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The Spare Changer
Our mission is simple: To inform the uninformed, to entertain, and most importantlyto foster pride and self- respect within and among the unsheltered homeless here and throughoutthe country. We do this by proffering something to you, our valued reader. Your donation, in this
time of increased budget cuts to social services, narrows the gap between basic needs you and I
may take for granted, but which remain unmet by social service agency funding and the truly
courageous efforts of the sheltered and un-sheltered poor. It is better to give than to receive,
says The Bible. We say it is even better when we can give something back. Enjoy The Spange
Political Platforms & PovertyWhat Can We Do to Really Make a Difference?
One Vote One
DifferenceBy Lawson
Contributing Editor
To the chronically
homeless, Im not sure thata Democratic Party win will make
much difference to this
community of singles and families
that should have voted in their
own best interest as a voting
bloc, but did not. I am sure that
budget cuts, government
spending curbs and machinationsin legislation and public policy
were the cornerstone on both
parties vote for me campaigns.
When you are down so low, it
seems like up to you, you cannot
recognize opportunity to rise
above your station, often with
opportunities and resources
staring you in the face. You spend
your waking time figuring where
to get food for free, where to
sleep where you are safe or
simply not seen, where to keep
your belongings, how t stay neat
and cleanall the while trying tokeep your spirits up and of course
how to avoid being stereotyped,
looking the homeless look.
Cuts from everything
from public education tonon-profits serving the sheltered
and unsheltered poor are still on
the chopping block..at least still
on the table, but when you arehomeless you dont have the
presence of mind to think about
these things. But just because you
dont think about them, it
certainly doesnt mean the
outcome of this election didnt
affect you. The political parties
have rarely in history been so
diametrically opposed: Each
understands the problems we
have, and there are many across
the board, but in terms of social
justice and reform, the problems
are seen and defined quite
differently, depending onfundamental beliefs and values
In this Issue: Localhomeless tell a little about
survival in winter and what you
can do as a volunteer helping to
staff homeless shelters including
the Interfaith rotating Winter
Shelter of Davis and Davis
Community Meals Winter Shelte
Claire Shermans compassion an
greater teaching experience
illustrates why she has earned m
vote for School Board and why
her unfunded grass roots
campaign has not asked for your
money inThe Vote for Children
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Sarah Zacharias, advocate for the
homeless disabled returns with
some thought provoking satire.
Oh, and some very, very moving
poetry, My Spirit Splashes!
Richard Cipian, Student
Advocate, appeals for the
opening ofLockers for the
Homeless, a long-time TSC project
still on the shelf.
Parick Giri reprises My One Rant,
Robert Selman is TellinIt Like it
Stillis, teen-aged Jessica shares
the Homeless Realities, and Kevin
describes the art and science ofDumpster Diving Hot and Cold.
Associate Pastor Bill Habicht of
Davis Community Church
describes his outreach ministry to
Youth Volunteers for the IRWS!
This country has
seen painful cuts ineducation and social services for
years, and the only difference
between what will be and what
could have been for the
homeless, particularly homeless
families with children is who is
considered sacrifice-able; who is
consideredexpendable. I for one
am not prepared to say I cannot
afford to live, therefore I do not
deserve to or If my childrencant afford an education they
dont deserve one. The new GOP
of today is prepared to say just
that, and a re-elected President
Barak Obama is not. I ask you:
Where in the middle do you stand
in this Civil War II?
People have to eat.
People have tohave viablehealth care opportunities. Those
are facts. Denying these truths is
to say just die out. People dont
just die out, because when you
are starving, there really is no
morality; people do what they
have to do to survive. Some will
turn to crime, a double hit on
society since the victim loses and
the tax payer loses; taxes have to
be levied to house and feed and
correct the behavior of prisoners.
Some people have a moral
structureor dont have thecouragethat allow them to
commit crimes to live. I see
dumpster divers scavenging and
using or selling recyclables others
dont want, often recycled cans
and bottles, just as often other
household goods, some even re-
sellable on Craigs list. Some
people panhandle on our streets.
Heck, some even make crafts, ly
music, hustle odd jobs or just
panhandle outside our
restaurants, convenience stores,
shopping center super market or
thoroughfare medians. Youve
seen them
If you are asked for
whom you voted for and why,will you be able to say you votedfor Romney because he will
reduce my taxes? Will you be able
to say you voted to re-elect
President Obama because he is in
the mold of FDR, of Truman, of
Kennedy, of Bill Clinton? At least
you will be able to say, perhaps,
you voted on the basis of a single
issue, like Abortion, or Gay
Marriage, or oil drilling or
domestic job creation. You can at
least say you took a stand for
whatever reasonI do not believ
the chronic homeless can say
that. When you vote for your
family, for your business for the
preservation of you idea of
America, you vote for the
homeless as well. You vote for
the elderly, for the imprisoned,
for the disenfranchised, for the
future of all, not just yourself.
And therein lay the bugaboo.
Therein lay the dilemma. What to
do when one seems to come inconflict with the other. Thats a
lot of weight (two-thirds of
eligible voters not voting) on a
third of the voting population.
You go to the streets
and ask homeless-lookingpeople, or people you know to be
homeless first hand if they voted
and they will tell you no, for
every excuse you can dream off:
I dont have an address. It
doesnt make any difference;
politicians are all alike. Ive
encouraged homeless people I
know locally to vote. I even went
online to a larger audience, many
of who were in a position to
round up the homeless in their
communities, get them registereand give them a non-profit
resource center address to
receive ballot information and
polling locations. Ill never know
how successful I was in this effor
of course, but the effort
underscores my dismay if no
disgust at the failure of this
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demographic to rise up and be
counted in a social-economic
struggle I like to call Civil War II.
These people may be
ignorant, but they are notstupid. Outreach was the key to
simply handing the win to
President Barak Obama: The
chronically homeless poor, the
elderly, women and college
student demographics could have
made this election a landslide
victory.
Does your householdearn $250K yearly? You areprobably closer to the estimated
median of $47,000. So I ask you,
when you heard you would have
your taxes, these same taxes tht
help to support our losers in The
Game of Life survive without
committing crimes or just dying
out for want of the ability to
support themselves without
welfare, reduced by 20%, did
that sound good to you? Did you
think what that would mean in
terms of social services? Not only
by the government, but also by
non-profits and faith
communities that pick up the
slack, that narrows the gap
between what people basically
need and what they can earnwithout help? Did you think
about how you and your children,
and their children, and what kind
of a society they would grow up
in? Did you think about what I
said earlier, that there is no
morality when you are starving.
The homeless think about that
everyday. Or dont, but behave
that way. You would too, or die of
terminal moral conviction Aside
from whackos, poverty cause
crime. That simple people
Make no mistake, an
Obama re-election doesnot mean social-economic
collapse will be thwarted in 4
more years. We may still collapse.
We certainly had begun to after
the Bush years, especially
compared to the Bill Clinton
years. The most fiscal of
conservatives will tell you that.(He wasnt even invited to the
Republican National Convention,
remember? A Congress that
didnt want to work with him in
compromise has slowed our
recovery every step of the way.
Today, even the most moderate
of conservatives will admit such
was the plan the day he first took
office. Today, nobody on either
side disputes our countrys
recovery was stilted by the very
forces that claimed--all campaign-
long--that President Obama
failed to come through with his
promises for Change.
Just like people who
dont vote though I thinkthey should, you have to admitits been hard to know which
direction to go. The math of one
of the candidates seems to have
said we can make it if we let
those that cannot survive just die
outand the other says no, we
dont have to do that. We just
have to charge people who can
afford it more. Simplistic? Sure,
but inaccurate? NopePeople
want to work! People certainly
want to do something that earns
them a living and also has some
value. That value is greatest if the
job allows some self-worth. So
with cheap labor continually
outsourced to developing
countries, the prospects grow
slimmer and slimmer; for people
who are poor now, the hope
grows dimmer and dimmer. Vote
for this, do you? Not I!
Editors Comment:A question
really: Did you watch the Final2012 Presidential Debate
between Mitt Romney and Barak
Obama? I saw a clear win on both
style and substance...Barak's
steak sizzled. Couldn't help but
laugh at the smug of a fake smile
Romney presented while Obama
drove home key reasons to re-
elect him. You saw it
As I predicted, Mitt
Romney's only play (aftergoing for the Queens Gambit,
gaining power but losing position
the old Rope- a Dope, the
straight- up Okie Doke) was to
try to out-Obama, Obama. He
parroted d Obamas vision for th
future of this country expressed
in 2008 and continued with
consistency for the past year. The
guy, again, was forced to sound
like a Born Again Democrat.
Moderator did well...format was
perfect for Barak, and he spoke
last on key issues... needless to
say he called Romney on his flip
flopping ways. Truth is, he went
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for the jugular as predicted;
although it looks to me the
debaters had an agreement to
not hit each other hard on jobs...
Obama could have driven
Obstructionism in Congress home
like a Giant home run with the
bases loaded... He also made it
clear to the American people the
Romney we all know now is no
*ahem* "champion," of the
middle nor other working classes.
I make no bones
about my personal biases or
my reasons for them; I have beensaying this for several months
now, lamenting the Shrinking of
the Middle Class, of all the
working classes. I dont want to
see your grandchildren begetting
grandchildren repaying loans for
their education on the hourly
salaries earned by working for the
Wal-marts of today. No upward
mobility. No American Dream for
them. I do not want to see this
emergence of 21st
Century
Feudalism. Do you?
The Vote for
Children
By Claire Sherman Mother and
School Board Candidate
While contemplating
writing for The SpareChanger, my thoughts
immediately turned to a viral
posting my husbands former
classmate recently shared on
Facebook. It read: The Food
Stamp Program, administered by
the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, is proud to be
distributing the greatest amount
of free meals and food stamps
ever. Meanwhile, the National
Park Service, administered by the
U.S. Department of the Interior,
asks us to Please do not feed the
animals. Their stated reason for
the policy is because the animals
will grow dependent on handouts
and will not learn to take care of
themselves. This ends todays
lesson.
My husbands
revulsion of this, to whichhe immediately posted in
response, was met with equal
and swift condemnation of him,
not just from his classmate but
others writing in who said there
was nothing in the posting
implicitly tying animals to people.
Apparently intolerance doesnt
look good when you wear it on
your sleeve (or post it on your
Facebookpage).
It is a sad commentary
that the primarybeneficiaries of the Food Stamp
Program are mothers and
children. It would be much easier,and much more politically
correct, if we could just let the
men who dont pay income taxes
starve on the streets. But the
easier way to ingratiate the
wildlife nutritionists among us is
to let Mr. Romneys budget
proposals become law. Although
the equal opportunity curtain wi
then fall on all of us dependent
victims, the one sub-cabal of
those 47% who believe they are
entitled to health care, to food,
to housing, to you name it that
will be most impacted will be
children.
Thats right, folks:
Children.
Nobody likes to talk
about this inconvenient
truth. Maybe because they dontwant other people to know that
they see this as the natural
evolution of an increasingly
socially Darwinist society. Maybe
its because they dont want to
contemplate how to act locally if
the government gives itself
absolution from thinking globally
(or at least nationally). And
maybe its because the Davis
School Board aint seen nothin
yetand doesnt want to.
Well, guess what? I
want to talk about it.
In reality, we dont
really know what
maelstrom is coming our waynext. Hurricane Romney?
Possibly. Typhoon NIMBY?
Present and accounted for. The
defeat of Proposition 30 and
Measure E? Unknown.
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What I do know is that
while we deferentially focusour attention on turning the top
2% of students based on a
culturally biased exam into 25%
of the students, we leave 75%
behind. When a Davis school is
designated as Program
Improvement, parents exercise
their right to pull their kids and
place them in a higher achieving
school (too bad for the ones that
stayed) otherwise known as
white flight. We rightfully pride
ourselves on our children who are
high achieving and go on touniversities, but with limited
resources weve turned our back
on kids whose aspirations may
not be as lofty in societalterms
but deserve just as much out of
life as everyone else. And what
of the children whose parents
dont have stable residences, and
sometimes get pulled from
schools mid-stream to return to
their home countries?
Why arent these
issues being discussedmore in public? Is it because the
people with the money and the
power are risk-averse or that they
just dont want to rock the
indigenous boat?
Look closely at the
financial disclosures forthe School Board Race: three
candidates have spent close to
(or more than) $10,000, while
two (including yours truly) have
scarcely spent anything. Davis
School Board for sale get your
School Board here! Is it any
wonder that the heavyweight
endorsers in town: the
Enterprise, the Davis Teachers
Association, and the Davis
Democratic Club have all
endorsed one of these three
candidates? Are you surprised to
know that the local politicians
proffered their endorsements
before the filing date for all
candidates?
Isnt it rather ironic
how the two candidates (JoseGrande and I) who lack both thefinancial resources and power
endorsements have by farthe
most experience teaching from
elementary/secondary schools to
universities. In a parallel
universe, one might think that
nobody knows more about
education than educators, that
nobody knows better what
children in a classroom need than
educators, and that nobody
knows more about running a
school district than educators.
But thats in a universe far, far
away.
Heck, even the on-line
Davis Vanguard, whichpurports to be The InvestigativeEye of Davis, has one of these
top three candidates as a
Featured Sponsor.
Like it or not, we can
run but we cant hidefrom these pressing issues. I
want to see a School Board that
pays more attention to and seeks
advice from people in their own
neighborhoods, and not just
those who have the time and
energy to show up at chambers i
the evenings (which is exactly
when many working parents get
home and need time with their
children). I want to learn more
about the challenges facing
families with children who are
living precariously on the
margins. If the powers that be
(or, by proxy, voters) decide to
further exsanguinate public
schools, then I want to see howwe can work with some of the
thirty thousand-plus students at
UC Davis to help out in our
classrooms.
If we have to increase
class sizes, let it be in thehigh schools in classes for college
bound students theyll be
getting used to it soon enough;
this way more personal attention
can be given to the students at
the elementary school who really
need itor, better yet, what about
college-bound high school
students taking courses at the
community college or UC Davis?
the high schools cant provide fo
all their needs, then why not?
No Child Left Behind hasbecome bureaucrat-speak for
assessment, but if my campaign
means anything at all, its that
we have to be cognizant of every
childs needs. This recognition
isnt happening now.
http://goo.gl/ndwFw
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*Editors Comment:Education and Upward Mobility
go hand in hand even as poverty
among our children breaks that
bond. Below is an excerpted
November 2011 submission from
Richard Sequest and erstwhile
amateur videographer for and
benefactor of The Spare Changer
for those of us that like statistics. I
submit you will not like these..
By Richard Sequest(Excerpt November 2011, TSC)
If you are born into poverty
you will probably end up in
poverty. And if you end up in
poverty you stand a better
chance of becoming homeless.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
spent two decades studying
childhood poverty in the United
States and concludes:
Children who grow up in low
income families are less likely to
successfully navigate lifes
challenges and achieve future
success.Kids Count, 2011
There are several alarming
trends contributing to child
development delays and thegeneral steady decline in
economic well-being for children
and families at the lower half of
the income distribution.
Three trends in particular stand
out:
8% Increase in number of low
birth weight babies
From 2000 to 2008 the
percentage of low birth weight
babies born in the United States
increased
by 8%, from 7.6 percent to 8.2
percent.
Babies weighing less than 5.5
pounds at birth, according to the
study, have a high probability of
experiencing developmental
problems and short and long
term disabilities and are at
greater risk of dying within the
first year of life.
\
10% more children are
being born to single-parent
families.
Children growing up in single
parent families, says the study,
typically do not have the same
economic or human resources
available as those growing up in
two parent families.
About 23.8 million children lived
in single parent families in 2009.
Of these children, 5.2 million live
with cohabitating partners.
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
% children born to
single parents
Positive Trends
They are far and few between,
but yes, there were some
glimmers of positivity in the
statistics I have been covering
this past year. Again, referring to
the Annie B. Casey Foundation
study, here are a few areas of
progress:
The infant mortality ratedecreased by 1% between
2000 and 2007.
The child death ratedecreased by 14% from
2000 to 2007.
The teen death ratedecreased by 7% from2000 to 2007.
The teen birth ratedecreased by 15% from
2000 to 2008.
The percentage of teensnot in school and not high
school graduates decreas
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by 45% from 2007 to
2009.
To end on another positive but
somewhat contradictory note,
chronic homelessness appears to
have stabilized in the UnitedStates.
According to federal statistics the
number of chronic homeless in
the U.S. has decreased by 11%
from 2007 to 2010.
Why, in the face of the Great
Recession and all the other
negative homeless trends this
should be the case, is an openquestion. Maybe it is because
people who are chronically
homeless eventually find their
way to shelter, or maybe they just
know how to hide better.
Whatever the case, this is
certainly the best homeless
trend I have come across this past
year.
Chronic Homelessness in the US
Solutions
The increase in childhood poverty
and povertys correlation with
homelessness is cause for alarm.
Organizations like the Casey
Foundation are working out
strategies to address the long-
term problem and it is
worthwhile to note two main
points they emphasize :
The Two Generation
Strategy
If youre born in poverty, you will
probably end up in poverty.
3rd
Grade Reading Ability
If a child doesnt have a reading
ability by the 3rd
grade, they will
probably fall behind.
What have others said about
poverty?
Famous Quotes
In a country well governed,
poverty is something to be
ashamed of. In a country badly
governed, wealth is something to
be ashamed of.
Confucius
551-470 BC
In poverty and other
misfortunes of life, true friends
are a sure refuge.
Aristotle
384-322 BC
There is something about
poverty thatsmells like death.
Zora Hurston
1891-1960
My favorite:
I thank fate for having made
me born poor. Poverty taught
me the true value of the gifts
useful to life.
Anatole France
1884-1924
*Editors Comment:Likeanalogies, I dont know that
statistics ever prove anything;
they are always subject tointerpretation, but they do serve
to illustrate quite nicely, dont
they? I believe in fresh ideas and
creative funding approaches and
a responsible accountable and,
compassionate school board.
Claire Shannon has my vote.
HS Student Leaders o
Tomorrow TODAY!By Pastor Bill
(Reprint Nov 2011 TSC)
Hello. My name is Bill
Habicht. Im a pastor at DavisCommunity Church and a
volunteer at the Interfaith
Rotating Winter Shelter of Davis
(www.interfaith-shelter.org).
Over the last several
years, I have workedalongside and learned from many
great leaders in the Homeless
Services sector. Ive stood in awe
as I watched Bill Pride and his
amazing staff at Davis CommunitMeals develop programs that
move individuals out of a state of
homelessness. Ive witnessed th
transformation of lives through
the ministry of Cindy Burger,
Robb Davis and the volunteers at
Grace-in-Action. And Ive seen
how a community can come
http://www.interfaith-shelter.org/http://www.interfaith-shelter.org/http://www.interfaith-shelter.org/http://www.interfaith-shelter.org/ -
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together, thanks to the leadership
of Andrea Gero, Julie Harlow,
Willa Pettygrove, Linda Scott and
others, to provide shelter and
hospitality to anyone in need
during the winter months at the
Interfaith Rotating Winter
Shelter. Without a doubt, the
Davis community cares (and cares
deeply) about those living
homeless!
While I have seen
many great adult leaderstackle the issue of homelessness
and poverty, what continues toastound me are the Youth that
are making a very real impact. I
often think ofZoe Bock who
worked almost every evening at
the IRWS check-in table; and
Kalley Thompson who did
everything in her power to help a
mother and her three young
daughters at a local shelter; and
Tayler Stone who, once again, led
a gift tree project for low-income
children. There are countless
other high school students who
have given in ways that often go
unrecognized.
I believe these high
school students arepoised to become serious and
impactful community leadersnot of tomorrow, but of TODAY.
They have shown, through
ingenuity and dedication, the
ability to become powerful
agents of change in Davis,
particularly in the area of
homelessness. The only thing
that is missing, in my opinion, is a
dedicated program focused on
developing their innate
leadership abilities; a program
that is more than just a
presentation in school, or a
charity event.
I believe our high school students
are ready for an intensive
experience that equips them with
the skills and knowledge to
actually LEAD programs like the
Interfaith Rotating Winter Shelter.
In January of this last
year, a high school studentapproached me and said, Isntthere something more I could be
doing? I mean, I work at the
shelter regularly, but I think I can
do something more. Out of that
conversation, the idea surfaced
that maybe whats needed is a
leadership institute. Six months
later, I found myself sitting in a
circle with a group of high school
students and watched as they
actually designed a leadership
program for themselves!
These students have
come together to formthe Youth Leadership Institute
(http://bit.ly/YouthLeadership), a
year-long program that equipsthem to become community
leaders through hands-on
experience and education.
Theyve set up a High School
Internship program with the
Interfaith Rotating Winter
Shelter, scheduled guest
speakers, participated in Mental
Health First Aid certification
through the Yolo County Dept. of
Mental Health, and have begun
intensive training in preparation
for the shelter. If thats not an
accomplishment, I dont know
what is! Adults from the wider
Davis community have been
invited to help develop these
students gifts as and serve as
mentors.
At this point, Im
serving as a resource for thehigh school students and helping
to support their vision of theprogram. But I know that there
are other adults out there with
greater skill and expertise than I
in leadership development. So,
Im extending an invitation to TSC
readers to join the youth in this
venture. There are multiple
points for involvement; from
serving as part of the leadership
team to teaching a single class to
becoming shelter teammate with
1-2 high school students during
their internship at the IRWS. The
job of an adult leader is to
resource and to teach and to hel
the high school students develop
their leadership gifts.
See the presentation
this group has put togetherhttp://bit.ly/YouthLeadership.
You can join the studentsat anymeeting!
Join us and consider
how you might help form oufuture leaders!! Wednesdays @
http://bit.ly/YouthLeadershiphttp://bit.ly/YouthLeadershiphttp://bit.ly/YouthLeadershiphttp://bit.ly/YouthLeadershiphttp://bit.ly/YouthLeadershiphttp://bit.ly/YouthLeadershiphttp://bit.ly/YouthLeadership -
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6:00pm, in the Davis Community
Church and Sundays @ 4:30pm
at DCC.
If you would like additional
information, please feel free to
contact me: Bill Habicht at
bill@dccpres.org(530) 753-2894
x105
Jennys 10 Most
Wanted
By Sarah Zacharias
Alright folks, I want
you to do me a favor. Nexttime a nutty right-winger says
that they actually know or have
seen any of the following
mythological creatures, or if you
yourself believe that you have,
please help me verify this by
contacting me immediately.
Please remember that everystipulation of each creature must
be met.
I don't want to see
any jack rabbits withantelope horns duct taped to
their heads. I don't want to hear
about a finding that you think
meets the qualifications for #2unless that creature meets ALL
the stipulations either, so check
your facts carefully. That said, a
serious Jenny reward is offered
for the capture and presentation
of any of these mythological right
wing creatures:
1) A woman who had an abortion
in her 3rd trimester to fit into a
particular dress OR to go on a
cruise OR because she got tired of
being pregnant.
2) A person legally living on
welfare (defined as the program
TANF - Temporary Aid for Needy
Families) for more than 5 years,
who does so without performing
any mandated work search AND
has no disability AND who
somehow affords at least two of
the following: recreational drugs,
acrylic nails, vacations, ORexpensive property.
(To be fair, I will also accept an
individual who uses the Food
Stamp portion of their state
issued EBT benefit card to
actually purchase alcohol or
cigarettes at the counter of an
established business in the United
States - to verify this I will need a
receipt.)
3) An accredited scientist who
can refute the fact that the glass
in windows on our cars or
greenhouses act like carbon
dioxide and react to infrared
radiation.
4) A gay person who threatened
the sanctity of the institution of
marriage solely by seeking to be
married to the person they love.
5) A single enlisted person
responsible for the ability of our
nation to be at war or not at war
6) A rich person who runs a
business in America who got rich
without using any of the
following: public roads, public
schools, the internet, anything
invented by NASA (yes this
includes Velcro), a bank loan
backed by the FDIC, or paper
money. (*Special note: For a
bonus prize bring me a creature
that fits the previous
qualifications for #6 AND runs a
business that pays their workers
such that NONE of them use food
stamps.)
7) A parent who had 10 or 12
children SOLELY for the purpose
of receiving a huge tax return in
April of every year.
8) A person who purposely
committed a crime AND
purposely got caught specifically
to go to college while in prison,
and for no other reason. This
must be the declared motive in a
court of law, or in a notarized
deposition from the offender for
me to accept this creature.
9) A fisherperson who tells and
has always told the truth about
every fish they've ever caught inpublic AND in private setting. Thi
includes, but is not limited to:
size/species of fish, bait used to
catch fish, date, time, and other
pertinent details.
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10) Jackalopesmust be brought
in alive as it is difficult to
determine if they are real when
taxidermied. Photos and other
representation of the creature,
including specimens of canned
Jackalope milk will not be
accepted as evidence. To qualify
as aJackalope the creature must
be a jack rabbit with naturally
occurring horns or antlers. Two
antlers must be present to make
positive identification.
IF you can positively
identify any of thesemythological creatures, please
contact me immediately. I will
help you document them so that
the rest of the world will
understand that the right-wing,
and your friendly neighborhood
fisherman, are not ALL
compulsive liars. In the meantime
I suggest we try living our lives in
a reality where these 10 myths
remain understood to be myths
and conduct ourselves
accordingly; except maybe in the
case ofJackalopes and half
honest fisherman, because I kinda
like them.
Winter Wear and
Tear
By Lawson
Ever wonder what
homeless people dowhen the rain starts? Where
homeless families go? Where
homeless men and women go?
Where their children sleep? Or
how they manage to? Where they
keep their belongings? How they
decide how they supplement
whatever legal means they have
to eat, travel, communicatehw
they stay clean and dry? Ever
wonder where they are when you
dont see them? Ever wish you
didnt see them when you do?
Ever think what The United States
President now will do? Or what
you can do? What you can do
Today.
The Interfaith Rotating
Winter Shelterof Davisbegins its 6
thseason in November
as thousands of Winter Shelters
throughout the country will also
do. No matter where you are,
now is the time to get on board
for this particular much needed
community effort.
Budget cuts for non-
profits are deep and theywill grow even deeper, placing
the care of the homeless even
more squarely on the shoulders
of our faith communities
everywhere. This means an even
greater need for volunteers from
the community. This meanscollege and High school students,
their parents and friends. This
means our civic leaders and
businessmen and women. This
means their staff and the friends
and colleagues of their staffs.
means you and your friends,
your neighbors and theirs. This
means us working together
regardless of our Faiths or our
perceived differences.
This is really about
Compassion. And this isabout Community Responsibility
This is about Homelessness in a
community, in a country, so rich
there just shouldnt be any
homeless, not in winter, that
dont wantto be, that dont
choose to be, and even these
people are either saving money
so they can afford housing one
day or are so disenfranchisedthey dont want any more of
organized society than realities o
life on this planet forces upon
them. (There was a time when
that statement would have read
and even these people are
either saving money so they can
afford housing one day, or they
are so hopelessly disenfranchised
they dont want any more of
organized society than realities
of life on this planet forces upon
them. I know this first hand...)
So what would you be
doing as an IRWSvolunteer? What if you
volunteered as a family? As a
staff? As a congregation? As a
college student or service club ocivic organization? What would
you do as a scout troop or
volleyball team or middle school
class? What would you do? How
could you help if only for one
evening between now and the
end of the cold weather season?
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You could do lots! And you will
get as much as you give.
From a Volunteer
perspective, you would firstsign up on line for attend an
orientation and training with
emphasis on guest interaction.
Depending on the duties you
select, you would soon meet for
more specific orientation and
training. (You cant really teach
compassion, you either have it or
you dont. You got that far, so you
arepre-qualified!) Just remember
homeless people are nodifferent from you in that the
homeless need respect,
compassion for their struggles
and emotional support for their
efforts in meeting lifes
challenges and everything else
will fall into place, I promise.
Some of the volunteer
needs include assistingfood preparation and service,
which also includes sitting down
and sharing meals and
conversation, if you have the
time, energy and compassion.
You have so much to offer;
expressed interest and a
reminder their homelessness is
temporary; encouraging guests
to keep the faith, to keep hopealive and, frankly, that
mainstream society still has its
rewards; stillhas something
worth returning to. You will soon
question and perhaps see many
have forgotten this little
something you and I take for
granted. Mostly you have a kind
earYou can offer understanding
as well. This helps the homeless
feel like home.
You may volunteer as
a Shuttle Driver, a veryimportant responsibility because
although the guests make their
own way to The Friends Meeting
House on the corner of 5th
and L
at 5:00 p.m., as a matter of olicy
they are driven to the host site
for that particular week, whether
it be close (Davis Community
Church for example) or far (The
Unitarians Church or first Baptist.)
The guests are also
returned to this samelocation, although Jack-in-the Box
is often an alternate because it is
often on the way, always close
by, and the only homeless
friendly location that is open, dry
and sells affordably priced coffee
in the rain. You will have a special
coordinator for this very critical
volunteer group. The size of your
vehicle is not critical though
obviously a van is helpful, as this
shuttle service requires two or
three Drivers on any given
(early!) morning or (early!)
evening for which you can spar
the time and gas. You will need
insurance of course, though IRWS
has its own of course. PleaseVolunteer as a Driver.
Do you enjoy cooking?
How about food prep, orwilling to just help with serving
(and sharing) the hot meals
provided by host sites for a given
week or evening? Then you are
needed, and likely you will have
the most fun! I say this because
ypu will be faceto-face with
tired, often wet, and always
hungry and appreciative people
who always have a smile on their
face. Guests are now face-to-face
with you, and they know you are
here because you want to be,
because you care, and you
because you know they know
without you, there could be now
Rotating Shelter. Guests depend
on you. No greater reward for a
volunteer than to see the smile
you put on the faces of theguests, save maybe the
dinnertime conversation
While perhaps not as
essential as setting up cotshanding out sleeping bags or
answering a question or providin
a routine service request, just
talking, engaging with the guest
in ways that affirm the homeless
community is in fact a part of
your community is vitally
important in making your own
commitment s valuable as it it
valued. The Interfaith Winter
Shelter of Davis system is all
about harm reduction, safe
harbor, a feeling of belong, not
belonging. It is all about, again,
community.
Over-nightIRWS
Volunteers will be thegreatest need at the Interfaith
Rotating Winter Shelter of Davis
of Davis, and so I urge you to put
in a few over-nighters as well.
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This duty is particularly suited to
students who can just as well
study, read, or otherwise quietly
occupy yourselves. Singles and
couples, even groups are strongly
urged to join. As with all the
duties, you will not be alone,
since someone remains awake at
all times. As with all the different
duties, the ones Ive tried to recall
and describe here, there will be
additional service-specific
training, there will be a supervisor
from that particular host site
Congregation. After meals, a
movie and lights out @ 10:00p,
there is really little to do beyondlistening to people snore, seeing
to it no one goes out for a smoke
break after lights out. Guests are
bone tired by now. Remember
what their days are like, and you
see right now what I mean.
Volunteer as one of
the over-nighters? I makethis a personal plea, because not
everyone can be away from their
families during these hours and
this is no less true for that weeks
host site volunteer staff. This is
no less true for IRWS Core
Members (the work horses of
IRWS). It is no less true for its
Board of Directors who every
year must otherwise do more
than their share of over-nightersas this duty is the most
problematic. Remember, you can
volunteer for as many or as few
as you like. Oh, and you are up
and at em, too; reveille, coffee,
chores and Snack-to-go, because
Morning Drivers will be there
soon after to return your guest to
the Intake Center back at 4th
and
L., The (Quaker) Friends Meeting
House.
The Intake Center
needs you too! There isspecial additional training for this
role as well, of course; your
duties there are just that: Intake.
You meet and greet, sign them in,
do behavioral assessment and
confirm their suitability for
shelter at the host site. When we
(The founding Board of Directors)
considered the merits of Host Site
Intake vs. a Central Intake, wethought everyone would be best
served if the guest arrived to the
same place each night.
The Friends Meeting
House of Davis offered to bea Central Intake Facility, and we
knew this would be much better
than giving the major
responsibility of determining
whether a guests behavior is
acceptable to staff (and other
guests) afterthey arrive to the
shelter host site for that week.
Behavioral Screening for
unacceptable substance abuse
and/or mental health disabilities
that might be expected t cause
problems for staff and guest are
identified at Intake each eveningon night by night, case by case
bases.
Join us!Editors Note:The SpareChanger of Davis would very
much like to hear from you; just a
quick note with questions,
concerns or interest you may
have. Well see if we can point
you in the right direction for you.
thesparechanger@hotmail.com
Editors Comment: So whatsit really like to be homeless in
winter? How cold is poverty? As I
see it there are two kinds of
affordable housing: The kind the
un-sheltered poor can afford, and
the kind they cannot. Clearly, the
affordable variety for the
sheltered poor is a daunting
predicament, as it involves a long
and lengthy waiting list, say for asection 8, or for a similarly priced
community subsidized
development; these are few and
far between for a variety of
reasons. There are many barriers
to housing for the homeless
including the minimum income
requirements, the credit check
fees, the qualification that the
applicants rent not exceed anarbitrary percentage mandated
by the median income of the
neighborhood. Since the number
of available units of this kind far i
far exceeded by the number of
applicants, not to mention the
number of individuals and
families that need the units, just
the thought of paying the fee for
each application to rent (@ 30
dollars) is daunting if not
impossible. Sheltered poor in
Davis are living in a transitional
program, beautifully custom
tailored to the needs and goals of
each individual, and coordinated
by a case manager. These
people have an opportunity to
save whatever income they
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receive, SSI, unemployment
benefits, disability payments,
recycling cans, you name it, and
can take as long as 18 months.
Waiting lists can take longer than
that.
I view starving
students as shelteredpoor also, and although their
situation is unique in that they are
not homeless in the classic sense,
we know they are compromised
nevertheless; they often study at
night and sleep where they can
(like dorm lounges) and go toclass on campus during the day.
At the very least, they are living
two, four or six to a dwelling.
Often two to a room.
While The University
pretty much takes care ofits own, those students that fall
through the crack may not have
fallen if housing more suitable to
their goals and lifestyle, if you can
call the life of a starving student a
life
And then there are the
families with two, but moreoften only one, provider, living
paycheck to paycheck with no
room for the unexpected. Theseare sheltered poor who struggle
daily to putthe A in affordable.
Wait out the waiting list. Save for
first anddeposit, and hustle in
every imaginative way to keep a
roof over the heads of their
children.
Idlike to see monies
made available to thesepeople, set aside until their name
comes up on the waiting list, and
distributed only then..And Id like
to see it without raising taxes, but
by raising the consciousness and
sense of community responsibility
in the subsidized housing
neighborhoods. We must take
care of our own, too.
The un-sheltered poor
are my gravestconcern.
They are the most vulnerable.They are the teens, particularly
the females. They are the singles
with mental health issues that
prevent them from seeing their
way through the maze of the
government benefit application
process, and the waiting time for
that. They are the homeless that
have taken the easy way out:
drugs and alcohol and
panhandling for change to get
them through the day. And they
are the ones, single and families,
that are Homeless The Hard Way,
living day to day, an apparent
normal life by taking advantage
of The DCM Resource Center by
day, and sleeping outdoorsin
places that have become all but
an open secret by now.
I am proud to see our
churches and Synagoguesopen their doors to the
unsheltered poor during the
winter months, and a 24hr drop in
center during the summer, as well
as official Unsheltered homeless
zones on church and private
property. Yes, the legalities,
hygiene maintenance and securit
problems may seem un workable
by Ive every confidence that a
community, especially one as
progressive and Davis, and
woodland AND West Sacramento
could see this done.
Editors Note: For the winter,we got this, but what about for
the rest of the year? Poverty and
homelessness are not seasonal, s
compassion cannot be.
Tellin It Like It
Still IsBy Robert
I can tell you first
hand the church shelters area lucky place to be. With the
recent cold weather, and the rain
its a blessing; you know to have place every night that is warm
and friendly, ahh, and safe place
to lay my head down at night. Th
services I receive every night star
at intake at 5 oclock.
By the time I get to
the shelter at night, all the
staff and the volunteers make mefeel 100% welcome. Ahh, and the
meals there? They actually spoil
me. There hasnt been one night
where we had a bad meal. Last
night we had, at the Davis
Community Church where well
be for a week, for dinner that
night, they made us tacos, fresh,
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with all the fixins. For dessert we
had hot peach cobbler fresh from
the oven, with whip cream put on
top. Theres nuthin bad I can say
about the Interfaith Rotating
shelter Program. I say its all
goodbecause its been all good.
It has given me somewhat of
appositive structure in my life,
uhh that bein from sleepin on
the streets and sometimes not
knowing where Im gonna sleep
that nightand all the stress
entailed with that.
After the meal, after
having my stomach full withall of the delicious food they
serve, I usually go back to my cot,
and I usually fall asleep early.
Bein my age, uhh, I tend to get
tired morethan young people.
Uhh, I usually crawl into my warm
sleeping bagonto my cot, and I
usually go to sleep before lights
out at ten oclock. But there are
a few around me that watch a
video which they show every
night there, before the lights go
out.
The atmosphere
there is real calm andpeaceful, and we dont normally
have that many problems
between us; everybody normallygets along with each other when
were in there and, bottom line,
we usually have a good time. I
would say most people there are
real grateful for this program we
have in Davis, and all the services
they provide.
Wake-up time is 5:30
in the a.m. I get out of mysleeping bag to start another
brand new day. I say its a brand
new day because it is. We have a
little chore which isnt nuthin
compared to what they are givin
us. They make us fresh hot coffee
in the morning, which Ill drink
about three cups gotta have my
wake-up and caffeine. It is
what it is, I like to say and thats
allit is these days Im happy to
say. And they always have
pastries in the morning before
leave, which we get after we getchecked off on our chores. And
sometimes by surprise, uhh, we
get a complete hot breakfast. Like
this morning; an egg casserole!
Usually though, there
isnt time for a hot breakfastmeal, because theres usually
something going on at the church
that morning. About 6:30, we are
transported back to Intake, the
Quakers Friends house at 4th
and
L or Jack-in-the Box, which is my
final destination. Ill sit and
drink more coffee and plan out
my day
About 8 oclock I
normally go over toStarbucks on F Streetdowntownto distribute The Spare Changer...
The Spare Changeris a monthly
publication, uhh, given to me, so
I dont feel like Im begging
because Im giving something
back. To me, its very educational
and informative and and
basically, its lettin the
community know whats going o
in the homeless community and
the community as a whole, the
way we see it. I usually put in
about three or four hours a day
interacting with people in the
community. Theres one or two
people that will buy me another
cup of coffee (ha! Ha!) and
theres usually one or two that
pass me by and say Good
morning Robert! And that make
me feel good. And it makes me
feel like Im doing something
good here in the community
distributing this publication
This winter shelter
programis gives me achance to get my feet back on th
ground and to do some positive
things in my life. This doesnt
mean I gonna conquer the whole
world, but really speakin, Im
now settin small-time goals, like
savin a little bit of the donations
get each day so I can get into a
place by the time the program
ends in March.
Editors Note: Chances are youreceived this copy of the Spange
from Robert himself, and you can
see how he is just a great human
being. He loves his community,
loves the role he has taken upon
himself to play in it and, above al
you can see the love he has for
you. To see him, you wouldnt
think he was homeless at all,
would you? Hopefully, this time
next year he wont be, although I
do hope he will continue to
distributeand write more
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oftenfor The Spare Changer of
Davis.
Editors Note:My friend RobertSelman is housed now, in
Woodland, living clean and sober.
Thank you for everything, Robert!
Dumpster Diving
Hot and Cold
By Kevin
Dumpster diving forme, ok, is something thathelps me in many, many ways.
One way is when I cant afford
clothing. When the students
graduate school, they throw out
clothing which is good; not too
worn out. I wash them when I
can. Another way is I find
electronics and things. Like CDs
and movies that I can sell atArmadillo or Tower Records and
make a little money for food, bus
tickets to get around, and be able
to go find work. Another reason is
to go and do recycling, collecting
aluminum cans, plastic and glass.
I ride my bicycle
around apartmentdumpsters. I go anytime I havetime, when Im not doing other
things to better my life, such as
day labor, canvassing door to
door if they have things I can do
around their house or yard;
anything I can do to make money.
I am homeless in Davis
unsheltered, except for mymedium sized two man tent. Im
staying with a friend in it right
now, until I can afford to buy my
own, or until October, when I
have a chance to stay at the H
Street Shelter (Davis Community
Meals) Transitional Housing
Program. It is a 18 month stay,
and will give me more stability.
Its hot in Davis, but even in the
cold season, one of the down
sides is how people look at me.
They just look at melike, well, you know, theymake me feel like Im not a
person. They say its private
property and tell me to get out,
and I do. They ask why dont you
get a job?theyve never been
homeless, and they dont know
how hard it is to get back on your
feet once you get down so far. I
leave if they tell me to leave, of
course. I dont see how they
could be saying that, when
theyve never been homeless.
One of the best things
Ive found while dumpsterdiving is a real expensive jade
necklace. It had jade stones all
around, with a carved out jadefigure of an Inca Indian. I found it
last August in a dumpster on
Sycamore Lane. I sold it to female
friend of mine that collects
jewelry. She sells those at swap
meets in Sacramento, Rancho
Cordova, and Folsom. And there
was this really good coat; it was
black, thigh level, and very, very
warm. Not very good for summe
but I needed it that winter. The
jacket is gone now; it got ripped
when I caught it on something
while working.
I usually start between
seven and eight a.m. If Istart in the evening, itll be about
6.pm., for about two hours. I
dont want to wake people in the
morning, or disturb people who
may be tired from work or have
to go to bed early. I dont feel lik
its a bad thing that Im doingthough; Im doing it t help me ge
by until I find work or go out on
day labor assignment.
When I collect
recyclable goods, Iborrow a bike cart from a friend
I can, or I grab a few plastic bags,
fill them up and ride on my bike
with them to the recycling cente
on Covell and Anderson at the
outer edge of the Sav-Mart
parking lot. There I separate the
glass, plastic and cans and put
them into separate large blue
recycling buckets. The man
working there weighs them, puts
the weight number into his
computer and it prints out a
recycling check that at take to thcashier in the supermarket who
cashes it.
Depending on how
long I recycled, or howmuch recycling there is on that
day, I make anywhere from ten t
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twenty dollars. This is in the
course of about four hours
usually. Theres a reason for that:
I dont hog it all, so that other
homeless people can have a
chance to get some, and buy
what they need also. Thats what
Ive been hearing on the street
lately; that other people are not
getting anything and that some
are getting it all. I try to make
what I need for the day, and if I
make twenty bucks Im happy. I
try to make at least enough for
breakfast and dinner, and if I
need my cosmetics like too the
paste, shampoo and deodorant.Something I really need in the
summer time; anytime really.
One of the drawbacks
though is when you go torecycle and open up a plastic bag;
you often get one with cat litter,
dirty diapers or spoiled food. You
get it on your hands if you dont
have gloves. I havent always
used gloves but I finally got some.
You dont smell too good when
you get some of that stuff on
parts of your body or clothing.
Get one that is leaking and it can
spill on your shirt and all down
your pants. Theres not always a
place to take a shower when that
happens, but you can go into a
public bathroom and wash yourhands and parts of your body;
and maybe change clothes. The
Davis Community
Meals Resource Center at1111 H Street has showers, and
they come in handy, but they
close on the weekends and at
2pm during the week. This means
that if I get dirty or get odors
from things that are in the
dumpster at night, or when the
Resource Center is not open, I can
only clean up so much until the
next day it is open. One other
drawback is that you may find
dirty diabetic needles, or needles
used by people who use drugs. If
it sticks me or pokes me I have to
go to the hospital, because
whoever used it may have some
kind of disease. Also, broken glass
or sharp pieces of metal have cut
me in the past. Thats why I finallygot me a thick pair of leather
gloves. I have to be careful.
Open the Homeless
Lockers!
By Richard Cipian
Lockers for thehomeless have alreadybeen built, let's use them. I
believe everyone in our society
has either been affected by social
judging or judges others. Poverty
contributes to a cycle of poor life
choices which cut off
employment opportunities for
some and can lead to
homelessness for others.
The stigma that our
homeless face from jobinterviewers makes securing
employment a challenge.
Providing lockers for our
homeless is a simple, humane
and an effective step to help the
homeless help themselves.
Looking neat and clean makes
finding and keeping a job a lot
easier! What is wonderful about
this very publication that you are
reading is that it attempts to
educate different population
strata's on the phenomenon of
homelessness. True to all age
groups who are reading this issue
ofThe Spare Changeris the
phenomenon of adolescence. We
can all recall when we were 13
and first beginning Junior High
School. We all wanted to fit in
and be with the in group ofstudents.
Some students were
classified as athletes, somewere the smart nerds, and others
were the outcasts. The group we
were in was based on our
clothing and our hair styles; we
begged our parents to get us the
clothing that would allow us to
avoid being described as an
outcast and to be described as
one of the cool kids sporting the
new Adidas. We worked hard in
high school to earn high enough
grades and high scores on the
Scholastic Achievement Test to
gain admission to prestigious
universities.
My senior year, I was
judged competent as astudent and high achiever when
shared my University of
California admission results with
other members of the senior
class who also had been admitte
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to good schools. For some reason
dressing nice and getting into a
top to middle tier University of
California campus was a ticket to
high school popularity or at least
social acceptance by middleclass
peers- whatever that means.
Social judging holds true for
students in university and those
in the work force. Extracurricular
opportunities open up to the
students who show themselves as
competent, cleanattractive
looking and motivated and the
same hold true for employment
opportunities.
A child in poverty lives
ina household where theparents are working minimum
wage type jobs and struggling to
make ends meet for the
household unit. Poverty creates
stress in the household unit
between the parents. The child of
a poor household may not have
good role models who promote
attending universities- the ticket
to social mobility in our society.
A youth who has to
deal with living in achaotic household unit may rebel
from the social structure and turn
to alcohol and drug use to numb
the pain. A child who has to livein a single parent household with
a drug addicted mother and a
social identification at school as a
poor social outcast may motivate
the child to fit in with other social
outcasts at school who also turn
to drugs and alcohol as a way out
of the pain. These students face
many challenges to shaping up
and getting into Advanced
Placement Programs.
Our public schools
have poor teacher tostudent ratios which only leads to
the students from the middle
class and perhaps a few highly
motivated poor kids to be pushed
by teachers to attend college. For
the other social outcasts, the
focus may be to get these
students to graduate and
sometimes this is a challenge.
And If we throw foster kids intothe equation, the odds of these
kids going to college and
becoming full participants in a
democratic society are reduced.
20% of academically
qualified foster youthattended some sort of college--
compared to 60% of high school
students not in foster care
(Wolanin, T. (2005). Higher
Education Opportunities for
Foster Youth: A Primer for
Policymakers. Washington, DC:
Institute for Higher Education
Policy). Disability and mental
illness can also perpetuate
homelessness.
The homeless facechallenges to employment.What food establishment
anywhere in America hire would
hire a homeless person as an
employee who had to store their
belongings in the restaurant? The
restaurant would fear a loss of
business if they would hire such a
homeless person. Managers of
the restaurant would wonder if a
homeless person would be a
dependable employee. Manager
for other job opportunities may
wonder if homeless people really
have skills that can be applied on
the job. Looking homeless in fron
of a job interviewer can eliminat
any chance the homeless or even
housed but poor person has to
getting the job. Homeless people
may not have the clothing
required to impress an
interviewer or for the job itself.
There are a few local
social services like theShort Term Emergency Action
Committee in Davis that help the
poor trying to become employed
by providing a limited supply of
clothing vouchers through Right
and Relevant. The demand
however for the assistance
provided far exceeds the
resources available.
Hiring a homeless
person is a way to help,but too many employers are put
off by the homeless concept. We
as a society acknowledge the
need to help but we often run
from the uncomfortable.Homeless people want to work
and some of them are the
hardest working, dependable and
intelligent people I know. To den
a population that has dealt with
struggle a gateway to
employment is inhumane.
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Vol.2 No. 2 October 2012
18
Providing lockers for
our homeless is a simple,humane and an effective step to
help the homeless help
themselves. Those people who
initially stood in the way of a
wonderful locker program for the
homeless of Davis should be
ashamed of themselves. The
homeless will be forced to carry
their belongings with them all
over town and be questioned by
police for appearing homeless.
A group of people
congregated in a publicpark with sleeping bags and
bicycles by their sides are an
open target for surveillance by
law enforcement and nearby
NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard).
When a police say they do not
profile a homeless person prior to
an officer questioning a homeless
person before an act of crime has
been committed, they maybe
lying. Police officers are human
and do judge even if it is implicit
in nature.
Officers patrol areas
known for high rates ofcrime and check for warrants on
homeless people that are
congregated in public parksduring daylight hours out of no
provocation. I have seen this first
hand many times in Sacramento
and once in Davis.
If we provide lockers
for our homeless,
homeless people can drop off
their sleeping bags and personal
belongings into a locker and walk
around clean if they grab a
shower at the Davis Community
Meals Resource Center.
Homeless people can apply for
jobs and actually do well at
getting an interview and passing
it because they are qualified.
Then a homeless person can get
an apartment or at least get into
a transitional housing program
using the job as evidence to show
that the client is motivated. I
have seen homeless people who
have been fortunate to gainemployment, actually finding an
apartment and stay employed. It
can be done.
But by refusing them
lockers for the homeless, wejust perpetuate the cycles of
discrimination and stigma for the
homeless. As a result homeless
people with no jobs and
economic opportunity may be
forced to drink away the pain that
being homeless brings forth- only
to be arrested by law
enforcement and incarcerated for
some Open Container infraction. I
say Open the Lockers for the
Homeless instead!
Editors Comment:I couldntagree with you more, RC.
Unfortunately, even after the
MOU was rescinded, DCC was
forced to capitulate to a very few
number of neighbors and agreed
not to open them on their
property.
*Editors Note: TSC has notgiven up hope for its Lockers for
the Homeless Project. Stay tuned
*These last two submissions are
both reprints from June 2005, our
third issue. It was eight pages
then The first from 17yr. old
Jessica,a troubled teen who
wrote and distributed as a TSC
Client Vendor, and only wanted a
new Cruiser bicycle. She got it!
The other from Patrick. Each has
long since moved on to better
things. I like to think The Spare
Changer had a little something to
do with helping do that.
Homeless Realities
By Jessica
I am not homeless
anymore because I workedhard to get myself back on my
feet.
I thank God every
single day for helping me dothis. I dont really know what
religion I should be; all I know is
that I stayed at a church for man
months until I met my boyfriend
They were really nice to welcome
me while I was staying there, andI appreciate it. There are
homeless people still on the
streets living at the same church
that I stayed at, and they wish
that they could get into a shelter
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7/31/2019 Spare Changer 10-12 Sherman
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Vol.2 No. 2 October 2012
19
The problem is that thehomeless shelter in this area is
full, and overwhelmed with the
number of people popping up
homeless. It could happen to
anybody. They could lose theirjob, get kicked out of their house,
or just come to Davis in hopes of
finding a better life. A lot of
homeless people stay clean and
sober because they know that
there is something better out
there for them, and its only a few
homeless people that give us a
bad reputation. The way I was
raised I would walk right past a
homeless person and pretend
that they didnt exist because
they were dangerous, dirty
people.
I definitely learned a
hard life lesson when Iactually started becoming friends
with the homeless people
because I was now one of them.They embraced me like I was a
part of their family; made sure
that I ate even though they were
low on food.
There were a lot of
people helping when I wason the streets, people who knew
that I was the youngest one andwanted to do whatever they
could for me. I had a VERY
interesting experience while I was
on the streets and I know from
experience now that a homeless
person is completely harmless,
there are a lot of them with
gentle hearts and yes, some of
them are people that you stay
away from because they are so
stuck on their misery of
homelessness that they want to
make everyone around them
miserable. Thats only, like, one in
ten people.
They stay mostly in
good spirits, and from whatI saw, a lot of homeless people
only drink to numb their pain
because its the only thing that
hasnt thrown them away yet.
They literally give up on life and
want to drink themselves todeath. That is a sad, sad way to
live life.
My One RantBy Patrick Giri
I only have one rant.Just one, I promise. I grew up
here and housing used to besemi-affordable back in the late
60s and early 70s. Now, the
housing scene is completely
different. It seems that you
cannot find a one-bedroom
apartment under $750! This is, in
my humble opinion, a lot to pay
for one bedroom. Need I
mention two or three bedrooms?
These prices may be cheaper than
those in the Bay Area, but one
needs to have a well paying job,
preferably well above minimum
wage, in order to make ends
meet. This is fine for those who
do.
But what about those
who don't? What aboutthose who are working a job
that pays only the minimum
wage? What about people whoare on State/Federal Disability?
What if you are not a student an
are not getting grants and loans?
Sure, there is low-
income housing butonly acertain amount, definitely not
enough to meet the high
demand. How can the needs
of these folks be met?
There is a solution out
there, but how to find it?Housing has always been my one
rant about Davis. Don't gt me
wrong, I like this town...it's very
nice and quiet. The crime rate is
low. 99.9% of the folks I see are
nice and polite. Housing though,
has been very, very expensive
since the late 70s...I pray for
those who are making minimum
wage. I pray for those on Disability:
May God Bless them with abundant
housing!
Homeward BoundBy Rayshell
The kind of place where All I
right.
A shadow in the day of Nigh
No more tears just
Continuance throughout Al
Of these years.
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7/31/2019 Spare Changer 10-12 Sherman
20/20
Vol.2 No. 2 October 2012
20
The rain may fall and The
Sun will shine and Shadows
Will always Reflect the Times
The sake of righteous Trust
We see.
The contrast of belief ThatShelters our minds In depth
of Moral value.
Let us believe to partake In
The chance that let us
portray what we see.
Life as we perceive.
To behave in practice of
Actual measures that we
Conceive.
Let us be comforted.
Let us be free.
Let us find home.
So we can believe
My Spirit Splashes!By Sarah Zacharias
My spirit bathes in
rivers
oceans
still ponds
little tidal eddies
and the grace
of rain on sage
carried by prairie winds
Godly waters leak inside medrip
by
drip
hollowing out the caverns of
my soul with something holy
the spiritual promise
in sulfur spray that shoots
from
faithful geysers
and the soothing calm of
cool running mountain
watersClinging
like little wisps of moss
growing slowly
on unmoving river stones
I remember that
time and water always
all ways
find a way to flow
Reaching
with all ten fingertips,
grasping for a taste of
heaven
and I see myself in
the lips of trout that break
surface
reaching for low buzzing
insects
kissing the unknown above
Scrambling
awkward in my humanity
like misty bouncing water
droplets
springing off of heavy
boulders
and fragile ferns alike
as they tumble the waterfall
Like every drip of rain,
and every snowflake that
ever fell
my being wants nothing
but the soothing saltiness o
the ocean
to wash my sins away
my spirit splashes
in the grace of rain on sagecarried by prairie winds
Next Issue: Enrollingmembers of our Homeless
Communities:
(Courtesy Political Humor By Daryl Cagle W/
Thanks to Gary McCoy)
Hosted By Davis
Community Network
Visit
thesparechanger.orgthesparechanger@hotmail.com
Employment for the
Unemployable
Printed by Copyland
In DavisThank You for Your Continuing Suppor
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