Dec. 17, 2007

I spent the day with a woman who's homeless today for a story that will run later in the week. I met Vanessa at just after 7 in the morning and by noon I had met a dozen more people. Some I only know by their street names -- Vanessa's is Hopalong because she has a pronounced limp.
She's one of the lucky ones because she has a bed in a shelter at night. Others told me stories of setting up tents in the woods and coming back to find the tents slit and their belongings gone.
"I pray to God every night to thank him for keeping me safe for another day, then I pray again in the morning to thank him for another safe night," said a man who calls himself Eagle. "There are young people out there with guns. You're scared to lay your head down at night."
Friday is National Homeless Persons Memorial Day. A local church here will open up to anyone who wants to be there on the longest night of the year. Community members will bring food for a potluck dinner, and organizers will hold a service to remember people who have died in the last year.
I learned a lot today, and had some of what I know reinforced.
First of all, people who are homeless are people. They deserve the same respect and dignity as anyone else.
Almost all of us who have homes are within six months of being homeless -- illness or accident, loss of a job, fire or flood. We'd go through our savings pretty quickly and be out on the street.
Once you're homeless, it's really, really hard to get back into a home. You need at least two months' rent, plus deposits for utilities, furniture, groceries ...
I heard what it's like to walk into a coffee shop and be denied service because they don't want homeless people there.
One woman told me about being threatened with arrest for trespassing because she sat to rest for a few minutes on a brick wall next to the sidewalk.
One of the men I met today told me a young woman once asked him what it feels like to be homeless.
"What does it feel like? Well, I can't tell you that," he said. "You have to experience it to know. You have to give up all your worldly possessions and keep only what you can carry on your back."