Homeless Voice; That was Then, This is Now

HOMELESS

A THANKSGIVING POEM Twas the night of Thanksgiving, but I just couldn't sleep I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep.

The leftovers beckoned-the dark meat and white, but I fought the temptation with all of my might.

Tossing and turning with anticipation, the thought of a snack became infatuation.

So, I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door and gazed at the fridge, full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes, pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.

I felt myself swelling so plump and so round, till all of a sudden, I rose off the ground.

C

osac Quarters Hotel for the poor, aka what some people call a shelter for the homeless. As some of you may remember when we first started we lived at a place that was probably the worst shelter in America. There were people stuffed in every area of the apartments, which later became a makeshift shelter.

Some windows were missing, some units had carpet and some had bare concrete and the rooms were painted in any color that was donated. In some cases rooms were painted in two colors. The kitchen was as old as when the oven was invented. Some rooms had TV's and some did not. And some rooms were only 12 by 12 with only a bathroom and in some case there were two sets

Sandy working hard in our new kitchen of bunk beds and a cot between them. The only office we had was a one-bedroom apartment where the on call member of management slept between

boxes of food and newspapers titled the Homeless Voice lined the walls. We went from the worst to the best in a seven(Continued on page 7)

I crashed through the ceiling, floating into the sky With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie But, I managed to yell as I soared past the trees....... happy eating to all--pass the cranberries, please!

How’s My Vending?

Call (954)

925-6466 X101

problems prevent keeping a roof over their head. Our problems don’t let the rain fall on our heads because our roof protects us. We will call the “rain” a problem and we will consider each drop of rain a different problem the “roof” we will consider a way to keep the problems under control. The big question is why does their roof not protect them from the rain?

Because their roof has many holes in it.

IS IT AN ISSUE? T

his edition of the Homeless Voice will address the major problems of why people become homeless.

Most people don't realize that it is not just one problem that makes a person homeless it is usually a multitude of problems that we call barriers that make and keep a person homeless. It is not because they are lazy and the lack of money is not the

number one reason why someone is homeless. You see when you or I have a problem we address the issue and we can address the issue because we may only have one problem. And in most cases we have a little money to get us through our crisis.

However, when a homeless person is in crisis they have many, many barriers that create a venue of the streets. Their

We will call “ holes” lack of handling their problems because they all hit at one time with raindrop after rain drop and this is why we are devoting a good portion of this paper to mental health.

Most homeless people have many problems sort of like the rain that we get when we are experiencing a hurricane.

And these problems such as mental heath issues are a real big reason why they are still homeless.

I hear (Continued on page 3)

Page 2

Voice

HOMELESS VOICE

If you are not going to support the Homeless for the upcoming holidays. Let me suggest going to an assisted living facility or a nursing home and bring a small present to the elderly. This will brighten their day. Remember, this is Thanks-GIVING. -Mark Targett LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND TO: P.O. BOX 292-577 DAVIE, FLORIDA 33329 FAX TO: 954-926-2022 EMAIL: info@homelessvoice.com

ALL DONATION REQUESTS IN THE HOMELESS VOICE FOR ANY CHARITY ARE ADVERTISED IN CONJUNCTION WITH THIS WORDING A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION M AY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE IN THE STATE 1-800-435-7352 REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMM ENDATION BY THE STATE

H OME LESS

V O IC E

THANK YOU FOR HELPING THE HOMELESS Cost of paper $.25

To reach us call

954-925-6466

HOMELESS HOTLINE FOR PLACEMENT

M ai l to : H o m e les s V oic e P O B ox 2 92 5 7 7 D a v ie , F l 33 32 9

Go To

C u t t h e c e rti fic a te a n d se n d it w ith a c h ec k o r m o n e y o r d e r f or $50 $2 4 NAME

A DDR E SS

24 Issues

954-491-BEDS

On our home page, click on sponsors, then go to affiliates.

Your names will be posted in the 1st paper of the month.

Need flyers passed out or other temp labor?

CALL 954-920-1277

WHY C ALL A DA Y LABOR CO MPAN Y AND SP EN D LAR GE A MO UN TS OF MON EY

Rates Start at $5.95 per hour Yards , lea f raking, painting, flyers passed out, car was hed and etc.

Call our c ontractor referral line Call us and we will get you the pers on to do the job much les s than calling s omeone els e

Only $5.95 per hour

G a la Ju ly 24 th 2004

My Computer People, Inc 954-979-7778 Repairs • Upgrades • Service Networking • Printer Repair

6045-A Kimberly Blvd.

North Lauderdale, Fl 33068 Email: info@mycomputerpeople.biz

G a la to he lp the H o m e le ss T o b u y yo u r ti ck e ts c a ll G i n ny a t 9 5 4 -92 0 - 1 27 7 $ 7 5 .00 PE R PE R S O N

Ja cJacaranda a ra n d a C o uCountry nty C lu bClub

T o B e p ar t of t he p l a n n in g C o m m it t ee c a ll G i n n y A t 9 5 4 -9 2 0 -1 2 7 7

WE NEED gift certificates for Publix or Winn-Dixie Call 954-925-6466

Help Save the Environment

Save Your Empty Toner & Inkjet Cartridges

Page 3

November, 2003

HOMELESS VOICE

IS IT AN ISSUE? (Continued from page 1)

thing is that they may have the ability to work but they never people all day say, “It is their stay at a job long own fault,” to get the even when it What about the person enough health care benecomes to mental health who is already receiving fits because they always getting reasons. Is it social security income are fired before they still their own fault or is it and it suddenly stops get their insurance. the fault of because the social Again, society? why are they deLet’s just say security office states pressed? Is it bewe have a person who is that the person is doing cause it is a d e p r e s s e d , better at the time of their chemical imbalance? Is it beand with dep r e s s i o n three-year evaluation. cause they may be so depressed that comes many they went to college to get a dethings, for instance going to gree for a nurse but then develwork. If they go to work at all oped Parkinson Disease and so sometimes they may be so dethey can’t have the job that they pressed that they wear the same went to school for. If it is a clothes for several days and chemical in-balance and they are won’t take a shower. Then the taking medication and the medipeople at their jobsite make fun cation is not helping them (in of their personal hygiene and their own opinion) then they go that in turn causes more stress so and self medicate themselves they go out and pick up some with crack. Now the crack drugs or drink to get over the makes them worse when it is depression. But we all know combined with the antithat does not work. Now that psychotic meds. Maybe they we established that their depreshave all these problems and sion interferes with their keeping should be getting disability but a job, now we must look at why now they are on the streets trythey are depressed. Let’s not ing to survive. How does one forget that most Americans can’t apply for disability when they pay for health care even if they don't have an address or a telehave good income. People with phone number to keep important no insurance have a hard time medical examines that the social paying for the medication let security office requires them to alone paying the provider. I go through? have never run into a psychiaMaybe mom and dad had trist or a psychologist who will a house and then dad gets hurt at see a patient unless they have work, then the employer finds the money upfront. One more

someone to replace them because they were out of work so long. Then because the doctor is a company workers comp doctor the doctor states the patient is ready to go back to work.

However dad can’t find a job because he is still not able to fully perform and then of course workers comp denies any future weekly checks. So now mom and dad can’t pay their bills. Dad has a chemical in-balance to start with and is depressed so he now develops his old alcohol problem and because he is drunk he abuses the kids and mom with the term we all hear today titled “domestic violence.”

Mom leaves dad and thinks she can find shelter at a domestic violence place but then realizes there is no room at the inn so she goes back to dad who, now she realizes, never paid the rent or mortgage because he drank what he had left because he is more depressed.

What about the person who is already receiving social security income and it suddenly stops because the social security office states that the person is doing better at the time of their three-year evaluation.

Everything might have been going good for them but all of a sudden someone in the social security medical department reads on doctors notes from two years ago the statement “Mr. Jones seems to be doing a lot better on his meds these days.”

Questions on depression see page 6

Questions on bi-polar disorder see page 9

Sequel Release is a Cause for Alarm

I

n front of a camera, they beat each other for food, beer, and money. One bloodied homeless man pummels his foe into a public toilet. Another homeless man tears out his teeth with pliers and rocks. Others allow teenagers to urinate on them and scrub them with a mop, while tied to a tree.

Nothing could stop four filmmakers from featuring these degrading and blatantly exploitive sequences into their latest project released this month; “Bumfights 2: Bumlife,” not even four misdemeanor convictions, seven felony charges, three civil lawsuits, and condemnation on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Already banned in some countries, many will consider this sequel just as alarming as its predecessor.

The original, “Bumfights: A Cause for Concern,” was released in the summer of 2002. It too is interwoven with “ruckus” of high school kids, and

She has no idea what even is wrong with him she just knows that he is “doing better.”

Better then what?

The week before or better then when he first became disabled?

So the checks stop coming and obviously Mr. Jones could have no savings account because disability is not nearly enough to live on without starving or counting your pennies. So what happens next? Mr. Jones decides to try to find a job, however because Mr. Jones can’t do much, no person wants to hire him or they give him a chance and then fire him two weeks later because he is disabled and cannot do the work.

Mr. Jones has the same luck over and over.

People hire him then he gets fired once again. By the way he has lost his apartment by now. He is now homeless and can’t get a job, living in the streets unable to take showers or wash his clothes. Lets just say Mr. Jones is lucky enough to get a bed at a local shelter and gets himself clean. He still has got the stigma from being disabled and a return telephone number that stereotypes him labeling him as a person looking for a job who is homeless. The employer already has it in his mind about transportation. They ask themselves, if I hire this person is he going to make it to work or be late because of the buses or does he have past drug addiction and not a desirable person who can get a job. So now friends, we see when it rains it pours and when it pours it is very hard for a town to handle the flood let alone a single person with a multitude of problems trying to recover. There is one big difference FEMA does not address homelessness as a real disaster.

Sean Cononie Homeless Voice of Florida scononie@homelessvoice.org

shows a man setting his hair on fire; a man who smokes crack and defecates on the sidewalk; and a segment of a man tying, gagging, and marking sleeping homeless men. Billed as the star is “Rufus the Stunt Bum,” who voluntarily rams his head into fastfood restaurant signs and breaks his best friends leg in a dangerous brawl.

When the controversy started, its burden was of little concern to the now millionaires of the “fastest selling independent movie of all time” according to co-producers and Las Vegas natives Ray Laticia and Ty Beeson.

(Continued on page 10)

In this age which believes that there is a shortcut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest.

-Henry Miller

Voice

Page 4

WORLD NEWS

Remember last year the Homeless Voice had a protest in Washington DC at the Nigerian Embassy? We actually got invited in to the Embassy to give them our reasons why this young lady should not be stoned to death. Why would a Homeless Agency get involved in this type of incident? This action, that was going to be taken by their government, can never be allowed to happen. To bury a person to their neck and then to have the towns people throw stones at her head until she dies is barbaric, disgusting and down-right murder itself. When we in America allow things to happen like this, it creates values in the future. These same values can come back here to the poor. This woman was from a town that was poverty stricken; and we at the Homeless Voice protect the poor of this State and advocate for those who can’t in other parts of the world.

A Nigerian Woman Cleared of Adultery Amina Lawal, right, holding her daughter as she conferred with a lawyer, Mariam Ohinobe, in a Nigerian court. A panel of five Islamic judges voted 4 to 1 Thursday to overturn her sentence of death by stoning.

Amina Lawal held her daughter, Wasila, in her lap in the Katsina State Shariah Court of Appeals Thursday. Her defense team stood behind her.

Islamic law is in effect in Katsina and other north Nigerian states.

mina L a wal, the Nigerian p e a s a n t woman whose case became known worldwide after she was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, was acquitted today by the highest Islamic court in her state.

A roar of approval swept through the small, sweltering courtroom when a fivemember panel of judges ruled 4 to 1 to overturn Ms. Lawal's conviction in a case that had heaped worldwide opprobrium on Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and one in which the split between Muslims and Christians has become increasingly sharp.

H e r veiled head bowed, Ms. Lawal sat quietly, holding in her lap what had been cited as the chief evidence of her crime: her daughter, Wasila, now almost 2 years

old. Ms. Lawal was to be executed as soon as she had finished weaning the child.

When a judge, Ibrahim Mai-Unguwa, finished his 60-minute recitation of the panel's ruling, Wasila let out an ear-splitting wail, as if to signal her relief.

Later in the day came cries of relief from distant corners of the world.

Both Italy and Brazil had offered asylum to Ms. Lawal.

Mother and child were ushered into a side room immediately after the ruling and escorted out of the courtroom under heavy police guard.

Hauwa Ibrahim, one of Ms. Lawal's lawyers, beamed as she stepped out of the courtroom. "It is a victory for justice, it is a victory for the law, it is a victory for freedom," she said. "Amina is free today."

Ms. Lawal, who had been living at her father's home pending outcome of the appeal, was sentenced under Shariah, or Islamic law, which has swept across the country's largely Muslim north over the last three years. Human rights groups condemned her sentence as a violation of international treaties against torture, which Nigeria has signed. . The defense argued that death by stoning was not allowed under the Nigerian Constitution.

Today's ruling relieves Nigeria's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, a bornagain Christian from the heavily Yoruba region in the south. from having to intervene directly. Mr. Obasanjo had said that the country's Constitution would ultimately spare Ms. Lawal's life, a possibility that carried the potential for antagonizing his country's largely Muslim, ethnic Hausa north.

Ethnic violence is estimated to have killed some 10,000 Nigerians since 1999. Home to 120 million people, Nigeria is one of the world's biggest oil exporters and is a critical economic and political ally of the United States.

Ms. Lawal's March

No one suggested DNA tests.

The court ordered that Ms. Lawal be executed.

2002 conviction for adultery was overturned today by the Katsina State Shariah Court of Appeals, largely on the basis of technicalities in the application of Islamic law. It remains unclear what impact, if any, it will have on the dozens of other Shariah sentences now pending before Islamic courts, some of which involve execution by stoning. Just this week, for instance, another Shariah court, also in the north, convicted a man of sodomy and sentenced him to death by stoning, Agence FrancePresse reported.

Ms. Lawal, who was divorced, had admitted to having had a relationship with a man she identified as the father of the child. The man denied the charge, swore on the Koran, and was deemed innocent by the trial court. No one suggested DNA tests. The court ordered that Ms. Lawal be executed.

The Shariah Court of Appeals here in the state capital cobbles together the rituals of British and Islamic legal systems. The courtroom is a former state government building, painted sea blue.

The judges wear caftans and turbans. Lawyers from both sides maintain the dress code left over from British colonial rule: black gowns and wigs.

Today, in an opinion read aloud in the regional language, Hausa, the appeals panel overturned the original conviction, largely on the basis of irregularities. It found that the lower courts had been wrong not to allow Ms. Lawal to retract her earlier confession. Moreover, the court ruled, the first confession was invalid because it was uttered only once, instead of four times, as required by Islamic law, and only one judge presided over the first trial, instead of the requisite three.

The panel also cited more substantive grounds.

The police officers who arrested Ms. Lawal produced no witnesses to fornication, the court said. The court also gave a nod to what defense lawyers had called the "sleeping embryo" theory: under some interpretations of Shariah, an embryo can be in gestation for up to five years, meaning that Ms. Lawal's baby could have been fathered by her former husband.

The one dissenting judge on the panel, Sule Sada, argued that there was nothing wrong with the way Ms. Lawal's confession was drawn and that her conviction should stand.

Speaking for the prosecution, the Katsina state counsel, Nurulhuda Mahmud Darma, told reporters today: "Whatever the court determines is our guidance."

The appeals court did not accept one of the key substantive arguments offered by the defense. Ms. Ibrahim had argued that to consider pregnancy as evidence of a crime inherently discriminates against women, and therefore violates an important tenet of Islamic thought: that men and women are equal before the law.

Shariah law governs everything from prayers and meals to custody battles and sexual behavior to spelling out the punishment for crimes like robbery and rape.

Twelve of the country's 36 states have put Shariah into effect since 1999, though the code does not apply to Christians living in those states.

Ms. Lawal is the second Nigerian woman to be condemned to death for having sex outside marriage. The first, Safiya Hussaini, had her sentence overturned on appeal.

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

Page 5

November, 2003

NATIONAL NEWS

'It's

T

he homeless epidemic is the highest in the city history.

That's how bad the situation is." back with a vengeance.

Experts say the reasons In the subway, commuters step around scruffy men mak- behind the surge are mostly ecoing the concrete platform or a nomic: loss of jobs, rising rents, wooden bench their bed for the cutbacks in social programs.

But city officials, while evening.

On Broadway, the job- not disputing the unprecedented less peddle used paperbacks to surge, argue that they are keeping passersby and urge supermarket pace with the demand for shelter.

They point out that not a shoppers to drop a few coins into single family a water jug. slept this sumFrom the "I never mer on the floor Bronx to the Bowery, the lines at soup thought I'd be at the city's Emergency Askitchens have never homeless," he sistance Unit, been longer - and the faces of the newsaid. "I was a the bleak intake center for comers have never been younger. stable person. I homeless families, and that "It's beginwas working more families ning to get like the were moved bad old days," said for 15 or 16 into permanent Geraldo Nieves, last owner of Jerry Gro- years. I had a housing fiscal year than cery, a BedfordBMW, credit ever before.

Stuyvesant, BrookBut for lyn, bodega within cards, every- thousands of five blocks of four people, the efshelters. thing." forts have obvi" T h i s ously fallen neighborhood has gotten worse, and the more short, as the city's sagging econhomeless there are, the worse it omy continues to devour jobs and livelihoods. gets," he said.

The city has no solid Lost home and BMW Eddie Martinez, 42, a number for homeless on the streets, beyond a first-ever Febru- former waiter from the Bronx, ary survey that counted 1,780 in lost his job and then spent $3,000 Manhattan alone - a figure that in savings on a futile search for advocates say is laughably low. work.

He lost his apartment and Officials plan to conduct another count, of Manhattan and two then his car. He moved in with his sister and her family, but with other boroughs, this fall.

Officials do keep track of four people in two rooms, he who is staying in the shelters, and couldn't stay long.

"I never thought I'd be the numbers - especially for families - are up dramatically in the homeless," he said. "I was a stable person. I was working for 15 last year.

As of July, there were an or 16 years. I had a BMW, credit average of 9,268 families in the cards, everything."

Now Martinez sleeps at system each night - a record, and up more than 1,100 from July the Bedford-Atlantic Men's As2002. The number of single sessment Center in Brooklyn, a adults also jumped, by 495, to 350-bed shelter in a forbidding, 8,000 in July - and it has since Gothic-style armory.

"The shelter was supclimbed to 8,171, according to the city's Department of Home- posed to help me find a job and a place to live, but they've done less Services. nothing for us," Martinez said.

Economic hardships "What we've seen under "They throw us out in the mornthis administration is record in- ing and don't let us in until 7 at creases," said Patrick Markee, night."

He spends those hours senior policy analyst at the Coalition for the Homeless. "It's now wandering the streets - home to

beginthousands who refuse to stay in the shelters or are forced out during the day.

George Rodriguez, chairman of Community Board 1 in the Bronx, said homeless men have started bedding down in a cluster near Lincoln Hospital's front steps. He was so perturbed, he spoke to the hospital director about coordinating with city outreach workers to assist the men.

"How do I know there's more homeless on the street? I've seen it with my own eyes," Rodriguez said.

The traffic at soup kitchens and drop-in centers also suggests the number of street people is growing.

The Citizens Advice Bureau's drop-in center at Hunts Point in the Bronx was at its 75person capacity all summer for the first time, director Carolyn McLaughlin said.

At the Manhattan Church of Christ on E. 80th St., about 35 men and women showed up each Saturday last year for a shower, hot food and fresh clothes. Now, that number is up to 110.

Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen at Ninth Ave. and 28th St. in Chelsea, which serves 1,100 meals a day, has seen a 14% increase in clients in the past two years.

Longer food lines The homeless themselves say their ranks are exploding.

Gary Dos Santos, 39, and Lisa Page, 40, have been on the streets since 2000, when they lost their apartment, car and jobs to a struggle with drugs and alcohol.

From their vantage point in Central Park's Strawberry Fields, where they sleep with their black Labrador, Mary Jane, the homeless population skyrocketed this summer.

"I'm seeing a lot more people on the food lines," said Page, a lanky blond in denim shorts and tank top who lugs a full wardrobe in a shopping cart.

"Now, at some places, there's a cutoff. Like, they won't serve more than 95. Other places, you won't get seconds like you used to."

Outreach workers also have seen a demographic shift among the newly homeless.

We are in DESPERATE need of men's clothing and old sneakers.

Also, we need computers.

Please Call 954-925-6466

ning to get like the bad old

Barbara Winkler lives on midtown streets.

Lisa Page and Gary Dos Santos (with their dog, Mary Jane) lost their jobs and home in 2000.

More and more homeless roam city streets.

Frank Hodge takes refuge in Penn Station subway.

"We're seeing larger families, and that's a scary thing," said Debra Carfora of the Salvation Army, which runs three shelters, including the 335-unit Carlton House near Kennedy Airport.

"Instead of a mom with one or two kids, we're seeing a mom with four children. That usually means they were living independently, and it's the first time they're in the shelter system," she said.

At Holy Apostles, program coordinator Clyde Kuemmerle is feeding more young adults, and it's the same at the Christian Help in Park Slope (Continued on page 11)

Voice

Page 6

HOMELESS VOICE

Brenda’s Story: “It was really hard to get out of bed in the morning.

I just wanted to hide under the covers and not talk to anyone. I didn’t feel much like eating and I lost a lot of weight. Nothing seemed fun anymore. I was tired all the time, yet I wasn’t sleeping well at night. But I knew that I had to keep going because I’ve got kids and a job. It just felt so impossible, like nothing was going to change or get better.

“I started missing days from work, and a friend noticed something wasn’t right. She talked to me about the time that she had been really depressed and had gotten help from her doctor.

“I called my doctor and talked about how I was feeling.

She had me come in for a checkup and gave me the name of a psychiatrist, who is an expert in treating depression.

“Now, I’m seeing the psychiatrist once a month and taking medicine for depression.

I’m also seeing someone else for “talk” therapy, which helps me learn ways to deal with illness in my everyday life.

“Everything didn’t get better overnight, but I find myself more able to enjoy life and my children.”

M

any people who have depression know something is wrong but don’t know what to do about it. This booklet can help. It tells you about four steps you can take to understand and get help for depression.

Four steps to understand and get help for depression: Look for signs of depression.

Understand that depression is a real illness.

See your doctor. Get a checkup and talk about how you are feeling.

Get treatment for your depression.

You can feel better.

Step 1 Look for signs of depression Read the following list.

Put a check mark by each sign that sounds like you: I am really sad most of the time.

I don’t enjoy doing the things I’ve always enjoyed doing.

I don’t sleep well at night and am very restless.

I am always tired. I find it hard to get out of bed.

I don’t feel like eating much.

I feel like eating all the time.

I have lots of aches and pains that don’t go away.

I have little to no sexual energy.

I find it hard to focus and am very forgetful.

I am mad at everybody and everything.

I feel upset and fearful, but can’t

figure out why.

I don’t feel like talking to people.

I feel like there isn’t much point to living, nothing good is going to happen to me.

I don’t like myself very much. I feel bad most of the time.

I think about death a lot. I even think about how I might kill myself.

If you checked several boxes, call your doctor. Take the list to show the doctor. You may need to get a checkup and find out if you have depression.

Suicide Sometimes depression can cause people to feel like killing themselves.

If you are thinking about killing yourself or know someone who is talking about it, get help: • Call 911.

• Go to the emergency room of the nearest hospital.

• Call and talk to your doctor now.

Ask a friend or family member to take you to the hospital or call your doctor.

Step 2 Understand that depression is a real illness.

Depression is a serious medical illness that involves the brain. Depression is not something that you have “made up in your head.” It’s more than just feeling “down in the dumps” or “blue” for a few days.

It’s feeling “down” and “low” and “hopeless” for weeks at a time.

About 19 million Americans have depression. It can happen to anyone, no matter what age you are or where you came from.

Depression can make it very hard for you to care for yourself, your family, or even hold down a job. But, there is hope. Depression can be treated and you can feel better.

What causes depression?

You may want to know why you feel “depressed.” There may be several causes.

Depression may happen because of changes in your brain.

Depression runs in some families. This means that someone in your family such as a grandparent, parent, aunt, uncle, cousin, sister or

brother may have depression.

Sometimes painful events or losses such as deaths can lead to depression.

Sometimes the cause of depression is not clear.

Step 3 See your doctor.

Don’t wait. Talk to your doctor about how you are feeling. Get a medical checkup to rule out any other illnesses that might be causing signs of depression. Ask if you need to see someone who can evaluate and treat depression.

If you don’t have a doctor, check your local phone book. Go to the government services pages (they may be blue in color) and look for “health clinics” or “community health centers.” Call one near you and ask for help.

Step 4 Get treatment for your depression. You can feel better.

There are two common types of treatment for depression: (1) medicine and (2) “talk” therapy.

Ask your doctor which type is best for you. Some people need both treatments to feel better.

Medicine

•

Rob’s Story: “Things in my life were going all right. I had just gotten my GED and was starting a new job in a week. My family was really proud of me. But inside, I was feeling terrible.

“At first I was feeling sad all the time, even though I had no reason to be. Then the sadness turned into anger, and I started having fights with my family and friends. I felt really bad about myself, like I wasn’t good enough for anyone. It got so bad that I wished I would go to bed and never wake up.

“My older brother, who I always looked up to, saw that I wasn’t acting like my usual self. He told me straight out that I seemed depressed and that I should talk to a doctor about it. I hate going to the doctor. I thought, “No way am I going in for this.”

“But after a few weeks, I started having problems at work too. Sometimes I wouldn’t show up because I wasn’t able to sleep the night before.

When I got fired, I knew I had to listen to my brother and get help.

“I saw a doctor at the health clinic. He told me I had a common illness called depression and that treatment could help. So I started to see someone at the clinic each week for “talk” therapy. This treatment helps me learn to control depression in my everyday life. It has taken some time, but I’m finally feeling like myself again.”

Medicines for depression are called “antidepressants.”

Your regular doctor or a psychiatrist (a medical doctor trained in helping people with depression) can prescribe them for you.

• Antidepressants may take a few weeks to work. Be sure to tell the doctor how you are feeling. If you are not feeling better, you may need to try different medicines to find out what works best for you.

Medicines sometimes cause unwanted “side effects.” You may feel tired, have blurred vision, or feel sick to your stomach. Tell the doctor if you have these or any other side effects.

“Talk” therapy “Talk” therapy involves talking to someone such as a psychologist, social worker, or counselor. It helps you learn to change how depression makes you think, feel, and act. Ask your doctor or psychiatrist who you should go to for talk therapy.

You can feel better.

How to help someone who may have depression If you know someone who seems depressed and may need help, here are some things you can do: • Tell the person that you are concerned about him or her.

• Share this newspaper with the person.

• Talk to the person about seeing a doctor.

• Take the person to see the doctor.

• If the doctor offers the name and phone number of a psychiatrist or someone for “talk” therapy, call the number and help the person make an appointment.

• Take the person to the appointment.

• “Be there” for the person after ho or she starts treatment.

Contact any of the places listed in this article “For more information.”

For more information: Go To Page 10

Page 7

November, 2003

HOMELESS VOICE

(Continued from page 1)

year period. That was then and this is now.

This is something to be Thankful for: Thanks to the public who built the only non-funded shelter in the community that is a major provider. And we cannot forget to thank the homeless who raised the money to make such a beautiful place come to be. One of the ways to get a homeless person to recover from their problems is to teach them and to keep them busy so their addictions don't keep on running their lives. So how do we do that? We do it with every room filled with enough channels, about 120 channels of cable TV; with a VCR attached so they can watch learning life skill videos as well as watching their favorite movies. Each room is equipped with an unlimited long distance telephone line so they can start building relationships with their lost families who have given up on them. A voice mail so they can get messages from prospective employers. Their telephones are also equipped with a life skills voice mail system that has a menu to answer some questions or to help them with depression or suicidal thoughts. Not only can they watch their movies from their room we have set up 12 inch TVs throughout the building so they can plug in a set of headphones and check out a free movie if they did not like what their roommates were watching on TV. They can also check out tapes that teach them everyday skills. A new computer lab business center is being developed because the last one was hit by lightning and caused several units to go off line. Some people say why should a shelter have all these amenities in life? Lets not forget when we say the word shelter we mean a roof over their head. After all we really are a hotel for the poor, some people

pay a few cents upon arrival and some pay a few dollars. The ones who can't pay or work for their rooms are paid by our Cosac Rewards Program. According to all experts in the homeless community they claim that many people are homeless because of the lack of affordable housing, and that is why we created Cosac Quarters hotel for the poor. Not only is it cheap housing but it comes with all the extras to allow someone to recover from their poverty plight. These amenities not only provide some entertainment but it really does keep them busy. Even for the mental health consumers we are in the process of getting the games for their TVs to keep their mind in thinking patterns and to get them off of their depression. We also have purchased many board games so they can play Christian trivial pursuit or regular trivial pursuit, they can play checkers and cards. The good thing about trivial pursuit is that we don’t use the board, we make it a learning class so they can be given hints to let them use the process of elimination explaining how to read the question and to pick the best answer which helps them take tests correctly. We read the question and take apart the question and help them understand how to pick the best answer after we break it down. It is amazing how fun it can be to learn and that goes for me as well. I have learned so much from these games. I think I slept in my high school history class so in the long run staff learns as well. On a real positive note you would be surprised to see how much we also learn from the clients who know a lot more sometimes then we do.

Our Old Kitchen: Our old kitchen was just two freezers, and we had to shop daily to feed the people. Now we have over 10 freezers between the kitchen and our new warehouse as well as a walk in cooler.

We had a fourburner stove a n d

I Buy at Top Prices.

E-mail Me What You Would Like To Sell. I Like Older Comics.

comicsbuyrsell@aol.com 954-614-7326

only two worked and now we have 10 burners four ovens, a pizza oven, a grill, a fryer and a dishwasher just like every body else. This makes it especially easier for holidays like Thanksgiving. We used to serve spaghetti four times a week and hot dogs and beans the rest of the week. Now we give them hash browns eggs cereal for breakfast, lunch is left over dinner from the night before and the dinner can be meat loaf, chicken with veggies, fried fish to steaks that we get donated.

We have grown so much and this is why I can say that I personally have a lot to be thankful for the holidays.

Programs To Help People Recover: In the past we had really nothing more than church and NA and AA meetings that were done when we had time. That was then this is now.

Now since we are zoned commercial we can do some commercial services that still don't really make us a shelter like the city claims we are. We say we are a low-income hotel for the poor.

Under the city’s zoning laws we can do a lot of services that they say we can't do. But we still bring in the outside services so the city does not accuse our agency itself doing the services.

For instance we now actually have a professional relapse prevention meeting, we also have a coping skill class every week which helps them pick other responses for their problems instead of picking up a bottle to find that that answer is the wrong one for their problem. We are a Christian agency but do not make them go to services but we still offer Christian counseling services for people who want to use God to help them through their problems.

Even the non-Christians use this service. We have developed a social security disability program to help them file their

Has Taking OxyContin ruined your life?

You Are Entitled to a Cash Settlement.

For More Information Call 954-444-7326

Then

claims. You would be so surprised to see how many clients should be receiving disability benefits and are not because they had no address and no one to help them through the process.

This, too, is an outside agency that we helped create. A lot of the services that are provided are new agencies that we laid out the business plan for and made them a self sustaining outside agency that we are not in control of but they are willing to come in and do the services.

This is the same thing as home health care or a caseworker coming to a person’s home to give them services. The big part of the homeless population can't stay with one doctor to get their disability benefits. With all the health problems that the homeless have and the lack of the correct medical treatment it is very hard for them to get the disability benefits so we had to step in and come up with another plan. A plan that would give medical treatments and a plan that would be able to chart all the medical problems they have to help make their disability case stronger.

We also needed a medical staff that understood all the problems (Continued on page 8)

Voice

Page 8

HOMELESS VOICE

(Continued from page 7)

homeless people have. So many medical providers have a hard time dealing with homeless people because sometimes it takes extra patience to deal with the extra baggage they have such as drug addiction and mental health issues as well as not doing what the medical doctor wants them to do. Some doctors don't want to prescribe AIDS medication to mental health clients because they are afraid they will take them wrong and they are afraid of the extra liability so they just refuse to prescribe the needed drugs. We have seen this two times over a three year period and had to fight for the rights of one of our clients Carol Massed, when the doctor said in his own words, "She will take them wrong because of her mental illness and I will not be responsible." A lot of doctors don't want the extra calls that our clients sometimes make because they can be very time consuming. But now we have one psychiatrist, one medical doctor, one nurse practitioner, and two nurses that are doubled trained to handle mental health issues as a well as medical issues. We helped develop medical teams that would see the clients who had Medicare and Medicaid At the same time, clients with no coverage could be seen at no cost to the client. It is like a free health care plan for the clients who live with us. The hospitals should be pleased to free up their ER's from the common cold that homeless people have to see an ER doctor for because they have no coverage or can’t afford a regular doctor. A few months ago we wrote about the emergency medical training that all our staff got certified for.

lems?” Most Now staff of their ancan actuswers were ally work very similar to on somethe resistance one who we get. 100 is in the percent of the process of agencies having a stated that heart atthey were latack to beled as “ childunconvenbirth. We t i o n a l ” . have the About half the tool to agencies redefibulate ported that a heart there was althat is in ways constant crisis as conflict about well as referrals. The ad minisfunded agentrating oxygen to Our Friend Named John cies did not want to share a person information with the non funded who is having a heart attack.

Why does the Homeless agency about who they were Voice get such a bad rap from sending other than the name and government and other provid- a small history of the clients past services; but when the funded ers?

With all these improve- agency called the nonfunded ments we still have a bad image agency they wanted a complete from the people who don't like to history of the client they were see the homeless selling this pa- about to take. Thank God we per you are reading. I still have found the other agencies had the not figured out why we still are same problems. For a while we given a bad rap. If we stopped thought it was just us, but we still You think all the selling this paper they all would feel bad. respect us but they forget that this politicians would be happy we paper funds the shelter they all are here because we don't use tax use. From cities, to hospitals, to money to run the largest homeother agencies that have no space less provider in the community. available, to the Broward Coali- You think they would be thanktion for the Homeless, they all ing us for giving their community use us but because we sell this a place to keep the scores of paper that the National Coalition homeless people from walking has fully endorsed, not one of their streets, night or day, which them want to give us the respect brings down property values. we deserve. It is not because we Look at the words in the sentence want to get respect because it before this one, thanking and givshows professionalism; we just ing. We do not need to be want respect to improve working thanked for what we do when we conditions so we all can help the give our hearts to the people left homeless bet- in the streets. We just want to ter. Since this work together. But besides all does hurt staff the politics in the world of helpfeelings I took ing people, lets talk for a few the liberty to minutes about what Thanksgivcontact many ing is all about. Look what we other programs have to be thankful for. What am in America that I thankful for? I am thankful for were not funded the people who have poured their by the govern- hearts and funds into this agency ment and they making it the only place that all funded them- takes the ones who can't qualify selves. I asked for the other shelters. I am them, “Does the thankful to the homeless who fact that you have worked their little butts off don’t take gov- when the rest of the world states ernment funding they are lazy by giving them the give you prob- stereotype names and name call-

ing by saying these famous words, "Go out and get a job." I am thankful that God has His Hands in this place because there is no way possible that we could have made this possible. How does a bunch of people who have no idea what they are doing create an agency like this. So God we are thankful that You have given us what we need to pull this off. And then there are times in the night when a real special person comes to us who is in real bad shape and they just need a day off the streets. Or a family comes to us when they have nowhere else to go and we either pay for a hotel or put them in an apartment. And these times I say I am so thankful we are here, because if we weren't where would these people go? That is a feeling I can't explain. Then of course there is my friend named John, who would make anybody thankful after just talking to him for a few seconds. If you want to know about John just give us a call and we will send you a copy of an article that the sun-sentinel did on December 19th 1999. If you go on our web at www.homelessvoice.org and on the home page left hand side click In the news. Once you get to the page that has the other news go to the story that states “My Friend Named John.” I think after reading that story you will understand how anybody would feel, once they helped someone in crisis.

What the futures holds for giving thanks next year?

We are still in our major campaign to get our mortgage paid off. We still have a long way to go but we plan real hard to pay off the complete mortgage by the end of 2004 or if we can't our next major goal is to get someone to give us a private mortgage of about 900,000.00 at 7 percent. If we do either plan we can become more useful and our expansion plans will go much further. I ask each and every one of you to help us out as much as you can. I herby give you permission to organize any type of fund raising event as long as we agree to the type of project. Last year someone wanted to do a strip contest at a strip bar, we thanked them but told them we did not think we needed to have a strip contest. For things you may want to use in reference to fund raising events, please call us.

We need to still sell about 20 tables at $1000.00 each to churches and corporate sponsors so go ahead and ask your church to help. Ask your

w e need reporters Call the Hom eless Voice at 9 5 4 -4 1 0 -6 2 7 5

(Continued on page 12)

Page 9

November, 2003

HOMELESS VOICE Are you feeling really “down” sometimes and really “up” other times?

Are these mood changes causing problems at work, school, or home?

If yes, you may have bipolar disorder, also called manic-depressive illness.

James’ Story: “I’ve had times of feeling “down” and sad most of my life. I used to skip school a lot when I felt like this because I just couldn’t get out of bed. At first I didn’t take these feelings very seriously.

“I also had times when I felt really terrific, like I could do anything. I felt really “wound up” and I didn’t need much sleep.

Sometimes friends would tell me I was talking too fast. But everyone around me seemed to be going too slow.

“My job was getting more stressful each week, and the “up” and “down” times were coming more often. My wife and friends said that I was acting very different from my usual self. I kept telling them that everything was fine, there was no problem, and to leave me alone.

“Then, all of a sudden, I couldn’t keep it together. I stopped going to work and stayed in bed for days at a time.

I felt like my life wasn’t worth living anymore. My wife made an appointment for me to see our family doctor and went with me. The doctor checked me out and then sent me to a psychiatrist, who is an expert in treating the kinds of problems I was having.

“The psychiatrist talked with me about how I’d been feeling and acting over the last six months. We also talked about the fact that my grandmother had serious ups and downs like me. I wasn’t real familiar with “bipolar disorder,” but it sure sounded like what I was going through. It was a great relief to finally know that the ups and downs really were periods of “mania” and “depression” caused by an illness that can be treated.

“For four months now, I’ve been taking a medicine to keep my moods stable and I see my psychiatrist once a month. I also see someone else for “talk” therapy, which helps me learn how to deal with this illness in my everyday life.

“The first several weeks were hard before the medicine and talk therapy started to work. But now, my mood changes are much less severe and don’t happen as often. I’m able to go to work each day, and I’m starting to enjoy things again with my family and friends.”

Many people who have bipolar disorder don’t know they have it.

This article can help. It tells you about four steps you can take to understand and get help for bipolar disorder.

Four steps to understand and get help for bipolar disorder: Look for signs of bipolar disorder.

Understand that bipolar disorder is a real illness.

See your doctor. Get a checkup and talk about how you are feeling.

Get treatment for your bipolar disorder. You can feel better.

Step 1 Look for signs of bipolar disorder.

Read the following lists.

Put a check mark by each sign that sounds like you now or in the past: Signs of mania (ups) I feel like I’m on top of the world.

I feel powerful. I can do anything I want, nothing can stop me.

I have lots of energy.

I don’t seem to need much sleep.

I feel restless all the time.

I feel really mad.

I have a lot of sexual energy.

I can’t focus on anything for very long.

I sometimes can’t stop talking and I talk really fast.

I’m spending lots of money on things I don’t need and can’t afford.

Friends tell me that I’ve been acting differently. They tell me that I’m starting fights, talking louder, and getting more angry.

Signs of depression (downs) I am really sad most of the time.

I don’t enjoy doing the things I’ve always enjoyed doing.

I don’t sleep well at night and am very restless.

I am always tired. I find it hard to get out of bed.

I don’t feel like eating much.

I feel like eating all the time.

I have lots of aches and pains that don’t go away.

I have little to no sexual energy.

I find it hard to focus and am very forgetful.

I am mad at everybody and everything.

I feel upset and fearful, but can’t figure out why.

I don’t feel like talking to people.

I feel like there isn’t much point to living, nothing good is going to happen to me.

I don’t like myself very much. I feel bad most of the time.

I think about death a lot. I even think about how I might kill myself.

Other signs of bipolar disorder I go back and forth between feel-

ing really “up” and feeling really “down.”

My ups and downs cause problems at work and at home.

If you checked several boxes in these lists, call your doctor.

Take the lists to show your doctor. You may need to get a checkup and find out if you have bipolar disorder.

Step 2 Understand that bipolar disorder is a real illness.

Bipolar disorder is more than the usual ups and downs of life. It is a serious illness that involves the brain. The up feelings are called mania and the down feelings are called depression.

Most people with bipolar disorder go back and forth between mania and depression. Some people have both feelings at the same time, which is called a mixed state.

More than 2 million Americans have bipolar disorder. It can happen to anyone, no matter what age you are or where you come from.

What causes bipolar disorder?

You may want to know why you feel these extreme ups and downs.

There may be several causes.

Bipolar disorder may happen because of changes in your brain.

Bipolar disorder tends to run in families. This means that someone in your family such as a grandparent, parent, aunt, uncle, sister, or brother may have bipolar disorder.

Sometimes the cause of bipolar disorder is not clear.

Bipolar disorder is a serious illness, but it can be treated. You can feel better.

Step 3 See your doctor.

Don’t wait. Talk to your doctor about how you are feeling. Get a medical checkup to rule out any other illnesses that might be causing your mood changes. Ask your doctor to send you to a psychiatrist (a medical doctor trained in helping people with bipolar disorder.)

If you don’t have a doctor, check your local phone book. Go to the government services pages (they may be blue in color) and look for “health clinics” or “community health centers.” Call one near you and ask for help.

Step 4 Get treatment for your bipolar disorder. You can feel better.

There are two common types of treatment for bipolar disorder: (1) medicine and (2) “talk” therapy.

Having both kinds of treatment usually works best. It is important to get help because bipolar disorder can get worse without treatment. Bipolar disorder is a longterm illness that needs to be

treated throughout a person’s lifetime.

Medicine See the psychiatrist your doctor suggests. He or she can prescribe medicines that work to control your moods. These medicines are called “mood stabilizers.” You also may need to take other medicines to help treat your illness.

The medicines may take a few weeks to work. Be sure to tell your psychiatrist how you are feeling. If you are not feeling better, you may need to try different medicines to find out what works best for you.

Medicines sometimes have unwanted “side effects.”

You may feel tired, have blurred vision, or feel sick to your stomach. Tell your psychiatrist if you have these or any other side effects.

“Talk” therapy “Talk” therapy involves talking to someone such as a psychologist, social worker, or counselor. It helps you learn to change how bipolar disorder makes you think, feel, and act. Ask your doctor or psychiatrist who you should go to for talk therapy.

You can feel better.

How to help someone who with severe mood changes If you know someone who is having severe mood changes and may need help, here are some things you can do: • Tell the person that you are concerned about him or her.

• Share this newspaper with the person.

• Talk to the person about seeing a doctor.

• Take the person to see the doctor.

• If the doctor offers the name and phone number of a psychiatrist or someone for “talk” therapy, call the number and help the person make an appointment.

• Take the person to the appointment.

• “Be there” for the person after he or she starts treatment.

• Contact any of the places listed in this article “For more information.”

• For more information: Go To Page 10

Voice

Page 10

NATIONAL NEWS

profiteering. Though the site said Sales were steady until explicitly “No Bum Footage,” If I famed “news” radio host Howard had learned one thing it was that Stern exulted the movie as these kids never really mean “Jackass to the extreme . . . I’m what they say. I recently emailed shocked and I’m not shocked by the producers explaining to them much. You gotta see this.” At- that I dressed up like a cop, tacktention then spread like brushfire led sleeping homeless people, to nearly every major national tied them up and gagged them, media station and paper, and kicked them a few times, and within a week it had gained inter- then painted them. I, of course, national attention as people in insured them that I paid each $5 Europe and the Middle East and got them to sign release started placing in orders over the forms, after the attacks that is. In net at www.bumfights.com. the same day I received their reSales rose sharply to 300,000 sponse: “Sounds great. Send it in. By the copies of the show $19.99 videotape This video includes scenes way, love to the in a few weeks, of twenty year olds bums.

We along with other driving around in their love the merchandise including thou- SUV asking homeless men bums.”

Some say sands of “Rufus kids the Stunt Bum” for directions, punching that can’t separate sweaters. them, and then reality with The legal driving away fiction and course turned out laughing hysterically. in-turn has to be more of an fueled youth annoyance to the filmmakers than any sort of bar- violence. But this video isn’t rier, and maybe not even that fiction. Kids get the idea that this considering the extended media harassment is ok, older teens recoverage it gained from the alize they probably won’t get eight-month process. As the case caught, and twenty year olds condisintegrated each step of the coct projects in which they too way; charges dropped and down- can make money off of similar graded, the four filmmakers exploitations. Like the producers ended up sentenced to a three- of a new video in Canada, with a year probation, $500 fine, and flashy website like bum250 hours of community service fights.com called “Crazy Pricks.” for the homeless. I wonder if the This video includes scenes of two would consider this sequel twenty year olds driving around viable hours. I pity the social in their SUV asking homeless worker that gets stuck with these men for directions, punching them, and then driving away two.

So over the hurdles with laughing hysterically.

So it is no surprise that the first trial, the filmmakers will unlikely face another; fully aware two most recent cases that octhat activist watchdogs and media curred last August involved camwill be looking for any possible corders. In Chicago, four teenagslip-up to prey on. All of this ers videotaped themselves beatleading to the ultimate conclu- ing up and urinating on homeless sion; that though maybe in bad people. In Cleveland, teenagers taste, there is nothing illegal videotaped themselves shocking about this sort of filming, or use homeless men of people who suffer from mental in their genitals disorders, drug addictions, alco- with stun guns. holism, or just down and out bad “I’ve never seen anything like it luck. So what now?

People like myself may in 18 years, exnow even participate in this cept on TV,” (Continued from page 3)

If You Are Suicidal call 888-256-HELP, let the Homeless Voice help you.

said Sgt. Ray Burner, whose seen the tapes of the Cleveland incident. “Did you ever see the movie ‘Jackass?’ Well, that’s essentially what we’re talking about.”

So what began as two kids goofing around trying to make some money has turned into a loose-knit terrorist network of pranksters. Leaving the risky work to kids getting paid anywhere from $10-100 for footage.

This al-quiedanesque strategy makes it impossible for any real investigations to swell, with crimes spread across a vast geography. Leaving us to only wonder: How deep does this run?

The answer is not an easy one. Homeless people don’t have a cell phone to call 911, many are not considered reasonable witnesses because they suffer from alcoholism or mental illness, police don’t specifically track hate crimes against those experiencing homelessness, and all the while municipalities across the country are passing anti-vagrancy/homeless laws pushing the most vulnerable population into the shadows and isolated situations. In the case of the original “Bumfights,” no investigation was ever sought until a nurse had realized that Rufus Hannah and his friend had been admitted to the hospital several times during filming. In the end, homeless people are usually hopeless of justice or protection.

The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) released a four year study (1999-2002) on hate crimes and

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Free call: 1-800-421-4211 Toll call: 301-443-4513 Hearing impaired (TTY): 301-443-8431 Web site: http://www.nimh.nih.gov E-mail: nimhinfo@nih.gov National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) Free call: 1-800-950-6264 Toll call: 703-524-7600 Web site: http://www.nami.org National Depressive and Manic Depressive Association (NDMDA) Free call: 1-800-826-3632

violence committed against the homeless and noticed an alarming trend in abuses.

This report can be found on www.nationalhomeless.org.

In many cases, young people – in some cases, packs of them – were responsible for the attacks. In the past four years 212 hate crimes and violent acts have been reported. Of the 212 attacks, non-homeless attackers have killed 123 homeless people.

The oldest seventy four years old; the youngest four months old, homeless people have been pelted with paint balls, beheaded, set on fire, clubbed with 2 by 4s, doused with lye, stabbed, and other varieties of execution; indiscriminate and vicious solely because these people have no home.

In response to this serious trend, longawaited sequel, and the start-ups of look-alike production companies, the NCH along with over 400 other organizations are requesting a U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) investigation into the scope and extent of violent acts against homeless people.

As of now, no one really knows how far this problem reaches into our culture. But in a country where such lucrative abusive business is legal, I often wonder what Howard Stern finds so shocking.

For the full report on how the film was made, legal proceedings, and press reports visit www.nationalhomeless.org Chris Herring is a 19-year old Civil Rights Intern at the National Coalition for the Homeless and can be reached at cherring@nationalhomeless.org.

By Christopher Herring

Toll call: 312-642-0049 Web site: http://www.ndmda.org National Foundation for Depressive Illness, Inc. (NAFDI) Free call: 1-800-2391265 Toll call: 212-268-4260 Web site: http://www.depression.org National Mental Health Association (NMHA) Free call: 1-800-969-6642 Toll call: 703-684-7722 Free call- hearing impaired (TTY): 1-800433-5959 Web site: http://www.nmha.org

Page 11

November, 2003

HOBO JUNGLE

(Continued from page 5)

soup kitchen in Brooklyn.

"We've seen a lot of new faces," said director Sister Mary Maloney. "You can tell who are the people who have never been homeless before. ... They're very quiet, they're ashamed."

Alexander Lorient, 31, fits that bill.

Last summer, Lorient was renting a room in the Bronx and earning $6.50 an hour as a dishwasher at a fancy midtown steakhouse.

Then he got pushed onto the subway tracks and was laid up for two weeks. When he returned to work, they handed him $36 and his walking papers.

Unable to find a new job, he fell behind on his rent and was evicted. On Sept. 5, he joined the ranks of the city's homeless.

Now he spends his nights at Bedford-Atlantic.

"Before, I didn't understand how homeless people would sleep on the street instead of the shelter - but now I do," he said.

Asked to describe what it is like to become homeless, Lorient didn't have to search for words.

"It's hell on Earth," he said.

With Madeleine Baran, Melissa Grace and Fernanda Santos Big effort, bigger bucks City officials do not dispute that homelessness in New York has reached an all-time high.

But Bloomberg administration staffers argue they are doing more than ever to get people off the streets and back into

their own homes, even as the city's economy drains jobs.

They point out: · More homeless families — 5,539 — were moved into permanent housing last year than ever before. The moves came as Mayor Bloomberg increased by 110% the number of subsidies and public housing apartments available to homeless families. · While still high, the number of homeless families has remained basically flat, around 9,200, since January, as more families are moved into permanent housing. · Police transported 5,460 people to shelters last year, an increase of 140% over the year before.

They also arrested 2,776 homeless people for lying in doorways and other, more serious crimes — three times more than in 2000.

"Everything we do is about moving people out of homelessness and into permanent housing," said Linda Gibbs, commissioner of the Department of Homeless Services.

But all this comes at a price. Last year, the city spent $391 million in city, state and federal dollars on sheltering an average of 9,230 homeless families every night — more than double the $190 million spent in 1998, when the average population was 4,516 families per night.

That doesn't include the millions of dollars to place the homeless in permanent housing — although much of that is reimbursed by the feds.

David Saltonstall

ON THE ROAD

D

O

L

L

A

R

S

S

N

I

O

C

I

B

U

C

K

E

T

I

E

H

E

S

N

N

O

I

T

A

N

O

D

I

A

T

E

C

S

U

N

S

H

C

T

B

G

A

W

I

R

S

N

E

R

D

L

I

H

C

S

F

O

H

G

T

H

A

N

K

S

L

P

F

D

E

M

R

S

P

A

C

C

O

A

A

N

L

W

I

N

D

G

N

O

D

P

R

E

T

P

H

Z

M

H

E

L

P

E

T

V

E

G

S

X

B

O

R

M

C

R

C

O

R

N

T

V

E

N

D

O

R

S

M

L

I

T

J

H

Q

M

L

J

F

E

I

A

A

F

A

M

I

L

I

E

S

L

R

P

C

I

L

B

U

P

C

H

I

I

Z

O

B

M

I

S

R

A

C

P

C

M

S

R

O

T

C

E

L

L

O

C

D

S

O

M

H

O

M

E

L

E

S

S

D

FIND THE WORDS BELOW Bucket Caps Cars Children Coins

Collectors Dollars Donation Families Help

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.

Mother Teresa, 1910 - 1997

Homeless Newspapers Public Rain Shelter

Smile Sun Thanks Traffic Tshirt

Vendor Wind

I CHOSE… TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY I could have saved a life that day But I chose to look the other way.

It wasn’t that I didn’t care, I had the time, and I was there.

But I didn’t want to seem a fool, Or argue over a Safety Rule.

I knew he’d done the job before, If I called it wrong, he might get sore.

The chances didn’t seem that bad, I’ve done the same, he knew I had.

So I shook my head and walked on by, He knew the risks as well as I.

He took the chance, I closed an eye, And with that act, I let him die.

I could have saved a life that day, But I chose to look the other way.

Now every time I see his wife,

• Talk to your Human Resource Manager about how you can donate money to help the homeless thru a payroll deduction for the COSAC Foundation

American Express Will Match Any Donation Their Employee Makes

(Continued from page 8)

employer to help. This will make our July 2004 dinner a success. We need corporate sponsors, we need private mortgages, or even better, one hell of a mortgage paper burning ceremony, and we need your help. Please continue to support us and if you don’t have the money to help us, simply pray for us. One way or another we will get this done. On a special note God, we give you praise and thanks for giving us what we needed to make this possible. Our campaign still exists we still need another……………

HELP PAY OFF OUR MORTGAGE We need just 42,050 people to send in a check for $20.00, Or 16,820 people to send in a check for $50.00, Or 8,410 people to send in a check for $100.00, Or 841 people to send in a check for $1,000, Or Just one wonderful person or business to send a check for the entire $841,000.00 Remember the donation is tax deductible!!

Please send your checks to:

The COSAC Building Fund P.O. Box 292-577 Davie, Florida 33329 We do thank you

Do not buy a paper from him.

This man was arrested.

He is not authorized to ask for donations for the Homeless Voice or Helping People In America.

If you see this man wearing one of our shirts please call our Loss Prevention Department at 954-214-8529. If for some reason you cannot get a hold of us you may call the Police.

He sometimes wears a black stocking on his head.

He uses these intersections but May use more

than what is listed: Commercial -411 Commercial and 31 St. Commercial and Powerline Oakland and 441 Oakland and 31st McNab and University Drive Commercial and University Commercial and Rock Island McNab and Rock Island Cypress and Powerline McNab and 31st Keep in mind that he may even try to go to Dade in the future.

This Issue, Vendors should be wearing a bright yellow shirt with ‘Homeless Voice’ in black on the front and back No other shirt colors should be used. If you see any other color shirts with this issue, please call LOSS PREVENTION at 954-920-1277

P le a se H e lp …

T h e R a in is D ro w n in g U s D O N AT E O N L IN E … @ b y u s in g

w w w.H o m e le s s Vo ic e .o rg