From Partners Ending Homelessness and the City of Greensboro:
You are invited to CELEBRATE news of a generous gift to the Community Foundation for a new Day Center in Greensboro as a component of the ten year plan to end chronic homelessness in Guilford County.
Read more on Greensboro Day Center News Conference & MAJOR Gift Announcement!…
Driving to Community Dinner at Grace, a train passed by on the bridge over my head at Fulton Street. I knew that James would be seeing it soon. It always makes me feel connected to him when I watch the trains go by on the way to the bridge where he lives. (Same bridge Pete and Ricky used to live under.) Later, downtown at the Green Bean, I stopped in the doorway on the way in to watch a train leaving the station, heading out of town, and again thought, “James will be seeing that train soon.”
Read more on Watching trains and thinking about James…
LA’s Homeless Blog notes that homeless services agencies across the country will (once again) have to change their approach to service delivery as a new group of homeless folks becomes the priority. For the past few years, the focus has been on chronic homelessness, as everyone, from the feds down to local providers has turned their attention to the 10-15% of the homeless population who are the most visible and who use about 50% of the resources. But with the downturn in the economy, there has been an increase in “episodic homelessness,” and many people who have not previously experienced homelessness, including professional workers, are now in need of housing and services. Homeless service agencies will have to adapt to these changes.
Read more on Ch-ch-changes: Providing services to a changing homeless population…
Today on my way home from church, I saw one of the many U.S. military veterans that I know who are or have been homeless in Greensboro. He was flying a sign at his usual corner. I stopped to say hello and asked if I could take a picture of his sign.
Read more on Panhandling to pay the rent…
Reidsville also participated in the annual state-wide homeless count last week. Shelter staff at Room in the Inn say they expect Rockingham County’s homeless numbers to increase about 10% from last year’s count of 226 adults and 42 children. I participated in Greensboro’s street count. Our totals should be released in 1-2 weeks. Based on what we’re seeing on the street and at meal locations, I expect our numbers to be up here, too.
Read more on Rockingham County homeless population increasing…
In the days before his death, Thomas Pauli, a homeless man in Grand Rapids, Michigan, tried to get a bed at two different shelters, but was turned away. Both shelters are within 1,000 feet of Central Catholic High School. Pauli, a sex offender, was prohibited from residing at the shelters, even for a night. And the shelters are near public parks, also prohibited areas for sex offenders. So Pauli slept outside, behind a recycling shop. That’s where his lifeless body was found, crouched on hands and knees in the snow, apparently frozen to death.
Read more on Outlawed from shelter, sex offender freezes to death in snow…