ChosenFast.com

For the mom who was searching for this info: I hope you come back and read this.  I’m praying for you.  God bless you and your baby.

Can crack cocaine come through your breast milk?  The answer is yes. This web page gives info on crack cocaine and breast feeding.  Crack stays in a mom’s breast milk for 48 hours after her last use.  Babies can become addicted through their mom’s breast milk, and can suffer seizures and extreme irritability from the crack. Research has shown that babies can ingest crack cocaine through their mom’s breast milk, and that severe brain damage or even death can occur, if the amount of cocaine is high enough.   Read this article for more information.

Read more on Can crack cocaine come through breast milk?…

High Point’s City Council voted Tuesday to pan aggressive panhandling. The ordinance makes it a violation to continue soliciting after a first request, to use physically or verbally abusive tactics, to block the solicited person’s exit or to otherwise behave aggressively while panhandling. More here.

Read more on High Point passes ban on aggressive panhandling…

I’ve been writing about local efforts to come up with additional emergency winter shelter, and about the increase in requests for assistance and decline in giving. Today’s News & Record features front-page, above-the-fold coverage of both those issues.

Read more on Struggle to meet financial and shelter requests is front-page news…

The Greensboro City Council is scheduled to vote tonight on buying the Coliseum Inn on High Point Road, and the plan is to tear down the hotel and sell the property to a developer.  I don’t really have a strong opinion for or against the City buying and razing the property (there are pros and cons both ways), but I do want to know what’s going to happen to the residents if the hotel is torn down.

Read more on Coliseum Inn vote tonight: No word on housing for residents…

My friends Janet and Jonathan passed on this story from the New York Times about bare cupboards at food banks.  An accompanying slideshow is here.  The article notes a scarcity of food at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC, in Winston, which supplies many local food pantries and aid programs, including the NightWatch street outreach ministry.

Read more on Bare shelves and sacrifice…

Dottie Stultz is our congregational nurse at Grace Community Church.  She’s also a good friend, and a partner and ally in serving and advocating for homeless people.   Dottie is the director of Grace’s Homeless to Wholeness supportive housing program.  This week, she’s featured in the News & Record’s “10 Plus.”  Read it online here.  Printable PDF here.

Read more on 10 Plus with Dottie!!…

Question: “Can a home save the homeless?” That’s the title of Amanda Lehmert’s 11/16/2008 News & Record article on the housing support team program — an initiative to move chronically homeless people from the street into housing.

Read more on Answer: It takes more than a home……

StreetWatch would like to thank everyone who donated, volunteered or otherwise assisted in providing meals for our homeless and hungry friends from Oct. 30th – Nov. 13th, 2008 while the Arlington House was closed.

Read more on Breakfast and dinner “thank yous”…

At a recent meeting focused on expanding emergency winter shelter in response to the growing number of homeless people on the street, Greensboro Urban Ministry’s shelter director, Manny Matos, addressed concerns such as shelter overcrowding:

Read more on Winter shelter: “I take the risk…”…

This past February I wrote a post about my friend Anthony speaking at City Council. Anthony and his wife were homeless at the time, and he told Council about their struggles to find shelter and assistance through agencies that serve the homeless in Greensboro. This followed a Food Not Bombs dinner and meeting at the library the night before with Council members Bellamy-Small, Wells and Matheny, during which they encouraged homeless residents to come and share their stories with Council and the public — which Anthony courageously did. (Video here.)

Read more on Good news: Anthony has a home…

Today I saw a woman pushing a stroller down Lee Street, not far from the shelter.  It was loaded with bags and belongings in the back, and a baby sat in the front.  A tiny toddler walked beside the stroller.  On “the block” at Lee and Eugene, in front of the shelter, another young mom with a stroller stood near the usual group that hangs out there.  That’s the second time recently that I’ve seen a baby on the block, and I don’t think it was the same one.

Read more on Babies on the block…

Our team of volunteers has been serving breakfasts and dinners for our homeless friends while Arlington House has been closed (details here), and we have two breakfasts to go — Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 10th and 11th.  We need cooks (5:00 a.m.), servers (6:45 a.m.) and cleanup help (7:30 a.m.) Location details (cooking at the HIVE, serving at Grace) are here.  If you can help, please respond in the comments here or on this post, or contact me via this email form.  Thank you!

Read more on Two breakfasts to go: Need cooks, servers, cleanup help…