A spcl gift for the homeless this Thanksgiving.

[powderman]

http://www.wdrb.com/story/20162913/homeless-receieve-shoes-for-thanksgiving
 
100 pairs of new shoes. Something we take for granted. Watch the news today, if ya miss the homeless don't despair, you'll see them again at Christmas and again at Easter, the only 3X a year they get any recognition. Unfortunately it is a year round situation.
WE as Americans have more and appreciate it less than any nation on earth. POWDERMAN. 

[Sourdough]

Here in Alaska most people give to the Salvation Army, or to Value Village.  A place where the less fortunate can go and shop for slightly used items at real low prices.  But I got to thinking about the homeless and the people that did not have the money to shop even there.  Last year I got to looking at my closet and I had many coats and parkas that I had not worn in several years.  Most were too small for me anyway.  Then there were the military field jackets with arctic liners, that I had been required to keep for ten years after I retired, and they were still in my closet.  My military parka, that I also had been required to keep.  Several Carhart jackets that were too small, but had lots of serviceable wear left.  I decided I did not want the homeless people to have to pay for these items that they really needed, but could not afford.  I was at a loss as to how to get them to the people that I felt really needed them.

Then I remembered the place where I donate all the unused game meat from my freezer every year.  I loaded those coats up in my truck and drove to the Fairbanks Soup Kitchen, where they feed the homeless.  I went to the back door where you drop off the donated items of food, and asked to see the manager.  She came out, and I showed her the coats I had spread on a table.  She immediately had tears in her eyes, she hugged me and said, "This is something no one thinks about, the people that come here really need something to keep them warm during the winter.   I have someone that can use every one of these". 

I left feeling good, and remembering my old and dear friend Mary.

[kennyd]

A Denver TV station collects coats every year, and then has a public distribution in addition to the ones at shelters.  It is too bad that they have to use holidays to boost the donations of food.  There is a need for mission food other times besides Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We give to the food banks, and at times I will feed a bum by work.  A few of these guys are con men, working signs for donations.  Most of them are nuts, and should never have been let out to start with.  Last month the paper had a series on the heroin addicts and their struggle.  I recognized some of the people specially the girl who made it back to her family and maybe safety.  She in particular was so pretty that I wondered if she was actually a college kid doing research.  She got away with having a steady home in a dumpster and some protection from the workers in the area.  She also had to be at greater risk because of being a slim blonde girl.


One of the locals was a kid who grew up in the neighborhood by work, A student.  I fed him often.  Once he brought me some dumpster chicken to share in friendship, I had to suddenly be on a diet.  His druggy mom was in a wheelchair in the area, too.  Dad gave up and left.  I learned his background from a neighbor woman who lives across the alley from work, and a business that had been  there for years.  He finally aspirated while drunk, shook up a lot of us who knew him, and it nearly killed his mom.  I haven't seen any of that crowd lately, except for the Indian who squired the mom around.  Mental illness, alcoholism, and above average IQ all go together.


The problem is that they will learn who is a soft touch, and then you get pestered.   There is no hope for most of them.


I also have a homlessness prevention plan going for myself, wife, and family that has to take priority.