Homelessness Part IV - The "Downtown Rescue Mission" (HSV, AL)

The sign out in front of the Downtown Rescue Mission in Huntsville, AL reads, simply, this:

"Where We Have A Heart For The Homeless."

Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Upon my arrival here, I wrote up a tasty article about homeless missions in general, just one article down, inspired by my stay at this mission.  Now, it's inspired me to write just one more.  Not unlike the Gospel Mission in Sioux Falls, SD, this one has now incurred my wrath as well, but not due to the actions of just one person there; no, this time, the entire mission managed to piss me off.  And, not unlike what I did to the other one, so shall I do...to this one too.  Kick me, I kick back...remember?

Upon my arrival at this mission, I was told that cell phones, nor laptops...nor, for that matter, anything with a camera was allowed here.  The reason for this would be quite apparent very quickly.  If I were to be in charge of a mission as disgusting as this, I wouldn't want people to have cameras either.  The floors (also the sleeping areas) were filthy, and I wouldn't ask my dog to lay on anything closely resembling them.  Your beds were worn out prison mats, the showers were open for other clients' viewing pleasure, and your entry into the place wasn't too far off of what you go through at the airport.  Your bags are torn apart daily (no bag bigger than a standard duffel bag is allowed in...if you have anything bigger than the half of a school locker that you can store things in, you are asked to throw it away), and a big metal detector ensures that nothing of metal is allowed past this point.  Cigarette rollers and loose tobacco are confiscated (usually WITHOUT your knowledge), and your pockets are to be emptied.  OK, I can deal with this (thank you PATRIOT ACT).

Enter in, the rub.  Should the staff at the front door miss anything, and you're caught with it later...you're the one at fault.  Again...whatever.  I'm a decent guy, I'm not going to bring any weapons or drugs in anyway, so no real sweat off of my skin...until yesterday, that is.

I had taken up with a gentleman named Troy, who was not only supposed to put me to work, but was also offering me a place to stay, and so yesterday (I thought) was SUPPOSED to be my last day at this horror of a mission.  Thank God for small favors, I say.  I cleaned out my locker, and handed in my lock to get my lock deposit back, bagged up my things, and headed off of the property.

After waiting what turned into 2 hours for Troy to pick me up for the move, then work, I started talking to another resident of the mission, who it happened had already had an experience with this Troy person...and, of course, it wasn't a good one, by any stretch.  He informed me that leaving to work and live under this man was not only a serious mistake (he was, I was told, a coke-head, and loved to cheat hapless homeless people out of their money), it would be a step down, and that I was better off staying right where I was, at the mission.  After thinking about it for another hour, I turned my happy behind around and went right back.  I talked to the Chaplain (Mike), and got my locker and lock back.  I moved all of my things back in, and took off to take care of other business.

Upon my return, I checked in, and went my way.  An hour or so later, a guy named Lowan (a program based man, with a mohawk and tattoos, evidently in charge of those running the security desk) told me that he wanted to speak to me.  I didn't hesitate, and went to find him.

With him was a woman, who was, evidently, someone who worked for the administration of the shelter on the shelter side.  Lowan informed me that, after I had left (when I left, I left my locker wide open, since there was no need to shut it), someone spotted a kitchen knife in the locker.  I told Lowan, flat out, that it did not belong to me, and knew of no such knife.  Following this, the woman in administration sidled up to inform me that, since there had been a knife in my locker, that I was to be put out of the shelter for 30 days.  Not 3.  Not 7.  30 days.

Now, I want you to think about this for a moment America...the locker was vacated, and I was no longer a resident for 3 whole hours.  There was no lock on the locker.  I had left the door of the locker gapingly open.  Anyone could have put this knife in the locker.  What's more, if it HAD been my knife...wouldn't I have taken it with me?  Why would I leave it behind?  Finally, there's a metal detector and a person at the door supposedly going all through my things when I bring in my things.  Shouldn't this be the person getting in trouble for not doing his job???  Why is it that I have to be one being put out in the rain, for bringing in a knife?  And there are cameras everywhere, can't we check those out?  Evidently, not.  "A Heart For The Homeless" indeed.  Oh, and since I got upset at these people and swore at them (as anyone would, naturally...what a sham!), Lowan decided he was going to beat my ass if I said another word to him.  Of course, being the NON-VIOLENT, NON-KNIFE CARRYING citizen I was, I turned and kept on truckin'.  I wanted nothing more to do with this place, that was certain.  How I managed to stay that long was miracle enough.  Where I am now is absolute Nirvana in comparison.

Yes, finally, and not unlike the Gospel Mission, in S.D., as well, we shall write this article...place it in the Feature Article position for an undetermined period, and send it to the churches in the area, as well as the local newspapers and elected offices of the city of Huntsville, AL.  Enjoy, you bastards.  May you rest in pieces.  :D

Homelessness, Part III - Homeless Shelters

Hey America, Tis I...well, you know whom.  To prevent blog stagnation, I've decided to write about what I've endured, during my soon to be brief homeless period; being, currently, a man of no State to call my home...yet.  I'm currently working on that, as we speak...sort of.  Good news, I won't be this way for much longer; I'm where I think I want to be for good, start a job tomorrow, and by the following morrow, will have a home to call me own...also sort of.

You'll note that this is Part III of the subject of homelessness, mainly because there were two previous parts, naturally.  These are phenomenal articles, done back in those days waaaaaaaay back when I started this blog, and can be found here:

http://themightyswordamericasdeadlysins.blogspot.com/2014/06/homelessness.html

and here:

http://themightyswordamericasdeadlysins.blogspot.com/2014/08/homelessness-part-ii.html

If you'd like, you can start there, and come back...or just forget the whole thing, and read this one.  Matters to me not, as long as you read ANYTHING I've written, and I'll be as happy as I can be.

As we know, the demographic of the homeless is e'er changing, because, well, the Government and those of the financial world are currently in the process of recalling those things, places and properties that never really belonged to us in the first place...those thingies we call "Homes".  I don't care if you paid off your property; your ownership of these places is not at all real, and can be repossessed or sold off at anytime, if you don't pay your straw man's taxes.  Just wait til the day you can't pay your $2,000 property tax some year, and they sell your home, for just that amount.  Funny, how you can pay $200,000 to own your home...and they can take it all away for just a measly amount of taxes that you couldn't afford to pay, is it not?

Anyhow, my point is, that more and more middle-classers, especially those who couldn't, even for a single moment, imagine that they COULD have been homeless, are now joining the lower class in their homelessness, much to their dismay.  When you arrive there, please, by all means, prepare to stare the worst directly in the face, in the form of today's homeless shelters.

One thing you'll notice is that there now only appears to be two kinds of missions remaining...Gospel Missions and Salvation Army missions.  Oh sure, you could further categorize and say "wet" shelters and "dry" shelters, but those categories still fall into the main ones.

The Salvation Army missions have been around almost as long as the homeless problem itself.  The others, Gospel Missions, are primarily only Gospel Missions for one reason...because this is the only lucrative type of mission to have today.  This type of mission is the one that gets the majority of federal funding.  If your mission is any other type, and you can pretty much bet that you're going to have to fund it yourself.  To get federal funding, you must now prove that your mission is, in some fashion, religiously or "program" based.  You don't really have to act it to the fullest...but that helps, I'm sure.  So whether or not your mission of choice is REALLY religiously-based is questionable...but they have to say it is, or not much fed funding will be made available to you.

That means that you, as a "client", are going to have to attend a flurry of things that you didn't used to have to back in the pre-present days, such as mandatory chapels (usually held prior to meals...you don't attend, you don't eat.  You don't eat, you don't stay).  Another thing you'll probably notice, is that once you apply to stay in one of these missions (applications in places like this require an awful lot of personal information that you wouldn't normally be comfortable giving your employer, i.e., SSN's and the like), you will be required to stay EVERY day, for as long as they need you there...or you will lose your privilege of having a temporary home.  That's because, if you don't stay there EVERY day...they don't get paid.

Is this what being homeless, as well as helping the homeless stop being homeless has come to?  Evidently so.  I'm sorry, but some of the homeless are going to take longer to get out of being homeless than others, thank you very much...and religion, as I understood it, was a personal choice.  Now, the majority of these missions stuff it down your throat.

Another thing you'll notice is that all of them are now "Program Based"...and in accordance with this, the living conditions for those that choose NOT to be on some "program" are very shabby indeed, comparatively.  Funny thing too, all of the program guys and girls are evidently encouraged to encourage YOU to be on "The Program", so that you can enjoy the special privileges that they enjoy...as they do it almost continuously, during your stay on the "dark" side (The non-program side).  That, I'm sure, is because certain "programs" also receive some type of federal funding.

I've noticed that some shelters are quite AA and NA program-based as well.  These AA and NA based shelters often make it so you almost HAVE to attend these kinds of meetings in order to be inside.  Very non-useful for those with no alcohol or drug type issues.  Again, living conditions on the non-program side of these shelters is no picnic; it often involves such bad conditions that living on the street or outside is often better.

I don't know what happened to this country, America, but everything seems to revolve around federal funding anymore, even non-profit agencies..as I've previously written about in the history of this blog.  Nothing is the real deal, and phony is the new in; if you can't feel it, pretend to be it is the motto.  Whatever it takes to get the money...right?  This, in and of itself, is socialism at its finest.  If nothing is done out of the goodness of your heart, but only for money, then how is a non-profit organization going to be allowed to really be a true non-profit organization?

Homelessness, by the way, in my current city, has dropped 22 percent since 2014.  After being in the shelter that I've been in for nigh a week now, I can most certainly understand why.  Homelessness these days is hardly a personal choice, so let's not make the homeless's lives more miserable than they already are.  Most of us don't ask or choose to be this way.  :D