Shelter Rules

One of the shelter rules is that you have to put in 15 hours per week of volunteer duties. It can be anything from working in the kitchen to doing laundry to cleaning communal bathrooms, mopping hallways, cleaning up the grounds. Well, like in most situations like this, a few people do most of the work while others sit on around and watch.

Families are asked to keep their rooms clean and are supposed to clean up after their children as well. Right now we have some huge families staying there (8+ children, your tax dollars at work) and most of their mothers have no control over them and they are running wild. The bad thing is even if children are well mannered when they get there, within a week they act just like the rest…..they seem to always find the lowest common denominator. While I used to enjoy being around children I am  getting rather jaded in my attitude, I am so tired of having my feet stepped on, getting run into and having my coffee spilled down the front of me or having a football bounced of my head while walking through the parking lot. 

When I worked in the kitchen a couple of Sundays ago, we had a community volunteer come in help prep and serve. She brought her 2 little girls, 5 and 9, they were there at 6AM and served breakfast, helped serve lunch at 11:30 and dinner which on the weekend is at 2:30PM. I was baking that day, stayed in my own area and really did not have a chance to work with the girls until we served dinner. The kids worked so hard and did such an excellent job. We serve quite a few dinners, usually over 200, because the shelter feeds street people at breakfast and dinner. These little girls somewhat restored my faith in the future, they were amazing. Especially the 5 year old, what a little trooper, putting in a10 hour day with no whining or complaining, working hard and doing a good job.  She had to have been exhausted but never once faltered.

It was really nice to see a parent teach children values, ethics and moral fortitude along with acceptable behavior and manners and all without yelling or speaking harshly. It raises my hopes again; the human race might have a sustainable future after all. 

All my problems are solved!

A couple of days ago I decide to post an ad on craig's list to see if I can get a part time job doing what ever to create some revenue. Well I think every scam artist globally checks Craig's list for people that desperately need jobs. But hey, I think my troubles are finally over. My new best friend from Nigeria is going to send me 28 million dollars and all I have to do is pay for the courier service, a mere $480.00. Just as soon as he gets my money, my 28 million are on the way. Do people actually fall for this........
Then of course there is the ever popular Personal Assistant scam, you get hired by  a company CEO by email, but you will be working for him personally and not the company and get paid $500.00 a week cash. Just send all your personal information and he will pay you 2 weeks salary in advance, only you have to cash his check for 5 or 6 thousand, keep your salary out and wire the rest of the money to some charity or orphanage in India or China.
So I had some comic relief, told all 20 or 30 prospective employers that my IQ was above room temperature (even on a hot day) and that 500.00 a week was not enough for a personal assistant to a CEO of a global company. Several actually upped the ante. How funny!

29 gifts is so much fun!

The "29 Gifts" group I joined is amazing. I think one of the things I appreciate most is that everyone is totally non-judgmental. I have had people here in town totally snub me when they found out I currently live in a shelter. After 5 or 6 month of working on committees for animal rescue projects together it was like I suddenly had a contagious disease. The only reason I am still part of the rescue group is because of the park cats but I am no longer involved in committees or invited to their meetings, let alone any homes. Hmmmm......people are amazingly shallow.
I am having so much fun with the 29 gifts program and I know it will only get better. Today is only day 4 for me and already see some positive changes.

29 Gifts

Today I joined a group called “29 Gifts”, well my membership is still pending approval, so I will have to wait.
It's a really cool idea, so check it outhttp://www.29gifts.org/  However I read the concept and I am going to give 29 gifts in 29 days even if they do not approve me.  I truly feel that doing positive things in the community can bring about a positive change. In a homeless shelter one can always use a positive change. People are stressed, on edge and short tempered and even though I am in the single women’s dorm I can see the children suffering.  It would be most helpful to have some counseling or group sessions for children, so they can voice their anxieties and their fears can be addressed.

After joining this group I am making an effort to edit my vision statement, once again!. But maybe I am being too critical and just need to post it and wait for feedback. I have never really shown it to anyone other than a friend and one of my professors, I think both showed bias.LOL.  However I feel very strongly that there has to a solution to homelessness in America, especially for mature women who have contributed to society all of their lives. 

Homelessness is everywhere........

Well, I just came across an article on CNN about a lady living in her car with her 2 dogs in Santa Barbara and then it hit me, the article is 2 YEARS old. May 20, 2008. It actually made international headlines.
CA: American Mom Forced to Live in Car With Dogs
Story Highlights
Mother of three grown children says, "This is my life in this car right now"
Santa Barbara, California, allows homeless to sleep in cars in 12 parking lots
Affluent city has seen a rise in homelessness during California's housing crisis
Advocate for homeless: "It's just amazing the people that are becoming homeless"
By Thelma Gutierrez and Wayne Drash
CNN

What really amazed me were the comments below the article, judging this lady for keeping her dogs, condemming her children for not helping, the article only mentions the youngest daughter, age 19, living with friends, so she would not be homeless as well. Even judging her for living in Santa Barbara, well it's where her job was, it's obviously were her youngest daughter went to school.  And as for her dogs, OMG, rip the only comfort she has left from her, why not! Women do not plan for these things to happen, and in this age group it cannot be attributed to wreckless behavior. Bad things can happen in everyones live and the older we get the more difficult it is to recouperate. I think it is amazing how she was able to keep up her spirits and still move forward. Too bad I have not been able to find a follow-up on the story, I could use a happy ending.......... It would give me hope for my future......

So, you want to know what it’s like living in a homeless shelter!


This is your day…………….. You sleep on metal bunk beds in a dorm with 40 other women. I think someone mentioned that the bunks were donated from the prison along with lockers when the prison had to replace theirs. Overhead fluorescent lights go on at 5AM, breakfast is at 6AM, the fare varies, from pancakes to cold cereal and milk, sometimes yoghurt and a piece of toast and fruit, lest we forget the ever popular biscuits and muck….ah gravy. This morning it was sausage, a hardboiled egg, yoghurt, milk and coffee. Of course there is always an abundance of the usual selection of 2 -3 day old doughnuts. Keep in mind this is a shelter for families as well as single women. So the kids usually go off to school on the “sugar high from hell” and the little ones are bouncing off the wall at the shelter, mothers are screaming, kids are running wild or crying, 20 people trying to get ready in the bathroom all at the same time………….trust me, this is not a lifestyle choice…….. Why mothers bring their children into the communal bathroom and get them ready is beyond me. Families have their own rooms they share with their children and could dress them and get them ready much easier in privacy. There are always several families with 8+ children, so with all these kids running around a communal bathroom brushing their teeth and getting their hair combed, even with 7 sinks, its craziness.

Shelter rules are mothers have to have their children with them at all times, so there are always boys that are way too old to be in the women’s bathroom standing around and there have been issues with boys peeking into bathroom stalls and showers. There are family bathrooms in the family area of the shelter but they are kept locked for the most part since drug paraphernalia was found and staff claims they are too difficult to monitor (from a chair).

I usually sleep in sweats, throw on a pair of running shoes in the morning, grab a change of clothes and I am off to the park. After my morning walk, I shower at the college gym and get ready for the day. I also watch for opening specials from new health clubs, some of offer 30 to 90 free trails……..hmmm……… I wonder if they would give a complementary membership to mature homeless women. I would probably be one of the few using their member ship daily, I just have not had the nerve to ask.

Lunch during the week is at 12PM on weekends at 11AM, it is usually leftovers from dinner the night before, reheated to varying degrees, sometimes frozen burritos, rice and beans or sandwiches and chips. I really don’t know since I am rarely there. I used to sign up for sack lunches to take to class with me, but it gets embarrassing to unwrap moldy bread and green lunchmeat in the college cafeteria, especially since I am vegetarian. Asking for a vegetarian lunch was not a popular request and I was told I would have to eat what everyone else gets. So on some days when I cannot afford to buy food, I do not eat.

Dinner is at 4:30 (2:30 on the weekend) and depending on who is in the kitchen it is sometimes pretty good. Again I usually have classes later than that so I am rarely there. I like the days when a lovely Indian family donates pots and pots of fabulous fragrant spicy Indian food, there are usually yummy curries and an awesome lentil dish, it’s the best and all vegetarian, which really works for me. Since the ethnic demographics at the shelter are leaning heavily toward Hispanics, Indian food is not in very high demand, except for us few vegeterians, so we actually can "pig out" and get plenty to eat. It's too bad the shelter will not allow us to freeze some of the leftovers in smaller containers for another day, it seems so wasteful..........

June 2, 2010


Well, we have made it to June and no Washer and Dryer in the single women’s dorm yet, I am so happy about that. I really think the whole mess got started over a couple of people complaining about not being able to do their own laundry. If they want to do their laundry that badly they can use a Laundromat or do what I do, I volunteer to do (family)laundry once a week, usually between 40 and 60 loads and do my laundry at the same time.