Lunch & Lecture
Today was not my first street Intervention with this 35-year-old homeless man. He smiled and called me by name as I drove up. I had my air conditioning on. He was baking on the street corner on this 115 F+ afternoon. Since I still had a couple lunches left from a donor, I asked, “Would you like a sack lunch, cold water, and a lecture? He laughed, and then immediately grabbed his gear and began walking to meet me in the parking lot. I remembered him from a street clan I had chatted with a few months ago. 3 of his compadres then attended that month’s Hero School. This young man did not, but instead went back to stay with his dad. Today, his 3 friends are working – and occasionally sharing with me what concerts they attend. This young man is not. Worse, he confessed he can’t work since…
Just Stop. Or Turn Pro.
It’s becoming the norm when yet another multimillion-view YouTube video, posted by some homeless helper, takes an ugly turn. I originally viewed this wonderful story of heroism and redemption about 10 months ago. Today, the same video was posted again on social media, but this time with dozens of negative comments. This is when I learned that the woman who “helped” a homeless man by raising gobs of money through “Go Fund Me” had apparently kept most of it. Dang. She said he blew the money on drugs. Only they know the truth. This story reminds me of the saying, “When the blind lead the blind, they both fall in the ditch.” -J.C. More and more of these homeless stories end like this. Mostly because it’s math. A + B = C. Of course the equation for freeing a person from homelessness is also math. I learned the first equation in 3rd…
So Many Homeless
The economy is thriving. From the stock markets to the June 2018 U.S. Jobs Report, economic data is “as good as it gets” (CNBC Jul 6, 2018[1]). In our own city, the leading economic indicator is the welcome return of the Nevada State Bird, with construction cranes swooping in and around the new Raiders Stadium, Resorts World, strip malls in Chinatown, and apartment buildings from Henderson to West Tropicana. And yet, the 2018 economy doesn’t appear to have a place for everyone: there seem to be more homeless people in our city parks, behind shopping centers and on nearly every street corner than ever before. Every day, locals and tourists alike see far too many people who remain disconnected from not just the economy, but from modern society and the requirements to be one of its members. Today I would like to address homelessness from the local point of view,…