An unexpected blessing

Posted by Carey Fuller in Homelessness - (2 Comments)

Jeremy of Hinshaw's Honda of Auburn

 

This past Monday I had plans to do as much as I could in one of my garden plots  but the day had plans of its own! I had dropped Maggie off at school and was heading to Kent to meet a Facebook friend at Kona Kai’s coffee shop but just before I got there, the van’s engine light started to flash off and on. Soon after, it was rattling so I continued to a parking spot just outside of the coffee shop and popped the hood so that I could check the oil. It was a little low but I dreaded that oil wasn’t the problem. Not more than 2 weeks ago, I had just taken the van in to have it checked out because the engine light had come on but it wasn’t flashing. The mechanic had cleaned up some oil he had found splashed on a spark plug and replaced it. After he worked on the van that day, the engine light went off but I was advised that if that light came back on, I would need to take it to a dealership to have it checked again as it could mean a more serious problem was on the way.

After my meeting at Kona Kai’s, I decided to head towards Auburn to the Hinshaw’s Honda dealership even though I had no money to even do a diagnostic but I knew I had to get the van off the road because it was too risky to keep driving around with a flashing engine light. I parked outside the dealership’s building and just sat there wondering what and where Maggie and I were going to go if we lost our only shelter and transportation. Unless I had the money to fix the van, it would have to be parked somewhere until I did and there was no guarantee of how long it would take to earn enough money to pay for expensive repairs let alone get enough donations to help pay for everything! On top of that, the dread of getting a ticket for parking too long in the wrong place or getting the van towed was starting to kick in. While I was in the middle of thinking about all this, I saw this brother walk by with a sheet of paper in his hands but he stopped in his tracks and looked over at me. I had the door open so he asked if I needed help. I said “Oh, I’m just here to see about getting a diagnostic on what’s wrong with this van but am stressed about being stranded.” He said his name is Jeremy but if it looked as though I were to be stranded, to come find him inside the dealership and he would help me out. I nodded and Jeremy went his merry way back inside the building.

Well, doing what I do, I got on Twitter and Facebook and started talking about the van’s flashing engine light and my anxiety over what would happen next because in all honesty, I had no idea! I was planning in my head the steps I would have to take to find a safe place to be that night should worse come to worse. In about an hour and a half, enough donations had come in to pay for a diagnostic so I drove the car up to the dealership’s intake doors and walked in. I told the folks at the front desk what I suspected was happening from the last time I had to bring the van in to a mechanic and they quoted me a lower diagnostic fee than the first time I had come in. I gave them the keys to van then went and sat in a quiet corner of the lobby at a small desk that was conveniently located near an outlet so I used it to charge my phone. After an hour then 2 hours went by, I could feel a migraine coming on and I knew if they hadn’t come out after 30 minutes, something was really wrong and it was gonna be expensive to fix. I hadn’t eaten that day but I had no appetite and I was getting nauseous. That’s when Jeremy walked past me but this time he turned and sat in the chair in front of me. I knew I looked pretty haggard and that’s probably why he asked what was going on with the van.

Up until he asked that, I was holding it together but I started to cry as I talked telling him that the van was my only transportation and shelter and if we lost that, I had no idea where we were going to go or do. I had absolutely no money to fix anything! Jeremy smiled then gently asked me how many kids I had and if I was the owner of the van. I said I own the van outright and I don’t owe anything on it because it was donated to me. Jeremy kept telling me not to worry and that he was one of the managers there but he would do everything he could to help me. He had something to do but he would be right back. I just sat there staring at the wall going over and over in my head about what I had to do if it turns out nothing could be done. True to his word, Jeremy came back and asked a few questions about the van then told me he was going into the shop to see if the mechanics in there had a verdict. He then looked from side to side to see if any of his co-workers were nearby (which they weren’t) then said in a low tone, “Sis, listen, don’t worry, ok? I will help you. See, I knew there must’ve been a reason I kept getting this feeling to ask you how you were and I’m glad I did. I know what it’s like, when I lost my job a few years ago and was in school, I had to live out of my car so please, don’t worry. I promise I will do what I can to help you out. If I can get you into a new car with no money out of your pocket, would that be something you’d be interested in?” Well yeah! I didn’t have any other options! “Ok”, said Jeremy, “let me see what they say is going on with your van.”

Jeremy disappeared for a few minutes and while he was gone, I went into the women’s restroom to splash my face and let out a few sobs. Once I felt like I had regained my composure I went back to where I was sitting and sat down to wait some more. Jeremy finally came back and said it was going to be a bit longer as the mechanics were trying to figure out what was wrong with the Odyssey’s electrical system and a coil on the 6th cylinder but the bad news is that replacing those coils were expensive but they did go ahead and wash the van for me. This was definitely not the news I wanted to hear but had a feeling something big was going out on the van even though it only had 48,000 miles on it. Jeremy then said, “Come on and hang out with me for awhile, I want to show you something.” I followed Jeremy out into the lot where some new cars were and he let me drive around in one of them. Personally, I think he was just trying to lift my spirits to distract me from having a panic attack and it worked! I wasn’t expecting to get a brand new car in exchange for the van but I needed something and I needed it fast!

When we got back to the office, Jeremy asked if I needed anything or wanted a refreshment from the coffee stand. I told him I had had enough caffeine but I did grab a couple of cookies mumbling that I hadn’t eaten yet that day. While Jeremy went to his office, I sat back down to recharge my phone and after another hour had went by, the service desk guy I gave my keys to came over and told me what they thought was going on with the van. Jeremy overheard the conversation then sat down in the same seat as before. “Ok sis, we gotta get you into a better vehicle so that you don’t have to worry about paying money that you don’t have on expensive repairs and I don’t like the idea of you and your kids being stranded on the side of a road somewhere for days at a time. Let me get some more info on your van and I’ll be right back.”

I called my teen to get her little sister from school as I wasn’t going to make it to pick her up on time. Jeremy came back with a handful of car keys and motioned for me to follow him out a different door of the building to walk across the street. He showed me a Kia and a Scion and talked to me about the cars but my attention kept going to the Scion with only 23,000 miles on it that came with a warranty. I told him I’d be interested in trading for that one because the tires were brand spanking new, it was a 2010 that looked like it had just come off the assembly line! We went back into the front office only this time I sat in the other lobby and waited. Jeremy introduced me to Ron Heath and said they would be buying me something to eat while they got the Scion’s paperwork ready and filled with gas. Ron brought me some food from Taco Time and Jeremy gave me some fruit they had in their break room.

The Scion

Ron sat with me for a little while and even helped move my stuff that was in the van over to the Scion. Dang it! Just occurred to me I should’ve gotten a picture of Ron! Anyway, both Ron and Jeremy were excellent at customer service in my opinion and through the whole process, they never talked down to me in fact they were more supportive than anything else. If I could give them an award, I would! While I was sitting in the lobby, I had a chance to watch all the other staffers there and not once did I see any of them act less than professional and that tells a customer a lot! I’ve been in customer service for over 20 years and I have never seen such dedicated staff at a dealership in my life!

Now to some, dealerships are just shark tanks waiting to tank advantage of anybody who walks through the front doors and granted, there are some out there that do that but……I have to weigh my options because out here, there isn’t much wiggle room when you’re homeless. I could either keep the van and risk breaking down somewhere really inconvenient and fret about repairs I simply do not have the money to pay for or I can trade straight across for a newer car with better gas mileage and longevity. For me and my situation, trading a 2009 Honda Odyssey for a 2010 Toyota Scion was not just a better choice but a matter of meeting immediate survival needs. If I hadn’t of made the trade, I never would’ve made it to the caregiving job scheduled that night and the next day which was an opportunity to earn badly needed money!

Even as I’m writing this, I keep wondering what would’ve happened to us if Jeremy hadn’t stopped to see how I was doing. I keep wondering if me and Maggie would be sleeping on the bus right now.  Jeremy and Ron went above and beyond their job descriptions and I hope the powers that be recognize the gems they have in these two guys. I do!

Thank you Jeremy, Ron and Hinshaw’s Honda of Auburn, Washington!

 

 

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Helping others to help others

Posted by Carey Fuller in Homelessness - (1 Comments)

Been awhile since I posted but that’s because there’s always more to do than there are hours in a day! It’s that time of year again to go back to tending my micro urban farms to help those who cannot find enough help to make ends meet but before that, I’ve been doing what I’ve been doing and that’s helping homeless to survive another winter. It’s always refreshing though, to run into other individuals doing what they can to help their communities be a better place for everyone regardless of what other people think. That’s why I tell people to grow a tough hide out here because the more you start making an impact, the more static you’ll get from the status quo!

Just to give you an example of what a typical day is like out here, I’ll share with you how this morning went. First call of the morning came from my very first homeless volunteer, Betty. She found Jay, a local disabled homeless man in a wheelchair, sitting outside of a Valley Cities Mental Health services office without his wheelchair. Turns out it broke down and a church had given him two walking canes to get by on but using them is a big strain on Jay. Betty went to a local senior center before Valley Cities opened to see if she could find a spare wheelchair he could sit in for awhile but she didn’t stop there. She got on the phone and called Jay’s caseworker from Health Pointe and they were on their way with a new chair for Jay. This isn’t the first time Betty’s sharp eyes have caught other people in need when no one was around to help. That’s another fact of life out here. Often, it’s other homeless people that come to the rescue because there isn’t much outreach going on in Kent unless it’s to recruit you into somebody’s church services or….a drug dealer looking for a new customer and for the youth, it’s usually recruiters from local gangs.

Betty has let me know of pregnant women and families with small children living out of their cars or sleeping at parks simply because she’s like me and does her daily walks to check and see where people are and how they’re doing. Nobody is paying her to do this and I don’t get paid either. Sometimes Betty doesn’t feel well but that doesn’t keep her down and if I can help her with rides (when I have gas!), bus fare or help with groceries, it just makes her life a little easier and provides her the support she can’t find anywhere else.

I happened to be in Auburn this morning doing one load of laundry (that’s all I could afford) before the library opened but once it was finished, I drove around the block to check on the older car dwellers to see how they made it through the night. Sure enough I found another gal I met at another park a few months ago, doing her own community outreach to the “campers” needing food. I asked her how the good fight goes in Auburn and discovered that she had been helping a family with small children to stay at a motel for a month because after all the running around they did with local service groups, they couldn’t get help fast enough to find shelter in the cold windy rain we’ve been having. Even though her finances were already strained to the limit, that didn’t stop her from helping others who have it worse than she does. That’s what outsiders often do not understand. For the folks who are out here or have been out here, the sense of urgency is acute. If we don’t act as soon as possible, somebody will die out here. Now this gal needs help making up the rest of her rent and I’m hoping folks who are reading this will make a donation to help her out IF they are able to.

Come hell or high water, for those of us who know what the reality is out here, we often have to make personal sacrifices because there are no options we can conveniently wait around for. When people are desperate, they will do desperate things to survive even if it’s negative so I don’t judge people for that. I do however,  take issue with folks who do nothing to alleviate poverty when they have the power to do so but don’t. This isn’t about enabling people others are quick to judge, it’s about providing our own support system to keep from spiraling further and further into hopelessness. People trying to help themselves will get burnt out sooner or later chasing around dubious services but they keep looking for them anyway. Problem is, it’s taking too much time to get help and that’s why I do what I do. I see the reality every day because I’m still living it myself!!

To those who take up advocacy, I give you these words of advice. Don’t worry about the negativity of other people who aren’t doing what you’re willing to do. There’s no one way to help people and it’s a learning process to find out who is worth your trust but if you don’t give up, the right people will come into your life at the right time. The trick is not to let yourself get distracted by other people that don’t share your vision. I would also say to do your best to take care of your needs by not cutting too deeply into your own resources but I do understand that in some cases, it’s damn near impossible not to. We already know we’re on our own since there’s a never ending onslaught of budget cuts to state and federal programs. We already know people are afraid to step out of the safety of their own comfort zones to care about anybody else. We also know that people are quick to judge instead of actually doing anything but we also know we can’t quit. We may never know the impact we make on other people’s lives but I’d rather do what I can when I can than regret it later.

Just know that your efforts, no matter how big or small, made the world a better place for the people you chose to help.

Thank you for all that you do and thank you for taking the time to read this!

 

 

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Everything costs more when you’re poor

Posted by Carey Fuller in Homelessness - (0 Comments)

Somebody recently accused me of doing what I do just for attention and you know what? They’re absolutely right! I want to bring as much attention as possible to the reality of homelessness because that’s the only way to get rid of ignorance!

For those of you who don’t know, once you fall through the cracks and find yourself living out of a car, you will quickly discover just how much everyday things begin to eat away at your income.  For instance, once you are degraded down to homelessness, you will spend more of whatever income you might still possess on gas and maintenance to make your only source of transportation and shelter last longer. If you don’t have friends who will let you come over to take a shower or do laundry, you will have to pay to access a laundromat, a hotel or showers at a public pool and there is no way around that unless you live in a rural area but even then, you gotta pay for gas to go somewhere to set up a camp shower.

If you’re a family living out of a car, then most of your income will probably be spent on childcare if both parents are working, not to mention healthcare costs, food and anything else your family needs on a daily basis. It’s worse if you are a single parent paying for everything yourself even while working two jobs, something I can more than speak about from experience.  If there is one thing I’ve learned about being homeless, it’s that you can’t rely on false hope or have the expectation others will help you. You might get lucky here and there but the reality is…you’re on your own and you better hope your health stays intact the longer you’re stuck out here.

For all the studies so-called experts write, I find it curious that not one of them actually tracks how the poor survive on a daily basis and I’m not talking about via prostitution, drugs or violent crimes since you don’t have to be homeless to engage in those activities. Maybe that’s why so many policies fail. How do you even pretend to know how to end poverty when everyone’s situation is different? Also, the face of poverty is not the same as it used to be. People’s lives aren’t as simple as a printout of numbers on a report based off of somebody else’s statistics.

Maslow’s observations on the hierarchy of needs are very true when it comes to poverty. A person simply cannot focus on anything outside of immediate survival when most of their time is spent in trying to acquire basic necessities. Housing isn’t free and subsidized housing is becoming a pipe dream. Everybody likes to believe that education is the great equalizer but in reality it isn’t anymore. Think about it. In order to qualify for higher earning careers, a student must take on heavy debt to pay for an education (something grants can’t pay for on their own anymore since many colleges deliberately raise their costs making it almost impossible to go to college without taking on a loan). If and when a higher income is found in today’s economy, those paychecks will get eaten up paying back student loans in addition to the rising costs of living. In view of reality, how can we keep telling our young people to chase their dreams of a higher education that may or not be worth anything in the future?

For many, income will never be the same as wealth and the working poor already know this. You can have an income but what good is it if you still can’t pay for housing, healthcare, food, utilities, etc.? Everybody knows that the only thing that helps people help themselves is resources. You need resources for housing, education, healthcare, food and the list goes on. What we don’t need is endless vague waiting lists to be put on another waiting list. We also don’t need judgment that gets in the way of actually helping people. The ugly truth in America is that this country could end homelessness if it really wanted to. The problem is that ending poverty isn’t that much of a priority in this country. Maybe that’s because people don’t want to see an ugly reality that has always been there. I think it’s called being in denial.

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The things people say

Posted by Carey Fuller in Homelessness - (0 Comments)

“She’s so smart and talented, I can’t believe she’s homeless.”

“Wow, how do you do all the stuff you do?”

“How come you’ve been homeless for so long?”

Sound familiar? Most of the time when I hear comments like these, I don’t take them personally because when people let things like this out of their mouths it lets me know that they are under the mistaken impression that homeless people are somehow less than other people. That’s the result of being out of touch with the reality of lack of resources they think exist. The problem with that perception is that most people also vote on perceptions that are probably just as mistaken so it’s no surprise to me when I look at who it is that votes to strip social services, access to mental health services and quality of life ordinances to keep homeless people out of sight even though the obvious reasons they sleep on park benches, under bridges and in cars in parking lots is because they have nowhere else to go.

Then there are those whose judgmental attitudes are confused with apathy. Everyone is one incident away from homelessness and the truth is, the so-called war on homelessness isn’t winning. Most efforts only make about a 10% difference when you take into consideration the rising costs of living, not enough affordable housing or transitional housing programs to go around and the fact that living wage jobs are becoming more and more discriminatory on who gets hired and when. There’s help available to get out of homelessness IF you have resources!!

For many of the families I see out here, there are several factors that led to being homeless and not all are related to mental health, crime or addiction. Many got caught in the foreclosure crisis, job loss or terminal illness that ate up all their life savings. I see a lot of moms with kids who are hanging my a thread trying to keep a job or two, to pay for ridiculously expensive childcare and gas if they live out of their cars. For those of you who don’t know, having to pay $400 a month for one child, part-time, can keep a family homeless because there is no way to save anything when your outgoing costs are more than your income. State assistance with childcare DEPENDS on whether or not you make minimum wage because if you do, guess what? You don’t qualify for childcare assistance as there are income guidelines and like every program I’ve checked out you must “qualify” for help. If you don’t, you’re just plain ol’ stuck!

Friends and family may not be able to help or…..may not want to as some see helping poor relatives as a burden or “intrusion” on their lives. I see this type of situation with most of the homeless youth I know. Many times I have sat in the library and in parks observing what police officers say to homeless youth and homeless adults for that matter and I’ve come to the conclusion that some officers seem to forget their personal opinions and lack of education on homelessness is not part of their job but then, when you have an entire city out of touch with homeless reality like the city of Kent is, it’s no surprise their police department behaves the way it does. It was that kind of behavior that brought me to Kent to start an advocacy with community leaders like the Reverend Jimmie James.

People only see snapshots of my life and others like me through social media but they have no idea what goes on hour by hour, day by day. For example, I’m about to lose what little I own sitting in a storage unit because I haven’t had the funds to pay this month’s rent on it. One of the reasons for that is because child support has gone missing for a few months. If one source of income disappears, it causes a chain reaction into everything else I’m trying to keep afloat. Now the van needs to be taken in for servicing and since I can’t really afford to right now, that means I’m somewhat grounded. The further I get behind in bills, the more I owe until it becomes a hole too big to get out of. Then there’s the constant dread of knowing that one of these days, these visits to the emergency room are gonna end in a really bad hemiplegic episode that I may never recover from. THAT’S the reality of homelessness these days and why it takes people longer than ever to get out of it. It isn’t always because they aren’t trying to as some would assume and telling people the facts of what’s going on isn’t “whining” as I’ve heard some people claim. Those people are often the very same people who think you can pull yourself up on a shoestring that doesn’t and hasn’t existed for years.

Having said all of the above, does that make me hopeless? No. It just means I have to be realistic about what options I have to live with. Unfortunately, that means I can’t go hanging out with people the way they’d like because I’m simply too busy trying to create my own options and many don’t understand how long that actually takes. To those of you who are homeless, try not to take what people say to you too seriously. You already know what the reality is and you also know whether or not you’re making your life harder than it needs to be, especially if you’re feeding addictions or making bad decisions that’ll land you in jail but then again, desperate people who are tired of the runaround when they try to get help will do desperate things so I have to wonder what’s worse…..The people who do things out of desperation because they don’t have resources to live….or the people who make things harder than they need to be by eliminating resources for the needy?

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It’s that time of year again…..

Posted by Carey Fuller in Homelessness - (1 Comments)
Easy rib turquoise stripe hat

 

 

It’s that time of year again where people give thanks for what they have, then go out and stand in long lines to buy more stuff to add to what they already have! I suppose many will argue there’s nothing wrong with that but for me and what I do, “Black Friday” feeds a frenzy I really want nothing to do with. With our economy still not where it needs to be and homelessness still on the rise, seems to me our money and energies could be better spent elsewhere. In some ways, homelessness has opened my eyes to what I used to be and I learned that there really is a whole lot we are taught to think we need when in reality, we don’t.

I decided that experiences last and mean more than some product made in China or in some sweatshop factory. My kids enjoyed taking bus rides to downtown Seattle to walk around and enjoy the sights for free. We made gifts to each other and put a dollar limit on what we could spend because the whole point about the giving season is to give a part of yourself, something I think our society is rapidly losing.

That being said, I think this year’s season will be an odd one. For one thing, it kicked off with the death of a fellow advocate named Tricia Patricelli. The day after most people celebrate Thanksgiving is when her funeral is scheduled and I’m thinking for her family and the kids she leaves behind, this is a bad start to future holidays. Still, I will remember her for the good heart and soul she strived to be every day.

A recent development in my day to day story is a guy I met via Twitter named Andy Johnson. Andy is the owner of Homeless Beanies and he’s from Kent, Washington!! I asked Andy how he found me and it was through Mark Horvath. Thanks Mark! I got to meet Andy and listened to him talk about his Homeless Beanies business and why he chose to help the homeless in his own way. I have to say I’m impressed. So impressed I started designing hats to be sold on his website which will be featured soon!

I’ve been holding hat auctions on my Facebook page too to raise funds for things I give to homeless during this time of year. Things like handwarmers, tarps, tents and sleeping bags. I’d like to give them permanent housing but for now that is out of my reach so ….I’ll keep helping the best way I can! Maybe a hat doesn’t seem like much but out here, it keeps the wind out of your face and keeps your head warm.

In a way, each handmade hat I make is giving away a part of myself.

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A day of reflection

Posted by Carey Fuller in Homelessness - (2 Comments)

Today seems like a day of reflection to me and strange parallels with other people’s experiences. Sometimes you gotta let go of the old to embrace the new even though you may not know exactly what that new is going to be. I write this way sometimes because too many people only see a snapshot and erroneously assume that’s how everything is out here. That’s the problem with human thinking, assuming what we don’t know to fill in all the voids of everything we don’t!

With the tragic death of fellow advocate Tricia Patricelli, I am even more acutely aware of just how fragile and sudden life begins and ends. Looking for missing relatives on Staten Island in the wake of hurricane Sandy is another stress factor that lends itself well to sleepless nights filled with nightmares, something homeless people are already living in on a daily basis.

All it takes is one incident to change how you see things and once that line is crossed, you’ll never be the same again. I witness small miracles everyday, some online and some right before me as I walk down the street. As I write this, someone is talking to me on Twitter, a kind volunteer whose Twitter handle is @Honeybee22274. She has taken it upon herself to help look for two relatives of mine, Chris and Mike Tacardon. Last I heard was that they were living on Staten Island and since the hurricane, relatives over here in Seattle haven’t heard from them. What makes an individual go out of their way to help their fellow man/woman/child? What is that spark inside of people that makes them put aside whatever perceived differences there are between us in order to make a stand against apathy? To me, most humans are self interested so behaving outside of that basic tendency is in itself, a thing of wonder.

We all want to believe that somehow, we are all advanced beings capable of so much more yet when you look at the news and watch people in or on the streets every day, the opposite is true. Why do we need some kind of disaster to spur us into compassion for each other? What will it take for us to put away the excuses we tell ourselves everyday and actually do what we already know we should be?

For Tricia, those worries are over but for her family, heartache has begun. It is for her that I wrote the poem that follows…..

 

Place of peace

 

Today

The sky lit a smudge for you

In misty clouds of grey

I stood beneath them and

Let their tears wash mine away

And even though I

Walk among many

They aren’t saying much

So I listen to the echoes

I keep telling myself because

Some times

They’re all I have left

But

Tomorrow breathes a promise

I intend to give to you

It is a place of peace

Resting deep inside of me

 

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Saying goodbye to We Are Visible

Posted by Carey Fuller in Homelessness - (4 Comments)

Nobody said goodbyes were easy but sometimes they’re inevitable. Leaving We Are Invisible to pursue local issues was bound to happen sooner or later and for me, now is a good time.

Homelessness in Seattle and surrounding areas isn’t getting any better as some would have you believe. We can use budget cuts as an excuse to do as little as possible to house our vets, families, youth, disabled and elderly yet I find it interesting that money can be found for other projects that don’t save lives. We have an epidemic that continues to be ignored despite the obvious rise in poverty.

To me, the community does a better job of taking care of itself than any politician, city council or state agency. I have seen first hand how one person can influence and impact the community they reside in despite city interference and outright obstruction in some cases. The best way I can help my community at large is to teach them how to survive because let’s face it, things are about to get a hell of a lot worse and it will be awhile before it gets better.

Our economy is crumbling. Too many mayors are reactive instead of proactive so get ready for increased criminalization of the poor and don’t be surprised when you see an expansion of your local police departments. Unless better opportunities become available for people to make a living, fear and paranoia will become rampant and I’m sure you all can imagine what the end result of a society in crises will be.

Just to be clear, I am not leaving social media, I’m just saying goodbye to We Are Visible. I still support Mark Horvath and what he does for the homeless arena and I wish him all the best for the new We Are Visible site coming soon!

My time with WAV has been a good run and I look forward to whatever the not so distant future brings!

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Another day in the life “out here”

Posted by Carey Fuller in Homelessness - (1 Comments)

Nobody said that dealing with homelessness is easy and that goes for both the homeless and the service providers trying to get people into a better life. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes most folks don’t realize and because of that, assumptions are made that there’s resources to help the poor when in fact, there really aren’t. Local organizations and faith based groups do their best to meet the need but everyone out here knows they can’t.  It’s because of that fact, individuals try to get involved in their communities by helping the folks they interact with on a daily basis but beware! You might incur the wrath of not so compassionate neighbors or local politicians who think that status quo policies are the only ways in which to help people.

I run into that every day of course but I don’t let it stop me because my experience tells me to keep doing what I’m doing but there are times I run into what I call “dry spells”. This is when donations run low or stop all together. In a perfect world, I’d have childcare and a job to pay for what I do without having to ask for donations. Hell, I’d have housing for crying out loud but the reality is that I don’t and these little part time jobs and occasional odd jobs do not pay for childcare nor are they enough to get us out of homelessness so while I’m out here, why not make a difference where I’m at?  I don’t think folks realize how much of my own money is spent on providing basic survival items to folks that aren’t being provided elsewhere but that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? Besides, if local orgs and faith based groups could handle all the folks now asking for help, I would think common sense would dictate that they would’ve done so by now and if so, there wouldn’t be all these homeless people milling about with nowhere to go.

Every day, I find a homeless senior, unaccompanied youth, vet, cancer patient, single parent or disabled person living out of their vehicles, under bridges, in the woods, at the airport, around bus stations and under railroad trellises or on river banks but unless major funding comes in to local groups to get them out of homelessness, they will live and die where they’re currently at. That’s a thought always lurking in the back of my mind for myself as well.  When I found out about that mother of five in Skyway that committed suicide because she couldn’t get help when she needed it, I wonder about how bad things will get before people take homelessness seriously enough to actually get involved in doing something about it.

Even now, I’m wondering how long I’ll be able to stay online. My laptop is dying, and my cell phone needs a new battery, a charger or both and without a connection to the internet, my voice will go silent just like so many others do out here. Sure I can try to reserve an hour spot on a library computer but the services there are limited. Then there’s the constant worries over gas, insurance, childcare and a living wage job. I have some new health issues popping up that are directly related to living out of a vehicle but that’s actually the least of my worries right now. They say time is man’s most precious commodity and that’s certainly true out here because most of us are living on borrowed time. Nobody wants to think about whether or not they’ll live to see a spot come up on year’s long waiting lists for housing but that’s what ends up happening out here.

Sure, I could sell the van but wouldn’t get that much out of it and what’s the point of selling your only transportation and shelter? The monies gained by selling it wouldn’t even last a year in rent. People ask me all kinds of questions about how I live out here and to me it’s redundant when I can tell they focus on everything else but the fact that there’s no housing help! I especially enjoy ignorant vitriol from people who live in insulated vacuums because every time they open their mouths, their cluelessness is blatant. To those of you doing what you can to help others I say this; grow a thick skin fast!  Don’t worry about what stupid people say or do because if they aren’t part of the solution, they’re the problem, right?

The point of this blog was supposed to be about asking for donations but with all that goes on out here, one can’t help to engage in the occasional rambling on about what goes on in the daily life of a homeless mother on a mission most people would rather dismiss. Sooner or later, hardships will come knocking on your door. How you handle them depends on who you are, where you’re at and whether or not there’s help when you need it. It is my hope that you don’t lose hope and don’t give up even if the situation seems hopeless.

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The lowly dandelion

Posted by Carey Fuller in Homelessness - (1 Comments)
DandelionSeedhead-web

Ahhh…the dandelion! I always find it amusing when people call this plant a weed when in other countries it is recognized as food and medicine! If you want to make a dandelion salad, pick young plants in places dogs haven’t been in or out of lawns and fields that haven’t been sprayed with anything other than water. Not only is this plant highly nutritious, it’s easily recognizable and all of the plant is useful! I pick first year leaves and wash them with water to make a spring salad. Bigger slightly older leaves make a great cooked green that you can spice up with garlic, onions, a little cayenne pepper and even a little butter! My favorite way though, is to make a dandelion salad by topping the fresh young leaves with a sliced boiled egg and every once in a while, bits of real bacon!

You can also make a dandelion omelet by sautéing chopped leaves with a little butter, garlic and onion before adding your eggs! Did you know that dandelion roots are good for you as a boiled vegetable? Take first year roots, wash and scrub them until they are as white as you can get them, boil them in a little salted water until they are soft. At this point I drain the water out and dump them steaming on a plate and add a dab of butter before I dig in but I’ve noticed that every time I eat dandelion, I feel better.  That could be because dandelion is high in iron, zinc and vitamins A, B, C and D!

Dandelion roots can also be used as a coffee substitute. The trick here is to pick the bigger older plants for their roots but you’ll probably have to peel the outer rind off with a sharp knife first. Wash the roots then chop roots into small pieces. Then you have to cook them over low and slow dry heat or roast them until they turn dark brown. You then have to grate the roasted roots up so that you can use them just like coffee grounds. If you happen to see dandelion’s blue flowered cousin, chicory, you can use its roots in the same way.

If you really want a “wild” salad, add clover leaves and those tiny field daisies to your dandelion greens. You can also add nasturtium leaves and flowers for a peppery taste along with untreated rose petals. Violets also make a pretty addition to a “wild” salad! You can try to make a simple dressing to go with your dandelion salad with the fruit of an often nearby growing neighbor, blackberries! I usually make wine, pies and jams from blackberries but here’s a simple vinaigrette you can try:

Blackberry vinaigrette

2 handfuls of ripe blackberries

Sweetener to taste, just add a little honey or some raw sugar that’s been melted into a cup of hot water

About a teaspoon of balsamic white vinegar (more or less depending on your taste buds)

¼ cup of either vegetable oil or olive oil

 

I’m assuming that folks making this recipe are homeless so if you’ve got a Ziploc bag, crush the blackberries inside it until it’s a nice liquid mess. Then add your sweetener, balsamic vinegar and oil. Close the bag and shake, shake, shake it like a Polaroid Pict-cha! If you want to get fancy and can get ahold of some finely diced onion and other herbs to throw in; even better!

Here’s some more helpful links on the often overlooked dandelion:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandelion

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/d/dandel08.html

http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_dandelion.htm

http://southernfood.about.com/od/collardgreens/r/bl30319f.htm

http://www.learningherbs.com/dandelion_recipes.html

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A real guide to surviving homelessness

Posted by Carey Fuller in Homelessness - (1 Comments)
dandelion-Taraxacum-officinale

The one commonality I’ve seen in a lot of homeless people is the utter unpreparedness they are in when they end up “out here”. That’s usually what happens when in denial about where your life is heading and the all too obvious fact that no one has taught them how to survive without money. Sadly, that’s the kind of mental programming that goes on in a society that places more value on greed and mindless materialism. Even if no one taught you how to live without money, what’s preventing you from learning how? In my opinion, it’s often a blatantly subtle form of mental laziness that comes from living too modern a lifestyle.

I’m not saying let’s all go back to the Stone Age but learning how to live off the land and make the things you need instills self-confidence and reduces fear that comes from not knowing what to do; being prepared goes a long way in making daily living more convenient than it would be if and when you get caught off guard by an unforeseen situation. For instance, how many of you have a survival plan in mind should you end up homeless and there’s no friends or family to take you in for longer than a month or two? Nowadays, getting out of homelessness and into permanent housing will take longer than six months especially if you need childcare and can’t get a living wage job but back to what I was saying….

Do you know how to make a fire without matches? Can you find clean drinking water wherever you happen to find yourself? Do you know what plants will serve as food, medicine or weaving materials? Can you build a basic shelter out of whatever you happen to find? Can you make a living without having to kill or rob another human being? Every day you walk on or past plants that are food and medicine but you’ve been led to believe they are nothing more than weeds to be eradicated from an unnaturally maintained yard. How much money could you save by repurposing items you habitually toss in the trash or recycling bin?

As we head into summer here’s a few tips to make your life a little easier:

Take a walk through a park and see if you can identify these edibles: dandelion, broad and narrow leaved plantain, red and white clover, rose hips and depending on where you are; nettles! How many abandoned fruit trees can you find? I have often asked the owners of property with fruit and nut trees for permission to harvest their trees especially when I see fruit rotting on the ground year after year because no one is using the fruit! My nine year old daughter asked me to take a nature walk so that she could learn about plants which surprised me but made me smile. In one area alone, we found red and blue huckleberries, hazlenuts, “Indian” plum, salmon berries, dewberries, abandoned cherry, pear and apple trees, wild roses putting out soon to be delicious rosehips and we even found a wild crabapple tree! Add to this thimbleberries, salal, Oregon Grape, nettles, plantains, clover, chenopodium album which is also known as Goosefoot and Lambs quarters (which can be cooked as an excellent green by the way!) and the list goes on!

I can find edibles in the city too as I have often found Miner’s Lettuce growing under bridges where I thought there wouldn’t be anything! City homelessness is a little different than out in the suburbs and semi-rural areas but many of the same principles apply and I will talk about that in future blogs.

Stay tuned for my next blog as I will include recipes for some of the plants I pick with pics so that you can make a positive identification of the plants shown! Plus, I just may show you how to cook on these coffee can cookers I keep making!

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