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From a friend to me, on Facebook:

“I have 2 stories for you tonight. one. A man got beat up last night at Urban Ministries by three kids who live down in Saint James.(he didnt know what hit him or who did it cause he was intoxicated.) The second thing that happened happened three and a half hours later. A guy got stabbed over an altercation at about 11:15pm last night-At Urban Ministries. More details in my status. i was there when both things happened. i know all parties involved in both altercations.”

On her wall, she wrote:

Read more on Greensboro homeless violence: Two people assaulted in separate incidents outside shelter…

winter shelter ends, 2008

03/15/2008: “The cold weather shelter programs at both homeless shelters ended yesterday…”

Every year, Greensboro Urban Ministry and Salvation Army open winter emergency overflow programs, in addition to their year-round shelter beds, to keep homeless people from freezing to death sleeping outside.  And every year, those winter shelter programs close as winter ends.  Salvation Army closes winter shelter on March 15th.  Greensboro Urban Ministry closes winter shelter when the dangerous temperatures end.  Every year, homeless people go back outside as the weather warms up.

Read more on WE shelters increase awareness that winter shelter does end…

Mark Hoffman, aka “the homeless guy who sits on the bench at Friendly,” aka “the most famous homeless person in Greensboro” (and now North Carolina) is back in town. He’s not back on his bench. (A homeless couple ran him off. There’s a homeless couple there now. Not sure if it’s the same couple.) But he’s back at his church.

Read more on The guy from the bench at Friendly is back…

Councilwoman Goldie Wells was here at FNB dinner earlier, Mayor is here now talking to homeless folks and advocates; small group, laid back

Marshall, my friend and outreach director at my church, writes on his blog today:

“Today I don’t want to see. I don’t want to see the homeless men gathered on the corner in my city, jobless and ignorant of their purpose. I don’t want to see the lines for free lunch at the shelter. I don’t want to see the storage unit filled with bags and bags of clothes, the only possessions of a homeless woman who hoards useless things and panhandles to pay her storage rent. I don’t want to see the family with no food and two weeks to go until the food stamps get renewed…”

Read more on I don’t want to see……

Surveilling the homeless: What will the City of Greensboro think of next?

From a formerly homeless friend’s Facebook wall:

“FREE PHOTO SHOOT-care to have your picture taken? -As of yesterday a new camera was put on the block. UNDER SURVEILLANCE-hmm… the block has been put on surveillance. There is a nice camera that takes your picture, and then tells you that you need to go. Its posted.”

Read more on Surveillance: City of Greensboro uses talking camera to move homeless along…

Saw this sign-flying faux pas near downtown the other day:

Where not to stand when panhandling.

From “Panhandling 101, Greensboro Style:”

“You can’t step off the sidewalk and into the roadway while panhandling. (That means if someone in a car in a middle lane wants to give you money, you can’t go into traffic to get it. They would need to come to you.) “

I took this photo from a parking lot where I had stopped to look through the snacks, hygiene items and blankets I keep in my car to give to homeless people — planning to take something to him. But even with my car window rolled up, I could hear him loudly and creatively cursing the drivers of cars who passed by without stopping, and I noticed that he had two companions sitting in a corner of the parking lot cheering him on. From the looks of things, they may well have been under the influence of another form of cheer. So I decided to wait until another day, when I have some company along with me, to make this particular gentleman’s acquaintance.

Read more on How not to panhandle…

video link

“Brianna is a 24 year old woman. For the past 12 days, she has lived with her dog in a small RV community in a Wal-Mart parking lot…” — Bri, from invisiblepeople.tv

Read more on Mobile homeless: 24-year old Bri in LA…

Some of my homeless friends in Greensboro call this a “bird bath.”

New York Observed
Mr. Toast and the Art of Bathing in the Library
By John Wray
Published: March 15, 2009

Read more on New York Observed – Mr. Toast and the Art of Bathing in the Library – NYTimes.com…

According to the 2009 point in time count of the homeless in Guilford County, conducted by the Homeless Prevention Coalition (HPCGC) on January 28th, there were 130 unsheltered people in the county, only 26 of whom are chronically homeless.  Keep in mind that those numbers include both Greensboro and High Point.   I believe that the team I was with counted 10 chronically homeless people on the night of the count.  What are the odds that all the other teams combined only found 16 more chronically homeless people out of the remaining 120?  Hmmm…

Read more on Breaking down the homeless count, part 1…

John from invisible people on Vimeo:

John | invisiblepeople.tv

A Greensboro police officer responds to the news that Shiloh Baptist Church, near the corner of Lee and Eugene Streets, is changing their entrance signs from “No Trespassing” to “Welcome to Shiloh:”

Read more on A cop’s thoughts on the Shiloh signs…