stx today,comments

The Lighthouse Mission and My Brothers Table, both church affiliated organizations which feed the homeless on island daily, do try to get and give out clothing. I saw this on the Lighthouse website yesterday and I know for a fact about My Brother's Table because a friend used to volunteer there and she told me about handing out clothes. I don't know if its a regular thing or not and I don't know about the ability to shower/bathe. I'd assume the contact for this is Lighthouse Mission in Christiansted though. They would know.

Part of the problem is that most of these individuals are not mentally sound enough to want or care about a shower , the way they smell, or the condition of their clothes. It is another sad reality .... not just here but prevalent all over the U.S... especially in warm climates. The difference is that here there does not appear to be any health/rehab/care opportunities available to them and the government does nothing to try to keep them off the streets. Its true though, each has a story and a few do have family on island that attempt to help them. Its also true though that they can be dangerous and violent. Be kind, but be careful.

TRW... I'll drop a few things off to you today at your work . Maybe, because you have a personal relationship with them they may choose to actually use the items you give them. But... don't be too dissappointed if tomorrow they haven't changed and they've given the clothes away to someone else. Keep your expectations low... they know not what they do. 😉 but, its nice of you to try.

greets

trw, i will try and collect some things over the summer and send them to you for the men.

and what size is the woman that spits? (approximately)

indeed limetime, homelessness and mental illness is a malady all over the world.

some years ago where i live in north carolina, the state government nicely and permanently cut mental health spending.
from then there are no public facilities where you can bring someone to be admitted and evaluated. there is no where that accepts public funding for detox or long term mental health care. i was a manager at an assisted living facility for 6 1/2 years. i had 20 beds. seven were elderly and the rest had serious mental health issues. we had to take them in because that is the only way some of them had a place to live or were able to get medication on a daily basis. i had a time i tell you. an adventure so to speak. i could probably write a book. anyway, now that the cuts have deepened....the mental state of most goes awry as they are no longer on meds. if you do not have an address you cannot get assistance nor medication on a regular basis. there are a few missions here in town, but they can only help with food, clothing, medicine so many times per quarter per person applied. it is an inconsistent, sad, and frustrating vibe when you see ones on the street that are imbalanced that could be semi-okay if only they had meds. i find here that some either become homeless by choice or because they have lost everything. the largest population of the homeless here are homeless because of mental issues. it is a vicious cyle. one is on meds, living a semi-normal life, holding down a job and making it....then the meds stop and they become imbalanced, lose their gates, and boom, homeless.
i also find that with the economy the way it is, more people are going to lose much.
many already have.
some have lost everything.
this is the prototype of the new age homeless person.
the losses that have begun will also spring a new problem into the wheel.
example:
one is gainfully employed, either at a high rate of pay or a minimum rate of pay.
one gets laid off.
the guy at the minimum rate of pay....well, his unemployment runs out.
the guy at the high rate of pay has.....spent his severance package, gone through his bank account, his unemployment has run out.
one guy gets put out of his apt.
the other guy gets put out of his house.
they both lose their cars.
the food runs out.
they both are family men and go to church.
neither one has ever done anything illegal in his life.
because of these scenarios, one of two or both things can happen as follows:
the men have to provide for their families....
so they begin to steal.
as they begin to have to steal and hustle to buy even the basics for their families, desperation sets in.
they are offered a little crack......
they see no way out so they try it.
they like the escapism in it so they continue.
now they are stealing for drugs.
they have left their families to fend for themselves.
the present economy has begun to create more:
joblessness
homelessness
crime
drugs
insanity
single family homes (or tents, that is a new thing too...tent cities. some are even living in their rv's, roving from city to city)
youth brought up in environments that promote what their now defeated family used to teach them not to do.
yes
homelessness and mental illness is sad.
and it really makes me angry to see a once viable citizen reduced to insanity of some sort just because they cannot get their medication.

i have no patience with beggars....that is a different issue altogether.
it is the mental illness that could be fixed (by medication or living assistance of some sort albeit institutional or mainstream).
the homelessness could be partially fixed too.....just look at all the empty buildings in each and every one of our towns that could be REFURBISHED into housing for the common man, payment adjusted to income.

just some of my thoughts....

guidance and blessings to all

i believe the woman is very tiny like maybe a 2 or 4, ive seen her up close and know she is smaller than me and im a 6.

She's tiny, but VERY WELL DRESSED! I wouldn't worry too much for this bad egg, but others are in need,
Drop off ladies clothes of all sizes to the light house mission....childrens clothes too. They also need volunteers!!

Another sad thing is that they cannot be forced to take meds. Some don't like the side effects & slip away from taking them. It's not always a simple matter of them taking a pill & life turns rosy. It's difficult to get the meds in the right dosage & sometimes it's impossible to get it right. And the side effects CAN be unpleasant. If they don't present an immediate danger to themselves or others they can't just be locked up. The laws on that were changed years ago & many mentally ill were released from the institutions. Good & bad with that. Some people had just been warehoused & could have been leading productive lives all along but families didn't want to bother with them or the stigma was much greater then. Even if they do get locked up, they can only be held for a limited amount of time & then must be released unless there's a hearing. We don't have the facilities to help them. I know Catholic Charities is one that does their best with limited resources. There are others but all have limits to what they can do.

I sure feel sorry for those I see over here. Some I see regularly & have for years but others can be quite frightening. I remember what my mother said years ago when I was little & saw such a person on the street. She said, "That was some mother's future president of the United States." It always stuck with me.

thanks for the clothing,need more though,i waited on a lady today at work that came here from hawaii 4 years ago,she looks like she may have some good stories hidden up here sleeve so i gave her this site address

trw i will send you a box this summer....goodwill is my friend. (the store and my demeanor:P)
i am on it.
will get an address from you in the near future.

now i need some help from anyone willing.
it will not cost anyone any money.
one of my dearest friends who i lost contact with after the hurricane, lost one of her sons in the past year. (Kendell Williams)
i did not know about it until i read it in the source.
i could not find her anywhere so i called the funeral home. (james memorial)
i asked if i could send a packet to her through the funeral home, would they get it to her.
they said yes.
could someone call the funeral home and ask them if the envelope from the US made it there for vera williams?
i do not get much rasponse when i call.
i would appreciate it.

another thing....does anyone know vera or alfred (Bo Boy) wilson ? they are originally from trinidad. they had five youth when i left st. croix, including a set of twin girls. i heard they had fallen on hard times and i have not been able to contact them either. if anyone knows an older ras (in his fifties) by the name of mike, he knew them too. mike is about 5'6" and slender. i know this is a long shot, but i have to try and locate them any way i can as they are always on my mind.

university is doing well for me. just finished this semester. came out with A's and B's. my senior research paper was an A paper. i am so very excited by that as my professor for senior writing and research II is one of the hardest professors on the campus. she said my paper would be published in the yearly political science and international studies journal. i almost fell off my chair. the paper was entitled "Guantanamo bay: Human Rights Abuse". so all is going well. i have 20 more hours til i graduate and then prayerfully a government job there will open up and i can move back to what i consider the home of my heart. i do not have to live fancy...i am just a humble rasta woman who cut off her locks three weeks ago after 19 years. needed to free up some negatives so i can move forward, so i purged my locks. they will grow back or not.....i just know that in order to make a change without, a change needs to come from within. everything irie still. thankful to have a job such as it is and thankful to have a roof over my head too.

another thing...sometimes on here i may be contentious or radical in my thought, but i mean no harm...i am basically a peace loving sistren, but when truth and justice and ones rights or the earth is the subject at hand, i get very passionate. so if i have hurt anyone's feelings or rubbed them the wrong way, i apologize. just know i am passionate in my beliefs. i am sure we all are in some way, shape, or form.

give thanks in advance for any help that you can give.

have a fun weekend everyone.

guidance
Sis Irijah

Good Day Everyone,

I would like to add that Catholic Charities also offers help for the homeless. They provide a shower and a place for the homeless to wash their clothes. Brenda @ CC has expressed a need to me for personal hygiene items, like any left over bottles of shampoo from hotels or visitors. A box of detergent would be a blessing as well.

Congratulations Sis and good luck to you.

hey all nothing much to say today,decent day at work,i think i want to take the coast guard courses to be a boat captain,i could probally get boat hours in with big beard because he's my bosses roommate,i dunno i'm bored

Good day today. Hubby finally came home from the states. My youngest daughter also came with my new grandbaby. He is the happiest child, laughing all the time. His name is Phoenix and he and JJ adore each other.

My second daughter who lives here on STX is pregnant. Awesome surprise.

Hubby gave me my Mothers Day present early. A touch ipod. Love it.

My birthday is the 14th and he says that present is even better.

JJ also gave me an early present. A plaster cast of his hand print and a card he made all by himself that said, "I love mommy because she always plays with me. I love her more than the whole world". He also gave me a drawing of him and I holding hands with a heart in between us. It just doesn't get any better than that.

To all the mothers out there, Happy Mothers Day. How blessed are we to have the unconditional love of our children no matter what.

i want and ipod touch, wasnt sure if i would get one as i had the classic but alas it is nowhere to be found. might get ipod touch when i go to the states but not sure if i want to get less storage with the touch or if i want to be able to have all of those neat aps. do the aps take up your storage room?? thats a big question

speee1dy, I am ipod illiterate, but my son in law says no that you have plenty of storage and very cool aps. I love it and can check my email.

It's an IPHONE with out the PHONE

the ipod touch looks cool, i did download a bunch of aps yesterday even though i have nothing to upload them to. still have not found my ipod classic. bf has one place to clean and if its not there then it is gone. i really liked it too. im glad to hear the aps dont take up too much storage. maybe i should get a classic and an ipod touch. dougtamji. i too was ipod illiterate, i have a friend who helped me out when i bought mine and a son to call on when i got into trouble with it. did you download your itunes onto your computer yet? those things are so much fun. wish i could find mine.

really good letter to the editor blasting some cop over on STJ in todays daily news,LOL the poor woman that wrote it is probally in for some petty retaliation from the cops sister boyfriends cousins mother,ah you know how it goes...hey cruzcandy, trade and lizard we've not heard from any of you for awhile

I miss Lizard. I hope all is well with him & his Annie. I was thinking of him the other day. I assume he's still off-island.

so i just heard from a national park service person that during the triathalon 12 cops sat all day in a condemned office full of mold hiding from the crowds of people downtown and the 3 park service people had to deal with everything,ya gotta love it

oh and you need 2 years worth of boat time,documented as well before you can take the captains test,big beard told me that at lunch today,and it only counts from the age of 18,so nothing under the age of 18 counts.

I miss Lizard as well. I thought he was supposed to be back on island at the end of April. Lizard where are you?

wow this thread has'nt been on the 2nd page for a long time,the guys came and did our yard yesterday with all the rain the grass was over a foot high,i have so much stuff i need to get in the ground

There hasn't been a lot of info about what's happening with the constitution. The govt channel is stuck in April. I wish we'd get more rain to fall out east, you can see it raining but it justs goes by. Tripod has been hanging out in gallows bay, he seems to be a little more with it lately, he remembered yesterday to only ask me for $ once a week.
My tomatoes and peppers are done growing so I'll start another batch of seeds this weekend. The bad jelly fish are on the south shore. I saw a few at Grapetree Bay. No swimming for me for a while. If you do, bring vinegar. I just enjoy the summer here so much, less traffic, lines, up tight snowbirds and the livin is easy.

Oh and the sea water in the summer is soooooo warm & therapeutic too Bombi (after the jellies leave that is)

They only stay @ 3 weeks. It seems when the wind comes south east they come. I totally avoid the man o war which is here now . The little jelly fish sting too but not as severe

bombi
do you grow all year long, i thought it was too hot for that.
i didnt know we got jellyfish here