I wrote about the guys on the block (and more) for the News & Record: “When there’s nowhere to go,” by Michele Forrest; published Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. It’s online here, and reposted below: My ministry partner, Audrie Keen, and I provide a street outreach to the homeless in Greensboro, … > read more
I’ve been studying what the Bible has to say about caring for the poor, the hungry, the homeless, and the hurting. I came across a really thought-provoking article on the internet: …Sometimes Christians, in their eagerness to be compassionate and Christ-like, fail to recognize that God put limitations on this … > read more
Good editorial in today’s News & Record: “Clearing out The Block”: Greensboro police last week stepped up loitering enforcement and effectively cleared the place known as “The Block.” Just like that. Through a series of 30-minute patrols, officers shooed away the clusters of mostly men who routinely gather at the … > read more
Two days ago, I wrote about “the block” at Lee and Eugene Streets being empty. The block is a long-time gathering spot where folks, many of them homeless, are known to loiter and drink. A friend, who catches a bus just down the sidewalk, had contacted me to tell me … > read more
A friend contacted me yesterday to tell me that police were no longer allowing people to stand on “the block,” a well-known and long-time gathering spot at the corner of Lee and Eugene Streets near the homeless shelter, soup kitchen and health clinic. Traditionally, most of the people who stood … > read more
Did you read News & Record editorial page editor Allen Johnson’s Sunday, October 4, 2009 column? Read it online: My conflicted views about panhandlers. Allen writes in response to the heavily restrictive changes to the city’s panhandling ordinance, which have made it illegal to panhandle almost everywhere downtown, and have … > read more
Be sure to read Lorraine Ahearn’s News & Record article, “Benches highlight a bigger problem”, which begins like this: “The location of artistic benches, which were removed from the Downtown Greenway on Friday after neighbors complained, looked good on paper but ignored some basic urban topography. Just a stone’s throw … > read more
From greensboropeerpressure” “The people who rule what happens in Downtown Greensboro have removed the little greenway through the parking lot on South Elm and McGee streets downtown because they claim that nobody used it. People used to use it to eat bag lunches and watch passers-by and enjoy the breeze … > read more
[video link] From Mark Horvath at InvisiblePeople.tv: “Brutal and senseless.” This is how Cotton describes homelessness. It might just be the most succinct and heart-breakingly accurate explanation I’ve heard in a long time. Cotton is homeless and disabled. She lives in a tent in Greensboro, NC. If that’s not bad … > read more
Jimmy is 69 years old. He’s worked all his life, and is a military veteran, but now, at retirement age, he is living in a tent in the woods. [video link] Jimmy says that he’s eligible for Social Security, but doesn’t have the identification he needs, including his DD214, to … > read more