Homeless Voice; 2 Gifts 1 Holiday

HOMELESS

I

t seems like this year may be like the last seven when it came to the holidays and homeless families. In the last few days we have gotten some newborns as our presents.

Maybe I will dress them up as candy canes and have them hang with us in the office helping us do paper work. Is that a selfish thing to do, putting a baby to work? The work the babies would be doing would to be just being babies…smiling, crying, making noises in their diapers, making smelly in their diapers, wanting to be picked up, smiling, like I said, just sitting there. The other work the baby would be doing is to remind us that we need to thank God that Homeless shelters exist. There are Homeless shelters, and there are Homeless shelters, and there are Homeless shelters, but there are Homeless children, and Homeless children, and Homeless children and Homeless children, do you see that there is one more phrase Homeless children than Homeless shelters.

Why is that? Because there are many more homeless people in

Carmen holding her precious new baby. the world then we have beds for.

How can this be, when we can put a man on the moon or clone an animal? I guess that will mean that poverty will only get worse in the future.

When the Profit family first came to us, it was only mom and dad, but now their little one named Kendall is a part of it.

Kendall is a simple, innocent little baby and we love to hear him cry but he does not cry much. Why would we want him to cry a lot? Most babies look so peaceful when they are sleeping, but you see … little Kendall can stop

Already there have been many miracles to make sure this baby survives

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Kevin Profit receiving diapers by our volunteer staff, Carol

breathing when he falls a sleep.

Stop breathing? That's right, baby Kendall has to wear a monitor every minute of his life for the next six months. He was born with some difficulties and mom and dad had to get certified in baby CPR in case that day strikes and Kendall stops breathing.

The alarm will ring and then mom and dad will have to become paramedics. So when he cries, or makes baby noises that means he is breathing well. I know this baby will always make it. He went from being an unborn baby in his mom’s womb and homeless to living on a respirator for a few days to wearing a monitor and then coming back to the homeless shelter. Already there

ouldn’t it be something if we had ten rooms with a baby and mom like this in each one?” is what I just asked Sean.

Seven-monthold Roman Micah and his mom, Maria, just arrived a little while ago. Their AFDC (Aid to Families and Dependent Children) money had run out and

that meant the end of living at the hotel where they had been for a while.

A couple of hours ago she called us for help. She had called the police for transportation here, but that required a car seat and she had none. So to make a long story and a few phone calls short, we

“Are we their gift?

Or are they our gift?”

have been many miracles to make sure this baby survives. I often wonder if he is like the kid from the Terminator movies who “has to survive,” you know the one Arnold kept alive "John O'Conner".

For some reason God wants this baby to make it.

Why do I say, "For some reason?" I don’t know the reason, God has his own reason…and it ends right there. God doesn't make mistakes, He knows exactly what He is doing and why.

Carmen and Kevin Profit you have the best present in the world, you got a baby. You went from living in a homeless shelter to having you own off campus ...continued on page15

Seven-month-old Roman Micah and his mom, Maria

paid her way by cab.

We are a little prejudiced here, in the office especially, when it comes to babies, but this little guy is really (Continued on page 14)

Voice

Page 2

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December, 2003

HOMELESSVOICE.ORG

can be hard sometimes. What makes it easier on me is to L ife have family and friends to call when I am down. I must remember to be grateful because some people do not have that option. I cannot image what life would be like if I was in that situation. I would like to say that I would be strong. And that I could make it. But I cannot make a prediction. For those of you that are struggling, keep fighting. For those of you that have made it, thanks for the hope. It strengthens me.

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Page 4

NATIONAL NEWS

A

great note for all to read. It will take just 37 seconds to read this and change your thinking.

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.

Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those onehour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band - he could see it. In his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

Days and weeks passed. One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep.

She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take

T

o Whom It may Concern, You pass me many days not knowing my story, not caring about me. But I am here.

You could be me, with a divorce, an accident, an unforeseen tragedy. Mine was tragedy, the death of my husband. I broke. I could

not bear the pain of the loss and at the time I didn’t have the faith to overcome the pain.

I had pictures, I had memories, but beyond that I had nothing. It was just him and I. The death of my parents was long ago. I didn’t need anybody else

the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.

The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

Epilogue: There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled.

If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can't buy.

"Today is a gift, that's why it is called the present."

People will forget what you said…

People will forget what you did…

But people will never forget how you made them feel…

Make someone happy, share a kind word today!

in my life, I had my husband. I used to kid that one headache in my life was enough. I wish to God I had that headache back.

I can look at his pictures and still hear him laugh though it has been several years.

Nothing mattered when he died, not my job, not my health, not my life. The intention was to drink away the pain. When I woke up and sobered up a year had passed. There was nothing left. I had sold the household goods a little at a time to pay the rent.

Then there was nothing left to sell.

It took time to realize I needed help, my mental health was no more. And my physical state had taken a dive. With Hepatitis C, I’m tired all the time and often just want to sleep.

Without a home, where do you think I accomplish this? At times in the park when the cops aren’t out, at times in bushes when I just can’t take anymore and have to rest. Friends let me sleep at their place once in awhile. Several of us have pooled our money to rent a motel room.

I now get Social Security, but it isn’t enough to pay for deposit on a house and first and

last months rent. I can’t afford credit checks for people who demand them, not that it would do any go od .

When you don’t have it together enough to pay rent you get evicted. You then have a record.

I am a Christian, I believe in God. He is what sustained me through my loss, when I couldn’t do it on my own and keeps me going now. I am thankful for and love the Christian people that bring us food, clothing and toiletries. They are doing what they believe Jesus would do. They do not judge me. They love me.

I am asking nothing from you but a smile when we pass. It doesn’t matter that you will not know who I am. Because, to whom it may concern, I could be YOU! —L.W. Modesto, CA

You pass me many days not knowing my story, not caring about me. But I am here.

Reprinted from the September 2003 edition of Curbside News, Modesto, CA, USA. www.streetnewsservice.org

Page 5

December, 2003

NATIONAL NEWS

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hen the first flakes of the year begin to fall many things may come to mind. To some, the snow is a blessing. It is a source of income, as they drive snowplows through the city, start up the ski lifts or put the new winter clothing onto the front racks. To others, it means a few days off school, or at least a good snowball fight in the playground. To others still, it is a curse; a sign of yet another hard season. They wince with the thought of what will come, while peering out from under a freeway overpass or from the doorway in a rough alley that radiates with the odor of urine and dumpsters. They wonder if they will make it this year, or if they will be turned away from yet another overcrowded shelter and left to sleep in another bus station, or maybe freeze in that very spot, where the cars run above them every moment of the day.

For millions of homeless people in our country, the winter is not a time for celebration and relaxation, for there is no time for that. They must wait in lines for food stamps rather than selecting a ham. They have to sit on the cold concrete next to the Filene's

window advertising fluffy fur coats, holding out a battered cardboard box, instead of complaining about the annoying Salvation Army bells from inside a warm McDonald's. They have to save pennies to buy a second pair of socks or a sandwich, rather than a gift for a loved one.

For some of them, there are no loved ones to give gifts to anyway. These people are alone in the world.

Some are old, and all their friends and family have long ago died off.

Some are young, and afraid to return to their homes; to a mother that beats them, or a father who rapes them. Some are middleaged, and embarrassed to return to their family. They have been given so much already, and they would rather their mother feel sad that they have either died or stopped writing, than disappointed by the failure that they have become.

Regardless of their situation, the snow and the holidays bring tears to their eyes. They will not sing any Christmas songs this year. They will try to forget, amid the store windows and beautiful lights. They will try to ignore the families buying gifts for each other, the parades, the

For some of them, there are no loved ones to give gifts to anyway.

I

t was a hot summer day in the streets of Miami. Humidity was on the rise, and people rushed back and forth. Everybody is always in such a rush, maybe they are trying to get some cool air. I don’t like the hot weather and I don’t like the cold weather. As I tried to cross the street I saw her, I saw a middle age lady. Her dark hair was matted in the back with bits of gray all around. Her face was tanned and a bit wrinkled, beads of sweat were dripping down her forehead only to be soaked up by the red bandana she had around her head. As I looked at her clothes they seemed to just hang there. It was like a oversize house-dress with different designs all gathered around her waist by a gold belt. She was pushing a shopping cart from a grocery store around the area. I became more curious as to what the content of this cart had inside.

When I got closer I could not tell whether she was pushing the cart or the cart was dragging her. Inside the cart were paper shopping bags full of clothes some dirty some clean. There

laughter, and the stir among those more fortunate. Most likely, they will not be able to. They will huddle, alone, under a bridge or in an alley, where no one hangs wreaths or garlands, and be overwhelmed with longing for what could have been and regret for what is. And a tear will trickle down their unshaven faces and fall into their worn, dirty, wool shirts. And there it will freeze, cold against the skin of their chests.

As they hide from the reminders of what life was once like, a man in a classy new business suit will pass by the entrance to the alley, not noticing the huddled mass in a doorway about halfway down. He will continue down the block and take a left past the man ringing the annoying bell for the Salvation Army.

In the warm, lavish jewelry store he will select the perfect ring for his wife. This will be their 30th Christmas together, and he will want it to be the best. He will choose a rather large diamond, because he spares no expense for his Sweetie, and he wants her to know it. His face full of excitement and the Christmas Spirit, he will sign the credit card slip. It will feel good, to give so much.

He will feel like he has done a great deed. As he strides out of the shopping center, passes the clanging bell, and lowers himself

were paper cups and plastic forks and spoons. She had a rusty lantern that had seen better days. A quilted blanket was folded neatly over the back of cart, some dirty tennis shoes were hanging on the other side, there were plastic flowers, a bottle of water, a Marlins baseball cap full of napkins from Burger King, and last but not least a half empty box of KFC chicken. When I tried to pass her I saw her face up close, her eyes were withered with sadness, she looked shy yet spunky. I could tell that at one point in her life she had been very pretty. I wondered to myself how had this lady gotten where she was. What mistakes had she made? What sins had she committed that she deserved this as punishment? Did she not have any family to worry about her? Did they turn their backs on her for any particular reason? Or was she just plain stupid? I ask myself how can God permit this kind of thing to happen, where were her hopes her dreams were they inside that

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into his polished, middle-class sedan, he will be humming a Christmas tune.

The next morning, on Christmas Day, he will be sure that the ring is the last gift your mother opens. Your father's heart will beat with excitement as he watches her pull it from the bottom of her red, white and green stocking and open the top of the black velvet clamshell. She will gasp at its size, and throw a huge hug around his athletic neck. And your father will smile very big, and so will your mother. She will release him after a few moments, and show you the ring of yellow metal and clear rocks.

A few hours later, as you drive over the bridge that leads out of town on the way to your Grandmother's, you will all laugh and sing, not knowing that you are passing over the frozen, tearstained body of another victim of the a cold Christmas morning.

By Ryan O'Donnell Graduate student THE NEW HAMPSHIRE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1996

I ask myself how can God permit this kind of thing to happen, where were her hopes her dreams were they inside that shopping cart? shopping cart? Where was her (faith? Or had she stopped praying altogether. I wanted to ask her so many questions, where did she come from? Where was she going? Where had she been? Who was she? As she stopped in front of a store window and she looked up, only one of my questions were answered.

That bag lady was me.

Mary Lou Gonzalez

Voice

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HEALTH TIPS

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his year I wanted to give our readers and the public a Christmas present. The present is information on health issues. Last month we gave you a little information on mental health issues such as depression. We listed what medications will help, warning signs, and also where to get help. Stoke does not discriminate; it can happen to anyone of us. The good thing is that there are many warning signs that are known as TIA's. TIA’s will let you know that a stoke may be near. The next good thing is that "a change of life-style" can help prevent future TIA's or even stroke.

S

have to use what we call, really, is a class of troke is like a bolt of lightning, they say.

Stroke is the third-leading drugs an anticoagulant. And the most comIn a split second, your whole life changes.

You could be a chief executive of some cause of death in this country mon one that we use is Coumadin and that is a drug that requires very close monitoring of big corporation and then, in a split second, you from any major illness. your Coumadin level on a regular basis and cannot talk, you cannot think. You don't even requires much more patient effort and physirecognize your relative, your wife. So it could change your lifestyle in split second. Stroke is the third-leading cause cian monitoring than a drug like aspirin. Controlling cholesterol levels of death in this country from any major illness. There are risk factors can also lower your risk for stroke. If you cannot reduce your lipids or that we call modifiable and these are medical conditions that you may your cholesterol with just diet, frequently your doctor will have to prehave. And these include high blood pressure or hypertension, heart scribe medications and there are many medications available today to disease, cigarette smoking, diabetes. Patients who have high choles- lower both lipids and cholesterol, again reducing your risk for stroke. terol. Patients who have a sedentary lifestyle and patients who are While stroke can happen to any of us, it's important to remember there overweight all have an increased risk of stroke. Patients who have a are ways to lessen the odds. We try to tell the community that exercise sedentary lifestyle and patients who are overweight all have an in- is very, very important. Seeing your doctor for a yearly checkup is creased risk of stroke If it is High blood pressure the first step is usu- very important to see if there's any early onset of high cholesterol, ally modifying your diet and reducing the amount of salt in your diet. early onset of diabetes, early onset of high blood pressure. Just so they And for many patients, that will help reduce their blood pressure. But know that this is something that is very serious. Most of the risk facwhen that isn't enough, we have to use medications and we have a tors that are modifiable do have treatments available. So, for instance, large number of medications available to us today to treat hyperten- if you take medications for your blood pressure and your blood pression. So that someone who is seeing a doctor on a regular basis and sure is normal, that will reduce your risk of stroke. If you have diabeunder treatment can have their blood pressure controlled very well. tes, which also is a significant risk factor for stroke and you monitor The more simple or the more common type that we would use are your blood sugars at home closely and take medications as your doctor called antiplatelet agents. And these are drugs like aspirin or newer prescribes, you also will reduce the likelihood of having complications drugs that are similar in their activity, and these are used for patients such as stroke. Living a healthy lifestyle, staying active, avoiding that have mild types of heart conditions that don't require more serious heavy alcohol use, avoiding smoking and seeing your doctor on a types of drugs that thin the blood. Sometimes a serious heart problem regular basis, so that if you develop other risk factors like high blood can be present without the patient being aware of it. Such is the case pressure or diabetes, your doctor will be able to provide you with the with a trial fibrillation. We usually ask the patient if they have any right instructions and medications to minimize those having an impact observation as far as palpitations. If they feel that their heart is like on your future risk for stroke. Š 2003 Healthology, Inc galloping very rapidly and the rhythm is very, very fast, that needs to be controlled by medication. When someone has a more serious condition like atrial fibrillation, usually aspirin is not strong enough, and we

T

here are many warning signs of a stroke. I think the important thing to keep in mind is that they happen quickly. A stroke does not occur over a long period of time; it's a sudden event. Recognizing you're having a stroke is crucial and the signs are varied. Some of the more common warning signs of stroke would include sudden weakness on one side of your body or sudden numbness on one side of your body.

Another warning sign might be difficulty with speech, either your speech is slurred or you're unable to speak normally as you have in the past. Someone who becomes suddenly confused could be having a stroke.

Some patients actually may lose vision in one or both eyes or partial loss of vision in both eyes as a warning sign of stroke.

Those people who have a severe headache, the worst headache of their life,

those are people that you really have Another warning sign might be difficulty to watch. What's with speech, either your speech is slurred tricky with stroke is that sometimes the or you're unable to speak normally as you symptoms may be have in the past. momentary, but they are a warning that must be acted on promptly. This means sorry. Even when in doubt that you're having 911 if you think you are having a sign of a a stroke, call an ambulance, get to the hospital stroke. Time is of the most importance. Ignor- and check it out. The good news is that there ing the signs of a stroke and not getting to a is a treatment for certain types of stroke, but it hospital immediately could make a serious must be given within three hours of the sympproblem even worse. A problem that might toms appearing. You should never drive yourhave been taken care of with prompt atten- self if you are having a stroke. So while there tion. Let's say this happens like 10:00 in the may be little you can do to prevent a stroke, evening, they say, "Let me go to bed. Maybe there is much you can do to help yourself if when I wake up in the morning, I'll be fine." you do have one. That means going to the They don't wake up; they don't get up, be- hospital. Getting a TIA is a warning sign cause when they get up, they don't realize that which is like a mini stroke and this cannot be one side is ignored because you may have the worst TIA weak. They which could develop into a stroke and if you get up and wait and think it will go away, it may go they fall on away but a full stroke will eventually come the floor. The your way. We will cover TAI in the next artibest advice? cle. Š 2003 Healthology, Inc Better to be safe than

Page 7

December, 2003

HEALTH TIPS

M

ost people know the term "stroke" and they have someone, maybe in their family, that's had a stroke. Stroke will cause some kind of damage that is lasting -weakness, numbness, tingling.

Some kind of neurological symptom. Difficulty speaking. Slurred speech. Difficulty walking.

A TIA is something on more the mild side. It's transient.

Usually the symptoms occur, resolve and are gone. Most of us define a TIA as something lasting less than 24 hours, although the new terms actually are maybe even less than an hour. Where they'll have transient neurological symptoms: sudden loss of vision, weakness on one side of the body, numbness, tingling, difficulty speaking, difficulty walking -- that would last only minutes to hours, and then resolve and leave you back to normal. That's what we would call a TIA. Actually nowadays, the term "brain attack".

They would know that they have neurological symptoms. Most people may recognize

I

these symptoms, often ignoring them, but they wouldn't be left with lasting damage, whereas stroke will usually leave impairment, though many strokes will improve as well. It's kind of a continuum where the longer you have the neurological symptoms, the more likely that there has been some injury to the brain.

While TIA, we think of has no injury actually has occurred but the fact that it's a warning that maybe injury could occur.

What technically happens during one of these ministrokes?

RALPH L. SACCO, MD: During a mini-stroke, the concern is that blood flow may be temporarily interrupted to the brain. That's what we call an ischemic stroke, rather than a bleeding stroke. Say something blocks an artery for an instant, causes reduced blood flow and causes some kind of temporary disturbance in the brain. Usually this blood flow is reduced either by a blockage, a hardening of the artery or say, a clot, that gets loose from somewhere and

t may surprise you to learn a stroke can actually be in the works a full week before you show any symptoms. Recognizing early warning signs is key to surviving this potential killer. Studies suggest that does not happen often enough with some patients waiting hours or even days to get help -which is often too late. Acute stroke means that the process of brain damage is occurring by the minute. As far as the patient is concerned, the patient will notice the sudden onset of neurological symptoms. One minute the patient may be home relaxing and all of a sudden the patient will notice an inability to move say the right side of her body and diffi-

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he key is somebody who has now had a stroke, or a TIA, preventing an event - preventing a recurrence. Most of the time we talk about secondary or tertiary prevention. We're really talking about how to prevent a recurrent stroke. It's clear that if you've

blocks an artery, or small arteries in the brain that then over time may block off. This reduces blood flow and causes the neurological symptoms.

PAUL J. MONIZ: You mentioned that TIA actually has another name. Tell us about this name change.

RALPH L. SACCO, MD: Recently and over the last few years, the National Stroke Association and the American Heart Association has been making a concerted effort to change the name TIA to "brain attack."

Just like Dr. Jamieson was mentioning heart attack -- if we use the term brain attack, people may take it more seriously.

Brain attack is a warning sign. It's a definite risk for stroke and we want people to take these neurological symptoms seriously and get attention immediately. So that's why we want to add some urgency to the terms "stroke" and "TIA," and use the term perhaps "brain attack."

What should they be looking for?

DARA JAMIESON,

MD: As Brain attack Dr. Sacco said, weak- is a warning ness on sign. one side of the body is of concern, but it can be weakness in just the fingers, or weakness in the upper arm, or just weakness in the foot. It doesn't have to be the face, arm and leg. Same with numbness, although we think of numbness on one side of the body as being present with a TIA or stroke. It can be numbness in a very small portion of your body, such as just the hand or the foot.

Patient may be speaking on the phone and have slurred speech for a period of time -- not just one word, but if they have slurred speech for five minutes where people say, "Gee, I can't understand what you're saying."

That could be a TIA. Some people have loss of vision in one eye (Continued on page 11)

One minute the patient may be home relaxing and all of a sudden the patient will notice an inability to move say the right side of her body and difficulty speaking. culty speaking. That's a patient who is having an acute stroke who needs to recognize those symptoms immediately, needs to get to the hospital immediately and get treatment immediately. How quickly should they call? Two minutes after symptoms? How important is that call? Š 2003 Healthology, Inc.

Lets say you think you may be having a stroke, getting to the hospital is crucial: If you have these neurological symptoms then you need to call right away. You don't want to wait. The key for stroke treatment is less than three hours. That's why we use the term "time is brain." The best effective therapy we have only works if you get it within three hours.

survived your TIA is a warning sign, a stroke, you're at risk for a transient ischemic attack -- it's recurrence. If you have a a brain attack. It may be a recurrence, warning sign of a stroke. it's going to make a major impact.

It will increase the tack. It may be a warning sign of chance of dying. It will clearly a stroke. In TIA patients who are add more disability to your at high risk for stroke, we want to life. It's important for us to be prevent a stroke and this fits into thinking about ways to reduce the prevention as well. What are chance -- in the survivors of some of the ways to reduce the stroke -- the chance of a recurrent risk? stroke. What is a TIA again ? DARA JAMIESON, MD: The TIA is a warning sign, a transient first way which we may think of ischemic attack -- it's a brain at- as being the simplest, but for

some patients is truly the hardest, is lifestyle adjustment. Basically decreasing those risk factors, making sure that your physician is keeping your blood pressure under control, making sure your sugar -- your glucoses are under control if you have diabetes, making sure your cholesterol is normal. Eating a good diet. If you smoke, stop. Exercise. Get your weight down. Once you've dealt with risk factors, then there are antiplatelet medications. In some cases, there are anticoagulant medications and, in some cases, surgery that can help de(Continued on page 11)

Voice

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NEW LIFESTYLES

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the street he is real ill so I convince him to come over for the day and remind him our home is his home and he should use us a little when he is sick or injured.

T h i s time it was not the elements of the street that caused these injuries, it was the elements of some street hoods that caused these injuries to Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith was pushing his shopping cart and a few guys told him he was going to push a few bikes to another location.

Mr. Smith is no dummy; he had a feeling in his heart that they were stolen property so he declined the job.

Once he declined they climbed on him giving him a black eye and a bloody lip. So we cleaned him up and took care of his wounds and told him to stay here a few weeks to recover.

Mr. Smith also has had a very severe problem with hernias in his stomach.

He claims that a local hospital saw him and said it was no emergency and that he could go. He also said the hospital knew he was homeless and still released him to the streets. I have seen lots of hernia and frankly this is the one case that looks real bad.

Anyway this Mr. Donald Smith is a prime example of what the homeless have to go through in this world today.

When I was younger in Drivers Education they The above picture is the hernias Mr. Smith has to live with showed us pictures of people for now. One day he will be hernia free. We will let you know. who got hit by a drunk driver

onald Smith, a man that could be the poster child for all homeless cases in America, made his way to us once again. We have known him for sometime now. Donald is not a man that sponges off of society; rather he is a man who is Hollywood’s’ most powerful environmentalist.

What do you mean environmentalist? He cleans up the streets looking for aluminum cans so he can eat. This man is a man that does not get harassed by the police and some even buy him a dinner. He is not into handouts much but he does not turn down some good food.

This man is not a guest of our hotel nor is he a client of one of our sister agencies. But we allow

him to stop by, take a shower, get some food and offer him a night out of the streets all for just being a good worker. And that is what we see when we see him cleaning up the streets from people who throw their empty beer cans out the window. He does not like our shelter and the rules he would have to follow. I have not figured that out as of yet because he has never broken any rules here. I think he just likes to be independent.

As I said in the intro paragraph about being the poster child for our cause it is surely the truth. Look real good at this picture. His eye is all swollen and his lips are bleeding. And, most of the time when we see him on

Donald we have known you some time now, feel free to stop over whenever you just need a few days rest.

The most important thing to remember when dealing with infections is to give the client the best possible care so it heals properly. Also, remember to protect yourself so you do not get the same infection.

Before

After to deter us from drinking and driving. A head over there and the rest of the torso over there.

These pictures stayed with me for a long time, it made a lasting impression in my mind. Just look into these pictures and ask yourself, how easy is it to live in the streets? I hope these pictures of Mr. Smith make a lasting impression on someone today so they can take one extra step and to educate the people they know who may not like the homeless.

Mr. Smith is not a bum; he is a self-employed person who works to the extreme. So give this arti(Continued on page 14)

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December, 2003

NEW LIFESTYLES

W

hat have we all been told in reference to how we approached an animal that was injured?

Think about it. If you saw a dog hit by a car and you wanted to help it, what were you told as a little kid?

We were told to be careful because the dog is hurt and he will probably bite because he does not know you are there to help him. What makes the dog change from usually a peaceful demeanor to biting the hand that feeds him, or in this case biting the hand that is about to save him from his misery? It is my opinion that there is no way for the dog to communicate with you.

Now put yourself in the shoes of someone that cannot hear or speak. What would you do if you don't understand something and there is no way to express yourself? Would you be scared if you saw all these people trying to tell you something, especially when there is commotion going on, and you had no idea what they were trying to communicate to you. Would you the person who has no understanding of what was going on get scared and bite back?

For over three months Jackie Robinson was a man who became completely violent when we tried to tell him he could not do certain things. Or, when we were trying to get people out of the way of a dangerous situation he would get violent. For instance when there is a medical emergency in the building and it involves blood we have a terminology that we say over the public address system. "Medical lock down" ... meaning all clients must stay where they are or they should proceed to the designated areas in the building. We do this so they are not exposed to any dangerous blood, whether it is from an HIV victim or another disease present. This happened a few months ago and Jackie was standing right in the middle of the situation.

When security tried to explain to Jackie that he had to move, Jackie got very violent.

He didn't understand.

He

wanted to watch the action. Normally his behavior was agitated when things didn't go smoothly for him. He would get excited, his arms flailing all over the place, and although he couldn't speak, he uttered sounds. Naturally anyone he was trying to communicate with felt the same frustration. One frustration fed the other. Over the next few weeks after the incident, we could not figure out why he went from being the nicest person to the most violent person. Time after time chairs were picked up and thrown at us and fist kept on coming our way. Finally out of nowhere I figured out that this man was so scared because he was not able to communicate or he was so frustrated, the only way he could express himself was through violence. Some people in the professional world would say, "Still that is no excuse to get violent,” and they probably are correct. But shouldn't there be some “Pavlov reconditioning"?

Pavlov reconditioning?

Remember in science class when the bell rang the dog began to salivate because he knew dinner was near. The scientist conditioned the dog to be familiar with the bell and having dinner so that every time the bell rang whether the dog got fed or not he began to salivate.

From our very liberal policy on people breaking the rules at the Cosac Shelter for the

Homeless we decided we were goFrom our very liberal policy on ing to work with people breaking the rules at the Mr. Robinson and try to teach him to Cosac Shelter for the Homeless communicate before he got violent we decided we were going to work again. Several more with Mr. Robinson fists flew and more chairs got thrown at innocent bystanders in the looked into his face and spoke months that came. However we slowly, "It's ok, it's ok, I’ll take finally got it right, we got him to care of it.” She had to repeat the calm down and to express him- patting on the shoulder and the self. How did we do that? We words a couple of times, but he would reach out and take Jackie's calmed down and left the room jaw in our hand and then rub his with her. She was so happy that head and give him the very big- he responded to her, it was the gest smile. When he saw our first time she had any contact like smile, his face would calm and that with him. She says now he change from angry to a smile. So "communicates" to her every when he was going to get violent, time they meet. The next thing he knew that the smile meant we have to teach Jackie is that everything was going to be all when we are not around he right and you know what, it should picture our smiling faces worked. I said to myself, I won- at the time of confusion.

Jackie dresses five times der how many people were still in jail for similar situations just better then me and has complete because nobody took the time to color coordinated, matching outteach them such a simple way to fits. Oh Yes, he does, from the communicate. Jackie had a long shirt to the pants, to the socks to history of violent actions. Lois is the shoes. In fact we all kid with usually stuck in the office and him. And when we see him in a hadn't really seen me do this, but new outfit, we ask him if his unshe listens to everything. One derwear matches the rest of his night when she was doing teams outfit and you should see what a she heard Jackie's voice out in big smile he gets on his face. I the hall someplace. She immedi- am in no way comparing Mr. ately went to investigate and Robinson behavior to an anifound him in an "argument" with mal. What I am demonstrating is another male client. She placed that it is apparent that when it her hand on his shoulder and comes to people who suffer with a handicap such as this, that maybe the criminal justice system should order a special class for people who can't communicate. We have anger management for domestic violence offenders, drug court for people who have addiction problems, so why should there not be classes for people who are simply violent because they are scared and frustrated and don't really understand what is going on.

We are supposed to teach our clients new behaviors to improve their way of life. So Lois my trusty sidekick, after saying it must be so frustrating and scary

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Call Cathy Freites 954-920-8738

(Continued on page 14)

Voice

Page 10

HOMELESS VOICE

Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten.

Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.

These are the things I l e a r n e d . . .

Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours. Say sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.

Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup? The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup - they all die. So do we.

And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK. Every-

thing you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and sane living.

Think of what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world had cookies and milk about 3 0'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and cleaned up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Robert Fulgham When I read this I trembled a bit because I realized I needed to go back to the basic principals of what I initially learned and really know about moral values. A time not so long ago I knew the genuine rules. They were simple, because things were either right or wrong. I began to reflect on why my perception of things had become so perplexed, why did my morals fall short of where they had once been? Was it a result of the people I've met

The Golden Rule and love...

or my life choices and experiences? Did life harden me somehow? I then began to wonder if I had become like some of the nurses you see in hospitals who harden their hearts to deal with all the unhappiness and death they're surrounded with? Maybe I was making too much of all this?

Maybe the holiday season was getting to me? You know, visions of sugarplums and family gettogethers and the Kodak moments that seem no longer existent today. Were work, commercialism, and social expectations becoming to stressful for me?

Have I become selfish? Did I train myself to take the easy way out, by avoiding so called uncomfortable situations and people? The more I thought about this the more I realized that we have become a throw away society. After all it's so much easier to replace than fix it… isn't it? Do you remember the days when we took the time to fix things? When our toaster broke and we had it repaired. Do you remember when we saved bread left over from supper so that we could use it for breadcrumbs or scatter it along the

ground for the birds?

I believe this loss of simplicity trickled down to other areas of our lives. Have we become a throw away society? Take relationships, do we try to fix them or do we just replace them with others? Divorce seems so much easier than trying to work out a marriage. Not talking to a friend or family member has become easier to do than trying to work out the differences. Are we going to continue to live this way? Isn't this what some would consider self-destructive behavior? How do we erase our lack of values and moral woes from our inner blackboard? Aren't the answers simple? Isn't it a simple matter of what's right and wrong? Maybe you can do what I did. I took the time listen to that wise and still voice deep within myself and asked what I needed to do to make a change for the better. It told me to "life is much too short, get rid of your bitterness, take the time to listen to others, live unselfishly, and most of all do what Robert Fulgham suggested, "no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together".

Written by Cathy Freites

According to The United States Conference of Mayors:

DID YOU KNOW THAT WHEN IT COMES TO… Emergency Food Assistance Requests by the Elderly The number of elderly persons requesting food assistance increased in 92 percent of the survey cities.

We at the Homeless Voice ask the question , if there are so many elderly people starving and looking for food , why do the Mayors and Commissioners interfere with Homeless Shelters going up in their community? Why do you out zone soup kitchens? Why do so many Mayors stop money from being raised for the Homeless. For the Mayors who help the Homeless , God Bless you and please tell your other Mayors that the local community must help with homeless problems just as much as Uncle Sam.

Christmas Tree Legends Many legends exist about the origin of the Christmas tree. One is the story of Saint Boniface, an English monk who organized the Christian Church in France and Germany. One day, as he traveled about, he came upon a group of pagans gathered around a great oak tree about to sacrifice a child to the god Thor.

To stop the sacrifice and save the child's life Boniface felled the tree with one mighty blow of his fist. In its place grew a small fir tree. The saint told the pagan worshipers that the tiny fir was the Tree of Life and stood the eternal life of Christ.

Another legend holds that Martin Luther, a founder of the Protestant faith, was walking through the forest one Christmas Eve. As he walked he was awed by the beauty of millions of stars glimmering through the branches of the evergreen trees. So taken was he by this beautiful sight that he cut a small tree and took it home to his family.

To recreate that same starlight beauty he saw in the wood, he placed candles on all its branches. Yet another legend tells of a poor woodsman who long ago met a lost and hungry child on Christmas Eve. Though very poor himself, the woodsman gave the child food and shelter for the night.

The woodsman woke the next morning to find a beautiful glittering tree outside his door. The hungry child was really the

Christ Child in disguise.

He created the tree to reward the good man for his charity. Others feel the origin of the Christmas tree may be the "Paradise Play." In medieval times most people would not read and plays were used to teach the lessons of the bible all over Europe. The Paradise Play, which showed the creation of man and the fall of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden was performed every year on December 24th. The play was performed in winter creating a slight problem. An apple tree was needed but apple trees do not bare fruit in winter so a substitution was made. Evergreens were hung with apples and used instead.

• Talk to your Human Resource Manager about how you can donate money to help the homeless thru a payroll deduction for the COSAC Foundation

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Page 11

December, 2003

HOMELESS VOICE

(Continued from page 7)

like a shade coming down over the eye. Some people may note that they can't see off to one side.

That commonly is picked up when they keep on bumping into things on one side of them. Difficulty walking, sometimes can be a TIA. If it really is a brain attack or a TIA, there may not be evidence. The first thing is recognition. We want everyone to know what the warning symptoms are. If they recognize that

they've had these warning symptoms, then they need to get medical attention. If they're having it right now, we say, "Get medical attention and call 911" because what we call "time is brain." If you wait too long, you may not even have the opportunity to get some of the effective treatments for acute stroke. But if you have the symptoms, you recognize them now, and say hearing this broadcast you know you've had a TIA, see your doctor because there are things that should be

done in the evaluation of such an individual to prevent a stroke. © 2003 Healthology, Inc. The most important thing is to "Remember if you suspect you may have had one, either recently or perhaps several months ago, contact your doctor." Bur if you are in the middle of the signs and symptoms, don't call your doctor call 911.

Here at the Homeless Voice we want to help save lives. We also want you to be

able to provide for yourself and family so you won't become homeless. Many people become homeless because of strokes.

Early treatment and prevention is key to staying healthy. Staying fit can only help you. To employees, and when you are healthy it benefits others and also prevents you from becoming homeless.

The information we printed came from the above medical provider. Remember this is just information and please see your doctor for check-ups. This is not medical advice.

(Continued from page 7)

crease your risk as well.

The major thing to do before somebody has had a TIA or stroke is to deal with risk factors. In general, we don't think of the antiplatelet drugs as being appropriate for patients who have never had a TIA or never had a stroke. But if you've had a TIA, you need to be put on an antiplatelet medication unless there is a very, very significant reason not to. If you've had a stroke, you need to

W

hen your world collapses, it doesn’t usually happen in an instant. It’s usually cause by a series of events. A divorce doesn’t happen in one day; it often takes struggling couples years to come to the end of their ability to stay married. Post-abortion stress may take a long time to develop; when it does, it becomes ground zero.

On September 11, 2001, a major event was recorded in the annals of history. The terrorist destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center shook the world. The death toll has been and will continue to be a nightmare for tens of thousands of people. I hope and pray that God’s love will somehow bring peace to the troubled hearts and minds of these people.

I want to assure you that your personal ground zero will pass, and peace can finally come.

To begin to point the way out of the darkness, I want to help you understand the devastation and blow to your life. You must bring closure to your own ground zero,

be put on an antiplatelet medication, unless there is another medication, such as Warfarin or anticoagulation that would be considered more appropriate. But we don't in general use them for patients who have never ever had any kind of indication of stroke to their brain. © 2003 Healthology, Inc.

and that starts by understanding the four stages of a disaster.

The Four Stages The first stage of an event is the disaster itself. With the disaster comes shock and disbelief.

All of us experienced the shock when we viewed all the replays of the commercial jetliners crashing into the World Trade Center. When we go through our own ground zeros, we experience a similar shock and disbelief, and those emotions affect every area of our life.

The second stage of a critical incident is the rescue effort. The rescue effort marks an emotional shift for people involved; it becomes a time of hope. During this stage, the workers at ground zero were climbing around rubble looking for people who were trapped and

Do you think it is wise for the Homeless Voice to run a monthly health column ?

Did you find the information informing?

Please email health@homelessvoice.org to share your comments or call 954-925-6466 and give us your comments

alive. In our personal ground zeros the same is true. Once the shock of the bankruptcy decision is over or the shock that you have just been served divorce papers has subsided, then you try to rescue everything you can.

T h e third stage is an uncomfortable one. This is the recovery effort. The recovery effort takes place once it becomes obvious that no one is left alive. You probably remember New York Mayor Giuliani sadly telling the public on television that the rescue efforts were ended and the recovery effort was starting. The same shift takes place in your collapsing world too. You begin to realize the facts, they stare you right in the face, and you understand things can never be the same.

The forth and final stage is the closure period. Many times

I want to assure you that your personal ground zero will pass, and peace can finally come.

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we find that this part of a major incident is very difficult. Guilt can plague you, and your emotions can be in turmoil, preventing you from making decision to move forward with your life.

Closure is a must; otherwise you will spend the rest of your life wandering in a gloomy world of sadness and indecision.

Some thoughts to ponder through your life’s journey.

-anonymous

Voice

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HOMELESS VOICE

O

ver the last two years or should I say three years we have developed all kinds of fund raising plans to get our mortgage paid off and for the most part we have done real good because of you the readers and the homeless who helped create such a beautiful place. We also thank the people of the “Friends Column.” Do you know if we had only 6000 people send us in their $15.00 a month we would make our monthly budget and we could also pay double mortgage payments? We don't have 6000 people but we have a lot and we are always looking for more. We thank all you givers out there.

Even the ones who can only give a nickel, those nickels do add up.

To give you an idea we had over $4000.00 in donated nickels and my friends that is a lot of nickels.

We had over $3000.00 in pennies for a month and I can't tell you how long it takes to bag $3000.00 in pennies. Well, yes I can, it takes about 17 straight hours. And for the others who can’t afford to give at all I know you are praying for us because we could not do what we do now and in the past.

This month has become a pretty difficult month for us. We as always are trying to stay open, keep the current budget going, paying off the current mortgage balance and of course dealing with the cities who are still in the process of removing us from the streets. This month we were all sitting down actually on the floor in the office thinking about what could be done to get us in the best possible financial position so we can still improve what we do.

Even if I never pay off the mortgage in my life time I know one day it will be paid off completely. Comment after comment, we could not come up with anything that was going to be concrete. However I said we will get our Christmas present one

year and when we get it, we will then be able to give a lot more presents in the future to others who need the help. Finally we came up with a plan.

We said, "what are the “get rich plots” or in our case pay off our mortgage easy that we all have seen on TV?” We asked, “ What are the pyramids that work in every line of business.” The pyramids work in sales positions, it works in networking marketing, and it worked in Amway the biggest of them of all. Basically we said we were going to change the name from AMWAY to AWAY to get this mortgage paid off and to top it off we were going to use their same principle. Now, how are we going to use the same principle as Amway or should I say AWAY? We will let you know very shortly… I asked Lois to get the calculator, she did not move quickly enough so I said to her, “Lois move those hips;” and with a smile she got the calculator and handed it to me. Lois knowing me good enough went right to the fridge and got me some ice tea and opened up a pack of cigarettes and lit one for me. When my brain is going, it needs ciggs and ice tea and she knew this was real important. I said to Lois I think we did something like this before but we never went all the way with it and we need to follow up this time. There is so much more we need to do, and getting this place built for a lifetime and having the funds to keep it going long after we are dead is very important to us. We built this place to help people until the end of time. When I say we built it, I mean we built the concept to always be there for

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the people who need it the most.

The first thing we are going to do is to continue our old campaign, why stop something that got us this building to begin with? So my friends that campaign still exists. The new campaign is two phases. The first phase is that we need to prove to the public that what we do is important. You need to find everybody who hates the Homeless Voice Vendor and bring them to the Hotel for the poor. Some of you may not have any idea what the vendors have to go through and us as an agency.

Some civic groups who don’t like that vendors on the street take it to their meetings and send nasty letters to their city council asking them to make it illegal for the Homeless Voice to vend. Could you imagine that? They want to affect an agency that keeps their community free and clear of the homeless living in the parks and at bus benches. You would think that they would want their community to be free of the homeless. Yet they complain so the vendors are off the street. Then of course we have the police officers who come by the intersection and harass the vendors.

Then an hour later that same department sends a homeless person to the Hotel for the poor. Let me say it a different way. The police go way out of their way to harass the vendors yet that same police department uses our services for free. Could you imagine that? But there are some police who support our agency by giving monthly support. The police get their orders from the city commission who makes these rules to get these vendors off the street. And the city commission

The police go way out of their way to harass the vendors yet that same police department uses our services for free.

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is the one that is to help the city stay free of scores of homeless people living on the streets. It seems so stupid to hurt the only agency that takes their homeless like we do. So it is very important that you have people come by this place and let them see with their own eyes what we do.

IT SHOCKS ME, how would a person be so mean as to want to take away money from the poor and the agency that gives these families and individuals a place to live? Maybe if they saw an infant living on a park bench with the mom and dad, would their hearts not be so hard? So again having people come by here and see what we do, and where the money goes, then just maybe some people would change their mind.

Phase two, part A is simple and this is your mission. The plan is to network and network. How are we going to network? We are going to ask you all to do the networking for us. The first phase is a simple phase. If you belong to a group, church, school or business we are going to ask your agency to get involved. Let me give you an example, so far this year we had three major penny drives between some churches and high schools.

The average agency brought us over $2100.00 in pennies. If all the churches just in Broward County did a penny drive for us we would pay off our mortgage in a heartbeat. In the chapter of Matthew, we are commanded to take care of the poor, but it is a national trend of churches to issue trespassing warnings to the homeless when they catch them sleeping in the back ally of a church. Yes, it is sad to say. But there are many churches that make it their business to open up shelters for the poor. I was watching TBN the other day and the pastor’s name was Joyce Meyer of “Life in the word” ministry. She said it right, the churches now leave it up to government to take care of the poor.

She definitely said it correctly.

To you churches, let’s remind each other that “We all worship a homeless man on Sundays, yet ignore another homeless man on Monday” and it is time that you got your church involved in helping us.

But before you ask for your church to be involved come by and check us out. There are still some people out there that think we make millions and come to work in a limo and wear $1000 suits to work. Once coming by here you will see we wear jeans and t-shirts and in some cases sad to say, we wear the same (Continued on page 13)

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jeans for three days in a row and sometimes we don’t even get time to take a shower. Yes we try to teach our homeless to be clean but sometimes we get up off the floor from the nights four hour sleep and as soon as we wake we are taking care of emergencies. So sometimes getting a shower has to wait.

Part B The plans’ second phase is simple it is the network marketing plan. Here it is.

Find 10 people who will donate a dollar to you. We need each person reading this article to go out and get ten people to give a dollar to you. Send it in to us by check or money order. NO that’s not it, there is more. When they give you the dollar you will tell each and every one of them to go out and find another 10 people who will each give them $1.00 and tell them that they must go out and get 10 people to do the same thing and ask each one of those people to each give a $1.00. The first level will be $10.00 the second level will be $100.00, the third level will be $1,000.00, in the forth level will be $10,000.00 and the fifth level will be $100,000.00. The sixth level will be a million dollars, enough to pay off our mortgage. Now if it went further that would be an extra ten million dollars that we don’t need unless we used it to expand or to escrow to run our program permanently.

Then if the cities all took us off the street we would have a zero balance on our mortgage as well as ten million dollars getting interest monthly to run the operation. Or if we went one step further to open up a small little city with about 15 acres with a hospital where the homeless could live and have a police department, fire-rescue department, hospital, detox hospital and we would have to listen to our city commission who would be homeless consumer friendly. Nice dream, but it is really the only way to service people with problems.

We need to create a system that we could rehab the people with the providers being so consumer friendly. By the way it is so hard for someone who wants to get off of drugs but has no insurance.

Usually they have to go to a county detox program but the problem there is they never have beds available when the person says to

themselves, “I want to get clean today.” They usually have to wait a few days and then by then they might have changed their minds. So we need to get some free indigent beds for detoxing. The big problem with homeless services is there is no continuum for them that is in one location most of us have to use services from many different providers. If we created a city, a district, or just a secure location that we gave all the services with great follow up and have little training facilities from places like McDonalds, Burger King or Days Inn, we could have the person trained and rehabbed and then after a few years when they have all their issues fixed send them out in the real world to work.

Or supply them with structured housing in our little district, in case they fall we can pick them up before they completely fall apart and get them on the road to recovery Ok, I am dreaming a little but why not. By the way , I often say if I had 200 acres there would be no homeless in the USA except for those who wanted to live in the streets. I would make a city that would take all the homeless in the USA and there would be no need for thousands of shelters in the USA that take so much tax money from grants. I could run that city for all the homeless in the USA cheaper then it would take to run all the shelters in one state. For instance Broward County just got 3.4 million for 56 beds. We have over two hundred beds and we run on a third of the 3.4 million. I could develop a plan that would give housing out to those who could not afford to live on their retirement checks. By the way there are an estimated 4 million in the USA. Please help us to network this place and start the ball rolling. If this does take off we will be the very best we can be. Please help us get this mortgage paid off. If you can’t help us, please pray for us because that is help and the v e r y best

We Need

Men's Clothes

925-6466

Call 954-

HELP PAY OFF OUR MORTGAGE We need just 41,950 people to send in a check for $20.00, Or 16,780 people to send in a check for $50.00, Or 8,390 people to send in a check for $100.00, Or 839 people to send in a check for $1,000, Or Just one wonderful person or business to send a check for the entire $839,000.00 Remember the donation is tax deductible!!

Please send your checks to:

The COSAC Building Fund P.O. Box 292-577 Davie, Florida 33329 We do thank you help there is. When you pray I ask that you pray for these requests below. Lord please help the Cosac Foundation pay off their mortgage.

Lord please give the staff strength and help them stay cool because they work too many hours and sometime they loose it and are not always nice.

Lord please give the staff of Cosac the chance to run their hotel for the poor the very best and to run it in a way that you want it to be run, give them guidance to run it the way you would run it. Please allow them to expand to help many more people.

All campaigns still exist; if you send in a check please make the checks payable to: The COSAC Building Fund P.O. Box 292-577 Davie, Florida 33329

Lost Bond Receipts?

Want Your Bond Back?

Call 954-410-6275

"The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher."

-Thomas Henry Huxley

Voice

Page 14

HOBO JUNGLE

(Continued from page 8)

cle to a person you know that may not say nice things about the homeless. I know you personally care about the homeless that is why you bought this paper, so take that extra step and go out an educate someone you know.

Donald we have known you some time now, feel free to stop over whenever you just need a few days rest. We are the poor helping the poor and thank you for not helping those guys steal those bikes. You are a hero, and you got beat up to prove it.

To all of us out here, it is not easy to be homeless and we all have to work extra hard for stopping stories like this. We all have to work harder to get healthcare to the homeless. Being ill

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something. He is so cute and alert. So clean and healthy looking, even though he and mom both have asthma. We had a baby walker here -you know the thing that is used prior to them learning how to walk– so we gave it to Roman. The minute his feet hit the ground he was ready to go. He was just like an adult with a new car, he had the wheels and he was going to let everyone know it.

I don’t know all the circumstances surrounding why they aren’t living in a home like they look like they belong in, but they are here…and therefore home.

Maria says that she needs some therapy and we will make sure she gets it, and also make sure that she gets any benefits that are due her.

You can tell that this baby is happy and secure, just by the way he reacts to the strangers who just entered his life. When Sean put out his arms, little Roman just reached up, and he did the same to me. His little blue eyes look everywhere and he gets so excited and just lets out these happy baby noises. And just like all babies he loved the medal on my neck. Isn’t funny how they always reach for the neck area…well I guess it’s

and frail is no way to get a job.

In this story you will see pictures of the homeless who are very ill in the street. Homeless people have a multitude of medical problems and in some cases thier medical problems will kill them directly.

Not only is death possible but there is a lot of them who lose their limbs from infections, poor circulation and wounds that won’t heel because of diabetics.

While writing this story I asked myself is it good to show the public what our people go through while living on the streets? After careful consideration I made the decision that the truth hurts and therefore we should really let the people out there know what problems the homeless go through. I ask another important question, who

not, it’s what is right in front of them and in arms reach.

This mom and little guy got really special treatment tonight, they got room service. We always kid around with the clients about, “What do you expect, room service?” Tonight the Bell Boys carried their stuff to their room and she was provided the extension to have her food brought up to her.

Where would they be right now if the Homeless Voice newspaper hadn’t been able to bring this shelter into existence?

The other shelters could not help her because she has been to most of them and the others were full as always for families. How were we able to help this little one and mom? The readers of the Homeless Voice who read and purchase this little paper is how that comes to be. So for the Holidays treat yourself to a good meal and thank yourself for helping the poor because you deserve it.

The holidays are right around the corner and I wonder…are we their gift? Or are they our gift?

Written By : Lois Cross

would hire someone with all these sores, bleeding limbs, sores that may smell because of the drainage and legs that sometimes look like a very sickening body part? The answer is, no employer would give one of these people a chance to get a job.

There are companies out there that require their employees to be politically right, politically right?

You know… not too skinny, not to heavy, must have a mouth full of teeth that are bright white and all body parts must be intact.

They act like there is no such thing as discrimination.

I am the so called medic when these people come in because I am the person with the most medical training so I get to play doctor a lot. I always said to myself, the only way I would ever leave Cosac would be to become a Doctor or the President

of the USA. Both jobs would allow me to change the world.

Anyway, when I do wound care, I usually have other staff present so I can teach them what calls to make. Meaning, what is a real emergency and what is not. I must tell you that sometimes I do things that would freak out most people but we must. I never thought I could do it but then you see people who are in need of such help and you just do your job and clean; put ointment on, and deal with the term “Universal Precaution” which means to protect yourself from infectious diseases. As you look at the pictures of the poor homeless people at the bottom of page 8, it is a whole different world and when you look at these pictures, picture yourself in their world.

Written by Sean Cononie Edited by Sara Cunningham

(Continued from page 9)

not to be able to communicate or verbalize feelings, said that we should increase our services for people who cannot communicate. So we did two things. But how were we going to teach Jackie? We weren't, Jackie was going to teach us. Everyday Jackie teaches us a phrase in sign language.

The very first phrase I asked Jackie to teach us was, “I love you.” This would be another way to calm him down if he became scared or confused.

Sometimes when people face crisis the best words to say to them is "I love you." The second thing, we did just today. We ordered him a twoway pocket email system.

This way we could email him to come to our office and he could communicate with us and others by email. This will also be good if there was a fire in the building or any emergency, or even just when we make pages over the public address system. In the future we hope all staff can

communicate using sign language so Jackie will enjoy the same benefits as others when we do a meeting or do something for fun. Sometimes we have life skill classes that Jackie will soon be able to enjoy. One last thing, since Jackie is teaching us, I decided last night I will help him on his speech therapy and teach him a word every night.

Weeks ago, he said thank you to me and I knew what he said. It wasn't clear, but I knew what he was trying to say.

Who says the staff can't learn from a homeless person.

We love you Jackie and remember that when we give you a smiling face, everything will be all right.

-Sean Cononie

P le a se H e lp …

T h e R a in is D ro w n in g U s D O N AT E O N L IN E … @ b y u s in g

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Page 15

December, 2003

HOBO JUNGLE

Do not buy a paper from him.

This man was arrested.

He is not authorized to ask for donations for the Homeless Voice or Helping People In America.

If you see this man wearing one of our shirts please call our Loss Pre-

vention Department at 954-2148529. If for some reason you cannot get a hold of us you may call the Police.

He sometimes wears a black stocking on his head.

He uses these intersections but May use more than what is listed: Commercial -411 Commercial and 31 St. Commercial and Powerline Oakland and 441 Oakland and 31st McNab and University Drive Commercial and University Commercial and Rock Island McNab and Rock Island Cypress and Powerline McNab and 31st

Keep in mind that he may even try to go to Dade in the future.

This Issue, Vendors should be wearing a bright yellow shirt with ‘Homeless Voice’ in black on the front and back No other shirt colors should be used. If you see any other color shirts with this issue, please call LOSS PREVENTION at 954-920-1277

public I am very wrong sometimes. You, the other providers will know, you the City Commissioners will know, and my critics will know, I do not always want people to get out of here. I have been accused of this for a long time, but for all the wrong reasons. I must admit I get attached to people and when they leave I sometimes feel hurt, I even say, how could they leave me. I guess I like being a parent to so many.

I never want to see families leave HOLLYWOOD because I love the ALL DISCOUNT kids. They are the INSURANCE most precious things PHARMACY ACCEPTED in the world. But soon the professional side OTHER SERVICES INCLUDE : comes out of me and • OVER THE COUNTER MEDICATION then I must let them • PRESCRIPTION COUNSELING go. Thank God or we • VITAMINS would be at 4000 beds • PERSONAL HYGIENE PRODUCTS by now.

• FIRST AIDE SUPPLIES MON – FRI 8:30 AM TO 6:00 PM Momma profit SAT 8:30 AM TO 1:00 PM gets an SSI check for CLOSED SUNDAYS FREE LOCAL some disabilities and LOCATED BEHIND HOLLYWOOD DELIVERY MEMORIAL REGIONAL HOSPITAL dad will hopefully 954-989-6300 1150 N. 35TH, SUITE 105 soon be getting his

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apartment, which was provided to you by the Foundation, and now you are paying your own way. WOW! And now you have someone to look after for a long time, to share your lives with, to love and be loved unconditionally in return. And when you finally leave our little shelter world, you best bring Kendall by so we can see how nicely he grows up. I must admit to the

SSDI disability benefits because of a severe seizure problem. Why would seizures prevent someone from working?

The first thing is that no employer wants the liability of employee having a seizure when on the time clock. The second reason is that when Mr. Profit has a seizure he has three days downtime from being so weak and still confused and sluggish.

To the Profits we hope you will prevail and hope little Kendall never sets off his alarm and we hope that you never have to do CPR. You see, you might have to never use CPR on your own little one. But just maybe God knows of another baby that will stop breathing and for some unknown reason you

Help Save the Environment

Save Your Empty Toner & Inkjet Cartridges

the Profits will be nearby and have the skill needed…you will put on your cape and save that other baby.

-Sean Cononie

Thank you Homeless Voice Readers

Thank you Homeless Voice Readers