avoid fully encountering their presence. Today, however, is a new day. Today I stop, and their story captivates me.

Society sees homeless people as two things: lazy and addicted. The homeless tell me otherwise. I watch them in the park, swarming around the truck that has just come to bring them food, like bees to a trashcan. Their humanity enthralls me.

I try to immerse myself into their foreign world, but something blocks me. They are too… human. They are not some animal or insect; they are human beings, just like me, made of the same fabric. Where are they from? Where is their family? Why have they been abandoned? They have been rejected by the world. Unwanted. Misunderstood. They form a family on the streets, united not by what they have in common, but by what they are all lacking – Home. I feel the sting of loneliness, of hopelessness, in their hearts. It pains me to try to imagine a life so void of love, but even my attempts fall short of their reality. This sting does not dissipate; it does not fade over time. It is not temporary. 

Every day people pass the homeless by and act as if they do not exist. Why do we fear them? They will not bother us unless we are bothersome to them. Homeless people are not generally aggressive; in fact, I have met the most big-hearted, caring and generous people out on the streets. 

In Vancouver there is a huge homeless population. For the 2010 Olympics, in an effort to make the city clean, pretty, and presentable to the nations of the world, the British Colombian government has decided to give the homeless people a one-way bus ticket out of the city. WHERE ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO GO??? Homeless people are human beings. Like the bees, they cannot simply be shipped off, exterminated from their habitat. And like bees we rely on the homeless. Mother Teresa has a great saying, “When we all get to heaven we are going to owe a great debt of gratitude to the poor for having brought us closer to God”. They pollinate our relationship to God and to each other. The hospitality of merely offering a meal connects one heart to the other. 

The state of homelessness, not the people, is transitory if we allow it to be. For this is not a question of should they stay or should they go. It is a question of how we, as a society, can create a world in which nobody is forced into living on the streets. It is not acceptable for them to be pushed out of their natural habitat and forced to swarm where the food is. 

What makes the rest of us so much better than the panhandler on the street? Where do we get the idea that we deserve more or better than they do? There exists this false sense of superiority because we do not understand their story. We cannot understand what they have been through. However, if we remove the blinding judgment and approach them with love and compassion, we have the ability to transform the quality of their lives. We can get them off the streets and give them another chance at life. 

For it is not merely in their existence, but in their ability to be a part of society, that they find their purpose, and when they find it, when they realize what they have truly been made for, they produce a honey sweeter and richer than all the bees’ honey in the world.

-Taylor

"Draw Close" Music Video on the #Homeless & Mobile Loaves & Fishes

Draw Close from Kristopher Rutherford on Vimeo.

Life may not seem easy, But the solution is simple

I met Gary several years ago on a street corner.  He was panhandling to support his heroin addiction.  Coming up on a year he has been sober from this debilitating disease.  He now lives in one of our RV's that is part of our Habitat on Wheels program (www.mlfnow.org/HOW).  He is a guest blogger and he too is transforming the world one human at a time.

-Alan

   My name is Gary and I am a very grateful recovered Heroin addict. It is only by the Grace of a loving and forgiving God that I can say ‘that’ today, because left to my own decisions and free will I would still be suffering in the disease of addiction by using or no longer be here to share my story of recovery with others. Since November 1, 2008, I have not found it necessary to use heroin or other illegal drugs and only prescribed narcotic medication when necessary.
 
   The abstinence from heroin use has been a fairly simple decision for me given the knowledge of the harm and destruction it has caused me both physically and mentally. The diseases I created in my liver through precarious I.V. drug use over the last 38 years are evident in my physical appearance and my abilities today. Daily I awaken, and retire at night, with a feeling of lethargy. My ability to think with clarity and make decisions without hesitation has been affected. I refer to it as my “..foggy, drug – affected mind”.
 
   The mental anguish and humility create isolationism to not let others know I suffer like this, until I try to express or converse in detail. - i.e.: While I am clear at present what I want to say here and how I want to express it, I am reaching for the words that I could recall before by referring to a thesaurus. This is why sometimes it may take longer to write a simple letter. First, I want to say something exactly how I feel it and second, I do not want to say something that may be misunderstood and taken wrong. Anguish, humility, frustration and embarrassment are just some of the mental nuisances that create a feeling of guilt. Others may consider this commonplace in everyone’s life. The guilt is there for me because I know of the harm done to myself for continuing to use drugs and alcohol for so many years. When I do ‘get it right’, I allow my ego to take over and I have learned, in sobriety, this is just Edging God Out of the glory of my recovery.
  
    I only share all of this because I pray it may help others to think about the decision to use, or continue to use such toxins that will negatively affect them later in life; if it has not already. My God gave me the ability to love and share with others as a beacon of His love for them. The guilt and resentment created, by me, through long – term drug use reflected the wrong picture of my God’s reason for placing me in others lives, it has also left me feeling empty and alone in this world before now. I am grateful my God so loves me that today I have several individuals that express unconditional care and concern by trying to help me regain my direction in this life. I say “this life” because I feel this is only a temporary assignment until I fulfill God’s original intent, which was to live and share happiness with Him in Eternity.
 
    I write these contributions with the desire that others will become more understanding and compassionate to those suffering from addiction, and for those who have found recovery to be more empathetic to others that have reached the extremes of degradation I did. It took me a long time to reach this point in life to finally decide I was finished, but I know there is a reason I have suffered. If my suffering was nothing more than an example to show other addicts what would happen from continued drug use, or help others to see it more clearly, it is worth it to me. My God does not make mistakes. I have lived the life He intended for me from the day I was created, by Him. I will remain loyal to Him and walk the paths He places in front of me. I have not worked this program to perfection; I am making progress. I cannot expect to undo what I have done in almost 40 years of destruction in just a few short months. I have made some mistakes, but I am still sober and still learning.
 
   This morning I prayed to my God to give me the strength to carry on with the assignment He has given and the clarity to see it, without hesitating. I feel I can accomplish this by surrendering to His will for me daily and allowing Him to direct my life as He desires. No man has ever walked this earth and lived a perfect life. Even Jesus Christ questioned God why He would forsake Him, but submitted to His authority knowing it was God’s plan. I was created for His pleasure and I want to make Him happy. Because of the free will He has given me, I may be unsteady at times, but those individuals He placed in my life today I consider His angels. I know they have been sent here to guide me, as long as I let them.
 
   I pray somebody that reads this finds their God and takes the time to consider the path He has prepared for them. Decisions are not an easy task and they are a part of the free will we possess. But I hope, just for today, they reach deep in their heart and make the right decision. I thank the employees and volunteers of Mobile Loaves and Fishes for giving a human touch reflecting God’s love especially David, Kay, and Alan, and Austin Recovery for showing me, “I am not alone.”  The Solution? ; “Let go and let God.” I pray my God will continue to bless each and everyone with love, happiness, and understanding. He has me, “one day at a time”.
 
“ God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference…”

~ gary

Virtually No Arms & Legs! Can You Help Us Help Peggy Get Off The Streets?? #Homeless

Back in the 1950's and 1960's there was a powerful drug called thalidomide that was prescribed to pregnant women.  Peggy's mom took this drug while pregnant with Peggy and for her entire life Peggy has been without useful arms and legs.  For the past eight years she has been homeless on the streets of Austin, Texas.  Today she needs to replace the tires on her wheel chair.  I am praying that we can raise the money to find her a handicapped accessible RV.  They do exist.  We are working with the Austin Social Media Club to raise money to purchase an RV.  I think this would be the perfect candidate.  You can go to www.mlfnow.org/SMC to donate to this cause.  But please watch the video and see and hear with your own eyes and ears.

-Alan

Video Chronicles of a Street Retreat with the #Homeless