Halloween in Lucas Park
Today we continued our presence in Lucas Park by holding an afternoon Halloween Party for neighborhood kids.
Everyone had a great time, by the end of the event in the park we had quite a few kids, maybe 10. One of the kids was homeless, at age 5. He was with a friend of his mom’s, the mom was at work. The three of them had spent the last few nights on the street sleeping under a loading dock. They had spent a few nights at Larry Rice’s New Life Evangelical Center but he tossed them because the women wouldn’t do his 90-day program. They consider Rice’s program to be “slave labor.” One woman has a job while the other is doing classes as St Patrick’s Center to get her GED. They consider Rice’s program to be “slave labor.” Their landlord had raised the rent and they could no longer afford it. They have some leads on more affordable places. In the meantime the three of them were out in the cold.
We shared their story with Alderwoman April Ford-Griffin. She gave us her cell number and asked that the mom call her and she would help her get into a family shelter. As we went trick or treating the friend of the mom stayed in Lucas Park but she sent a homeless young man to keep an eye on the young one. After we all got back from trick or treating the mom arrived from her day at work. Andy Martello of the shut down NLEC petition gave the women the Alderwoman’s phone number. I gave them my card and told them to call me if they needed a ride to a shelter.
About a half an hour later my phone rang, I was at home by now. They had talked with Griffin and they needed a ride to a shelter just north of Downtown. I got in my car and drove to a nearby building where they had slept under the dock. Within 20 minutes of them calling me they were safe inside the shelter.
When I got back home I started to cry. The little 5 year-old was so sweet and innocent. The mom and the other woman were nice and trying to do their best, they’d been out of their apartment since October 9th.
As I picked them up I saw Maureen Brown again. She asked why I wasn’t helping her. I said I’d be happy to give her a ride somewhere. I think I was crying in part because I had gotten to know Maureen over the last few weeks but she was still on the street. So I called a women’s shelter to see if they could take her. They said they were full but they might be able to let her sleep on a sofa for one night but they wanted to talk to her first.
So back down to the car I went. I got lucky and found Maureen near the same loading dock where I had seen her about an hour earlier. She got into my car and I called the shelter. She turned down the sofa but they suggested she call back Monday to see if they have any openings. She doesn’t have a cell phone so I’m going to go find her on Monday so she can use my phone to talk to them. She is out there in the cold. I did notice a couple of homeless men in the same spot — they are likely her protectors.
I’ll be able to sleep better tonight knowing I helped two women and a child get a safe place to sleep and that I will hopefully get Maureen into a shelter as well this coming week. This morning I had noticed belongings under this particular loading dock. It was weird putting a face to a space. A 5 year-olds face.
We had fun in the park today. We made more connections with homeless persons. I found more people among the homeless population that think NLEC needs to go. Needs do exist and NLEC is not meeting those needs.
One of the top needs is a place to store personal belongings and clothing. We have more homeless than we have spaces for stuff. The stuff goes into the shelters at night but the next morning the person & their stuff are back on the street (or in the park). I don’t mind seeing homeless persons in the park but piles of stuff just show how poor a job we are doing at providing good services for the homeless. How can we expect this person(s) to get a job? They can’t carry all this to a job interview.
Happy Halloween!
UPDATE 10/26/08 @8AMÂ Â – I removed information on the shelter where I took the two women and child.
“I found more people among the homeless population that think NLEC needs to go. Needs do exist and NLEC is not meeting those needs.”
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What does that mean? I didn’t think NLEC was run by the City or used public funds. If it’s not working, folks don’t have to use its services.
It’s also important that shelters work with a persons work schedule. Many have arbitrary rules that don’t provide the flexiblity to accomadate work hours. If you get off work at 5 and have to be IN the shelter at 5 you have to choose. That’s not productive.
It is a much more complicated and nuanced problem. It is not possible for alderpersons to get everyone into the shelter system. I am sure they don’t want to replace the hotline system which handles hundreds of calls every day. Over half the people calling the homeless hotline are given the number to NLEC because there aren’t enough shelter beds to refer people into. The city doesn’t operate shelters. It works with a network of shelter and related providers. NLEC does not work with this network.
There are many ways to look at this problem. All “shelters” have time limits. Without time limits, they stop being shelters and become permanent housing. The network shelters provide access to transitional housing and other services. There are expectations and benchmarks at every level of this system. Some people reject these services because they want their drugs. They don’t want to account to anyone. They consider the constraints of being in a program demeaning, having to answer for their time and money. You are describing a woman who would rather stay with her children on the street, subject to the weather rather then work for a place to stay. I am not sure what constitutes slave labor. Nor do I know the conditions she might be expected to live in. I have known many people who would rather live outside than stay at NLEC. (I suspect this is true of every shelter.) None had children. Obviously there are safety issues and it may be no more safe to stay there than on the street. But that doesn’t say much. People on the streets are much more likely to be victimized than your average person, even the loft dwellors.
The woman was at one of her two paying jobs. She refused to “volunteer” at Larry’s because she would’ve had to quit her job and take another “job” “working” in the “free store” under Susan Jansen for no compensation for 90 days.
They only needed a place to stay for a few days while they awaited another apartment. Since she refused to “volunteer” and quit her paying job, they (NLEC) kicked her out. I’ve heard countless stories like this from people who have been in Larry’s place.
You can call it “volunteering”, but the people who actually “experience” NLEC “volunteering” call it “slave labor”. Not my words, theirs. When I met the boy’s mom, she had just gotten off of work. I told her how nice and polite her little boy was and how happy he was to go trick or treating and play in the park with my child.
The way this family and others have been treated by Larry, Susan, and NLEC infuriates me and should infuriate everyone else.
April intervened immediately to direct this family to someone who could actually help them. Did NLEC or Larry?
The answer is “No”.
It doesn’t surprise me that Larry Rice forces people into “slave labor.” I heard the same story twenty years ago. Back then, he called it “paying your rent.” The thing is, Rice keeps people poor so they’ll remain dependent. The good work is being done by St. Patrick Center. Larry Rice should be shut down.
I am so glad to see the conversation changing, now the homeless people are becoming people in the eyes of more folks instead of just those people. The dialogue is going from how can we get the problem out of our face to how can we solve the problem. Shelters are good but as you can see by reading the comments they are not the answer. They do not provide enough security to move forward. I know from personal experience it is no fun to travel all day with a trash bag. Thank God I only had to do that once when I was homeless. I know having some security is better than none.
At least now there is hope for one of 20 worst cities to be homeless in (St. Louis).