Homeless Cares

CAN'T A GIRL JUST GET SOME REST??? Hectic, busy day with lots going on. Ran out of burritos at breakfast then took 8 people to the shower in 2 trips. Sweet Rosy was the 9th passenger and she was so sleepy today. Turns out she has worms so we were trying to get her to Humane Society but ran into some issues so I hope we can make it tomorrow after laundry. One of the other individuals I took to shower was the person who was shot Monday night at 13th and Canyon you may have read about. He was shot throught he leg but it missed anything major so he is remarkably ok, just needs to keep it clean. Glad people are making good use of this service. the more self-care they can provide for themselves the more other things they are able to consider accomplishing.

Very pleasant day in the park today. Still seeing consistently long lines for the breakfast. And people were definitely ready for showers after the sweeps last week at the bandshell that had everyone in an uproar. There were five people from the park and one from Harvest of Hope needing showers today. It's good to see the unsheltered take advantage of this service. It takes some effort and attention for them to get organized for that one opportunity every Wedesnday, but some of them have hygeine related health issues and really benefit from regular access to showers so I'm glad to see it.

Feeling guilty: Lots of laundry today. Took 3 people from Deacons Closet and 2 from Harvest of Hope. People tend to save up their laundry for a long time so there's lots to do and it can cost a bunch. One of the new folks, Harold, accidentally put his phone through the washer and it was toast. I feel bad because I was slightly hurrying him along which didn't help, yet he never thought to criticize or blame me. It's doubly tough on him because he's dealing with a lot of struggles stemming from getting beaten up and robbed recently in Denver, losing his out of state ID, trying to settle a legal matter in NC, trying to get his birth certificate ordered through Denver so he is able to unfreeze his funds, and so on. We strategized for the entire time on how to prioritize what he needed to do over the next two days, and I was able to contact the ever helpful Christian from BTHERE. I so hope he can get him a new phone soon!

Despite the cold weather today, still served over 40 people breakfast in the park. We are there every Wednesday no matter what. Five peeps also went to the Y for showers and we stopped by Harvest of Hope. Laundry day tomorrow. Homeless Cares is planning some new projects for 2023 if all goes well!

Winter is stressful unless you have plenty of resources. I packed 6 folks into my van today after breakfast to go the Y for showers. V told me she was kicked out of the shelter until January 6th for some miniscule offence. She also just had her tent and belongings confiscated by the clean up crew. She had nothing but what she was wearing and one blanket. After dropping off a newly housed individual in S Boulder, I went home and gathered my own sleeping bag, and extra sweater and a pair of socks and drove back down to the bandshell. Chris was also there and donated a quilty blanket! Hopefully, this will be enough to keep her from freezing through the holiday season. Then I drove over to the library to see if I could find her an abandoned cart, and sure enough, right by the parking lot was a small cart. So at least she can now lug that heavy bag around when she goes for food. I just hope she can hang onto these items for a few weeks which is a long time when you are homeless. This just sucks though. I wish we could have some sort of independent ombudsmen or something like that to investigate and advocate for people who are banned from the shelter for such minor offences.