We are CHOSEN…

Zero: 2016 is a national campaign to end homelessness among veterans and the chronically homeless by the end of 2016. RI has been chosen as a participating community, and has pledged to accelerate its housing efforts in order to achieve these goals.

 

During her campaign, Governor-elect Raimondo committed to fully funding Opening Doors Rhode Island: The State’s Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.  Soon, the Governor-elect will be presenting their first budget.  Ask her to include the resources we need to implement the Plan and end homelessness in Rhode Island!

 

Endorse Zero: 2016 here.

Now, will you challenge 5 others to join you in endorsing the campaign? Help us reach our goal of 2,016 endorsers!  Send this link or share it on social media: bit.ly/EndorseZ16

And ask Governor-elect Raimondo to fund the vouchers and services needed to reach our goal by signing this petition: https://www.change.org/p/gina-raimondo-governor-elect-raimondo-keep-your-promise-to-end-homelessness-in-your-first-budget


FURTHERMORE…

Contact your state legislators and let them know that these issues are important to you! Click here to find out your legislator's contact information.

https://sos.ri.gov/vic/?utm_source=House+budget+blast&utm_campaign=House+budget&utm_medium=email

Nicole showed up, that was way it was Sunday morning.

At 6 AM Sunday morning, Nicole showed up in an SUV crammed full of warm clothing.  Boy, did she ever! There was barely room for the kids. These donations were for the folks that come to the Sunday Breakfast. These clothes are much needed here in Providence. They will keep people warm.

This act of kindness once again shows how one thing can lead to another. And it  illustrates how we all can make a difference if we decide to do something. Most of the people who come to this meal are living on the edge. Nicole saw the need from my postings on Face Book and she spread the word in her neighborhood. Together with daughters Keegan and Addi, Nicole gathered a enormous amount of clothing from generous neighbors. Although one might never know it from way down here in South County, these donations are much needed in the city, and greatly appreciated by all who take them. 

Look at these photos from yesterday. These are pictures of people helping people in need. Thank you so much, Nicole and daughters for your efforts here. And thanks also for putting on aprons and serving the morning meal. You have truly made a difference.

Click on the thumbnail to see the big picture. And please share this post on your page. Spread the word… 

 

Below is my letter to a friend who asked me how she could help.

"Dear Nicole, 

Thank you for your email, and for your desire to help!  Yes, this is the Mathewson Street United Methodist Church in Providence where Kathy and I volunteer every Sunday at 7 AM.

Some background: The Sunday Friendship Breakfast depends heavily on donations, money, grants, food donations, and volunteers. I don't know the whole story but I believe this idea came from two men who thought they could make a difference, Pastor Jack Jones, and Mr. Scott Budnick. Three years ago they saw the need and decided to do something. From this beginning, The Breakfast has grown. The church now feeds around 800 folks monthly that are "on the edge” and also facilitates many other good works. It just shows what one can do if you put your mind to it. 

I use "on the edge" as an encompassing term that includes many people who are homeless, many who are hungry, many who are poor, out of a job, or out of luck, some who are victims of domestic violence, some substance abusers, and a percentage that are mentally challenged or ill. They are a reflection of people everywhere. I call them "The Invisibles" because they are easy to overlook from where I live.

I have been making portraits of these folks for about 2 months. I give them prints and they usually like them. Pastor Jones has said "This is an affirmation" (of their humanity, that they matter). Yes, it is.

Unfortunately these people don't have much of a voice at the state house. However, there are advocates who speak for them. In fact, there will be a vigil at the statehouse tomorrow. The RI Interfaith Coalition To Reduce Poverty is holding their "Vigil, 2015" at 3 PM. Come if you can. It's free.

Kathy and I will gratefully accept any help you can give collecting clothing or food for the needy. I'll gladly transport whatever you can have to the church.  As far as volunteering at the breakfast, you should contact Mr. Budnick about that. His email is scottbudnick@gmail.com,

Below are some of my portraits. I've always been pretty good getting people to smile, even if they might not feel like it.

Jan"


Giving, the way it is down on Indian Lake.

The bags of clothes filled the back of the SUV. It was gratifying to see this huge pile of donations from just the one email I sent around. Many of my neighbors here on the lake, the Indian Lake Shores Fire District, responded to my request for warm clothes. 

At 7 AM on Sunday morning, we brought the clothing to a big yellow room in the Mathewson Street United Methodist Church where the Sunday Friendship Breakfast is held. (For your information, the SFB is a hearty meal served to from 200 to 300 hungry folks every Sunday morning by an army of volunteers.You can see pictures at the breakfast in earlier posts.) 

As we began sorting through the items and hanging winter coats, a line of men and women formed at the door, hoping to find anything that would help protect against the cold. These pictures tell the story. Most of the clothing was gone before the breakfast even began, and we heard many expressions of appreciation. Perhaps more than you and I, these folks know that winter is coming. 

Kathy and I thank you generous neighbors for these donations! And if anyone else has any winter clothing that is just taking up room in the closet, or doesn’t fit anymore, please stuff it in a bag and drop at my garage door. Hats, coats, socks, thermal underwear, etc. We will see that your donations go to folks who really can use them.

Click to enlarge the photos.


Rocky Point, the way it is now.

Rocky Point amusement park has been turned into a state park, saving it from developers. Ghosts of the past are everywhere. The tramway remains. I think I heard children laughing and Rock and Roll music blaring out of loudspeakers as we walked this spectacular site. This pylon is a 4 minute exposure under beautiful blue sky and fast moving clouds.


The way it is.

John is homeless, out on the street in Providence at 9:30 AM on January 1st, 2015. He has probably had breakfast in a shelter but he is outdoors now. He is cold, and he is confused. This is where your donations, canned goods, and used clothing go, to men and women like him who need our help. Please take the time this holiday season to remember folks who aren't as fortunate as we are. And please share this post!

 

Needed - WARM CLOTHES - the way it is.

Hurray! We have had a nice warm spell for the holidays this year. No snow yet and temps even in the fifties. However, we all know what’s coming with the winds of January and February. The thermometer begins it’s irrevocable dip into the teens and single digits and the snow begins to fall. Baby, it gets cold down here on Indian Lake. 

With this in mind, Kathy and I are collecting warm clothes, beginning right now. 

We have been working with and photographing the homeless men, women and children in Providence for a while now. Although we have no religious affiliation with the Mathewson Methodist Church in downtown Providence, Kathy and I have been volunteering at their Sunday Friendship Breakfast. Every month this church feeds and (briefly) shelters over 800 folks in need. We have seen first hand how very difficult it is to be homeless and how desperately important warm clothes are for people who must spend long hours on the street. I have watched one young man actually stretch one watch cap over another then pull a hoodie over both to ward off the cold.

If you have any winter clothing, jackets, shirts, pants, gloves, hats, socks, etc, that will protect against the cold, please drop off at my garage door and we will distribute your donation to folks in Providence who need it. 

Believe me, any warm clothing you donate will be greatly appreciated. Please wrap your donation in a garbage bag and leave at our garage door. We live at 8 Indian Trail North, the corner of Arrowhead and Indian Trail, the gray house with low stone wall and brown garage door.

Happy Holidays to you and yours,

Jan and Kathy Armor

When you are homeless everything you own is on your back.

7:30 Sunday morning at the Mathewson Street United Methodist Church in Providence, Rhode island. The stuff in your backpack is all you have left. You can’t leave it unattended or it might be stolen. You keep it within arms reach when you are at the shelter. It is the way it is when you don’t have your home anymore. 

Alone on Christmas Day, the way it was for Roth

I received this poem from Roth Frias today. He has been on and off homeless for several years.

"Christmas day, all day snow, all day sheltered in the chapel of the mission.  5:00 chapel sermon, missing family in was hard not to weep.  I wasn't alone.  Many of us had no choice,  we stayed.  Showing tears was the only reason you could run out for a sec.  Some braved it out and wept.  Wasn't the saddest day of my life but it was hard.  This poem was written for Christmas Day."

 

 

 

 

 DECEMBER SNOW 

For all the lonely people

who seeks company in December snow

We mingle in church and meetings

With~out the song of conversation

When words fill the air

laughter radiates in my mind

It is time 

to reveal a smile

knowing it is lost 

in the crowd

I am safe and secure

for if I cry

it will be lost

in air filled words

In this empty 

crowded room

 

January 24, 2014

Providence Rescue Mission

Cranston, RI

The face of hunger in RI.

Trying to put a face on the people who are hungry. This is where your donations, canned goods, and used clothing go, places like RI Food Bank, Jonnycake Center, and churches everywhere. Please take the time this holiday season to remember those who aren't as fortunate as we are. Make a donation somewhere. And please share this post!

Mental illness is the way it sometimes is on the street.

Approximately 16% of the single adult homeless population suffers from some form of severe and persistent mental illness (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2005). Despite the disproportionate number of severely mentally ill people among the homeless population, increases in homelessness are not attributable to the release of severely mentally ill people from institutions. Most patients were released from mental hospitals in the 1950s and 1960s, yet vast increases in homelessness did not occur until the 1980s, when incomes and housing options for those living on the margins began to diminish rapidly. According to the 2003 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Report, most homeless persons with mental illness do not need to be institutionalized, but can live in the community with the appropriate supportive housing options. However, many mentally ill homeless people are unable to obtain access to supportive housing and/or other treatment services. The mental health support services most needed include case management, housing, and treatment.

The way it is when one school girl reached out.

From FB friend Janet Malenfant:  "We became involved through our daughter... in the weeks after 9/11 we saw something on the news about family shelter donations declining because everyone was donating to the Red Cross. She asked 'What can we do to help?' ... and then she came up with a scheme to go xmas caroling in the neighborhood, ask for money and xmas gifts for the kids. She made up flyers and I printed them and she and her friends distributed them. 

Hannah did this for 8 years until she went to college. She raised over $16,000 over those years, gave the shelter about 90 bags of clothing and collected books and gift cards for teens who are often overlooked at the holidays. She won several awards for her service and her story helped her to get into college. She was and is a pretty remarkable young woman!"

Indeed she is, Janet. This inspiring story is a good illustration of how just one person can make a difference.

 

Why are there so many homeless people?

Why so many homeless? According to the National Coalition For The Homeless there are two trends largely responsible for the rise in homelessness: a growing shortage of affordable rental housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty. 

Homelessness and poverty are inextricably linked. Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, childcare, health care, and education. Difficult choices must be made when limited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing, which absorbs a high proportion of income that must be dropped. If you are poor, you are essentially an illness, or an accident away from living on the streets.

Another reason why homelessness persists is because of falling incomes and less secure jobs which offer fewer benefits. Low-wage workers have been left behind as the disparity between rich and poor has mushroomed. To compound the problem, the real value of the minimum wage in 2004 was 26% less than in 1979. This means the guy who serves up your burger or the lady who cleans your motel room when you are on vacation is living on the edge. 

Declining wages, in turn, have put housing out of reach for many workers: in every state more than the minimum wage is required to afford a one- or two-bedroom apartment. Unfortunately, for many millions of Rhode Islanders more then 50% of their salaries go towards renting or housing costs, resulting in sacrifices in other essential areas like health care and savings.

A good read called "Hand To Mouth" by Linda Tirado brings it all into focus. You can listen to her tell it like it is here

 

Steve is the last to leave, just the way it is for him.

I met Steve at the very first breakfast I attended. That was seven weeks ago. He is always there, one of the very first to arrive, and one to the last to leave. He does not mind being photographed, and we have talked several times. I introduced him to Kathy and they seem to have hit it off. He is a gentle soul and alone after the passing of his wife. He’s been on the street for almost two years now. I’m not sure where he will go from here.

The Way It Was in NYC Gallery Tour With Shane

It was a very long day with lots to see! From Atget’s Paris scenes to Carla Van De Puttelaar’s gigantic nudes it was a visual feast. We rode the subway uptown, down town and all around town making pictures all the while. Vivian Maier's never before seen street photos (some printed by Viv’s own hand) at the Howard Greenberg were A+. Nuri Ceylon’s moving portraits of his father at Tina Kim were perhaps my favorites but then the solarized photographs by Edmund Teske that were great.  This gallery tour was all in all an eye opening experience.  What’s going on photographically in the Big Apple was a revelation. Four feet by six feet isn’t big anymore, at least not there, with price tags from $10,000 to over $100,000. The absolutely WOW!!! (big) portraits of by Martin Schoeller must be seen to be appreciated. Another favorite. We ended the day in the pouring rain swallowed by the masses, street shooting (including some weirdo in skimpy underpants) in Times Square and at THE Christmas Tree at Rockefeller.  Thanks Shane…. Great trip!!! Click to enlarge, and please share.