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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
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