The meal refused

Walked to the library today to renew a book. Enroute, saw a man standing at I-5 and Madison with a sign, and another one leaning against the low cement barrier overlooking the traffic, his legs sprawled onto the sidewalk and his body bend over, face down. He looked exhausted. I looked for a needle and didn't see any, and I realized I had no meal to offer him.

After the library, I walked to Ivar's Acres of Clams, purchased the 5 fishes and chips meal to go, making sure to get extra cups of catsup and tartar sauce. I  ate two fish strips and  headed back up the hill, thinking the men at the bridge might still be there. They weren't.

At the freeway intersection, two men who seemed to be homeless crossed south, and another potentially homeless man with backpack passed north. The timing didn't seem right to make an offer. I headed on uphill.

At Boren and Madison, two women sitting at the bus stop seemed like potential candidates, but I didn't know how to offer the meal I had, when there were two. Again, it didn't feel right.

But ahead of me there was a withered, short, thin bald man with a deep tan shuffling along the sidewalk. He approached a couple, one of whom held out a package to him. They exchanged words, and the couple moved on, while he zeroed in on me. As he drew close he asked for $2 for MacDonald's. I said I had food. He asked me for $2 again for food. I said "this is a meal --it's fish and chips." He turned slightly and walked past me. Maybe all he wanted was money for drugs.

I walked home and ate the fish and chips myself.

This doesn't seem to be working any more. The point was to engage people in conversation and learn more about them and what they need. In most engagements, that doesn't happen in any significant way.

Meals served so far: still 46
Ubuntu

Breakfast is served for the Real Change vendor

Top story for latest Real Change is public art in industrial corridor

Just when I think I'm done taking meals to homeless people there's a Real Change vendor at the door of the Capitol Hill Safeway on this rainy morning. This is just too convenient.

"Would you like a cooked chicken?" I asked. He demurred, because he's allergic to chicken.

So I asked him for an alternate and he said Mac and Cheese. But Safeway's deli was out of that today. So I came back and asked again. He went for jo-jos and pot stickers (although I had to explain what pot stickers were). However, the pot stickers had chicken in them, so instead I sprang for the spring rolls, spotted the pizza stick, and picked up half a pound of jo-jos. Kind of a starchy meal, but it was warm and ready to go. Cost: A measly $5.37.

I asked him if he was cold. He explained that someone stole his sleeping bag. No, he didn't know about Operation Nightwatch, so I asked him whether he used the library and handed him a Homeless in Seattle.net business card. I told him to go to the Web site, look at the "blankets" listing and that would take him to Operation Nightwatch. They provide warm dinners, and a shelter, and if they don't have a shelter you can get a blanket and a metro bus pass, I explained. (He didn't know that some people ride the bus at night to stay warm and safe.)

Meals served so far: 46
Ubuntu

Three more meals / street stories

I thought I was done with meals. My focus has shifted to Homeless in Seattle,  so when Union Gospel Mission sent their request for donations for holiday meals, I made enough of a donation to carry me over the 100-meal mark, so that I could pour my energies into the Web site.

The "Homeless" business card

But today I decided to hike to the downtown Seattle Library branch to find out how to promote the site to the homeless, and just to be prepared I took two sack lunches. Each has two ham and cream cheese sandwiches (with a Homeless business card peeking out through the plastic wrap), a raspberry fig bars and an apple. It was a good thing too. At the intersection with Interstate 5 I saw a familiar face, a panhandler with a sign for cars pausing at the intersection. He turned down the lunch, but directed me to the opposite corner, where another man with a help-me sign gratefully accepted a sack lunch. Then it was on to the library.

When I asked about distributing business cards, I was referred to the 5th Floor and then to an individual who was gone for the day. (I e-mailed her later, asking for help.) I headed toward Ivar's Acres of Clams for the exercise.

Outside Ivar's there was a young woman sitting tailor fashion on a bench with a box for spare change. She had no upper teeth. I offered her the lunch. She said she would save the apple, but she was able to handle the sandwiches. As she ate, we talked about her "old man" who was not doing well. They live in a tent under the freeway with too few blankets to stay warm. She is a Seattle native. I bought a coke to go with her lunch and brought over a cup of water for a chaser. Two men who knew her stopped to talk. One of them appeared to be discussing religion. I headed back up the hill, stopping at the library and it was then that I learned the individual I planned to meet was gone.

The Kentuckian.

At Boren and Madison a young woman, Christine, was standing with her sign. I asked her whether she was hungry, and we agree to go to Subway. She told me she was from Louisville, KY.

 Enroute, a woman who lives in the neighborhood greeted her and joined us. Christine ordered the meatball sandwich and the three of us sat and chatted about the Homeless Web site, and her situation. I learned that her son, 20, had died a few months earlier and that she didn't feel safe in shelters. Quite likely she was sleeping outside tonight. And she apparently has a boyfriend; she left the restaurant briefly to chat with him before we ate. Her friend said grace prior to the meal. After Christine finished and left, the friend shared that she also had been homeless at one time.

After I left Subway, I didn't make it to the end of the block without running into three more homeless people: a man sitting on the sidewalk asking for handouts and declaring that he was not returning to the shelter because there were Nazis there who were picking fights. He showed me an injury on his hand. While we talked, a woman in a wheel chair made her way toward us and asked for help to buy coffee. At the corner a young man held a sign asking for money. He didn't have a place to stay for the night. Each one got a small handout and a Homeless card.

The weather has grown colder, and now it seems like they are everywhere.

Meals served so far (aside from Union Gospel donaton): 45
Ubuntu