What Would Jesus Do About Jacksonville?
From the 13th juror:
“If Jesus came to Jacksonville to feed the masses, he would need a city permit to hand out all those miraculous loaves and fishes.”
>> Read “Jacksonville homeless feeding ordinance challenged in federal court.”
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Divided By Class: A Morning In Court
My friends Marshall (a campus ministries director) and Will (a pastor) went to court this week for a mutual friend (formerly homeless) with serious health problems that prevented him from going himself. In his blog, Marshall writes about the way that prosecutors treated those in the courtroom. The class divide was evident. Reading about it made me both angry and weary. I urge you to read it, too.
“The Assistant DA who was running the courtroom I had to go to (our friend’s charges were being dealt with in two separate court rooms at the same time - how does that work?) made no effort to be pleasant. It was simple traffic court, but she made no ability to speak with kindness. It was clear that she wanted to establish that she was in charge and her rules were the only ones that counted.”
“The power dynamic was clear - there was a way of talking, a way of operating, and if you didn’t know how to talk and operate in that way, you were in trouble. At first I thought of this as a racial divide, but really it was a class divide.”
>> Read “A sad morning in court,” at “Joy In The Margins” blog by Marshall Benbow.
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Forgotten Mentally Ill, Homeless Man Left In Jail
From FOXNews.com, in Crownpoint, Indiana:
“Officials cannot explain how they allowed a homeless, mentally ill man accused of stealing a soda to languish in jail for 17 months.
Edward Perez’s attorney, his court-appointed psychiatrist, the judge in his case and jail officials all apparently believed he had been released a year ago.”
I guess that if anyone had cared, someone would have noticed. Sickening.
God bless that man. I cannot imagine.
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2007 Count: 1,269 Homeless in Guilford County
The Homeless Prevention Coalition of Guilford County has released totals from January’s annual Point in Time Count of the Homeless. A total of 1,269 homeless persons were counted on January 24, 2007. This is an increase from the 2006 total of 1,108. The 2005 total was 834.
Update: Details of the 2007 count.
| Emergency Shelter | Transitional Housing | Unsheltered | TOTAL | |
| Persons in Families | 147 | 141 | 21 | 309 |
| Single Persons | 355 | 419 | 186 | 960 |
| Total | 502 | 560 | 207 | 1269 |
| Chronically Homeless (included above) | 142 | n/a | 70 | 212 |
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HUD Awards $1.28 Million To Local Homeless Service Providers
Today, the Bush administration announced $1.4 billion in funding for local homeless programs. North Carolina will receive $18.5 million. Homeless service providers in the Triad were awarded $1.28 million, which is slightly more than 2005, but less than 2004.
Details on local HUD awards for the past three years:
| Continuum of Care Competition Homeless Assistance Awards: Greensboro/High Point COC | AGENCY | PROGRAM | GRANT AMOUNT | |
| 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | ||
| Alcohol and Drug Services of Guilford, Inc. | SHPR | $36,838.00 | $46,048.00 | $46,048.00 |
| City of High Point | SPC | $265,440.00 | n/a | n/a |
| Family Services of the Piedmont, Inc. | SHP | n/a | n/a | $102,829.00 |
| Family Services of the Piedmont, Inc. | SHP | n/a | n/a | $155,100.00 |
| Family Services of the Piedmont, Inc. | SHPR | $37,834.00 | $47,293.00 | $47,293.00 |
| Greensboro Housing Authority | SPC | n/a | $109,440.00 | $754,860.00 |
| Greensboro Housing Authority | SPCR | $121,776.00 | $117,144.00 | n/a |
| Greensboro Urban Ministry, Inc. | SHPR | $29,400.00 | $36,750.00 | $36,750.00 |
| Greensboro Urban Ministry, Inc. | SHPR | $33,600.00 | $42,000.00 | $42,000.00 |
| Mary's House, Inc. | SHPR | $135,982.00 | $135,982.00 | $135,982.00 |
| Open Door Ministries of High Point, Inc. | SHPR | $48,919.00 | $54,062.00 | $54,062.00 |
| The Christian Counseling and Wellness Group, Inc. |
SHPR | n/a | $88,007.00 | $88,007.00 |
| The Christian Counseling and Wellness Group, Inc. |
SHPR | $500,000.00 | $500,000.00 | n/a |
| The Salvation Army of High Point | SHPR | $23,505.00 | $29,381.00 | $29,454.00 |
| The Servant Center, Inc. | SHPR | $47,586.00 | $59,481.00 | $59,481.00 |
| TOTAL | $1,280,880.00 | $1,265,588.00 | $1,551,866.00 | |
| Emergency Shelter Grant Allocation: Greensboro | $84,247.00 | $84,375.00 | $83,985.00 | |
-SPC = Shelter Plus Care
-SPCR = Shelter Plus Care renewal
-SHP = Supportive Housing Program
-SHPR = Supportive Housing Program renewal
| Continuum of Care Competition Homeless Assistance Awards: North Carolina | ||||
| 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | ||
| COC Totals | $15,407,068.00 | $13,139,239.00 | $15,407,068.00 | |
| Emergency Shelter Grants Totals | $3,049,883.00 | $3,184,084.00 | $3,049,883.00 | |
| North Carolina TOTAL | $18,456,951.00 | $16,323,323.00 | $18,456,951.00 | |
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“Sport” Attacks and Killings of Homeless Rise
Attacking and killing homeless people has become a sport in America, and apparently, it’s on the rise. This is an extremely disturbing trend.
“They hurled anything they could find — rocks, bricks, even Baum’s barbecue grill — and pounded the 49-year-old with a pipe and with the baseball bat he kept at his campsite for protection.
Ihrcke smeared his own feces on Baum’s face before cutting him with a knife “to see if he was alive,” Moore said.
After destroying Baum’s camp, the boys left the homeless man — head wedged in his own grill — under a piece of plastic where they hoped the “animals would eat” him.
Then, Moore says, they took off to grab a bite at McDonald’s.”
– Read more of “Teen sport killings of homeless on the rise” on CNN.com
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Revival or Revolution?
It’s a common theme among Evangelicals to call for revival. But I was listening to Joyce Meyer yesterday, and she said that what the Body of Christ really needs is a revolution.
revival: an often highly emotional evangelistic meeting or series of meetings
revolution: a sudden, radical, or complete change; a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something; a change of paradigm
Amen, Joyce.
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