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A homeless man, Ronald Wrenn, was hit by a car on Friday night while crossing South Eugene Street on his way to the Salvation Army Center of Hope’s emergency overflow night shelter.  He died shortly afterward** at Moses Cone Hospital.  I found out just after it happened from our church’s outreach director, Marshall, who’d talked to the downtown cops that we do street outreach with.  They’d just been at the scene of the accident.  I went by the hospital later to check on him and found out that he’d died.  Family members had already been notified.  I had posted a message to Facebook earlier, asking all our friends to pray for him, but I waited to blog about it because the information had not yet been released to the public.  It was posted on the web site of the News & Record a little while ago, so I’m posting it now, too.

Read more on Homeless man struck and killed by car on his way to shelter…

This is my friend Terry. He’s been homeless in Greensboro for four years. He’s camped under bridges, in the woods, and in empty houses and buildings all over town. He feels safer outside than in the shelters. (A lot of homeless people feel this way.)

Read more on Terry: Flying signs, seeking work…

This is a photo of a homeless, pregnant friend of mine, flying a sign at a busy Greensboro intersection on a cold winter afternoon.  The sign reads:

Lost Job. Pregnant. Homeless. Hungry. Anything helps! God bless!

She and her husband are expecting a baby in a couple of months. They have a camp under a bridge and they sometimes sleep on a relative’s couch when the nights get too cold. They’re on a waiting list for a government housing voucher. She recently lost a job and both are looking for employment.  She had an interview this week and is waiting to hear back.  I hope she gets the job.

Read more on Homeless, pregnant and panhandling…

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On Wednesday, January 28th, the Homeless Prevention Coalition of Guilford County conducted its annual Point in Time Count, a nation-wide count of the homeless mandated by the Department of Housing and Development.  The yearly census, conducted over a 24-hour period each January, helps determine the funding that each community receives from the government to provide services and housing for homeless people.  The count begins early and continues into the night, with counts done at shelters, transitional housing facilities, meal locations, and on the street.

Read more on Counting the homeless: 2009…

Counting the homeless: Volunteers try to find them all
Source: www.news-record.com
GREENSBORO – On Wednesday, a man who would only give his name as J. stood along Battleground Avenue holding a sign: “Homeless. Please Help Me. God Bless You.” A smiley face punctuated the plea…

Read more on News stories about 2009 homeless count…

From the web site of the Greensboro Police Department:

Helping the Homeless — The GPD’s Center City Resource Team is collecting winter coats, hats, gloves and boots for the homeless. If you would like to donate any of these items, please deliver them to one of the Police substations: 1106 Maple Street, 300 S. Swing Road, or 2602 S. Elm-Eugene Street. You may also drop off your donations at the GPD administrative offices in the Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 W. Washington Street.

See why we heart the popo?

Read more on GPD helps the homeless…

Earlier today, I posted information received from an HCD staff member with the City of Greensboro, detailing the relocation of 26 former residents of the Coliseum Inn, which was purchased by the City in November, and has since been closed. I questioned the low number of residents relocated, knowing that the hotel’s occupancy rate was far greater than 26 people. There were hundreds of people living at the hotel. I haven’t received any further information from the City, but tonight, I spoke to a homeless friend who gave me the names and locations of half a dozen of his friends who lost their housing when the Coliseum Inn closed, and are now back on the street, living outside — homeless. He told me that he could make me a  longer list with the names of everyone he knows who got kicked out and is back on the street, and I plan to sit down with him and get that list.

Read more on City’s closing of Coliseum Inn increases homelessness in Greensboro…

A few weeks ago, I got a message from a reporter friend that GPD was going to do training exercises with explosives at the Coliseum Inn.  The reporter asked if I knew where the residents had gone and if the City had made accommodations for them.   I messaged a police officer friend who was online.  He’s a member of GPD’s Special Response Team, and he told me that yes, indeed, he was going to be blowing some stuff up at the Coliseum Inn the next day.  He was pretty excited.  (Me, too.  And jealous.  Why don’t I get to do cool stuff like that?)  I said that I assumed that meant all the residents were out of the hotel?  And he said, “Yeah, I guess so.  I think they’ve been out.”  I was a little surprised.  I hadn’t heard anything about the hotel residents leaving.  Apparently, my reporter friend hadn’t either.

Read more on Quiet dispersal of Coliseum Inn residents goes mostly unnoticed…

Met with my friend John today, and his friend, who lives on the street in Greensboro. John talked about following your passion and helping others:

“One person with passion and courage becomes a majority.”
– John Haynes

Read more on Become the majority…

Image credit: Ryan Shell, GreensboroPolitics.com

Ryan Shell at GreensboroPolitics.com

The Greensboro City Council will be holding a special meeting tomorrow to discuss the possibility of approving an incentive request from Lindbrook Development Services. As I have previously mentioned the main stumbling block was the developers request for the city to include 11 parking spots in the deal… One thing the council might discuss tomorrow is the idea of tweaking the parking lots design. There is a large natural area/sidewalk in the center of the lot that could be reduced in size to add additional parking spaces.

The “large natural area/sidewalk” that Ryan refers to is known as “Panhandler’s Park,” because a number of our homeless friends regularly panhandle there. With great success. It’s a great location. People get out of their cars and head to the machine to pay for their parking, money in hand. So when a homeless person approaches and asks for money, it’s kind of hard to say, “I don’t have any.” But it’s not all that hard to say, “No, I’m not giving you any money,” and I wish more people would say that.

Read more on Paving Panhandler’s Park?…

This is some craziness, y’all.  PalmBeachPost.com news article via Jackie Dowd at the “13th juror” in Florida:

…faced with mounting fines for zoning and code violations, [Westlake Tabernacle] church and Bishop Avis Hill filed suit against Palm Beach County in U.S. District Court today, seeking relief from alleged violations of civil and religious rights.

Read more on Housing the homeless: Keep the state out of the church…

Food Not Bombs will serve at 5:00 p.m. (instead of 6:00 p.m.) this coming Monday, January 26th, in the Nussbaum Room of the Central Library in downtown Greensboro.  Immediately following dinner, poet Glenis Redmond will be leading a workshop as part of the monthly Monday Night Poetry series.  Everyone is invited to stay after the dinner and participate.

Read more on Food Not Bombs serves at 5:00pm on Monday, 01/26/2009…