The last day!!!! One night to go.

So, we have come to the end of this adventure.  It was really very interesting and I learned a lot more than I thought I could or would.  In the future, I will update this blog every week, but that is not to say that there is not a lot going on.  In fact, the fact that I am moving it to a weekly thing shows that there is a LOT going on and I do not even have the time to write this on a daily basis.

I may have seen too much.
   The goal was attained, I guess.  I was able to see what really goes on out here and I wonder how much I can put into this posting without offending people.  This is something that must be said and these are things that must be known.  I have seen people shoot up, smoking crack pipes...I have seen people offer and accept $10 for oral sex.  Dumpster diving, robbery, I have seen a lot but I do not think I have seen it all.  Some days the sadness is overwhelming and I think I have seen too much.  So when I read about people spending one night out, or two, I tend to think maybe more than a night or two  is needed.

   The idea behind Winnie Mae's and The Waiverly Project as a whole is to find links and find solutions to problems.  Real solutions.  Winnie Mae's and social entrepeneurism in general is about.  The idea is simplicity.  That means using realistic and sustainable means to advance the cause.  Donations do not seem to be the way to go for the future.  People seem too constrained by the economy and for that matter, their own ideology about homelessness.  If we want to find long term, serious solutions to this problem, we have to find ways to tie into the economy.  Donations and social programs may not be the means for a long term solution, in my humble opinion.

Give a man a fish...
    Giving two or three dollars to those we pass on the street is not the solution either.  The old maxim about giving a man a fish versus teaching him to fish is quite literally true here.   When you give a person a few coins on the street, they may be able to eat lunch or something cheap but hours later, they will be hungry again.  That was the main thing that people on the street want everyone to know, it seems, is that Thanksgiving and Christmas are nice, but the next day and maybe even hours later, they are hungry again.

Shelters
   One person advised me not to even go to shelters.  I have heard nothing but bad things about shelters for some reason.  People say that they have been robbed and attacked in shelters because the bad guys tend to go where the weak and vulnerable are to take advantage of them.  The people who run them work hard and have the best of intentions, but the fear that the homeless have is what goes on when the guards and the police turn their back.  Those who would do harm, know that those who would do good cannot look out all the time.  One person told me that he was robbed for his phone at gunpoint.

Lifers 

   Some people have been out here for years.  They sit and they talk about the younger people who are out here and they see themselves when they were young.  They wish someone had grabbed them before they became part of "the life".  It is such a devided group...good guys, bad guys...those with homes, those without and sometimes, there are those who have decided that they will be out here for the rest of their lives. 

   There are those who have mental problems and these need to be addressed and it is sad to have seen so many.  Survival is hard enough without the spectre of dealing with a world that does not make sense.

If I can sum it up...

   If I could  just sum it up it up, I think what is needed is aggressive attack on homelessness.  People who want to help need to get out there and dedicate to it.  We need a concerted effort.  We need to attack the causes of poverty.  Ironically, I think a down economy is the best time to do it.  As this tide of recovery rises, it has the power to lift some of the smaller ships that are bobbing on the water. It is not going to be easy.  Nothing worth doing ever is and that which needs to be done rarely is...In my humble opinion.