Homeless people

[Sourdough]

I was writing on the Global Warming thread and got to thinking about an old lady we see here in Fairbanks regularly.  This old man got teary eyed thinking about poor old Mary, sitting on the street corner.  Cold but refusing help from strangers.  Wearing her orange life vest, she never takes it off.  She wonders the streets every day with her shopping cart filled with her worldly possessions. 

I remember one day about three years ago I saw two punks messing with her on the street.  By the time I could stop and get out others had stopped and were on their way to assist her as well.  Those two punks got jacked up by about 15 citizens.  They learned how hard the side of a store building was.  They also learned "Keep your distance from Mary, and be nice to her".  She was so sweet.  After we turned the two punks loose with instructions to go and apologise, Mary gave them each a piece of candy from a box some one had given her.

Then I suddenly realized I had not seen her recently.  Called the wife at work and asked if she had seen her.  No Michelle had not seen her lately either.  I got concerned and called down to my neighbors house.  She works at the Fairbanks detox, and mental health center.  I asked about Mary, if she was doing well, and had she gone to a shelter this year.  "No Mary was found dead earlier this fall, sitting on her favorite street corner". 

I remember when I first met Mary, 1971 she was a good looking young woman.  Younger than my 23 years.  Wearing her orange life vest, carrying a big bag, wondering the streets.  Women would come up to her, hug her and slip a few dollers in her pocket.  She approched us smiling and very friendly talking about all her friends around town.  I proved my immaturity and lack of feeling for others when I said, "She's crazier than a loon, let's get away from her", and walked away laughing.

The next few years I would see her, but ignore the fact she was there.  Then one day during the pipeline days, while walking downtown, I approached a corner and Mary came around the corner of a building.  Looking up she seemed startled by my proximity, and she suddenly got scared and started screaming.  Mary ran backwards into the street, trying to get away from me.  People on the street wanted to know what I had done to her.  Some men I thought were going to rough me up, thinking I had done something to her.  Other people came to my defense saying "no Mary had just been scared for some unknown reason, that I had done nothing to her".  I began to feel sorry for Mary and wondered if there was something that could be done for her.  Apparently some man had abused Mary in some manner.  And when she found herself in such close proximity to me she panicked.

After that I noticed Mary seldom allowed men to approach her, she even got violent with some men if they got too close.  Women still would come up and give her a hug, and slip money into her pocket.  She still wore her Orange life vest.  I asked about her at the homeless shelter, and the soup kitchen, they always told me that she refused help.  She seldom came to the kitchen to eat, and only came to the shelter when it got so cold she had to find warmth.  I found out employees of the eating establishments in the down town area would let her in after hours and feed her while they cleaned up.  Night clean-up crews would overlook the fact Mary was sleeping on the floor just inside the door.  Anyway Mary survived on the street, the way she wanted to live, with her orange life vest.  Till this last fall.  Mary was not just a street person, Mary was a part of Fairbanks.

[ed k]

wow  i cant beleive she has just died recently. i lived in fairbanks in the early 70's and remember her well. she never hurt or bothered a soul to the best of my knowledge. rest in peace. ed k

[powderman]

There was a homeless lady in the town I worked for several years. her name was Nancy. She had been married and lived in Michigan. She came home from work one day and found a note from her husband telling her he was leaving her for another woman. He had cleaned out the house, she found he'd cleaned out their bank accounts, and hadn't made a mortgage payment in a long time and the bank announced foreclosure. She and her teenage daughter were put out in the street. Her work fired her, no permanent address. She and her daughter left Mich in her old car. Life was so hard her daughter stepped out in front of a big truck to end her suffering, right in front of Nancy. I worked at a store and she  would come in every evening and buy a  25 cent bag of chips and a 17 cent soda. Her clothes were well used but always clean, she was too. I prayed for her and talked to her often. She would ask prayers for others, but never for herself. She would park her car in the walmart parking lot, way out by the road to sleep. Walmart ran her off, told her she wasn't welcome there. A group of 8 mexicans found her 2 days later. They drug her out of her car, beat her and repeatedly raped her. She disappeared not long after that. She was about the first time I was able to put a name and face to a homeless one. She was a nice lady, I think of her often and wonder how she's doing. POWDERMAN. 

[slim rem 7]

 those are gods special children.. he took her home to be with him.. she had done enough suffering on this earth..
 wonder how many marys are out there just making each day what it will be,,now.
your story was good.. i ll be watching for the marys here bouts..if i can i ll help in any way i can jmo slim

[DalesCarpentry]

I remember a guy that ran around the south side of Pittsburgh and Homestead. He had a 3 wheel bike and pulled a little trailer behind it. He was not all there for sure. I can't for the life of me remember his name right now. Well the company we sub for back then was in Homestead. So I saw this guy for years everyday. He went around picking up scrap and loading it on his little trailer. That is how he got money for food. Many contractors around there let him pick the alluminum (spelling I never coud spell that word) out of the dumpsters. Then he starting taking things that were not scrap and was not allowed to dumpster dive any more. I know the company we worked for stopped him and a few others. I don't know what happened to him but I still wonder about him from time to time. Dale

[Sourdough]

ed k:  It's nice that other people remember her.  Like I said she was a part of Fairbanks, and will always be for me, and lots of other folks.

[magooch]

I'm thinking that I would rather have the government spend a little to provide a place for the homeless to live than to spend it on foreign aid.  However, it would probably be impossible to manage and would quickly turn into a boondogle.

On the other hand, it has always puzzled me why the homeless don't all head for warmer climates.  Here in the Northwest, it ain't like Alaska, but our winters are cooler and wetter than I would want to live in if I were homeless.  Heck, I might head for Arizona anyway.

[slim rem 7]

many ofem stay with the familar surroundings to the end..
 many are not of totally sound mind..even if they have a relatively sound mind..
 gods watching them an you an me.. my eforts this christmas will be on thier behalf..
 there was a time when i said any man that don t work in thjis country ..just ain t gonna work.. some of thats changed now..jmo,slim

[rockbilly]

It has been proved that the majority of the homeless people are refuges from a mental institution; most of these people have problems.  They are there as a result of mental problems or substance abuse.  Most are asocial and can not adapt to a conventional style of living wit daily routines and stead work ethics.

There is a local “family” of about eight men and women that work a local area to support their crack habit.  One has both legs missing and uses a wheel chair, I understand he is a Vet and draws a full pension from the VA.  He has refused help from the local VA rep and says he is happy where he is.

There are exceptions to the rule, several years ago there was a young man that worked a busy intersection everyday, he carried a sign “Homeless Veteran, Need Help.”  Several times I stopped and offered to buy him a meal, almost always he refused and ask for the money which I refused to give.  He was later found to be driving a late model car, living in a nice apartment with all the luxuries and had a sizeable bank account.  This was his way of making a living and he played it to the maximum. I suppose there are those that are truly down and out and take to the streets a a means of survival, but there are better ways and services through many agencies that would provide help to get them back on their feet if they applied or knew about the services.  My church has taken hundreds of them off the streets and gave them a new lease on life, many of these folks are out there helping others today.

[slim rem 7]

judge not ..that you be not judged harshly.. nuff said slim

[Sourdough]

Starting in 1985, I clean my freezer every year and take all the contents down to the Soup Kitchen.  Moose, Caribou, and Salmon. 

When Sky was five, I got ducks and geese every spring for him to raise.  We told him from the start they were for food and had to go come winter, because they could not survive the winter.  Come fall he was OK with them being killed for food, but he did not want to eat them.  So we took them to the Soup Kitchen.  That got to be a project Sky worked on every year till he started high school.  Before he quite he got the local Cub Scout group involved.  My neighbor did the same thing with his four kids.  They also raised Turkeys, and Chickens.

If Mary had been institutionalized I don't think she would have been happy.  She would have missed all her friends.  Why should she go south all her friends were here.  I seriously she even knew there were other places to go.  For her this was the entire world, Down Town Fairbanks.

We see a lot of strange people up here.  They come here looking for solitude.  Lots of guys that don't have both ores in the water so to speak.  They just made a movie about one this year.  A lot of them run afoul of the law, and get sent to Mental ward.  I sat on the Grand Jury a few years ago and we decided the fate of one.  He started shooting at the troopers, only they shot back.  he thought they were trying to steal his gold mine. 

[mechanic]

It's the same everywhere Sourdough.  Down in Columbus Ga is a place I used to go fish in the early morning, and a group of homeless guys camped out there.  They would always come up asking for money, which I would not give, but I did always bring them bread, bologna, and mustard and milk.  One of the guys would sit and talk with me while I fished.  I think he enjoyed conversation with someone outside his group.  He had a PHD and a double major and once was a professor.  He just got tired of the whole scene, and "checked out".  Was he crazy?  Not in my book. Nor did I ever see him intoxicated.  He just didn't want the "normal" that others wanted.  When the Olympics came to Ga. several years ago, part of it was held less than 1/2 mile from the area they camped, and they were forced to move on.  I sometimes wonder what happened to him and the others....

[powderman]

As a child growing up in ILL I can remember a hobo who stopped by once or twice a year. Mom would cook him a meal and he would eat it on the well curb outside. He always insisted on earning his food so Mom would let him pull a few weeds  from her flowers. Always had a suit coat and hat. POWDERMAN. 

[blind ear]

No one is immune from being homeless or of mental incapacity. Stroke, accident, ecconomic collapse, natural disaster, any of them can put us there. An old friend of mine and I were both in good financial positions and ended up not that way, bankrupt. This brought us to the realization of the vulnerability of living and we review it on ocassion to maintain a balance with reality. eddiegjr