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 … > read more
From the News & Record, 01/15/2009: Kenneth Brown keeps the small, red book in his small, cluttered office at the Salvation Army Family Store. He and Nicole “Nikky” Slaughter, his assistant manager, use it to record the names of any new student who comes in for community service after getting … > read more
Operation Greensboro Cares, a fundraising partnership coordinated by the United Way, the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, the News & Record and other media partners, is raising money for emergency shelter (including winter shelter through the WE! program), emergency food assistance through food pantries, and emergency financial assistance with power … > read more
Fox8 interviewed some of our homeless friends (Mississippi, Junior and Bobby) and one of the GPD cops we partner with (Tim Tepedino) about the freezing temperatures and the lack of shelter. (Story, video.) Junior said: “If it wasn’t for police officers coming down here helping homeless people right here, we’d … > read more
In early August, I met with Andy Scott, director of the City’s department of Housing and Community Development, and members of his staff, to discuss how the City’s plans to buy the Coliseum Inn would affect the low-income and homeless people who stay there. Street outreach teams from NightWatch and … > read more
Update: Photo at left was taken on 08/21/2008 and shows the back parking lot of the Ethan Allen property. There’s evidence of people hanging out and/or sleeping all around this property and in the wooded area behind the store, as well. On Tuesday morning, Duke Energy workers found the body … > read more
I posted the prayer I prayed on my way home from last night’s NightWatch. One of my prayers was for “my friend who sleeps at Grace who’s moving into housing and who needs to be encouraged.” Today, he sent me an email and asked me to forward it to the … > read more
The cold weather shelter programs at both homeless shelters ended yesterday, and Greensboro Urban Ministry Executive Director Mike Aiken and Salvation Army Major Paul Egan say they won’t reopen before next winter unless the weather becomes life-threatening. Salvation Army was providing emergency shelter for about 40-50 people, and Greensboro Urban … > read more
I was packing a box of donated food the other day, to give to a homeless couple who are currently staying in a hotel, and I couldn’t find a lot of the kinds of things they needed. And I realized that people who donate food are probably just thinking “canned” … > read more
For the past couple of weeks, the NightWatch team has been making a stop in the parking lot of a local hotel that is “home” for many folks who might otherwise be on the street. And a lot of them are back outside when their money — or someone else’s … > read more