Question from one of my readers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019re highly complimentary of the Union Mission\u2019s efforts to feed people (as evidenced by your recent dessert post), as well as clothe them and give them shelter. You\u2019ve told us all they offer is free to those who check in for the day before 2 PM. So why are there so many people still eating out of trash cans and living on the streets Downtown?????<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Great question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My answer is based on personal observations only, not empirical data or interviews with Mission staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s change \u201cpeople\u201d to \u201cmen\u201d in the question above, because there is no women\u2019s shelter Downtown that offers an array of services comparable to what the Mission offers men. And there needs to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One reason some men find staying at the Mission is not for them is they find the rules too restrictive. I\u2019ll give you an example: If you play music or video with sound on your phone, you must use headphones. It\u2019s a totally sensible rule, designed to prevent a guest from disturbing others. But some men don\u2019t want to obey it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A second big reason many men turn down opportunities to stay at the Mission is that you can\u2019t bring alcohol or drugs in, and you can\u2019t be obviously under the influence when you check in. If you get in for free and stay the night, you\u2019re there from at least 2 PM to 5:30 AM. 15.5 hours is a long time for an alcoholic to go without a drink, or an addict to go without using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A third reason is some men don\u2019t want to attend the mandatory chapel service. Believe me, I sympathize with this point of view; if I had the option of skipping chapel, I would. But it\u2019s a trade I\u2019m willing to make for a hot dinner and a good night\u2019s sleep in a safe environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A fourth reason some homeless men don\u2019t stay at Union Mission is that they\u2019ve been barred from coming in. On a previous stay there, they stole, fought, threatened another guest, blatantly refused to obey a supervisor, or committed some other egregious violation of the rules. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A fifth reason is fear of the unknown. Fear that the shelter will be unsafe, or filthy, or that the people running it will be abusive to the guests. These fears, which turned out to be completely unfounded, kept me from availing myself of the Mission\u2019s services for about 7 weeks longer than I should have in December and January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sixth reason- Some homeless have mental health issues that are incompatible with a congregate shelter. For example, a man who wakes up screaming several times during the night. The Mission isn\u2019t equipped to help him deal with his issues and he\u2019d keep 40 other men from getting a good night\u2019s sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m sure there are other reasons as well, but these are the big ones that I have observed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve been offline and need a day to digest the Biden news. Back tomorrow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s free to read this blog, but I gratefully accept tips! <\/em> Question from one of my readers: You\u2019re highly complimentary of the Union Mission\u2019s efforts to feed people (as evidenced by your recent dessert post), as well as clothe them and give them shelter. You\u2019ve told us all they offer is free to those who check in for the day before 2 PM. So why are … Continue reading “Reader question”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28064"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28064"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28065,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28064\/revisions\/28065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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