The second part to my last article....
Part II
I met up with a man at
the shelter named Nick (not his real name) on the morning of May 17, 2012 and
he washed his face and we left. We would cover roughly a four block area near
the shelter but far enough away that we could find prime real estate for our
signs.
We started with
a sign at the corner of South 13th Street and I-84. This busy street
bring commuters into work every morning and since it is a one way street
directly into downtown it was his best shot at getting noticed and making a few
dollars. I must tell you that I did not have a sign nor did I accept any money
from people throughout this immersion project and as I explained to Nick I
simply wanted a firsthand look into his life.
The
first thing I noticed during our two hours on the street corner was that people
do not like to make eye contact. They will briefly look at you and them they
will quickly look away, the people that did give Nick money would usually be
older people. I sat with Nick and asked him how much he makes on a daily basis
and he told me around $25.00 but that was enough for him to get a pack of
cigarettes and a couple beers. I asked about food, I have always heard that if
you want to give a homeless person something buy them food but never give them
cash because they will only buy drugs or alcohol with it. While this is true
for many homeless people it is not always the case. Nick told me if he made
enough money he would get a hotel room and stay the night there. As he put “I
will live like a normal person for a night with a hot shower and TV.”
While standing
there with Nick I noticed a man pushing a cart with a dog attached to it and he
was headed to us. The man stopped and Nick looked at me and said it was time to
go, I thought we were in trouble so I asked why and he explained that his time
on the corner was up and it was this other guy’s turn. I could not believe it
they had a system in place that afforded others a chance to use these prime
areas to panhandle. As we walked away Nick turned and gave the old man $10 and
told me that “he needs it more than me, he is old and people don’t give him too
much”. Even when people are down there is still compassion and those who are
trudging through these hard times seem to understand this more than those of us
who are better off financially.
We left and
headed towards the Boise Green Belt located south of the Mission because it was
lunch time and Nick and I were hungry. I learned from him that you can usually
get food the Food Pantry at the Salvation Army; they will usually give you a
bag of chips and a sandwich for lunch. So we ate and then headed back into town
by this time it was after 12:00 and I had spent the better part of the morning
really hoping that my friends would not see me or a police officer would not
stop to see what we were up too, even though I knew this was a possibility. I
was still really embarrassed and kept telling myself that I was retired after a
long successful career in the military and I was going to school to help those
who could not help themselves. I felt bad for feeling this way and I began to
understand why people are embarrassed when they suffer financially. It is hard
to look into complete strangers eyes and ask them to give up a few dollars that
they have worked hard to earn.
As I spent the
rest of the day with Nick I learned that there is a code of ethics among many
of the homeless and they will try and take care of each other whether that be
in the form of protection from the many kids who like to harass them, passing
money to the next guy for a meal passing on information about establishments
that are providing food or other necessities. When I went home I was thankful
for the experience and I knew that I would never want to be in that situation
but I was also happy to know that even in extreme circumstances people are able
to band together and form a society within a society to survive.
“For the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the
President has a budget of $112.8 billion for FY 2010, increasing 15% from
2009. The Department of Veterans Affairs
also boasts that its homeless assistance programs constitute the largest
integrated network of services in the United States. Veterans’ Affairs budget allocates $3.222
billion to combating homelessness (Department of Veterans Affairs). The
National Coalition for Homeless Veterans says that of the 400,000 homeless
veterans on the street any given night, the Department of Veterans Affairs
reaches only about 25% of them.” (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2009)
This is a realistic figure of the 20 veterans I spoke to only about a quarter
of them used the services the Veterans Affairs Hospital (VA) in Boise.
