08 15 2007

Hobos from around the country gather in Iowa to pick their king and queen, page 5

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Where the Washington area's poor and homeless earn and give their two cents August 15, 2007 - August 30, 2007 • Volume 4, Issue 17

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An Unlikely Friendship

Reality Bites

By Diane Rusignola

R

on Hall was a wealthy art collector in Fort Worth, Texas. He had a beautiful family and lived a beautiful life, selling Monets and Picassos, and “yachting in the Caribbean, wing-shooting in the Yucatan, [and] hobnobbing at island resorts and oldmoney mansions.” The year was 1998, and Hall’s bubble was about to burst.

One night, his wife Deborah had a dream. She saw the face of a man she said would change the city – a foolish man who, she told Ron, had wisdom but would confound the wise. That man was Denver Moore, who had begun his life living in practical slavery on a cotton plantation in Red River Parish, La., before stowing away on a train to Fort Worth and falling into homelessness.

Driven by Hall’s spirited wife, the men would strike an unlikely friendship that would change their lives.

By Lance Cheslock

M

COURTESY OF official web site

See Friends, page 7

Denver Moore and Ron Hall now live together

Foreclosed Area Homes “Ripe for the Picking”

By Jason Corum Even Donald Trump wants a piece of the action. Real estate professionals are viewing the surge in foreclosed homes in the Washington area as an opportunity to make some money and, they say, help homeowners in distress keep a roof over their heads.

The Donald’s educational venture, Trump University, has launched a series of seminars aimed at teaching people how to purchase properties from troubled homeowners at rates well below market value. Last month, hundreds of people attended free “Profit from Foreclosures” seminars around Arlington and McLean in Virginia and Bethesda, Md., to learn from Trump’s ideas.

“The D.C. area is ripe for the picking in foreclosures,” said Denise Devoe, the seminar speaker and

Trump University faculty member whose free presentation focused on the success former Trump University students experienced after taking a separate $995 three-day course on foreclosed real estate.

Nationwide, foreclosures are up 87% from June 2006, according to RealtyTrac, a real estate site that tracks foreclosures.

However, the District has been less affected by the foreclosure surge than many of its suburbs.

While there are currently 226 homes in foreclosure in D.C., nearly 3,000 are in foreclosure in Prince George’s County and more than 2,000 in Fairfax County.

Real estate professionals like those at the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, which provides free credit counseling to distressed homeowners, say not only low-income households go through foreclosure.

Inside This Issue PROFILE

Grandma’s Off to Camp!

Low-income seniors get a well-deserved break at a rural retreat, page 3

District Home Foreclosure Rate Lower Than Suburbs Jurisdiction

Foreclosures

District of Columbia

226

Alexandria City, Va.

119

Anne Arundel County, Md.

1,127

Arlington County, Md.

184

Fairfax County, Va.

2,035

Frederick County, Md.

628

Loudoun County, Va.

1,671

Montgomery County, Va.

1,326

Prince George’s County, Md.

2,995

Source: RealtyTrac data as of Aug. 12, 2007

Homeowners across diverse communities are facing trouble paying their mortgages, said Tracy Morgan, the foundation’s spokeswoman.

About 70% of the people who call the

foundation have an annual household income of under $50,000.

“But 11% of the people who call

See Trump, page 4

FEATURES

EDITORIAL

Ivory Wilson spins a tale of a merciless genie and his hapless masters, page 13

Maurice King describes the unexpected pleasures of street soccer, page 13

FEATURES

FEATURES

A look at why some homeless programs allow alcohol on their premises, page 4

Photographer and Street Sense vendor Cliff Carle captures life around the city, page 8

Don’t Rub Him the Wrong Way

Alcohol Addiction

an outsider’s view

Soccer Camaraderie

Cliff Gets Up Close

y head was spinning by the time the annual conference of the National Alliance to End Homelessness wound down. The conference was held in July at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, a hotel with polished wooden banisters, a sun-lit atrium and suit-clad waiters.

Something was amiss inside me. I felt a surreal disconnection with the day-to-day realities of working with the homeless.

To get back in touch with my heart and why I choose to work with the homeless in Colorado, I decided to spend a night at a D.C. shelter. I chose the 300-bed Franklin School Shelter for men.

I’d learned you have to line up early at many shelters in order to be guaranteed a bed. I arrived at the Franklin Shelter at about 4 p.m.

Some men were gathered out front while others streamed toward the back.

I was sent around the back. A security guard searched my backpack and checked me with a metal detector. I continued waiting in line, not sure if I would get in.

A shelter guard sized me up with his eyes and skipped over most of the questions on the paperwork. I signed a five-page handout of policies, and was led down a hallway to a room with 15 other men. The guard handed me a single white bed sheet and pointed toward the upper bunk against the wall.

Temperatures had reached 96 degrees that day, and the shelter building had heated up like an oven. I could hear my roommates complaining it was going to be “another hot, unbearable night.”

I climbed up on my bunk and fitted the sheet around the narrow vinyl mattress. I put my wallet, camera and cell phone in my pocket, and then strapped my backpack to the bedpost for a measure of security before heading outside to a patio where shelter residents could

See Bites, page 12

Street Sense . August 15 - 30, 2007

ALL ABOUT US

Our Mission

1317 G Street, NW Washington, DC 20005 Phone: (202) 347-2006 Fax: (202) 347-2166 info@streetsense.org www.streetsense.org

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Robert Egger Ted Henson Barbara Kagan David Pike John Snellgrove Michael Stoops Francine Triplett David Walker Kathy Whelpley

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Laura Thompson Osuri VENDOR MANAGER Jesse Smith Jr. EDITOR IN CHIEF Kaukab Jhumra Smith ASSOCIATE EDITOR David S. Hammond (volunteer) INTERN Melanie Lidman

VOLUNTEERS/WRITERS Matt Allee, Robert Blair, Mia Boyd, Cliff Carle, Jason Corum, Mary Cunningham, Darcy Gal lucio, Jake Geissinger, Genevieve Gill, Cassandra Good, Joanne Goodwin, Carol Hannaford, Annie Hill, Joann Jackson, Jennifer Jett, Kathy Jones, Mary Lynn Jones, Jo Knight, Maurice King, Jessica LaGarde, Karin Lee, August Mallory, Mandy McAnally, Sam McCormally, Kent Mitchell, Mike O’Neill, Swinitha Osuri, Ava Page, Michael Patterson, David Pike, Diane Rusignola, Dan Simon, Jennifer Singleton, Katie Smith, Eric Sheptock, Francine Triplett, Kelly Wilson, Marian Wiseman, Corrine Yu VENDORS Willie Alexander, Michael Anderson, Jake Ashford, George Atwater, Tommy Bennett, James Berthey, Corey Bridges, Bobby Buggs, Cliff Carle, Alice Carter, James Castle, Conrad Cheek Jr., Elena Cirpaci, Anthony Crawford, Louise Davenport, Yllama Davenport, James Davis, Bernard Dean, Richard Dickerson, Muriel Dixon, Alvin Dixon El, Michael Douglas, Don Gardner, Leo Gnawa, Barron Hall, David Harris, John Harrison, Donald Henry, Patricia Henry, Michael Higgs, Phillip Howard, Michael Jefferson, Patricia Jefferson, Allen Jones, DeRutter Jones, Mark Jones, Brenda Karyl Lee-Wilson, Charles Mayfield, Lee Mayse, Jennifer McLaughlin, Lawrence Miller, Rodney Morris, Charles Nelson, Moyo Onibuje, Therese Onyemenon, Kevin Robinson, Dennis Rutledge, Gerald Smith, Patty Smith, Matesha Thompson, Francine Triplett, Alexander Tutt, Amia Walker, Martin Walker, George Williams, Wendell Williams, Ivory Wilson

We are proud members of:

Street Sense aims to serve as a vehicle for elevating voices and public debate on issues relating to poverty while also creating economic opportunities for people who are experiencing homelessness in our community.

Our Editorial Policy

Editorials and features in Street Sense reflect the perspectives of the authors. We invite the submission of news, opinion, fiction and poetry, hoping to create a means in which a multitude of perspectives on poverty and homelessness can find expression. Street Sense reserves the right to edit any material.

North American Street Newspaper Association

The Story of Street Sense Street Sense began in August 2003 after two volunteers, Laura Thompson Osuri and Ted Henson, approached the National Coalition for the Homeless on separate occasions about starting a street newspaper in Washington, D.C. A street paper is defined as a newspaper about poverty, homelessness and other social issues that provides an income to the homeless individuals who sell it. About 25 street papers operate in the United States and Canada in places like Seattle, Chicago, Montreal and Boston, and dozens more exist throughout the world.

After bringing together a core of dedicated volunteers and vendors, Street Sense came out with its first issue in November 2003, printing 5,000 copies. For the next three years the paper published consistently on a monthly basis and greatly expanded its circulation and vendor network.

For the first year, Street Sense operated as a project of the National Coalition for the Homeless, but in October 2004, the organization incorporated and moved into its own office space. In March 2005, Street Sense received 501(c)3 status, becoming an independent nonprofit organization.

In October 2005, Street Sense formed a board of directors, and in November, the organization hired its first employee, a full-time executive director.

A year later, in November 2006, the organization hired its first vendor coordinator.

In February 2007, the paper started publishing twice a month as the network of vendors expanded to more than 50 homeless men and women.

And to support the increased productin, Street Sense brought on its first full-time editor-in-chief in April.

August 1 - 14 Donors Thomas and Patricia Fitzgerald Michael Mavretic Andrea Skofstad in honor of Dre & Dave Skofstad and a special thanks to Kent Mitchell

Thank You!

International Network of Street Papers

Street Sense Vendor Code of Conduct 1.

Street Sense will be distributed for a voluntary donation of $1. I agree not to ask for more than a dollar or solicit donations for Street Sense by any other means.

2.

I will only purchase the paper from Street Sense staff and will not sell papers to other vendors (outside of the office volunteers).

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I agree to treat all others – customers, staff, other vendors – respectfully, and I will not “hard sell,” threaten or pressure customers.

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I agree to stay off private property when selling Street Sense.

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I understand that I am not a legal employee of Street Sense but a contracted worker responsible for my own well-being and income.

6.

I agree to sell no additional goods or products when selling the paper.

7.

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8.

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I will respect the space of other vendors, particularly the space of vendors who have been at a spot longer.

9.

I understand that my badge is the property of Street Sense and will not deface it. I will present my badge when purchasing the papers and display my badge when selling papers.

10. I understand that Street Sense strives to be a paper that covers homelessness and poverty issues while providing a source of income for the homeless. I will try to help in this effort and spread the word.

WANNA HELP? If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, or have a great article or feature idea, please contact Koki Smith at 202-347-2006 or editor@streetsense.org If you are interested in becoming a vendor, contact Jesse Smith Jr. at the same number or come to a vendor training session on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2 p.m. at our office (1317 G Street, NW - near Metro Center).

Street Sense . August 15 - 30, 2007

PROFILE

Provider Profile

Urban Seniors Get a Break at Rural W. Va. Retreat

By Kelly Wilson

“I’m just as excited as I can be because this is going to be good.

And going to bed after 11 o’clock?

Oh, boy!”

COURTESY OF SO OTHERS MIGHT EAT

Each year, about 60 low-income senior citizens from D.C. and Maryland travel an hour and a half to a bucolic retreat in Priestfield, W.Va., for a week-long vacation, thanks to a program by So Others Might Eat (SOME), one of the Washington area’s largest providers of low-income and homeless assistance services.

“It gets them out of an urban setting into a country-like setting where they can relax,” Betty McFarlane, a counselor at the camp, said.

Amie Wilson, 83, agreed. She’s been to the camp several times. “You couldn’t have a better vacation,” she said.

Wilson, who’s from Virginia, was first introduced to SOME as a volunteer. Later, SOME helped her find housing when she was between apartments.

The retreat’s rural setting includes a set of interconnected trails through the woods where walkers often see deer and other animals.

“We have people who walk in the morning and they get back in time for breakfast,” said Betty Grayson, 92, another camp resident.

“You see how pretty it is out here. You can’t help but want to walk sometime during the day.”

Camp activities include arts and crafts and scavenger hunts, with prizes and supplies donated by the volunteer counselors. Free time is set aside each day for religious meetings or other gatherings. Nightly events include movies or birthday parties with a candle for everyone. But by far, the most popular offering is bingo.

Camp residents display their arts and crafts creations. Camp activities include bingo and dancing.

Like those of other activities, the prizes are donated by SOME’s volunteers. This summer, there were so many prizes that even after a week of daily play, the halls of the retreat echoed with calls of “Bingo!” for more than an hour.

On the last night of camp, the seniors hold a talent show for everything from dancing to modeling the jewelry they’ve made in the arts

and crafts rooms.

“We’ve got a lot of ladies down here who do not look their age and you can’t depend upon what they’re going to do,” said Grayson.

“I’m just as excited as I can be because this is going to be good. And going to bed after 11 o’clock? Oh, boy!

“And tonight we’re going to have a movie, I don’t know what it is, but that doesn’t start till

9:30, so that means we’re going to be a little late closing these eyes,” Grayson continued, laughing.

Jean Rae Bleck, a retired high school English teacher, is the coordinating force behind the summer camp. She first became involved with the camp through Father John Adams, executive director of SOME. Bleck volunteers from February to Easter and returns in mid-June to organize buses, counselors, cooks and activities, and prepare the venue. She does the preparation work alone in part because it simplifies the process and gives her control over the organization of the work and the information she receives.

She must also sort through applications to determine who will be invited to the camp.

“Sometimes I have to say ‘No, you may not come’ and that’s the toughest part,” Bleck said.

This summer’s camp was the tenth for Bleck and the two colleagues she brought along her first year.

“You get a counselor and you can’t get rid of them,” she said. “Which is great.”

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Mail to: Street Sense, 1317 G St. NW, Washington, DC 20005.

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Please call 202-347-2006 or send an e-mail to info@streetsense.org if you have any of these items to donate.

NATIONAL LOCAL NEWS

Predatory Lending on the Rise

By Jason Corum Despite enjoying lower foreclosure rates than their suburban neighbors, District residents face increasing credit woes that could cause home repossessions to go up in the future, particularly in lower-income parts of the city.

“The magnitude of what is going on around the country is not being experienced here,” said Harry D. Sewell, executive director of the D.C. Housing Finance Agency. In June, the District averaged just one foreclosure filing for every 16,167 households, compared to one in every 704 households nationally, according to RealtyTrac, a foreclosure tracking site.

However, Sewell’s agency is gathering information on mortgages in the D.C. market to see if there is a “tsunami waiting to happen,” he said.

Predatory mortgage lenders create an agreement they know the borrower will never be able to fulfill in order to flip the property and sell the home for a profit, explained Geoffrey Tate, a housing counselor at the Marshall Heights Community Development Organization, a nonprofit community group based in Ward 7.

“They may understand and sign one document, but after it goes to settlement it will get switched around,” Tate said. The goal of such predatory loans is to foreclose and obtain the home.

“That’s where the gold is,” he said.

While no definitive figures are available on predatory loans in the District, sub-prime lending is more prevalent in certain areas of the city, Sewell explained. “It’s in…Wards 7 and 8, which also have the highest concentration of African-American families in the city, that we’re seeing a disproportionate number of sub-prime loans,” he said.

Sub-prime loans allow people without a strong credit history or sufficient capacity to repay a loan the chance to borrow money at higher interest rates.

Sub-prime loans become predatory when they include severe pre-payment penalties or steep increases in the rate.

An individual in an upper-income African-American neighborhood is one-and-a-half times as likely to have a sub-prime loan as a person living in a low-income white neighborhood, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Another common predatory scheme uses reverse mortgages, which allow individuals or couples over the age of 62 to use the equity in the property to subsidize their retirement. “There are predatory programs out there … that sweep the property out from under those seniors that have lived in those properties for all their lives,” Tate said.

Street Sense . August 15 - 30, 2007

Allowing Alcohol: Does It Make Sense?

By Dan Simon It’s late and cold outside. A quiet room would be comforting, but it would not cure what ails you. Your body is sick, weak from years of substance abuse and living on the street. Without medicine and treatment, the only comfort from this illness is more alcohol, not a soft bed.

For many of our nation’s homeless, this is a situation that occurs nightly. Unfortunately for them, almost all homeless shelters, for obvious reasons, will not admit intoxicated individuals or allow alcohol use on their premises.

While prohibiting alcohol is more the rule than the exception, there are a few homelessness prevention projects that do allow their residents to consume alcohol. Although they are few and far between, they do exist, and they accommodate a specific type of individual known clinically as a “chronic late stage inebriate.” Typically, people in this category have lived on the street for decades, and have been addicted to alcohol or drugs for all or most of that time. They cannot quit using, and they use instinctively.

Most city-dwellers have seen them sleeping on park benches or hanging out by a liquor store in the morning.

The most common reaction to these people is to walk by and disregard them. But taxpayers actually lose money by ignoring the chronically addicted people on the street.

Bill Hobson, director of the Downtown Emergency Service Center in Seattle, disagrees, and has a solution.

1811 Eastlake in Seattle, a permanent housing project for late-stage chronic inebriates, accepts a small rent from residents and provides them with subsidized treatment options and a place to live.

It also allows alcohol on its premises.

The results have been surprising and controversial. On the surface, it may seem that allowing addicted individuals to continue to receive alcohol would cost communities more money and compromise the health of the residents. 1811 has proven these assumptions false.

In 2005, the year before Seattle started its 1811 program, the home’s 75 residents made nearly 1,300 emergency room visits and incurred other costs totaling approximately $6 million.

In 2006, after a year of paid permanent housing, those individuals cost $13,000 each for a total of $975,000 — a savings of nearly $5 million to the city.

Permanent housing areas like 1811 are alternatives to street living,

Trump, from page 1 us make $72,000 or more,” Morgasaid.

Trump presenter and real-estate investor Devoe sees a wide range of homes on the market.

Her three-day retreat includes pictures of $1 million-plus homes currently in foreclosure in her neighborhood.

“You have no idea that that’s what foreclosure really looks like,” Devoe said. “People always associate foreclosure with the poor, disadvantaged, but it’s not.

The higher you rise, the harder you fall.”

A foreclosure investor typically steps in just after a homeowner falls behind in their mortgage payments. Investors may profit from investing in foreclosures, but their assistance also gives the distressed homeowner an alternative they wouldn’t have otherwise, Devoe said. “ What I am doing is I am helping them, at least, cure their credit, maybe put a roof over

their head,” Devoe explained.

“Because they’re going to lose the home and the bank doesn’t care.”

Morgan agrees that selling the home is sometimes the best possible outcome for a household going through foreclosure.

If the distressed homeowner’s mortgage is paid off, avoiding foreclosure on the home, then the sale can negate some future credit woes, Morgan said.

However, homeowners should be wary of several scenarios: where a party buys their home and then lets them rent it back, where someone offers “foreclosure prevention service” for a fee or where they’re under pressure to act immediately, she said.

At least one attendee at the Trump seminar viewed the rise in home foreclosures as an opportunity for real estate professionals as well as homeowners unable to meet their payments.

“I think investing in foreclosures offers an opportunity to get involved in real estate invest-

where sick individuals will harm themselves, become easy targets for violent crime, and run up costs at local institutions, Hobson said.

“The reality is that conventional drug alcohol treatment works for most people, but there is a subset of people that the conventional treatment does not work for,” Hobson said.

The public misperception is that nothing can be done for such people or that they should be left out on the streets, Hobson said. Such homeless men and women inevitably sap state and local resources and eventually die in a back alley or on a street corner.

In a rather famous case, the Reno, Nev., police department estimated that one Murray Barr, a chronic alcoholic, cost them over $1 million in a single year. True to the form of “Million-Dollar Murray,” many chronically ill individuals cycle from police stations to emergency rooms as a result of alcohol over-consumption and criminal victimization.

Nan Roman, head of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, noted that people who stay in permanent housing projects like 1811 are often very sick, and that this type of housing is rare. “People [who stay in these types of places] do get better. These places fit the bill of all methods of recovery,” she said.

“The general philosophy surrounding these places is to help the sick. This is why they allow alcohol. The people are not physically able to quit drinking,” Roman said.

Hobson cites treatment paradigms as part of the problem with trying to help chronic inebriates, “Addiction medicine is the only branch of medicine that requires the patient to give up the syptomology of their illness before they are treated,” Hobson said.

At 1811, the paradigm of treatment is disregarded and late-term patients are placed in an environment that helps them reduce their drinking and live more productive lives.

The most obvious objections to facilities that allow residents to drink are that alcoholics get a free pass with taxpayer money, or that they are encouraged to drink by such a policy.

Roman acknowledges that there is no uniformity of opinion on this topic, and even some dissent within the homeless community.

“I remember a conversation I had with one homeless individual.

She said, ‘Because I’m not a drunk, I can’t get housing,’” Roman said.

“Housing developments like 1811 not only help sick individuals, they actually end their homelessness,” Roman said.

ing,” the attendee, who did not want her name published, said.

“It could get emotional because of how you view it, because people are losing their homes, but those people are probably going to lose their homes anyway.”

Morgan’s foundation has seen a dramatic increase in calls to their credit counseling hotline.

“About a year ago, we were receiving between 75 and 100 calls a day,” said Morgan. “But, right now, we are receiving anywhere between 750 and 1,000 calls a day.”

Counselors say that the difficulties facing their callers are varied.

“We are seeing a lot of ARMs [adjustable rate mortgages] that are resetting, but, at the same, half of our callers have fixed-rate mortgages,” Morgan explained.

The numbers of subprime versus prime loans are also split, she said, but a loss of income typically accompanies a homeowner’s inability to keep up with mortgage payments.

Part of the surge in foreclosures can be traced to lenders providing an increased number of risky subprime loans during the nation’s recent housing boom.

The boom was followed by a severe market slump that made it difficult for homeowners to refinance or arrange a quick sale.

In addition, some borrowers received ARMs which begin with “teaser” rates that can double or triple over time.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that nearly 16% of borrowers with subprime ARM loans have missed at least one payment.

An estimated two million subprime borrowers, many of them low-income and minority, are expected to lose their homes, according to the Center for Responsible Lending.

Nationwide, foreclosures were down 7% in June from the previous month, but still up 87% from June 2006.

Street Sense . August 15 - 30, 2007

NATIONAL LOCAL NEWS

Offbeat Festival Celebrates More Than a Century of Hobos

By Kelly Wilson

The Hobo Code of Conduct As inscribed in the Annual Convention Congress of the Hoboes of America held on Aug. 8, 1894, in Chicago, Ill. Decide your own life. Don’t let another person run or rule you.

When in town, always respect the local law and officials, and try to be a gentleman at all times.

Don’t take advantage of someone who is in a vulnerable situation, locals or other hobos.

courtesy of Britt News-tribune

This August, the hobos will gather once again in Iowa.

For more than a century, crowds of people calling themselves hoboes have descended upon Iowa for an annual celebration of their transitory, no-strings-attached lifestyle.

The Hobo Days Celebration falls on the second weekend of every August, with this year marking its 107th anniversary in the town of Britt, population 2,100. Hobo conventions were held in Chicago until 1899.

Hobos have become part of Britt’s culture and close friendships have formed between hobos and other residents, long-time attendees of the convention said.

A hobo is a person who travels from place to place, working along the way, explained hobo M.A.D. Mary.

According to the Hobo Foundation’s Web site, www.hobo.com, the lifestyle is unique because of the freedom that comes from not having to pay taxes, rent or bills.

The convention draws crowds from around the country and the world every year.

Usually, more than 100 visitors attend for every hobo present.

The main attraction of the convention is the coronation of the year’s hobo king and queen, a title that, once earned, is held for life. Election to the title begins, for men, by going through a screening committee.

Each candidate then gives a speech of about two minutes before a crowd of around 2,000 at the town gazebo on Saturday morning.

The crowd’s applause decides the winner and is earned by demonstrating authenticity as a hobo, and an ability to be a good representative of the culture and pass it on to future hobos.

Hobo queen candidates are chosen without going through the process.

“To become hobo king and queen is really an honor,” said Linda Hughes, five-year president of the Hobo Foundation.

Britt is also home to the National Hobo Cemetery, where 13 hobos are currently buried. The cemetery began when then town chose to dedicate the northwest corner of its cemetery to the hobos.

At 9 a.m. on the Friday of every convention a list of those who have “caught the

“I think some people are homesick for their freedom,” said one hobo, explaining the fest’s popularity.

westbound” is read.

This year the convention will honor Steamtrain Maury Graham, five-time hobo king, who passed away in November.

“He was a wonderful, wonderful man, and he will be missed a lot,” Hughes said.

The city of Britt also participates in the conventions with games, a flea market and other attractions, which continue to grow annually.

For visitors the convention is an opportunity to see a culture that many almost admire, said Adman, another self-identified hobo.

“I think everybody in their heart is dedicated to their families and friends and work, but they still have some envy for people who can pick up whenever they want and see places,” he said. “I think some people are homesick for their freedom.”

New to the convention this year is an author signing of Rudy Rides the Rails: A Depression Era Story by Dandi Daley Mackall.

The convention is like a family reunion, said Connecticut Shorty, one of the hobo queens.

TOWN MEETING ON HOMELESSNESS Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007 10:00 a.m.

N.Y. Avenue Presbyterian Church

between 13th and 14th streets, N.W. (Enter from N.Y. Ave.)

Hosted by Until We’re Home, Inc and the Community Advisory Board of the D.C. Homeless Action Study

She is the daughter of Connecticut Slim, a hobo for 44 years and one of those buried in the cemetery.

The coronations are part of the culture of the lifestyle’s traditions, which include the hobo naming system.

The monikers are given by older hobos as recognition of what Adman called “roadreadiness”, or acknowledgment of a hobo’s experience in the culture.

Others, like M.A.D. Mary, began their hobo careers later in life.

Mary’s husband, Grandpa, became a hobo when his father started hopping trains as a minister.

It was through him that she got to know the hobos and like them, she said.

Later, when she and Grandpa worked transporting buses and motorhomes across the United States from 1999 to 2001, she found appeal in the lifestyle itself.

Foundry

United Methodist Church

A Reconciling Congregation

Invites you to join us in worship on Sundays at 9:30 and 11:00 AM Sign Interpretation at 11:00 Homeless Outreach Hospitality Fridays 9 AM

Foundry United Methodist Church

1500 16th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 (202) 332-4010 www.foundryumc.org

Always try to find work, even if temporary, and always seek out jobs nobody wants. By doing so you not only help a business along, but insure employment should you return to that town again.

When no employment is available, make your own work by using your added talents at crafts.

Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk and set a bad example for locals’ treatment of other hobos.

When jungling in town, respect handouts, do not wear them out. Another hobo will be coming along who will need them as bad, if not worse, than you.

Always respect nature. Do not leave garbage where you are jungling. If in a community jungle, always pitch in and help.

Try to stay clean, and boil up wherever possible.

When traveling, ride your train respectfully, take no personal chances (and) cause no problems with the operating crew or host railroad. Act like an extra crew member.

Do not cause problems in a train yard.

Another hobo will be coming along who will need passage through that yard.

Do not allow other hobos to molest children. Expose to authorities all molesters.

They are the worst garbage to infest any society.

Help all runaway children and try to induce them to return home.

Help your fellow hobos whenever and wherever needed. You may need their help someday.

If present at a hobo court and you have testimony, give it, whether for or against the accused. Your voice counts!

Source: www.hobo.com

Did you know Street Sense has a blog?

Well, we do. www.streetsense.org Anecdotes, news, videos and other tidbits

Street Sense . August 15 - 30, 2007

6 INTERVIEW

U.S. Street Soccer Team Improves World Ranking

By Laura Thompson Osuri

COURTESY OF U.S. Street soccer

What Michael McGregor remembers most about his trip to the Homeless World Cup in Denmark is the smiles on his teammates’ faces. “My favorite moment is when we won our games. All the guys on the soccer team smiled,” he said. “When we beat Argentina, Austria and Canada, everyone was smiling and so happy. It was great.”

McGregor, 20, was one of seven Americans on the national street soccer team who traveled to Copenhagen for a week in August to compete with 47 teams from around the world. All 400 players in the Homeless World Cup live on the streets or have recently come off them.

Scotland ended up beating Poland 9 to 3 to win this year’s World Cup, the fifth tournament of its kind. The United States team showed up at the tournament much improved from last year and placed 36th out of 48, 10 places higher than last time.

“I think we deserved to finish higher than we did but I think we all won some valuable lessons,” said Lawrence Cann, coach of the U.S. street soccer team.

The U.S. team tied for second in its original group, Cann said. A second place would have sent the U.S. into the Homeless World Cup Championship playoff bracket. But penalities, of which the U.S. had just one, decided the tie. As a result, the Americans wound up in a lower playoff bracket.

Despite this loss, the team stayed focused

Six players on the U.S. street soccer team have found housing since joining the soccer program.

and earned the respect of the other players and the referees, Cann said.

The U.S. team also earned the crowd’s approval, McGregor said. “In the beginning, everyone was quiet but at the end, everyone was cheering, ‘U.S.A, U.S.A,’” McGregor said.

The hundreds of World Cup players and

coaches played together, stayed at the same hostel and ate together, McGregor said. He recalled going on late-night bike rides with other players and wandering around the city and occasionally getting lost.

Originally from Panama, McGregor came to the United States three years ago. And after

moving out of his aunt’s house in Georgia, he went to Charlotte for a change of pace and ended up homeless. He has been playing street soccer through Urban Ministries in Charlotte, which hosted this year’s U.S. street soccer team, for a little more than a year and now rents a room of his own.

McGregor said street soccer changed his life. “The soccer team has kept me off the streets and given me a life,” he said. “It really keeps me moving.”

Of the seven players who went to the Homeless World Cup, six have found housing since starting the street soccer program, Cann said.

Worldwide, street soccer programs that feed into the Homeless World Cup are also changing lives. A survey taken after the 2006 Homeless World Cup in Capetown, South Africa, showed 73% of the 368 players said their lives changed for the better because of street soccer; 35% secured regular employment; and 44% improved their housing situation.

Mel Young, the director of the Homeless World Cup, said he expects similar results from the Copenhagen tournament and even more success next November when the tournament moves to Melbourne, Australia.

“We create a framework, use our imagination, and believe we can change lives, change the world,” Young said. “We have shown this in a small way in Copenhagen.”

For more information, visit www.homelessworldcup.org.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Street Sense . August 15 - 30, 2007

in other news By Mandy McAnally Calif.: Sacramento Sued Over Treatment Of Homeless A Sacramento lawyer has filed suit against Sacramento city and County for their treatment of homeless people, calling for them to stop “enforcing the City and County ordinances which prohibit homeless persons from sleeping outside in the City and County.” Claiming Sacramento officers infringe on the civil rights of homeless people, he is seeking class-action status on behalf of Sacramento’s homeless and is requesting at least $4,000 in damages for each person cited for living outside or whose belongings were confiscated (Yan, California Aggie, 8/9).

Texas: Homeless Get Storage for Important Documents The Austin Resource Center for the Homeless has created a Document Bank to help protect sensitive documents for Austin’s homeless. The 850-pound filing cabinet will store driver’s licenses, passports, birth certificates, court orders, marriage licenses and voter registration cards for free in a locked office on a locked floor of the center (Ball, Austin Statesman, 8/9).

Ohio: Recent Attack on Homeless Sign of National Trend Advocates say the recent murder of a homeless panhandler in Ohio is part of a wider national trend. The National Coalition for the Homeless reported 142 attacks on the homeless nationwide in 2006. Advocates in Cleveland say attacks have been increasing in northeast Ohio, including at least six attacks – one killing – in Cleveland since February and two in Akron (AP/Palladium-Item, 8/8).

Illinois: Public-Private Partnership For Homeless Students The advocacy organization Kits For Kidz is partnering with Chicago public schools to provide basic school supplies, such as calculators and pens, to registered homeless elementary and high school students. One school on the list to receive supplies has more than 200 homeless students out of a total of 373 students (Sewell, Chicago Sun-Times, 8/3).

Massachusetts: Boston ‘Couch Surfing’ High Schoolers Boston officials are considering a plan to open a residential program that would likely serve 12 to 20 homeless high school students. The teens, called “couch surfers,” are more likely to miss school, struggle academically and consider suicide. A recent report suggests there are more than 5,000 such high schoolers in the state. School officials said they have not decided details or a location but hope to settle on a plan by the end of the upcoming school year (Jan, Boston Globe, 8/2).

California: City Council Shuns Regional Shelter Network City councilmembers for Poway in North County said they don’t expect to join a group of agencies forming a network of regional emergency shelters. The city would have to pledge $30,000 to be part of the Alliance for Regional Solutions, which includes more than 24 agencies. Members said they believe a more effective way to reduce homelessness in the city is to work with agencies within the community (Petrillo, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8/9).

Friends, from page 1 Ron Hall and Moore tell their story in their own voices in the book Same Kind of Different as Me. Now with movie plans in the works, Same Kind of Different as Me has been making the rounds by word-of-mouth and very little advertising.

The book opens with Moore’s perspective, as told to Hall, and alternates the two men’s voices. Its raw and touching nature leave you saddened and stripped, but yet hopeful.

Street Sense spoke to Hall about the friendship that drove the men to write the book.

“It’s about loving people who appeared to be unlovable, and that one person really can make a difference in another person’s life,” Hall told Street Sense.

Hall and his wife met Moore when they began to volunteer at the Fort Worth Union Gospel Mission. “After three weeks, a big fight broke out at the dining hall,” Hall said. “When it was all over, one guy was left standing. He had fists the size of boxing gloves, and he had just beaten the tar out of everyone.

Someone had stolen his shoes, and so he kept saying, ‘I’m gonna kill whoever’s done it.’

“Then Deborah looked at me and said, ‘That’s the guy I had the dream about. And you’re the one who has to be his friend.’”

After decades of living on the streets, and years in prison in between, Moore was a different man from the one who had farmed cotton for the first half of his life, hardened, and warped for the worse.

“Denver preferred to be out on the streets,” Hall said. “After all those years he was considered the lion of the jungle, and other homeless people who knew him said, ‘Don’t mess with that guy.’ He was kind of like the mayor of the homeless crowd. He had both their fear and their respect.”

After the fight at Union Gospel, Hall tried to befriend Moore for months, but Moore was an angry man. Hall would seek him out at the shelter or on the streets, but as soon as Moore would see him, he’d take off in the other direction.

In the dinner line one day at Union Gospel, Deborah Hall asked Moore what his name was, and he coolly replied, “I’m a bad man, and you don’t need to be messing with me, and you don’t need to know my name.”

Deborah Hall jumped out from behind the counter, got right in Moore’s face, and said, “You are not a bad man. God has a calling on your life, and you are going to live to see it

“You never know whose eyes God is watching you through. And it ain’t gonna be your preacher – he’s gonna use someone else’s to see you.”

– Denver Moore

happen,” Ron Hall recalls.

“She was the skinniest, nosiest, pushiest woman I had ever met, black or white,” Moore writes.

And then one day, finally, still in pursuit of Moore based on his wife’s insistence, Hall was able to get Moore into his car, and the Halls’ poignant friendship with this supposed “bad man” began from there.

“Denver told me government programs kept me alive for all those years, but it took the love of one person to get him to change his life,” Hall said.

The Halls began to visit with Moore regularly. He was still on the streets, but they would pick him up, and he’d go to church with them or join them for dinner at their house.

The Halls’ friendship with Moore grew, but suddenly their foundation was rocked hard with illness. Deborah was diagnosed with cancer, and given only three months to live. Being the skinny, nosy, pushy woman that she was, she fought the disease for a miraculous 19 months, before eventually succumbing in 2001.

With Deborah gone, Hall and Moore were left alone to their friendship, their sadness, and their personal struggles to achieve the human compassion Deborah wanted for them. In

Your thoughts on all articles are welcome.

Please e-mail editor@streetsense.org or mail content to: 1317 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005.

a bold move, Moore finally left the streets to move into Hall’s house.

One day, Moore said, “Mr. Ron, ain’t no one ever gonna believe our story. So we gonna have to write a book,” Hall recalled.

So Hall and Moore decided to write a book, but it wasn’t going to be that simple. With Denver struggling with illiteracy, how would he authentically tell his story?

“Three years of sitting down at breakfast every morning,” Hall said. “I wrote and wrote. I wrote the book 14 times.”

And so Hall tirelessly interviewed his friend about his tumultuous life. After struggling to get their story published, Hall and Moore finally found success.

At age 67, Moore began learning to read and write. Today, he writes on a first grade level, and he reads on a third or fourth grade level. He even recently received a letter commending him on his tremendous efforts by First Lady Laura Bush.

He and Hall still live together, and the homeless community in Fort Worth now sees Moore as a rock star. “He goes back to the same places that he used to go. He talks to the people there and encourages them. He is the person they can look to,” Hall says.

“With more than 30 years on the street and 10 years in prison, Denver was just considered a crazy person,” Hall said. “And now just last year he was honored in the city of Fort Worth as the philanthropist of the year at a banquet attended by about 800 people.”

Moore is also producing original art. He has sold 60 paintings so far this year, raised $1 million for homelessness through fundraisers.

And through the help of one of Hall’s relatives, Moore is tracking his genealogy, finding old family members and taking responsibility for his four children.

But perhaps the best part for Hall is hearing from people all over the world who have been touched by the book and have changed their attitudes toward homeless people.

“This is such a trite little phrase, but don’t judge a book by his cover,” Hall said.

“Denver told me, ‘You never know whose eyes God is watching you through. And it ain’t gonna be your preacher – he’s gonna use someone else’s to see you.’”

For more information on the book, please visit www.samekindofdifferentasme.com.

NEWS LOCAL PHOTOS & POETRY

Street Sense . August 15 - 30, 2007

Cliff’s Pics: Up Close Desolate Days These were desolate days of sitting in this windswept park; pedestrians in suits and skirts swept past, some casting hostile glances my way, most not even seeing this lump of flesh perched on a bench.

For company, I’d watch the pigeons swirl overhead in tight formation then swoop to earth for crumbs cast by my fingers; they loved me for a moment.

On one desolate day, the children came, a colorful flock in sneakers, flip-flops, shorts and t-shirts; they came to cast more than bread upon the earth.

A group of five came to me, bringing paper sacks heavy with sandwiches and fruit.

I smiled in gratitude that they brought answers to my hungry prayers but most of all, their cheerful smiles and listening ears lifted me out of my swamp of despair.

Raindrops keep falling through the night an This little girl mumbled, “Take my picture!” Women love to be in front of the lens and she’s learning real young.

Vendor Cliff “the Moose” Carle snaps shots of city life all over Washington, playing with colors, textures and distance.

This was a desolate day until the children came and made me feel full, whole and worthy just as they were.

I hope they remember me with love as I remember them.

– David Harris

I was trying to make the strokes of a brush – i.e. paint – instead of a neon light with these two pictures. See above and right.

Street Sense . August 15 - 30, 2007

PHOTOS & POETRY

Love Love in so many faces Said in so many places By so many races Or is it God’s love From above That unconditional one Or is it love controlled That rolls right out of your mouth Into my ears And erase all my fears Until one day All that love Turns into tears

nd what a beady sight

How can this be In a world Full of hopes and dreams Broken promises And unwanted kisses Please tell me Is there something we are missing Stop the madness Can’t you feel All the sadness From all those strings attached From the love you give So loose your grip And let’s take a trip Into the unknown And not say a word But pray Let go Let God And let love Lead the way

I like this shot because of the lack of depth of field. A wide open iris means everything before and after the subject is not in focus.

– Don L. Gardner

10 FEATURES

Pretty Red’s Fiction

By Ivory Wilson

T

Street Sense . August 15 - 30, 2007

Siboo the Genie

T

ammy walked around the house. In the attic, she saw a big chest. The writing on the outside of the chest said “Randy the Magician.” Tammy was surprised. She had not known what her grandfather did for a living.

Tammy opened the chest. She looked at the things he used for his magic tricks and found a lamp. Tammy smiled, picked up the lamp and sat back in the chair to wipe the dust off with her hand.

To her surprise, the lamp came alive. The room quickly filled with gray smoke.

But Tammy was not a sinner.

A voice said, “I’m Siboo. I’m here to serve you. Anything you ask, I will do for you. The lamp works two ways. You go out, find souls for it and you become rich and you will live.

“But if you let someone touch the lamp who is not a sinner, then Siboo will come for you.”

Tammy looked around in the room and saw the statue of the fallen angel. The statue’s voice said, “I have a deal for you. The same deal I gave your grandfather. You will be able to keep this house and no one will be able to take it from you and Siboo will serve you.”

Tammy asked, “What do I have to do?”

The statue told her the same things it told her grandfather.

Siboo went back into his lamp.

Tammy fell asleep. When she woke, it was morning and she was still in the chair, not sure of what had happened last night.

She showered and dressed, rented a car and drove to Banngers Property office in downtown L.A.

photo courtesy of istockphoto

ammy’s grandfather, Randy the Magician, used to perform his magic act on Muscle Beach.

Randy was driving in his car one day and stopped at a roadside flea market hoping to find something to use in his magic act. Walking around, he stopped in front of a statue of a fallen angel.

“I would do anything to make my magic work,” Randy said to himself.

The statue spoke. “All your magic will work. You will be rich and famous. In return, you must bring me sinners and I will take their souls. If you don’t, I will take yours.”

Randy, thinking he was daydreaming and hearing voices, walked around some more. Then he walked back to the statue to see if his mind had been playing tricks on him.

The statue asked, “Do we have a deal?”

Randy said, “Yes.” The statue said, “There’s a genie lamp here. Find it, buy it and take it home. Go out and perform your magic. Do not let a non-sinner touch the lamp.”

Randy did what the statue said. He performed his magic on the beach. At night, he would drive his car to the ‘hood and to Hollywood to find people he thought were sinners, get them to touch the lamp and then step back.

A genie would come out in a gray cloud of smoke and say, “I’m Siboo. I’ve come for you.”

Then he’d cover them with his smoke and take the sinners back into the lamp with him.

In a few months, Randy had his wish: he became famous and rich and bought a big beautiful home in Beverly Hills. Many years passed.

Randy decided he was getting too old to keep performing magic. He never performed again. He put the genie lamp in a chest with the rest of his magic tricks and stored the chest in the attic.

Randy died.

Randy had a young granddaughter living in the East named Tammy. Tammy was working as a waitress in New York’s Lower East Side.

Randy’s lawyer contacted Tammy by mail telling her she had inherited a home and property in Beverly Hills. Tammy quit her job, paid her bills and moved to California.

Tammy hadn’t finishing unpacking when a man knocked at the door. The man said his name was Scott, he worked for Banngers Property and he was here to tell her she had to move out.

Banngers Property, a crooked landgrabbing law firm, claimed her grandfather had lost the property to them. The man left Tammy his business card and walked away.

Tammy closed the door thinking, “This can’t be happening to me. Oh Grandfather, what have you done?”

She walked into the office. A secretary named Rhonda asked, “Can I help you?”

Tammy said, “Yes. I would like to make out a payment plan to Banngers Property.”

Rhonda pushed a button under her desk and a man walked out of a room saying his name was Tom Banngers and that his brother, Scott, wasn’t there. “Can I help you?” he asked.

Tammy said, “Yes. I live in Beverly Hills in my grandfather’s home. I would like to work out a payment plan and pay his debt.”

Tom grinned and said, “No deals, no payment.”

Tammy left and went straight to her grandfather’s lawyer’s office. She didn’t know he was part of the same scheme. His name was Charles.

Tammy asked Charles if there was anything he could do to stop the Banngers from taking her property. Charles told Tammy, “It would be best to pack back up and go back east.”

Tammy started thinking. She had quit her job, moved out of her apartment, spent her savings. There was nothing in the East.

Her life was here now, in the West.

Tammy went back home and upstairs to the attic. Before entering the room, Tammy stopped in the hallway to think about what she was going to do, having a good-and-evil battle with herself. Good says walk away. Evil says stay, walk in and win.

Tammy walked into the room. The statue asked, “Do we have a deal?”

Tammy closed her eyes and said, “Yes.” The statue said, “Go to the sinners, let them touch the lamp and Siboo will come for them.”

Tammy hadn’t been there a month and did not know that once a month a maid service cleaned up the house.

That night Tammy drove to Banngers Property, not sure if they were sinners. Tammy got out of her car, walked around the corner and saw Charles’ car parked in front.

She slowly walked up to the window and saw Charles and Rhonda kissing. Then Tammy knew Charles was part of the scam to take her property.

Tammy ran back to her car and got out her genie lamp. She walked back to Banngers Property, opened the door and walked inside.

Charles and Rhonda where getting into an elevator. Tammy quickly walked over to them saying, “Charles, I’ve got something for you.” Charles held the door open. Tammy handed Charles the lamp and the door closed. Rhonda was laughing at Tammy.

Gray smoke filled the elevator. Rhonda coughed and asked, “What’s happening?”

A voice said, “I’m Siboo and I’ve come for you, too.”

The elevator opened and Tammy picked up the lamp. She got in her car and drove home.

T

he next morning, the local newspaper reported two people had disappeared from the Bannger Property law firm. Tom Bannger and Scott Bannger were in their offices talking to the police. After the police left, Tom Bannger called Tammy to ask if she had seen Charles. Tammy said no.

Then she asked, “Are you at your office?”

Tom said, “Yes. Me and my brother will be here until later into the night.”

Tammy said, “I would like to come there because I know how you can find Charles, but I don’t want to talk over the phone.”

Tom said, “Come at 7 p.m. when the office is closed.”

Tammy said, “I will be there.”

It was night. Tammy drove to Banngers Property and knocked on the door. Scott opened the door and said, “Come in.”

Tammy said, “I know you and your brother Tom are trying to take my home.”

Tom walked in and said, “We are not trying, we have it and we want you out!”

Tammy pulled her genie lamp out of her purse. The brothers started laughing, saying, “What are you going to do with that?”

Tom snatched it out of Tammy’s hands, saying, “We own the house and everything in it.” Gray smoke started coming out of the lamp and filled the room.

Tom dropped the lamp on the floor. Scott ran for the door.

A voice said, “I’m Siboo. I’ve come for you two.”

Tammy picked up the lamp and drove home. She thought to herself, it was all done, the home was hers. She put the lamp on the table beside her bed and went to sleep.

The next morning, the maid service came to clean and sweep.

Tammy woke up and went into the bath without looking out the window. If she had, she would have seen the maid’s van out front. She hadn’t put the lamp back in the chest in the attic.

The maid walked into the bedroom and started cleaning. She had her little daughter with her. The kid walked to the table and said, “Look, Mommy, a genie lamp.”

Tammy heard the voice and came running out of the bathroom. She saw the kid reaching for the lamp. She screamed. It was too late. The kid had touched the lamp.

Tammy sat on her bed and waited for her fate. Gray smoke filled the room. A voice said, “I’m Siboo and I’ve come for you.”

Then he took Tammy, too.

Vendor Ivory Wilson is from Texas and can often be found selling Street Sense at the corner of 7th and E, NW.

Street Sense . August 15 - 30, 2007

FEATURES & GAMES 11

Cryptogram

We cordially invite you

Solve the message below to discover a famous, meaningful quote on poverty and homelessness.

To join vendors & staff in celebrating

“The Many Faces of Street Sense”

WL M JVULKZO TIEE HVBIZLIF DVBIZKO WA AVRIKSWLH KV GI MASMRIF VY. WL M JVULKZO GMFEO HVBIZLIF TIMEKS WA

Reception and Silent Auction On Thursday, September 27, 2007 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

AVRIKSWLH KV GI MASMRIF VY. – JVLYUJWUA Hint: O = V

July Solution:

At the Josephine Butler Parks Center 2437 15th Street, NW

The child was diseased at birth, stricken with a hereditary ill that only the most vital men are able to shake off. I mean poverty--the most deadly and prevalent of all diseases. – Eugene O’Neill

(Columbia Heights Metro)

Street Su-Do-Ku

$25 - Standard: Auction access, hearty appetizers, beer, wine and soda $50 - Silver: In addition to standard benefits, your name listed in the event program. $100 - Gold: Standard benefits, name in the event program and in a thank you ad in the Oct. 1 issue.

These Su-Do-Ku puzzles were first put together by vendor Chris Sellman, who says he is obsessed with this game.

He promises that the puzzle below is easy to solve, but warns it may get beginners hooked!

Please note: Once purchased, tickets will be mailed directly to you and you will be added to the guest list.

Just fill in the numbers 1 through 9 without repeating a number in any column, row or box.

Tickets available online at www.streetsense.org or by mailing a check for the appropriate amount to: 1317 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005

8 4

Tickets will be available at the door for an additional $5.00

1 Cook’s Corner

A recipe from the Capital Area Food Bank

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Healthy Eating: Spring Greens Risotto

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

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3 tbsp olive oil ½ cup chopped green onions 1 ½ cup Arborio rice ½ tsp salt 4 cups hot chicken or vegetable broth 4 cups coarsely chopped spring greens (spinach, chard, sorrel) • ¼ tsp grated nutmeg (optional) • ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

• Heat oil in heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add onions; cook 3 minutes.

• Add rice and salt. Cook and stir until rice begins to color.

• Add ½ cup broth; cook and stir until most of broth is absorbed.

• Add 1 ½ cup broth; simmer, stirring oc casionally, until mostly absorbed, about 10 minutes.

• Add remaining broth. Simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

• Place greens on top of rice. Cover and simmer 3 minutes. Stir in greens. Simmer and stir a few minutes more until broth is absorbed and rice is tender but moist.

• Remove from heat. Stir in Parmesan and serve.

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PLACE YOUR AD HERE! With Street Sense now coming out twice a month and reaching nearly 11,000 people each issue, now is the perfect time to promote your business with us. photo courtesy of istockphoto

Preparation

2

July Solution

Tickets

DEMOGRAPHICS And who your business will be reaching can’t be beat.

Our typical reader is a 35year old woman who lives in D.C. and works for the government or a nonprofit earning $70,000 a year.

RATES Rates are about half the cost of the neighborhood monthlies and are as low as $57 for a 1/16 page ad that runs multiple times.

DISCOUNTS Discounts offered to nonprofits and those who prepay for multiple ads.

Visit www.streetsense.org/advertise.jsp for rates and our advertising brochure. Or call Laura or Jesse at 202-347-2006, e-mail info@streetsense.org or ask your local vendor, who can earn 20% commission from ad sales.

Street Sense . August 15 - 30, 2007

12 EDITORIALS

Letters From SEattle By August Mallory Hello, Street Sense readers, I want to bring to your attention a magazine called Washington Law and Politics. Check with your local magazine stores to pick up volume 61. There is an article on page 26 that tells you what Real Change is all about.

I’m on the board for Real Change, the street newspaper in Seattle, now.

I will be in Washington on August 29 to say hello to everyone at Street Sense, so be sure to look for me and mark this on your calendar. I will likely be in town long enough to do a segment of the More Better Man show on the radio station WOL-AM 1450.

My small business, Division One International, is coming along well. If you wish to order a catalog please e-mail me at my business e-mail address: specialtywholesaler@hotmail.com or call me at (206) 279-3884 and leave me a message requesting a catalog.

Please leave your name, address and zip code. P.O. boxes are also fine.

It has been very hot here in Seattle. I understand that the temperatures have not been very nice on the East Coast either. So when you are out and about, please be sure to drink lots of water. Many parts of the country have reached dangerously high temperatures, from 97 to 108 degrees. I can tell you for certain that Phoenix, Ariz., can reach temperatures up to 130 degrees. So please be very careful out there. When you are involved in recreational activities, take a break and cool down for a while.

While making plans to attend the conference of the North American Street Newspaper Association in Portland, Ore., in late July, I have been sending my Marvin Hammerman stories to a lot of magazines and newspapers to get them published. So if you happen to run across some newspaper or magazine and see an installment of Marvin Hammerman, be sure to pass it along to somebody and tell them, “Hey, I know the guy who writes this story.”

I have sent copies to almost every major newspaper across the United States and every known magazine in America. I am starting to enjoy writing Marvin Hammerman.

I have sent stories to Oprah Winfrey, Maury Povich, Montel Williams and other TV personalities. I am about to get something rocking here, folks, and I hope to appear on somebody’s show to promote Marvin Hammerman.

Marvin Hammerman now has a new assistant district attorney whom he hired to help him on cases involving the disappearances of homeless people. Hammerman often amazes the police as to how he can often solve cases that are so mindboggling that even the police cannot solve them.

I remember a TV show years ago called “The Strange Report,” where criminologist Adam Strange, who worked with two assistants, would solve some of London’s most bizarre cases. Scotland Yard could never keep up with Strange.

I guess this, as well as a book titled the “The Street Lawyer” by John Grisham, the story of a lawyer who took on cases involving the homeless, is what inspired me to come up with Marvin Hammerman.

Well, I guess I will be signing off for now. Take care and I hope to see everyone on August 29. Goodbye for now.

August was the first vendor for Street Sense and was with the organization for three years. He now lives in Seattle, and is on the editorial board of the street paper there. You can reach August at carriergroup2009@yahoo.com.

What our REaders are Saying...

Glad to Have Found Street Sense Dear Editor, Yesterday I purchased Street Sense for the first time. I had not been aware of the magazine or I would have been purchasing it before now. This is a good way to give the homeless a sense of pride and dignity, while keeping the issue in the public eye and making people more aware of their plight. Any of us could be in the same situation at any given moment. Life is fragile and you cannot take anything for granted. We are all one race – the human race – and we must do all we can to help one another. The government needs to step up to the plate also.

I purchased the magazine on Wisconsin Avenue, NW, in front of the CVS store. Mr. Mark Jones was my vendor. He was very courteous, and explained how the paper’s circulation had increased since it was founded. He showed me his badge to let me know he was an authorized vendor. He told me about the art advertised in the newspaper and now I’m headed to K Street to purchase some prison art work, which I have done before.

I will continue to purchase the newspaper and hope to contribute an article also.

Mr. Jones, hope to see you next week!

Glad to have found Street Sense, Beryl Sansom Gilmore

Bites, from page 1 Most men sat quietly by themselves but a handful conversed and shared cigarettes. I made conversation as we waited for dinner.

A young woman in tight-fitted clothing and sunglasses walked in, commanding the attention of everyone. She walked up to a gentleman and put her arm around him. They walked out together.

Dinner, fried chicken and green beans, tasted pretty good. Greasy and thirsty, I searched in vain for a napkin or cup to get a drink of water from the sink. The residents seemed pleased with the evening menu and didn’t seem to notice or care about the cockroaches scurrying about the floor or the mosquitoes descending upon us from the wide-open windows.

I spent the rest of the evening in the dining hall with about 15 other men watching the movie “Hotel Rwanda” on a 13-inch television.

The tiny TV sat next to a larger, broken 24-inch TV, and both of those sat on top of an apparently broken six-foot widescreen TV. I went to brush my teeth before bed, waiting while several men in front of me finished using the three sinks to wash out their underwear and socks.

The lights did not work in our bedroom. As evening fell, the room darkened and my roommates began to crawl into their bunks. I lay down and started the profuse sweating all of us would experience through the night. Many of the guys fell asleep right away, but I knew it was going to be a long night for me.

I started to get drowsy but kept being startled awake by the sounds of violent coughing, residents going to the bathroom, or a staff member’s bawdy laughter and shouts echoing through the halls. Every 30 or so minutes, an emergency vehicle would roar by, blaring sirens and flashing a red strobe light upon the wall of the room.

It was during one of those flashing sprees that I noticed the wall adjacent to my upper bunk seemed to be moving. I got out my cell phone and opened it up, using the screen as a dim flashlight. Under the illumination, I saw the wall teeming with bugs!

Upon closer examination, I recognized them as lice. I immediately began to itch all over. I pulled a used pill bottle out of my backpack and captured a couple of them. It was then I noticed tiny brown wafers gliding across my bed sheet.

I open my cell phone again to illuminate the new creatures.

“Sick! Bedbugs,” I murmured under my breath.

I went to capture one with the pill bottle, and after securing it, felt a sharp pain on my ankle. I lunged to strike at whatever was biting me, and in the process the pill bottle fell to the floor behind the bed. I went down to retrieve it, but the gentleman on the lower bunk woke and was disturbed to see me rummaging under the bed.

I stopped my pursuit of the pill bottle. I climbed back in bed but could not sleep. I felt welts rising up all over my body. I looked at my cell phone clock. It was nearly 4:30 a.m.

Some of the men were already getting up to beat the rush to the showers, so I decided to

do the same.

I went to the main desk, and stood patiently while the staff member and security guard joked with each other. I knocked on the desk in an attempt to get their attention. The staff member frowned at me, annoyed at the interruption, and barked, “What do you want?”

“Could I have a towel to take a shower?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes as a declaration of my ignorance, and flicked his finger toward a nearby table. There sat a small stack of square paper towels.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” I thought.

I glanced back at the staff member to confirm these were the towels designated for showering. He had re-engaged his conversation, so I used the distraction to take an extra square.

I scrubbed myself thoroughly, blotted my skin with the paper towel and began to dress.

It was clear that it was time for me to leave, and I would simply walk the streets until sunrise.

As I passed the stairwell that led down to the smoking patio, I thought I saw a small dog scurrying at the base of the stairs. As I crouched to look, it turned and began to climb toward me. It was the mother of all rats!

I pulled my phone out, ready to take a picture. Suddenly, it ran back down the stairs out of sight. I turned to discover the security guard towering above me, his approach having scared the specimen away.

The guard asked what I was doing. I shrugged in silence and he didn’t pursue the matter.

Other men were exiting the shelter already, so I joined them as they walked across the street to the park.

A number of people slept on the benches or the ground in the park. I noticed a fellow sleeping on the grass next to his wheelchair, which sported a bumper sticker declaring “Veteran Pride.” After my night at the Franklin Shelter, I understood why some folks would prefer to sleep outdoors.

As I paced the streets of D.C. in the early morning hours, I revisited the term “homeless.”

A home means so much more than a roof over one’s head. Though this big-city shelter is one way to get people off the streets, the residents of the Franklin School Shelter are still homeless. The building and staff attitudes did little to create a sense of home. The only piece of home I felt there was the casual camaraderie between the residents.

Hubert Humphrey once said, “The moral test of a government is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadow of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.”

Why, I wondered, does our nation’s capital have one of the highest rates of homelessness in the country? Why do its homeless facilities seem so institutionalized?

The men at the Franklin School Shelter deserve more. As a country, we can do better.

Lance Cheslock lives in Alamosa, Colo., where he has been director of La Puente Home, a homeless services program, for over 18 years.

Street Sense . August 15 - 30, 2007

EDITORIALS 13

lamentable landlords

MAURICE SPEAKS

For the Homeless, a Playful Reprieve

W

hen a coworker at the Community for Creative Non-Violence first approached me with the idea of joining a street soccer team, I could only laugh. I felt I had as much a chance of winning the lottery as I had of playing on a soccer team of any sort.

However, my coworker was persistent, and I decided to give it a try.

Not having played soccer for 39 years – since my sophomore year of high school, to be precise – I had no illusions about my level of ability, and I was more than aware that it was going to be an embarrassing experience, to say the least. It was with this mindset that I went to my first practice.

To describe the way things progressed for me, I would have to tell the story of how my high school band director instructed us when we first started marching band. He said to us, “To do the high-knee step, you must lift your legs high to be parallel with the ground before setting your feet down onto the ground with each step. At first you will feel and look ridiculous. After a while, the feeling will pass. Then you will only look ridiculous.”

That statement pretty much summed up my experience as I started out playing with the team. Still, I did not let that stop me. Seeing that I was playing the position of goalkeeper, I wasn’t expecting to look particularly elegant, especially when a ball smacked me in the face at 90 miles an hour, as it did in one of the games; that one I’m not likely to forget any time soon.

On July 19, the team traveled with the coaches and other supporters to Charlotte, N.C., for a conference where we played against other teams of homeless individuals. The next day, a series of lectures aimed to help communities that wanted to start street soccer teams or street newspapers of their own.

The camaraderie that existed among the players during the conference was a world apart from the dog-eat-dog world of the street that is the reality of homelessness in everyday life. Some-

Vendor voices By Anonymous

I was bitten, too

I

just want to make people aware of the atrocities and the unkempt state of some of the sleeping quarters at Franklin School Shelter. I’ve stayed there before and I haven’t had too many problems, but this time when I stayed there on August 8 I found out why so many people have complained.

I was issued a bed on the second floor. It was the most uncomfortable experience I have ever been through. No wonder so many people decide to sleep outside.

The bathrooms had nasty wet tissues all around with roaches crawling everywhere. The bedroom I was issued had no ventilation. I asked for a sheet and they told me they had none, so I slept on a dirty mattress.

As soon as the lights were turned out, I noticed something was biting me. I thought it was mosquitoes but then someone turned the lights on and I saw my T-shirt was infested with bedbugs and my face was a lump from all the bites. I even got bites in my ear. I picked up my bag and ended up sleeping on the street. The next day, the bites hurt so bad I ended up going to the emergency room at George Washington University Hospital.

I might be homeless but I’m human. I expect people who run shelters to make sure things are safe and healthy and at least give out basics like a sheet. This is an outrage that needs to be checked out.

Anonymous recently joined Street Sense as a vendor. He enjoys reading history and hopes to write a book one day.

thing about playing together generated a chemistry that offset the predatory nature of homelessness for the participants. I am usually very cynical about such things, but I couldn’t ignore what I saw.

The theme often repeated during the four days that I was in Charlotte was that street soccer helps participants rebuild their lives and serves as a great tool for giving a face to homelessness that is different from the traditional stereotype.

In the film that we saw on July 20, persons from countries around the world testified about the difference street soccer had made in their lives. Guest speakers spoke of the positive impact the program has on the community. And, of course, there is also the game itself and the skills that the players acquired while playing, which poses an ongoing challenge as the players strive to achieve higher levels of prowess in soccer.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the coaches and other supporters who accompanied us on the trip and formed a team of their own in the mini-tournament. Billed as the Advocates, they gave a very impressive performance, especially Street Sense’s own Laura Thompson Osuri.

Laura earned the nickname “the Wall” from the commentator at the games for her outstanding execution as the team’s goalkeeper. She faced a task far more daunting than the one I faced playing the same position and she carried it off with finesse. One of the coaches, Philip Ruzycki, took a large number of photographs to preserve the memories of our experiences at the conference, which he posted on the Internet for the rest of us to view.

It was an enjoyable change of pace and scenery for all of us.

From the warm hospitality we received down to the final ceremony, the conference was an event that was well worth the effort.

The D.C. team walked away with the Fair Play Award, which was a pleasant ending for a most pleasant reprieve from the world of homelessness.

No Repairs for the Poor

By Conrad Cheek Jr.

R

was fortunate enough to attend the North American Street Newspaper Association (NASNA) conference in Portland, Ore., in late July. As the four-day event got underway, we assembled at Portland State University, a unique campus that reminds me of the Great Lakes Naval Training Base.

We settled in on Thursday and I was glad to just rest for a while. It had been a long week, and I had considered not attending. But I wanted to know exactly what a NASNA conference was. I hadn’t seen Portland since 1981, and oh, it has changed. But then, nothing stays the same.

On Friday, after a nice continental breakfast, we went to our sessions.

We had two workshops, and covered everything from starting a newspaper to promoting and marketing it, and the logistics of operating it. We talked about money management, budgeting and vendor training.

I personally think it is vital to keep street newspapers going. We are doing something the average employer will not do: hire a homeless person. And even here in Seattle, there is a problem with employers weeding out persons who appear to be homeless. In my experience, homeless people outperform ordinary working people. What is wrong with this picture?

Saturday rolled around and we discussed how to get more volunteers, especially people with financial and nonprofit experience. We talked about mission statements and visions for our organizations, and how to write effective business plans.

After our sessions wrapped up, we enjoyed a great evening at the Portland City Grill, a restaurant on the 30th floor from which all of Portland can be seen. Our guest speaker, Paul Boden, was from the Street Sheet in San Francisco. When he talked about his frustration over housing policies and discrimination toward the homeless, I could definitely relate. This is why the homeless newspaper movement exists – to give the poor and homeless a voice in America and the world.

ecently, I experienced an attack and threats of violence from a youth who hangs out near the apartment building where I rent a room. I decided to vacate the premises while things cooled down rather than stick around to see what happened.

Some people might consider me a chicken or a punk, but I didn’t live to be 53 years old with all my front teeth by being foolish. I’m well aware of how a small incident can escalate to a life-changing event in no time at all.

After these incidents, I reached out to various friends for temporary haven. My preferred location is Capitol Hill, where I spend much of my time socializing and selling issues of Street Sense. Two of my friends on the Hill already had guests sleeping on their couches. Another friend had been through a bout of depression last year and, at her request, I assisted her in cleaning up and reorganizing products, clothing and papers that had accumulated in her apartment.

It is a nice one-bedroom loft with a bedroom and bathroom upstairs and a living room and kitchen downstairs. There is a fireplace and a back door that leads to a second-floor patio.

I believe my friend has been there about 10 years and her rent is relatively low compared with today’s average prices. In retrospect, I realize her apartment is the equivalent of the apartment I had on Capitol Hill before I lost my job and became homeless.

I was appalled and angry when I found out my friend’s landlord had not addressed the housing code violations in her apartment.

The drainage pipe from the toilet, sink and shower on the second floor had been leaking through to the kitchen ceiling downstairs and may have been the cause of the failure of the kitchen light.

I have four years of experience working with union electricians and enough plumbing experience to repair the leak properly. I replaced the defective light fixture with a temporary light so we could work on the kitchen area.

At that time, it had been two months since my friend had asked the landlord to fix the leak, and I believe, in response, the landlord offered her an apartment in a location other than Capitol Hill.

This is what makes me angry. I feel the landlord is avoiding making repairs in the hope that my friend will move. I offered to open the ceiling and repair the leak, but she insisted the landlord would fix it. That was last year, and here it is late in July. The problem is still not resolved.

My most desirable emergency haven isn’t available because of a landlord who is trying to oust a peace-loving African-American woman so he can get a higher rent from a new tenant.

My friend and I have discussed the following options: 1. Withholding rent until repairs are completed.

2. Contracting someone to do the repairs and deducting the cost from the rent.

3. Seeking legal help to sue the owner for the property as punitive damages.

4. Letting me do the repairs and deducting what I charge from the rent.

I welcome suggestions for a viable solution and information on legal options and resources.

August Mallory, the first vendor for Street Sense, now lives in Seattle.

Conrad Cheek Jr. has sold Street Sense since 2003. He is frequently its top-selling vendor.

Maurice King has been writing editorials for Street Sense since January 2004, and is also in the process of publishing his own book.

If you have any comments, e-mail him at benadam@cyberdude. com.

conference report By August Mallory

Street Paper Power

I

Street Sense . August 15 - 30, 2007

14 STREET SENSE NEWS

VendorNotes

By Jesse Smith Jr. and Laura Thompson Osuri

Jesse Returns I have been absent from the Street Sense offices for approximately one month. I had some serious health issues that I had to address. I must say that it was one of the best things that could have happened to me. I have been given the tools to correct some defects that would hinder my performance at these offices as well as things that would affect my life in general. I have truly missed being here doing the work as well as being with those I consider my family.

I wish to thank all of you for your support, vendors as well as the staff, especially Laura, our executive director, because without you I would not have been able to return. Here was a true test of how this organization helps its members, especially in their hour of need. Thanks to all of you.

James and the Travel Channel Long-time vendor James Davis may soon be featured on the Travel Channel! Leslie Couch, a graduate of the Travel Channel Academy, shot a two-and-a-half-minute video about James and his involvement with Street Sense.

If the Travel Channel chooses her segment from others by Academy students, we will see James featured on the Travel Channel in September.

In the meantime, you can view the video on YouTube.com by searching for “homeless” and “Street Sense.”

Poetry in the Park

Rebekah Bavinger

From left: David Harris, Elizabeth Schloesser, Jesse Smith Jr, Don Gardner, Laura Osuri and James Davis at the poetry reading.

On August 9, Street Sense vendors James Davis, Don Gardner and David Harris and vendor manager Jesse Smith Jr. lit up Senate Park near Union Station with their powerful and moving poetry. “Funning and running for your life/ Is the street’s decree,” Don recited with passion. He ended, “Now to the streets I owe that much/ but to God I give my life.”

This last-minute poetry reading was part of Urban Poverty Night for the National Community Church’s Week of Justice.

Not only did the 20 people in attendance get to hear some great poetry but they also learned about Street Sense and homelessness in D.C. They even had a chance to buy “Street Verses,” the new poetry book from Street Sense.

If you would like to purchase your own copy of Street Verses for just $12.50 including shipping, please visit www. streetsense.org and click on the “donate” page. For more details on the poetry reading and other ongoing office news, check out the new blog application on our Web site.

Intern Award Our fabulous summer intern Daniel Johnson has won the Institute on Political Journalism’s John Chamberlain award for excellence in print journalism, an annual honor given to a newspaper intern who has excelled in his or her internship and has demonstrated the greatest commitment to reporting and writing over the summer.

“Daniel was awarded this honor because of his dedication to the Street Sense newspaper. Arriving a week before the program even began to start his internship, Daniel saw his internship not as just a job but as a service to the homeless of the D.C. area,” Jessica Taylor, a program assistant with the Institute on Political Journalism, explained. “Daniel showed a true passion for print journalism, but more importantly [he] demonstrated how important it was to tell the stories of those the mainstream media often overlooks.”

Daniel, who often described the things he was learning about the homeless community in his classes, was chosen out of 65 print interns in the program.

Daniel is only the second intern the Institute on Political Journalism has assigned to Street Sense, so our 2-to-1 award rate ain’t too shabby!

But seriously, we here at Street Sense are very proud of Daniel and know he will go far as a journalist. We wish him the best as he returns for his junior year at Abilene Christian University.

Get Twice as Much Street Sense Each Month Delivered Right to Your Door!

Do you want to continue to support Street Sense throughout the year?

Order a subscription today.

Coming soon: Sign up for a subscription online at www.streetsense.org!

Not only will you receive 24 issues packed with our latest news, poetry and photography, you will also help raise awareness about poverty in the D.C. area. ___ YES! I want to subscribe to Street Sense for just $40 a year for 24 issues. ___ YES! I want to give half of the cost of a subscription to my favorite vendor: ____________ Name: __________________________________________________________________________ Address: ________________________________________________________________________ City: _____________________________________ State:_______________ Zip: ______________ Phone: ___________________________________ E-mail: _______________________________ Please make checks payable to Street Sense.

Mail to: Street Sense, 1317 G St. NW, Washington, DC 20005.

Thanks for your support!

Top Vendor Sales: July 2007

Conrad Cheek Jr. Mark Jones Moyo Onibuje James Davis Jake Ashford Charles Nelson Allen Jones

1,149 1,097 740 641 625 545 473

Vendor of the month Moyo came in a strong third.

Editor’s Note By Kaukab Jhumra Smith

Street Sense 2.0

O

ur reader survey last year revealed rather disturbing news: that out of 813 readers who answered the question, 54% didn’t know we had a Web site.

We’ve taken some steps to remedy this, although we have a long way to go.

We’ve updated the organizational information on the site, www.streetsense.org, and reactivated our blog, where we’ll be posting fresh content, including videos, anecdotes and newsy tidbits, about three times a week.

Check it out at www.streetsenseoffice.blogspot.com or visit www.streetsense.org and click on the nifty little application that streams our blog entries straight to the main page. It’s called a blidget in geekspeak, I believe.

We’ve also begun to track our site traffic for the first time, so that we can better monitor the popularity of individual pages and better understand our online readership.

So if you visit, we’ll be watching you.

We’ve also taken some first steps toward improving our online outreach. We’ve beefed up our Wikipedia entry, so that readers of the online encyclopedia will leave better informed. And we’re exploring ways to use social networking sites like Facebook to market our events and products, like our annual reception and silent auction on Sept. 27.

And soon, we’ll be offering readers the ability to sign up for paper subscriptions online.

I’ll be the first to admit we could be using our site, www. streetsense.org, a lot more to develop vendors’ voices, tell stories in multimedia, encourage reader interactivity, build a subscriber base and provide a comprehensive newspaper archive. We hope to completely revamp it to do all these things. But we need your help.

We need feedback on how we can make www.streetsense.org easier to use and navigate, and how to make its content meaningful to regular readers of the paper. We’d eventually like to redesign it and move to a content management system that would allow users with no HTML skills to make updates.

Until then, I and volunteer Jake Geissinger will continue to update the site by coding each page by hand – and continue to curse the bug in our server that lets us upload an updated page only once every 24 hours. Sometimes, as a result, we have to live with mistakes or broken links on the site for an entire day because of this bug. It’s not an ideal situation here at www.streetsense.org.

If you were counting, you’d see I used our Web site address no less than five times in this little space. It’s a catchy little url. Please visit it and tell us how we can do better.

We welcome your e-mails at editor@streetsense.org.

FEATURES 15 SERVICE PROVIDERS & VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Street Sense . August 15 - 30, 2007

Community Service Index WASHINGTON, D.C. SHELTER Calvary Women’s Services 928 5th Street, NW (202) 783-6651 www.calvaryservices.org Central Union Mission (Men) 1350 R Street, NW (202) 745-7118 www.missiondc.org CCNV (Men and Women) 425 2nd Street, NW (202) 393-1909 users.erols.com/ccnv/ Community of Hope (Family) 1413 Girard Street, NW (202) 232-7356 www.communityofhopedc.org DC Village (Family) 2-A DC Village Lane, SW (202) 561-8090 www.dccfh.org/DCVillage.html Franklin School (Men) 13th and K streets, NW (202) 638-7424 Gospel Rescue Ministries (Men) 810 5th Street, NW (202) 842-1731 www.grm.org John Young Center (Women) 117 D Street, NW (202) 639-8469 http://www.ccs-dc.org/find/services/ La Casa Bilingual Shelter (Men) 1436 Irving Street, NW (202) 673-3592 N Street Village (Women) 1333 N Street, NW (202) 939-2060 www.nstreetvillage.org 801 East, St. Elizabeth Hospital (Men) 2700 MLK Avenue, SE (202) 561-4014 New York Ave Shelter (Men) 1355-57 New York Avenue, NE (202) 832-2359 Open Door Shelter (Women) 425 Mitch Snyder Place, NW (202) 639-8093

FOOD Charlie’s Place 1830 Connecticut Avenue, NW (202) 232-3066 www.stmargaretsdc.org/charliesplace Church of the Pilgrims 2201 P Street, NW (202) 387-6612 www.churchofthepilgrims.org Dinner Program for Homeless Women AND the “9:30 Club” Breakfast 309 E Street, NW (202) 737-9311 www.dphw.org Father McKenna Center 19 Eye Street, NW (202) 842-1112

Food and Friends 219 Riggs Road, NE (202) 269-2277 www.foodandfriends.org Miriam’s Kitchen 2401 Virginia Avenue, NW (202) 452-8926 www.miriamskitchen.org The Welcome Table Church of the Epiphany 1317 G Street, NW (202) 347-2635 http://www.epiphanydc.org/ministry/ welcometbl.htm

MEDICAL RESOURCES Christ House 1717 Columbia Road, NW (202) 328-1100 www.christhouse.org Unity Health Care, Inc. 3020 14th Street, NW (202) 745-4300 www.unityhealthcare.org Whitman-Walker Clinic 1407 S Street, NW (202) 797-3500 www.wwc.org

OUTREACH CENTERS Bread for the City 1525 Seventh Street, NW (202) 265-2400 AND 1640 Good Hope Road, SE (202) 561-8587 www.breadforthecity.org food pantry, clothing, legal and social services, medical clinic Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW (202) 364-1419 www.cchfp.org housing, medical and psych care, substance abuse and job counseling Bethany Women’s Center 1333 N Street, NW (202) 939-2060 http://www.nstreetvillage.org meals, hygiene, laundry, social activities, substance abuse treatment Green Door (202) 464-9200 1221 Taylor Street NW www.greendoor.org housing, job training, supportive mental health services Friendship House 619 D Street, SE (202) 675-9050 www.friendshiphouse.net counseling and mentoring, education, youth services, clothing Georgetown Ministry Center 1041 Wisconsin Avenue, NW (202) 338-8301 www.georgetownministrycenter.org laundry, counseling, psych care Martha’s Table 2114 14th Street, NW (202) 328-6608

Shelter Hotline: 1-800-535-7252

www.marthastable.org dinner, education, recreation, clothing, child and family services Rachel’s Women’s Center 1222 11th Street, NW (202) 682-1005 http://www.ccdsd.org/howorwc.php hygiene, laundry, lunch, phone and mail, clothing, social activities Sasha Bruce Youthwork 741 8th Street, SE (202) 675-9340 www.sashabruce.org counseling, housing, family services So Others Might Eat (SOME) 71 “O” Street, NW (202) 797-8806 www.some.org lunch, medical and dental, job and housing counseling

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Bright Beginnings Inc. 128 M Street NW, Suite 150 Washington DC 20001 (202) 842-9090 www.brightbeginningsinc.org Child care, family services Catholic Community Services of D.C. 924 G Street, NW (202) 772-4300 www.ccs-dc.org umbrella for a variety of services D.C. Coalition for the Homeless 1234 Massachusetts Avenue, NW (202) 347-8870 www.dccfh.org housing, substance abuse treatment, employment assistance Community Family Life Services 305 E Street, NW (202) 347-0511 www.cflsdc.org housing, job and substance abuse counseling, clothes closet Foundry Methodist Church 1500 16th Street, NW (202) 332-4010 www.foundryumc.org ESL, lunch, clothing, IDs Hermano Pedro Day Center 3211 Sacred Heart Way, NW (202) 332-2874 http://www.ccs-dc.org/find/services/ meals, hygiene, laundry, clothing JHP, Inc. 1526 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE (202) 544-9126 www.jobshavepriority.org training and employment Jubilee Jobs 1640 Columbia Road, NW (202) 667-8970 www.jubileejobs.org job preparation and placement National Coalition for the Homeless 2201 P Street, NW (202) 462-4822 www.nationalhomeless.org activists, speakers bureau available

Samaritan Ministry 1345 U Street, SE , AND 1516 Hamilton Street, NW (202)889-7702 www.samaritanministry.org HIV support, employment, drug/alcohol addiction, healthcare St. Luke’s Episcopal Church 1514 15th Street, NW (202) 667-4394 http://stlukesdc.edow.org food, counseling St. Matthew’s Cathedral 1725 Rhode Island Avenue, NW (202) 347-3215 ext. 552 breakfast, clothing, hygiene Travelers Aid, Union Station 50 Mass. Avenue, NE (202) 371-1937 www.travelersaid.org/ta/dc.html national emergency travel assistance Wash. Legal Clinic for the Homeless 1200 U Street, NW (202) 328-5500 www.legalclinic.org legal services

MARYLAND SHELTER Comm. Ministry of Montgomery Co. 114 W. Montgomery Avenue, Rockville (301) 762-8682 www.communityministrymc.org The Samaritan Group P.O. Box 934, Chestertown (443) 480-3564 Warm Night Shelter 311 68th Place, Seat Pleasant (301) 499-2319 www.cmpgc.org

FOOD Bethesda Cares 7728 Woodmont Church, Bethesda (301) 907-9244 www.bethesdacares.com Community Place Café 311 68th Place, Seat Pleasant (301) 499-2319 www.cmpgc.org Manna Food Center 614-618 Lofstrand Lane, Rockville (301) 424-1130 www.mannafood.org

MEDICAL RESOURCES Community Clinic, Inc. 8210 Colonial Lane, Silver Spring (301) 585-1250 www.cciweb.org Mobile Medical Care, Inc. 9309 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda (301) 493-8553 www.mobilemedicalcare.org

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Catholic Charities, Maryland 12247 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring (301) 942-1790 www.catholiccharitiesdc.org

shelter, substance abuse treatment, variety of other services Mission of Love 6180 Old Central Avenue Capitol Heights (301)333-4440 www.molinc.org life skills classes, clothing, housewares Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless 600-B East Gude Drive, Rockville (301) 217-0314 www.mcch.net emergency shelter, transitional housing, and supportiveservices

VIRGINIA SHELTER Alexandria Community Shelter 2355 B Mill Road, Alexandria (703) 838-4239 Carpenter’s Shelter 930 N. Henry Street, Alexandria (703) 548-7500 www.carpentersshelter.org Arlington-Alexandria Coalition for the Homeless 3103 Ninth Road North, Arlington (703) 525-7177 www.aachhomeless.org

FOOD Alive, Inc. 2723 King Street, Alexandria (703) 836-2723 www.alive-inc.org Our Daily Bread 10777 Main Street, Ste. 320, Fairfax (703) 273-8829 www.our-daily-bread.org

MEDICAL RESOURCES Arlington Free Clinic 3833 N Fairfax Drive, #400, Arlington (703) 979-1400 www.arlingtonfreeclinic.org

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Abundant Life Christian Outreach, 5154 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria (703) 823-4100 www.anchor-of-hope.net food, clothing, youth development, and medicines David’s Place Day Shelter 930 North Henry Street, Alexandria (703) 548-7500 www.carpentersshelter.org laundry, shower, workshops, hypothermia shelter Legal Services of Northern Virginia 6066 Leesburg Pike, Ste. 500 (703) 778-6800 www.lsnv.org civil legal services Samaritan Ministry 2924 Columbia Pike, Arlington (703) 271-0938 www.samaritanministry.com social services, employment services, HIV/AIDS services

Street Sense . August 15 - 30, 2007

Allen Jones

VENDOR PROFILE

PHOTO FINISH

Searching for Shade

By Cliff Carle

Allen Jones was born on Feb. 25, 1957, in Washington, D.C. He has lived in Washington most of his life. One of the most interesting things about his childhood was that he was among the first group of children to be bussed to schools outside of his neighborhood.

This was the prevailing climate of the times, the 1960s, when the city attempted to create equal educational opportunities for its children.

Jones attended school in Anacostia in southeast Washington and later took a school bus to upper Georgetown in the northwest part of the city. He graduated from Western High School in 1973 and pursued a degree in journalism at the Washington International College. A lack of finances forced him to end this dream after a year.

Jones has worked in telemarketing and sales and was employed by the Shoreham Hotel for five years, and the Washington Post for six years. He left D.C in 1990 for the West Coast, traveling to Irvine, Calif., and Los Angeles. He returned to D.C. in 1993.

How did you become homeless?

I developed a penchant for illegal drugs and as a result I got involved in an activity which got me incarcerated. Upon my release, I lived with a family member for a time.

However, I did not want to be a burden on them so I decided to leave. Unfortunately, I had no place to go. Therefore, I became homeless but drug-free.

A cardboard shade, a wide-brimmed hat and a glass of water are all that’s available to help this person beat the recent heatwave in the city. Temperatures soared well above 100 degrees.

StreetFact

Why do you sell Street Sense?

It has been, and still is, hard to get a job once you have a record. One day I was approached by a person who said he was recruiting for Street Sense, so I leaped at the opportunity. Here is a chance to empower myself, to gain self-esteem as well as to get an income. The information given in the paper is pertinent to people just like myself plus I belong to something good for the community.

Favorite book?

“Awaken the Giant Within” by Anthony Robbins and “It Only Takes a Minute to Change Your Life” by Willie Jolley

The U.S. national street soccer team placed 36th out of 48 teams at the Homeless World Cup held this month in Denmark, an improvement of 10 places over its ranking last year.

Favorite music?

Jazz, jazz fusion and R&B Favorite movie?

“Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” Favorite food?

Chinese food

Allen reminds customers to only buy from badged vendors and not to give to those panhandling with one paper.

Source: www.homelessworldcup.org

August 15 - 30, 2007 • Volume 4 • Issue 17

Street Sense 1317 G Street, NW Washington, DC 20005 Mail To:

Celebrate “The Many Faces of Street Sense” At the Second Annual Street Sense Silent Auction and Reception September 27 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Josephine Butler Park Center, 2437 15th Street Tickets start at $25.

Interested in a subscription? Go to page 14 for more information.

For more information, see the ad on page 11 or visit www.streetsense.org and click on the auction link.