I hope everyone had a good 4th of July. I just got around to posting since I just took a break from everything during the holiday. Just trying to figure out what I'm going to do for income, and hoping that I find work, or get my unemployment approved before Sept 1. I paid a month of rent in advance, just to give me a little more time to search. With food, laundry, essentials, etc. I'm broke already until I get another check---from somewhere. So it was easy to do nothing on Independence Day. It was a day that reminded me just how independent we - low income, homeless people and such - are NOT in this country. Whenever there's a crisis in the USA, it seems the elderly and low-income are the 1st to pay; social services that help millions of people in our country survive everyday are the 1st thing to be eliminated from state and federal budgets. How about rescinding a few perks that those who make over $100,000 a year enjoy, at the expense of hard-working, low wage taxpayers? I bet that would help balance the budget much faster than the pittances that millions living in poverty in the richest nation on the globe depend on to get thorugh everyday and provide for themselves and their families.
It's shameful.
I know many of you are in the same situation as I am (see article below, "Hundreds of Utahns to lose state aid this summer"), and I hope and wish the best for all of us.
When will the government entities understand something: Food can be obtained for free in several places around our city on any given day. It is not food assistance that the average person needs - it is cash!
I cannot pay my rent with Food Stamps. I cannot clean my clothes, my body, or my domicile with Food Stamps. I cannot put gas in my car or buy a transit pass - to look for or get to a job, or to get to a clinic or hospital - with Food Stamps. I cannot buy my prescriptions or pay my co-pays with food stamps! Get it?
Most everything I need to stay well and housed requires cash, not food. I can get food for free anywhere, any day. Personally, I would much rather have my Food Stamps taken away than my General Assistance. With GA money, I can decide what my most important and immediate needs are, and have a resource to meet them. With Food Stamps, well, I hear there are people willing to buy them for cash. So basically, the government might turn me into a federal criminal if worse comes to worse.
I'll do what it takes to survive. I always have. That's how I overcame homelessness. I hope the loss of the only resource I had to pay my rent with doesn't force me back onto the street. That nightmare keeps me awake nights.
See you Friday your editor
From The Salt Lake Tribune:
Hundreds of Utahns to lose state aid this summer
State budget » Advocates fear cutbacks might force some into homelessness.[editorial note: I am one of these; good luck everyone]
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12586292?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com
Fourth Street Clinic hosts fundraiser
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12676758?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com
Jones: McCansions grow up
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12700104?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com
Questions surround housing in West Valley City for homeless seniors
Neighbors Some homeowners believe that safety is an issue
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12660296?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com
Salt Lake City homeless day shelter won't close after all
Salt Lake city and county have each contributed $100,000 to the Weigand center.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12717003?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com
Fleeing violence, refugee finds homelessness in Utah
Housing officials want a complex to house and educate refugees.
[how about educating andhousing US citizens first? your editor]
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11180615?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com
Bomb threat at homeless shelter was hoax
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12546548?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com
Corporate giving
[Hats off! -your editor]
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12571495?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com
Utah health clinics get a share of federal recovery money
Nearly $6.5 million in federal grant funds will be shared among 11 locales
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12716860?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com
"The Thumb"
Tribune Editorial
Updated: 07/05/2009 08:30:01 AM MDT
Gimme shelter (thumb up) » Overnight shelters keep hours, turn their wards to the streets each morning. But homelessness is 24 hours a day. That's why the Bishop Weigand Center, a day shelter in Salt Lake City, is a key piece of the valley's social services puzzle. And it will continue to be, thanks to the good graces of the city and Salt Lake County, which each contributed $100,000 to Catholic Community Services keep this important facility open. The shelter, due to declining charitable contributions, was scheduled to close for good Wednesday before it received the last-minute reprieve. Clients wash their clothes, shower, plays cards and watch movies at the center, but more importantly, they connect with counselors who help them find jobs and permanent homes. The infusion of government funds was money well-spent."
from the Deseret Morning News:
(I included a few here that are earlier than June, but good articles -your editor)
The new homeless: Formerly middle class, families fall far after job losses
By Elizabeth Leland
McClatchy Newspapers
Published: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 1:30 p.m. MDT (for those of you who think, It can't happen to me. -y. ed.)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kenneth and Stacy Dowdy can't afford a place to live in Charlotte, N.C. Neither can Charles DuPree. But if you passed them on the street, you might not recognize them for what they are: Homeless.
They are among a growing number of newly homeless who don't fit old stereotypes. Many of them work regular jobs, or did until recently, nursing the sick, caring for other people's children, vacuuming offices, driving cabs.
They lived in apartments or houses, surviving paycheck to paycheck. One thing went wrong in this bad economy, and they didn't have far to fall before they ended up on the street... .
full article at: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705306814,00.html
Help Utah avoid tent cities
Deseret News editorial
Published: Sunday, March 29, 2009 12:12 a.m. MDT
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705293756,00.html
Homeless in rural Utah getting a hand
Associated Press
Published: Saturday, May 30, 2009 10:24 a.m. MDT
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705307479,00.html
Minkevitch finds a home helping the homeless
Published: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 8:32 p.m. MDT
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705314052,00.html
Donations save homeless shelter
By By Aaron Falk
Deseret News
Published: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 5:11 p.m. MDT
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705313983,00.html
Pure religion: removing barriers:
Published: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 12:06 a.m. MDT
A mother and her son sat around a campfire, their Chevy Blazer the only sign of civilization.
After a month of living in a truck with her 5-year-old, Debra realized that she had to get some order back in her life.
The hard times had started five years earlier when her husband left. With a young child and no job, Debra began to wander. During the years that followed, she got involved with drugs, lived on welfare and ended up homeless in Las Vegas, looking for work.
Read the full story via MormonTimes.com
Brighton teens share bowls of joy
By Amy K. Stewart
Deseret News
Published: Wednesday, June 3, 2009 11:22 a.m. MDT
