Yesterday afternoon I was driving down Second Street on my way home from work, and I noticed the Hospitality HUB‘s logo on a building at 82 N. Second. Previously the HUB had been located around the corner on Jefferson next to China Restaurant that closed down. The HUB provides a warm welcome to the homeless people that walk through its doors, greeting them with refreshments, restrooms, and access to lockers and telephones. Workers at the HUB assess each person’s root cause for being homeless. They then help them get the services they need, including help acquiring birth certificates/IDs, shelter vouchers, transportation vouchers, a temporary mailing address, and help getting access to mental health counseling or drug and alcohol counseling.
WREG had a segment on the news last night urging people to just say no to panhandlers. Giving money to the Hospitality HUB is a much better idea. It will help those in need get the service listed above, whereas giving money to a panhandler on the street is likely to do nothing but to enable their dependence on alcohol and drugs. There will be a wine tasting at Jack Robinson Gallery on April 25th to benefit the Hospitality HUB.
Another asset for the homeless in Memphis is a new newspaper by and for the homeless, founded by Rhodes College students. The idea came from a similar, very successful paper in Nashville. Homeless not only write for the paper, but they can become certified as vendors. Vendors sell the paper for $1 apiece. They get 20 free copies to start, and after that they pay 25 cents a copy and get to keep the rest for every copy sold. Badges will identify the vendors to keep people from getting scammed. I’d buy a copy for sure, not only to help someone earn a living but to read it and get a better understanding of their daily lives.
OK, I have a question. Is there someplace where I can get a master list of all conventions going on in Downtown Memphis? The Cook Convention Center lists theirs on their website, but there are also conventions at the Peabody, the Marriott, and probably a few other hotels Downtown. Sometimes I just get curious who’s in town when the Flying Saucer and other bars get unexpectedly packed on the weeknights. Last night I expected it to be slow during the Grizzlies game, and instead it got so busy that I had to take my netbook home so beer wouldn’t get spilled on it.
The winter weather situation looks a lot better than it did yesterday. MemphisWeather.net posted a blog update this morning. Now they’re saying the precipitation won’t start falling until around 4, and the bulk of it will land between 6 and 9. It will change over to all rain before the night’s over. I also looked at the hourly forecast on the Weather Channel’s site, and they never had the temp falling below 36.
I filled out a March Madness bracket this year. I have the Tigers beating St. Mary’s today but losing to #3 seed Michigan State on Saturday (I’ll be quite happy if I get Saturday’s game wrong, though). I have Duke, Ohio State, Indiana, and Michigan in the Final Four, with Ohio State beating Indiana for the championship.
That’ll wrap it up for now. GO TIGERS!