Mission Statement

Operations for Bridge and Beyond will cease on Dec 31, 2021, last mailing date should be Dec 24th

GOAL FOR AFGHANS

Afghans
Goal: 30
Start: #24
Current: 26
0.8666%
START
END
Showing posts with label Blogging in Alphabetical Order. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogging in Alphabetical Order. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Blogging in Alphabetical Order A =

 I will continue the  practice of blogging in alphabetical order when I don't have donations to share with  you all. 

Abandoned,  Anxiety, Arrest,  Assistance.  Those words are a few I came up with that start with the letter A and have a connection with homelessness.  Feeling abandoned must be a daily occurrence for folks who are homeless.  They might feel abandoned by friends, by family, by co-workers or even by the military.  They might take up residence in an abandoned building.
No doubt they also experience much anxiety in the daily lives.  Anxiety  about finding food, being warm enough, being arrested.  Often they are the first suspected of a crime.  It's a sad existence for certain.

I read a statistic on a website filled with too many numbers to quote them all, but it indicated that on a single night in January of 2017, 553,742 people were homeless across the US.  65% of that number were homeless people who were sheltered for the night while 35% where un-sheltered.  We work to ease the burden be they sheltered or un-sheltered individuals.  

We do what we can do to ease the burden, to help warm, to help people feel less abandoned by society.  One thing we do is make afghans.  We knit them, we crocheted them and donate them.  Additionally I often piece together squares or strips to make an afghan.  The above brown afghan, Coffee Latte is one I started about a week ago.  It's being knit in simple garter stitch.  I'm also still working on Blue Ocean as well, though it's going a bit slower.  It's a ripple using the stockinette stitch.



**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Monday, January 21, 2019

Zilch....I got Zilch

A little humor for you all.  I don't have a picture or appropriate word for the letter Z.  The two previous posts were titled Zneesy and Homeless and Finding Zen.  I didn't come up with anything new to share with you.  

Doing a google search it gave me the words zero, zilch, and zone...but I got no where trying to tie those words to being homeless.

Thinking about knitting, crocheting, yarn, looming etc I can think we're in the zone when we're busy at work...but that's about as far as my mind goes.  Any ideas from you all?

By now, you've probably noticed the count down to Spring in the right sidebar is in fact counting down.......yippee Skippy.  Also by now, you've probably noticed the new goal numbers for the year of 2019.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Saturday, January 19, 2019

Yarn....truly Yarn Helps the Homeless

Blogging in alphabetical order brings us to today's letter Y.  In the previous round of blogging in alphabetical order,  the letter Y's post was titled Yarn, A poem.  I've posted it here on Bridge and Beyond a couple of times, the poem that is.  My darling SIL wrote it for me and I really like it.  Please check out the previous post and her poem.

Back when I was blogging in alphabetical order for the blog challenge, the post for Y was...Yarn Helps Homeless.  Always nice to have folks go back and re-read or read for the first time previous posts.

Soooooo, it seems I've not come up with anything new for the letter Y.  Before you is a picture of yarn...of yarn helping the homeless.  What you don't see here in this picture is the rest of it, lol.  I decided it was time to tame the stash and  brought up every container and bag from the basement and sorted the stash based on color.  It was sorted that way a few years ago, but with additional yarn being donated, my having bits and pieces left from projects, taking yarn out to use and finding it not quite the color I needed and it might not getting back in the proper place.......... it needed to be done again...........this yarn organization took almost a whole day.  

Additionally, I was making up projects bags by laying out projects to work on and selecting the yarn needed to put it in one of my many project bags.  I now ...drum roll...have filled 7 bags here in my office for 7 projects with the yarn necessary to complete them....all afghans.  There's still plenty of yarn, and plenty of empty bags...but I was trying not to go crazy with the idea, lol

This afghan was designed sometime back from stripes someone sent that were too short and narrow to be scarves.  They will be joined, and added to enough to make a afghan.   I laid out green, rose, and tan for possible colors to edge and join...stay tuned for which one I ended up selecting.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Xenium, Xenophobia, Xanthic and Blogging in Alphabetical Order


In the previous round of blogging in alphabetical order, My blog title was Xenium and HomelessnessThat post was published on  April 2, 2018.  When I first blogged in alphabetical order as part of a blog contest April 2th, 2015, my X post was Xenophobia If you didn't read  those posts, or don't remember them, please click on the words to go to those posts.  

Currently doing a google search for another X post word I came up dry.  In that I found a list of 340 vocabulary words connected in some capacity to homelessness and X was blank!  Yikes.  Searching further, google tells me there are about 400 words in the English language that start with the letter X, and that includes names, and places, and words no longer used.

Digging a little deeper, I found a word I used once before for the letter X, just not on this blog.  One year when I did the blog challenge I entered all 3 of my blogs (once was certainly enough to do that, whew!).  On one of my other blogs, I used the word, XANTHIC which means yellowish....there's yellowish in my cartoon above, and the fact that's it's about sheep/yarn/fiber.........believe that's the best I can do for this round of blogging in alphabetical order in search of a word that starts with X.  

I thought the comic was cute, and perhaps you do as well.  Funny even, but certainly nothing about being homeless and cold is funny.  So please folks, do your best to keep busy with your yarn and crochet hook and or knitting needles.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Woebegone and Wretched Homeless Emotions

Blogging in Alphabetical order (which if you're new to this blog is done on days when I am without donations to share).  I do this to have blog posts appear more often than we would if I only blogged when there were donations to share.  In so doing, Bridge and Beyond appears more often in the search engines which aids folks finding us.  The more people who finds us on the internet, the more helping hands we may have........and the more helping hands we have, the more people we can help. And by the way, do you see the tab across the top of the blog so titled.....if you open that tab you will see all the posts that have been written and the letters they represents.

So, blogging in Alphabetical order brings us today to W.

Doing a google search for words that start with the letter W that pertain to homelessness I find:
Without
Weighed down
Woebegone
Wretched
Withdrawn
Wrecked

Woebegone popped out to me, not a term we hear much these days, but a word I remember my grandparents saying.  The definition I found is: sad, miserable in appearance.  When I did a search for a picture that might represent the word, I go the above woman.  It's not hard to imagine how often homeless men and women feel this way, or do this exact pose with covering their faces.

Wretched also popped out as an extreme word.  This picture says a lot.  The defination I found says very unhappy or unfortunate state.

When we help a homeless person with warm hats, scarves, socks, mittens etc I believe we help them not feel or look as woebegone or wretched.

We can not eliminate it all, but we can make a difference.  Please keep your knitting needles, your knitting looms, and your crochet hooks busy.
**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Homeless Suffer Violence

Blogging in Alphabetical Order brings us to the letter V.  I've previously blogged about Veterans (Rest in Peace, 1st Class Jerome Murdough) with respect to be homeless, and another V post titled, Ebony Arrested, Car Impounded, Jeff Glazer APD and CNN's Victor Blackwell.

Today, as I think about the letter V and homelessness I thought about the word Vagrant, defined as a person without a settled home or regular work, who wanders from place to place and lives by begging.  I was going to explore that further, when the word VIOLENCE, came to mind, and thus I found the above pictures and story.

Two brothers in the thirties, Scott and Steve Leader beat a homeless man that was sleeping near the JFK/UMass subway station.  The beat him with a metal pipe and urinated on him because they thought he was an illegal-immigrant.  They were heard saying, "Donald Trump" is right while beating him.  He suffered bruised ribs and a broken noise among other injuries.  The 58 year old homeless man was NOT an illegal immigrant and the brothers are serving short prison sentences of 2.5 years and 3 years (not sure why each brother got a different sentence), and community service during the probation that is to follow the incarceration period.  They were charged with 2 counts each of assault and battery and assault and battery with a weapon.

How sad is it that a person living in the elements, asleep is beaten, endures violence just because they're homeless.............even if they had been an immigrant.

While we here on Bridge and Beyond can't put an end to the violence many homeless men, women, and children suffer.............we can do our best to let them know people care.  We can continue to show we care about them as people by supplying them with warm knitted or crocheted items to make their days a bit more comfortable, and perhaps give them hope.

Please do what you can, when you can and know that it matters.

(**picture is link to the full story by Chris Boyette, CNN from May of 2016)

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Sunday, September 23, 2018

Blogging in Alphabetical Order, U= USA Today, Hope and Soap, and Janson Winter

Blogging in Alphabetical order today brings us to the letter U.  There'a USA Today article and video, some of which I saw on Facebook.  There's also a CNN story, a separate Facebook Page with information about a man named Jason Winter, a trailer, homeless being able to take a shower.

Jason started out small with a friends collecting clothes, warm items as it was winter at the time.  As time passed and the weather changed he asked some of the homeless folks what they really needed or wanted if they pick.  They said showers.  He's out fitted a portable shower he can haul around that holds 125 gallons of water, generally enough for 27 showers.  

Jason started a company called Hope and Soap.  Every Sat morning he and friends and volunteers have block parties.  He cooks up hotdogs, puts on music and people line up to get a shower and while waiting can select from donated clean cloths to put on once they've showered.  The USA today article I read was written by Daniella Barker.

Take a look at the video, associated with Daniella's article(link above), or look it up on Facebook, google for the CNN article.  It's a wonderful story of human kindness.  With all the negative we see and hear daily, it's nice to read some positive stories about the good that people do.

Jason has his block parties in Atlanta.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Monday, September 17, 2018

Blogging Alphabetically, T=Tiny Houses

We've all seen ads on TV about tiny houses, people living simply, choosing that in order to travel...but, I'm talking about a different type of tiny houses.  Several articles have indicted perhaps the first village for tiny houses to house the homeless was in Oregon, a place called Dignity Village.  Portland City fathers were continually raiding, moving and breaking up various tent cities in the the downtown area; but in a matter of days a new tent city would take it place.  Homelessness was on the rise and shelters simply couldn't keep up.

A solution came about when city fathers and homeless people started working together (2001).  Private donations,and volunteers without government financing built a village of tiny houses to house 65 residence on donated land.  Mark Lakeman was the Architect.

The theory was multi-layered.  House the homeless, lessen environmental strains on the community. Statistics indicated that houses were becoming larger and larger, and people were spread farther apart; therefore not knowing or caring about neighbors.  From 1950--2012 the average square footage of a family rose from from 983 to 2500.

This village has been successfully run by self government of the residence who live there without oversite.  There are other similar communities around the country, some modeled after this village...some with local backing and or some governmental funds. 

I'm not aware of any such villages in my area.  In my google research for this post, it seems many of these little villages of tiny homes dot the map in Oregon, Washington, California, and Colorado.  I plan to do some follow up about the possibility of one in Akron, Ohio; so stayed tuned.

**A good deal of the info above was gleaned from an article titled, "Solution to Homelessness" by Georgia Perry.  Credit for the above picture goes to her as well.

Please turn on your sound and watch this video for additional information about tiny houses.



**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Saturday, September 15, 2018

SuperWomen and SuperMen Help Homeless with Donations

Blogging in alphabetical order brings us to the letter S today.  Doing a google search for words that start with the letter S and have a connection to homelessness produced a rather large list.  Here are some that stood out to me:
Safety
Scorn
Scrounge
Secret
Shame
Smell
Sleeping
Squalor
Stench
Survival
Suspicion

No doubt as you read through that list of words, you have thoughts perhaps even pictures pop in your heads, or maybe experiences where those words were used.

The sad thing is, those aren't happy words...they aren't words when put in the context of being homeless make you smile, or feel comfortable.

Safety is truly a concern.  For multiple reasons.  Sometimes homeless have reason to fear for their safety from Police, sometimes from other homeless, sometimes from ordinary citizens.

Many homeless feel scorn from passers by.  Or when they try to order something to eat at a fast food restaurant and are asked to leave, or see looks of scorn from other patrons.

Many homeless scrounge for food, water, clothing, money, a safe place to sleep.

Many homeless are secretive about where they sleep, some for safety reasons.

Most homeless do smell because they live in the elements, they can't bath or launder their cloths...certainly not with any regularity.  When it's been really long, the smell because more of a stench because they may be living in squalor.  

Shame...yes many feel shame, because they're in that situation in the first place.  Maybe they feel shame because they lost their job and can't support themselves or their families.  

Many homeless live daily with others being suspicious of them.  If there's a crime committed nearby, it's often the homeless that are suspected as having committed said crime.  

Sometimes all the homeless are trying to do is survive.  Survive the hunger, survive the extreme heat, survive the freezing cold, survive being sleep deprived.  Most of us take sleep for granite ...even if we sleep badly.  But, to be safe, and to be above suspicion it's not uncommon for homeless to have to move constantly...often in the middle of the night, therefore are often sleep deprived.  Even when there is a safe indoor space where they're permitted to sleep, those hours are restricted and they therefore have to be on the move, no matter how sleep deprived they may be.


But, you all who support Bridge and Beyond with your knitting, your crocheting, your looming, your collecting personal care items, your visits and comments to this blog.............you all are SuperWomen and SuperMen.  You help elevate some of those sad words above that start with the letter S.  You all help warm the homeless both physically and emotionally with your kind crafts and big hearts.  PLEASE keep up the good work.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Monday, August 27, 2018

R= Respite Center, and Rae. Blogging Alphabetically

Traditionally, the word Respite refers to temporary care and is often associated with giving relief to a family member who's caring for a loved one at home.  But, consider Women who live in fear.  Women who are abused, who are homeless and fearful...they too need respite, even if temporarily...they need and deserve a place to feel safe, a place to get a hot meal, a place to rest, a place to get a shower. (clicking on the above photo will take you to their Facebook Page)

Three located at 842 Sullivant Avenue here in Columbus is such a place.  Currently they offer hot meals, clean clothes, a shower and more.  They are set up to be able to serve 40 women.  The list of items they need is quite similar to the list of items we've been supplying to Homeless Families Foundation and other shelters.  Personal Care items......including the ever popular cotton washcloths, hats and scarves as the weather begins to turn, and socks.  I think slippers here would be a nice touch as well.

Our good friend, Rae brought this Respite Center to my attention.  Yesterday she collected items from us appropriate for both this center, and the homeless  she prepares hot meals for on Sat mornings.  She'll divide the items based on what's appropriate size and color wise when it comes to socks, slippers, hats, mittens, and scarves and divide the personal care items and the cotton washcloths.

As you think about this group of women in need, as well as those that come and go through the shelters, or get a hot meal on Sat from Rae, please think about supplying feminine products in your donations.

Thank you Rae for reaching out, and thank you...all who read this blog, share it's link, knit and crochet and donate for making it possible for us to be of help to yet another group of people in need.

Please continue to know that you do make a difference in someone's life, an important one.

Blogging in Alphabetical Order, this is my R post for Rae and Respite

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Monday, June 25, 2018

Blogging in Alphabetical Order, Q=Queue, Qualify, & Quality

This graphic, picture has nothing to do with today's blog post, just a little funny I thought I'd share with you all.  Spotted it awhile back on Facebook.

Did you notice the numbers with our afghan goal?  We have officially now pasted the half way mark with our donations!  I'm thrilled to see that and hope we more than meet the goal as it's lower than some of our years.  

I'm currently over half way on an afghan I'm knitting.  Are you working on one?

Today's letter is Q in our blogging in Alphabetical Order.  Q, is never an easy letter.  The last two times through the alphabet, I blogged using the word quilt.  But, today I've chosen Queue, Quality, and Qualify as words that start with the letter Q.

Below is our Queue...of blogs while blogging in alphabetical Order this time round.  If you've not read any of these blog posts; please do take time.  And the only way we know you've visited is to leave a comment.  (hint hint, wink wink).

3rd List Blogging in Alphabetical Order.
A=afghans Resurecting Learning Logs.
B=Barnacle Bill and Blogging in Alphabetical Order
C=A Cocoon of Yarn, Blogging in Alphabetical Order
D=Blogging in Alphabetical Order, D=Dog & Homeless
E=Ends, Blogging Alphabetically
F=FEAR, Fibers, and Fun Colors Matter
G=Donald Gould, Homeless in Sarasota, Florida
H=Hard Life, Hovel, Homeless & More, So Sad
I=Blogging in Alphabetical Order, Illness in Homeless
J= New Afghan Needs name, Blogging in Alphabetic Order, Jobless & Judgement
K=Kindness, Giving Away Kindness and blogging in Alphabetical Order
L= Love, Loitering and the Law
M=Assembling Mountain Meadow
N=Nameless Afghan, Blogging in Alphabetical Order
O=Being Homeless, An Outcast causes Outrage, or Does it?
P=Homeless Man's Belongings and Pollution, Blogging in Alphabetical Order

Quality.  I believe we improve the quality of someone's day when we gift them a warm hat, or scarf, or beautiful afghan.  If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't be continuing with Bridge and Beyond.  I believe you all think the same or you wouldn't spend your valuable time and tremendous skills to knit and crochet for Bridge and Beyond.

Qualify.  One of the problems Homeless people face is knowing what help they might quality for.  Knowing where to go, whom to talk to in order to find out what they might qualify for.  There are out reach programs that carry note cards with names, phone numbers, and addresses of help programs to give to homeless people they encountered to help them in the process.  Sometimes they also provide transportion or bus passes to help those in need.  Think about that, if you needed help tomorrow.....do you know how to find out what you might quality for?  Sadly, a large number of people really don't.  So think about that and add being hungry, sleep deprived and or fearful to the mix.  These are just of what homeless people deal with on a daily basis.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Homeless Man's Belongings and Pollution, Blogging in Alphabetical Order



Today's letter in our blogging in alphabetical order is P.  I focused on Pollution.  When I viewed this video, that's what first came to mind.  This jogger, initially named #Jogger Joe and later identified as Henry William Sintay is polluting.  Does he actually think he's helping clean up trash...or what he thinks is trash by throwing it in Lake Merritt in Oakland California?

  • Yes, some of the stuff, the personal belongings of a homeless man may appear to be trash to walkers, runners etc that frequent the area; but how does breaking the bottles and spreading them about help?
  • How does stealing personal belongings that aren't yours help?
  • How does polluting The Lake seem like a good idea?
  • How can things like this be fixed?   Are there not enough trash cans around for the homeless man to put his actual trash in?
  • What a cruel and thoughtless thing for this #joggerJoe, #HenryWilliamSintay to do.  I'm glad he was arrested and put in jail and fined.
  • Doing a google search produces several articles and other video's.  Apparently This Henry William Sintay arrest is for first degree robbery, he's also assaulted someone, tried to steal a cell phone.  Thus the large bail at $100,000.00.
  • In one clip he says he's cleaning up trash and pretends not to know it's a homeless person's belongings........in another clip he says the man has taken up permanent residence in this area.  So clearly he knew it was just "trash".
  • Homeless person is Greg Markson known to people in the area as a peaceful homeless man who goes by the name of Drew (which I saw spelled a few different ways in my google search of articles).
  • JJ Harris is the person who did the filming.
  • When Greg Markson returned to what had been his tidy camp (according to those who interacted with him on a regular basis), he stuff had been destroyed.  Locals brought him fresh blankets to help him through the weekend.
**This is the same park where a White Woman recently called the police on Black picnickers who were grilling out.  You might remember his video went viral.  Speculation is, this White JoggerJoe, Henry William Sintay is yet another racist incident, as the homeless man who's camp was destroyed is a Black Man.


**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Being Homeless, An Outcast Causes Outrage...Or Does It?

Blogging in alphabetical order and today's letter is O.  Two words came to mind.  Outrage and Outcast.

Being Homeless is a horrible, National problem; but are we truly outraged?  Does our government share the outrage?  If we as a nations were truly outraged, could we solve the problem?  I wonder.  I have no answers, but I wonder.
Almost everyone has felt some form being an outcast at some point in their lives.  Maybe in the neighborhood, maybe at school, maybe at work.  Where you didn't fit it, you didn't belong.  Or felt you didn't belong.  You were an outcast.  Not a good feeling for anyone.  Take that feeling and multiple it by being homeless, by not knowing when you might eat next.  Or not knowing where you might sleep or if you were going to get relief from the cold, or the heat, or the rain, or the wind, or the snow or the sleet and ice.  Take that feeling and multiple it by not knowing if you were safe?

This article, while not recent described some of these feelings of being an outcast.
-*-*-*-*





My stomach was growling, and I felt faint from the heat of the sun. A plate of any type of food and a drop of water would have been a great treat, but what I really wanted was a smile or a friendly greeting from one of the clean, normal people. Instead, they gave me stares and frowns, which hurt more than the thought of having no food or money. It was as if I were a leper, who had broken the rules by daring to be seen in public.
Sleeping on the streets, in gutters, under bus shelters, on the cold steps of a courthouse or under a tree is a terrible way to live. But one of the biggest tragedies of not having a home is that the homeless are treated like outcasts, as if they are no longer human beings.
I realized this truth first hand when I walked the streets of downtown Miami posing as a homeless woman.
I was not dirty. I know that I did not smell badly because I had put on deodorant and brushed my teeth. But my hair was wild and knotted. I used my fingers to comb my hair. I wore a shirt with holes, stains and sleeves uneven in length. My shorts also had holes, and reached below my knees. They were pants before I cut them. My toenails were half-painted and looked as if I clipped them with my teeth.
I was unkempt enough to fit the image of a homeless person, which was reason for the "normal" people to look at me as if my existence was a disgrace to the human race. Women stared at me with the same indifference as men. I had wrongly thought that they would show pity since we were of the same gender.
Maybe, more people would sympathize with the homeless if they realized how close they could be to sleeping under a bus shelter or on the cold, concrete steps of a courthouse.
Statistics show that about 700,000 people in the United States have no place to rest their heads at night. Over the next twelve months it is estimated that 3.5 million people will experience homelessness in our country. Even more chilling, these numbers only account for people in shelters and other organizations, or ones who can be easily found on the streets. There are many others who are barely surviving in temporary housing arrangements. They are not included in the statistics.
I soon realized that homeless people have to find something in common with each other. They cannot survive on the hope that a passerby will feel sympathy and offer them a helping hand. Many people do not socialize with the homeless and blame them for being in an unfortunate situation. Too often, people think that addiction to alcohol, gambling or some other vice is the reason that a person is on the streets or in a shelter. The fact is that there are many other causes of homelessness.
Poverty remains the largest contributor to homelessness, although domestic violence, family disputes and unemployment are other reasons that a person can end up begging on the streets. Often, homeless persons become addicted to drugs or alcohol once they find themselves on the street. They start to lose hope that they their lives will ever go back to normal. Drugs and alcohol are useful for dulling pain and making harsh realities seem less dim.
It is important for a person on the street to find something beneficial to pass the time. Ivon Peterkin, who has been living on the streets for some months now, explained that he reads books to keep his mind off his unfortunate situation. "It`s easy to go crazy out here," he said. "Little by little, you start to lose some of your senses unless you do something."
I knew what he was talking about. I remember sitting on the floor at the Government Center with my back against a pole for only an hour when I started to feel desperate and hopeless. I wanted to cry. I stopped myself several times from begging the people passing by to help me. Help from what? I still cannot describe what I wanted. Then something amazing happened.
Ivon, a forty-seven year-old man who I had never met, approached me. Immediately, I felt immense relief. "When she is finished, they give out food," he said referring to a woman who was preaching in Spanish some distance away. Even though I was at first scared to speak to him, his kindness and obvious yearning for companionship compelled me to respond. "Ok." I would have said more except that my tongue seemed to be stuck. That was my first word in over an hour.
He used the payphone next to me. Then he told me that I had to get a number to get food. Without meaning to, I got up and followed him to one of the park benches. "I`m Ivon," he said. I complimented him on his name because it was the only nice thing that came to mind.
Right away, Ivon wanted to serve as my protector. He kept telling me that I was attractive and that men often take advantage of women who look like me. Only then did I begin thinking about how hard it must be for women on the streets.
On top of having no place to live, homeless women have to deal with stereotypes associated with their gender. Women are seen as weak and easy prey. Tragically, they sometimes find themselves working as pr*stitutes, either for a pimp or freelance.
"Men will offer to take care of you, and then they use you," Ivon said. "I ain`t like that."
It was hard for me to trust him, but I needed the conversation. Besides, he encouraged me.
"No matter what you are facing, don`t give up," he said. "Always know that you are worth something."
Ivon got three numbers from the lady who was passing them out. He eventually gave the extra one to someone without a number. Incredibly, four people tried to snatch the paper from him, but only one was victorious. It reminded me of a bride throwing a bouquet.
I had to wait for them to call number 63 before I could get my food. When the lady handed me the plate, I felt ashamed, embarrassed. I wondered if she thought that I was inferior to her; I wanted to run to my car and go home. But before I knew it, I received my food: a soda and a little container with vanilla pudding. I did not have to look at the woman anymore. The feeling of shame receded.
Ivon suggested that we walk a few blocks to Bayside. When we arrived at our destination, Ivon told me he desperately had to use the bathroom. He began to take something from his waist that he wanted to leave with me. I thought it was a phone; it was a knife. "You never know when you have to use this," he said.
I ate alone. It took all my strength to eat the food, which consisted of tomato sauce, sliced hotdogs, rice and bread. It felt dirty. To make matters worse, I was afraid to have my head down for longer than a few seconds. Ivon scared me by implying that in broad daylight someone might try to attack me.
After about twenty minutes, Ivon came back. He suggested that we move nearer to the Miami River where it was cooler. I carried the sheet that we were using as a picnic blanket, as well as the plastic bag with my food. We settled down under the shade of some coconut trees. He pointed out some police officers who were blocking off an area where the homeless used to sleep.
"I guess they didn`t want us next to the hotel. You can`t have people looking out of their windows and seeing us," he said.
Ivon is right. Every society tries to hide its homeless population. These unfortunate souls are banned from one place after another, until they all have to hang out in the same spot away from the tourists and residents. Subtle changes to public benches, like partitions, discourage them from sleeping in certain places.
Ivon started to take some things out of his bag. He had his whole life stuffed in there " clothes, toiletries, books, pills and food. This was amazing, for I had a similar bag in school and could barely carry all my books.
I felt angry that people had to live like this and could not handle being around Ivon, or any other homeless person anymore. I was depressed because I was powerless to help them. I told Ivon that I wanted to return to the Government Center and even thought about an excuse to get him to leave me alone. I did not want him to discover that I was not truly homeless. Gratefully, he told me that he was going back to Bayside and I was relieved of that burden.
As I drove up the ramp to I-95, I began to realize that I was going home to my shower, my refrigerator, my job and my bed. I felt human again.
This feature was published in The Local Buzz Magazine on October 31, 2005.

Link for this article is HERE
**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Assembling Mountain Meadow Afghan

Reviewing pictures in my designed and waiting to be assembled folder, I came across this afghan to be.  It's one I didn't name at the time I designed it; but as I look at it this morning, Mountain Meadow came to me.  Green for meadows, browns, little bit of purple for the haze that often appears over mountains, and some yellow...not much for sunshine?

It may take some doing, to find this in my stash since it's not named and since I've not been able to get downstairs to my stash in several months due to the broken foot; however.........am expecting to get the go ahead for minimal stairs today after my physical therapy, provided things go well.

As we're blogging in alphabetical order and today is letter M, thought I'd share this with you.  There are 9 strips that will need to be edged and joined.  I think it will require some adding on to make it an appropriate size to keep someone warm.  These strips were donated as scarves some time back, but they are really not sized properly for scarves, so I thought this would be a good use of them.  When I get donations that don't meet our needs (size, color, fiber wise), I try very hard to find another purpose or method of use so that the donation  can still take place.  

If you've not looked before, please notice the tabs across the top of the blog for each item we knit/crochet/loom and donate.  Those tabs contain information necessary for our donations to meet the needs of those we serve.  If you have any questions, please use the contact form in the right sidebar, leave a comment, or send me an email.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Love, Loitering and The Law

*clicking on image takes you to the article by Ariel Aberg-Riger
Blogging in Alphabetical Order brings us to the letter L.  Doing a google search for words that start with the letter L that have a connection to Homelessness I came up with a substantial list.  Here are a few that hit me:

  • Loitering
  • Loss
  • Law
Additionally I thought of:


  • Loom
  • Love
The picture above really hit me.  Though it was made to illustrate some things that have happened lately and the law and loitering, it seemed a worthwhile graphic of the meaning of the word.  So, if you're sitting taking in sun in a park...no one considers that loitering....unless you're sleeping there, or look to be camped there for some time.


But, Homeless often do in fact loiter.  They loiter at fast food restaurants until they are asked to leave, they loiter at libraries until they are asked to leave.   They loiter to get warm, to get out of rain, to get away from the cold, or the hot sun.  They loiter because even if they have a night in a shelter...they're not permitted to be there during the day and so have to loiter somewhere.

There are laws about loitering.  Problem is, there is so much interpretation.  

The last two times I blogged for the letter L I blogged about Looming and Love.
Clicking on the loom picture takes you to one of those posts.

LOVE...I believe everything we do here on Bridge and Beyond for the benefit of others is an expression of LOVE.

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Kindness, Giving Away Kindness and Blogging in Alphabetical Order

Blogging in Alphabetical order brings us to the letter K today.  In the two previous rounds of blogging in Alphabetical Order I've blogged about Kindness and knitting for the letters K.  I really didn't come up with any new word for this, the 3rd round of doing so.

Do you know a knitter, or a crocheter?  If you could give a yarn boutique like the pretty one above.  That would be a wonderful act of kindness.  Give it for nothing specific...in that it's not Easter, or Christmas, or someone's Birthday or Mother's Day etc.  Just give it, as an act of kindness.  Trust me.....it will be well received.  

Craft a note to go with your yarn boutique to spread the kindness yet further.  In your note say something like I just wanted to share some kindness from me to you......and suggest you do the same, by using this yarn to knit/crochet something you can donate to someone in need..........yet again sharing more kindness.  

Maybe you have favorite charities you could include in your note to help the person think of charities or to have something to select from?


Maybe you would prefer something like above.  Spotted this on Facebook and thought it worth a share.  You could print this and include it with your yarn boutique.

If you do anything like this, please let me know.  Take a picture of your arrangement with your yarn, or your note...I'll share it here on blog to help encourage others to reach out in similar fashion.  If you would prefer not to include your name with the post, simply let me know.  I know some of you big hearted people are a bit shy.  Contact me by leaving a comment here on the post, or by using the contact form in the right side bar, or by emailing me at sandycrochet@gmail.com

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Friday, May 18, 2018

New Afghan Needs Name, Blogging in Alphabetical Order, Jobless and Judgement

This is the beginning (2nd picture I've taken) of the afghan I'm currently working on.  Will take some time before this one is ready to donate, as it's only about 7.25 inches when the picture was taken.  It's a bit larger now and has one additional color, green.  Not sold on a name yet..Lines of Jewels (lines because it will be striped?), Striped Jewels, Jewel Palette?  Thoughts?

Blogging in Alphabetical order brings us to J.  Some words I came upon associated with homeless are jobless, and judgement.

It's so easy to pass judgement on others.  Sadly, we all do it naturally.  We must fight our instincts to not pass judgement on others.  That becomes, I think even harder when thinking about Homeless People.  Often people judge homeless people to be lazy, to be criminals to be bad people.........when none of that may be true.  Living on the streets is NOT easy, to stay alive alone means you're not lazy; but that stereotype judgement exists.  Maybe the person is homeless because they lost their job, maybe they lost their job through no fault of their own, maybe they lost their job due to health issues.  So many possibilities.  A child may be homeless through no fault of their own.  Military often come back from service broken, be it physical or mental or both.  Certainly that's not their fault and they should not be judged.  

Being jobless when homeless is very difficult.  How do you apply for a job when you have no address?  How do you apply for a job when you have no means of cleaning up?  How do you apply for a job when you no phone or other means of being contacted?

Difficult problems being homeless, being jobless and being judged unjustly.

Sunday, May 13, 2018

Blogging in Alphabetical Order, Illness in Homeless


In keeping with blogging in alphabetical order between posts that share donations, we're now at the letter I.

Last time through the alphabet, I blogged about Making an Investment.  
The previous time the letter I was about Inspiration.

Doing a google search for words that start with the letter I, that have a connection to Homelessness I found the following:
Illness
Insecure
Invisible.........among other words.

ILLNESS, jumped out at me.  Doing a bit of research I found a list of the top 10 Health Issues that Homeless People suffer from.

Mortality...and unintential injuries (bruises, cuts, and burns).  Homeless have a higher risk of death.  Listed as some of the highest risks of morbidity and morality are falls and being hit by motor vehicle.  Also listed is overdoses from drugs or alcohol or both.

Exposure is listed a major hazard with frostbite, hypothermia and freezing in cold weather, and severe sunburns, and heatstroke in hot weather due to dehydration.

Suicide is also listed, as is violence.  Violence stats were a combination of assault, rape and murder against the Homeless.

The warm items we knit, crochet or loom can help ward of freezing and hypothermia.  Perhaps sunscreen is something that should be considered for personal care items during the hot months?  First aid kits?  Aloe for both burns and sunburn?

If you have other thoughts about how we might bridge some of the need in this area, please leave a comment or send me a note via the contact form in the right sidebar.  Thank you for reading this blog, Thank you for helping in whatever way you can.

Been awhile since I've listed the alphabetical blogging blogs.  If you've not read or commented on A-H this time round, please do so.



3rd List Blogging in Alphabetical Order.
A=afghans Resurecting Learning Logs.
B=Barnacle Bill and Blogging in Alphabetical Order
C=A Cocoon of Yarn, Blogging in Alphabetical Order
D=Blogging in Alphabetical Order, D=Dog & Homeless
E=Ends, Blogging Alphabetically
F=FEAR, Fibers, and Fun Colors Matter
G=Donald Gould, Homeless in Sarasota, Florida
H=Hard Life, Hovel, Homeless & More, So Sad

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Hard Life, Hovel, Homeless, and more, So SAD

 On our worst days, we have no clue how hard life can be.  How hard life can be living on the streets, waiting out the day to get a night in a shelter.
Trying to just take a rest......leaning up against a tree.  

Blogging in Alphabetical Order, today is the letter H.
So many words that start with the letter H having to do with Homelessness:
HARD LIFE.

HOVEL
 hov·el
ˈhəvəl,ˈhävəl/
noun
  1. 1.
    a small, squalid, unpleasant, or simply constructed dwelling.
These pictures were taken in Southern California.  A hovel indeed.  Basically cardboard boxes and plywood put together.  These space was the home of 3 children (in their teens).  Near by was a mobile home where the parents lived.  The teens lived in this hovel for 4 years among feces, had no running water or electric.  The parents were arrested and the children then got care; but.....many across the country do live like this, in self made shelters; or abandoned buildings or pieces of buildings.  Horrible and sad.

So many H words, one is hunger, one is humiliation.  

We do the best we can do, we knit and we crochet and we loom.  We donate our time, to warm others physically.  We do our best to make a difference, to improve the existence of humanity.

We here on Bridge and Beyond do our best by giving what we can to the homeless.


**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Friday, May 4, 2018

Donald Gould, Homeless in Sarasota Florida



Sharing this wonderful story.  Please turn on your volume and enjoy this music and story.  A veteran, who lost his wife in 1998; ended up on the street plays for tips.  AND then........

Someone filmed him and it went viral.  This was several years ago, he's now married and working and no longer homeless.

**The counts on our progress bars are current.

All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Where are You and Your Yarn From?

I'm trying to identify where everyone is from, partially for fun. Take a look at the map. Also, believe it will aid me in cases where we have several people with the same name. Please look at the lists of bloggers and non bloggers and see if I have the state you hail from. If not, please leave a comment and let me know.

Additionally, we've had help from Scotland, England, Germany Puerto Rico, Canada, and France! They don't appear on the map, but their help is still greatly appreciated.

Where The People Who Donate Come From, is your state represented?