http://www.ted.com/talks/becky_blanton_the_year_i_was_homeless.html
This is a Ted Talk by a writer who spent a year living in her van. It is an interesting look at the skills and abilities of homeless people. It is not a far fall in some cases. It just get difficult to get up some times. -Donna
Photo by Donna Reeves Summer 2013
My Key West internship is drawing to an end as I finish the final three weeks of work. Yesterday afternoon I sat at the food pantry intake desk awaiting the next client. I looked up to see an elderly lady standing in the lobby. At first it appeared her dress was ripped on the side. As she drew closer it became apparent the dress had a side zipper but was a bit too tight for closure. The Haitian grandma stood at the intake office door and pointed down at her feet. Her face screwed into something like a grimace as she explained to me that she had no shoes. I looked down at her bare feet and at the dress that was too small. I wondered if someone had hurt her or taken her things. We walked back to the clothes distribution area and she began trying on shoes. I looked through the women’s clothes hanging on the racks and showed a few of them to her. She found a pair of donated shoes and three articles of clothing and left saying, “Thank You Mommy,” and smiling at me on her way out.
Where were her shoes?
Her rich open way reminded me of my Grandmomma and I love her very much.
Working at S.O.S. has given me a close look at extreme poverty. This sweet lady touched my heart. Seeing her standing there at the intake office threshold without her shoes renewed my focus. I want to work harder to help people. The Bible says there will always be poverty, but we can make things better for people. I want to understand and find strong viable solutions. God is watching us and waiting to see what we will do. -Love from Donna
Hi from Paradise,
I promised to post weekly journals from Key West and I began doing it on week one and two. Because this course is supervised by two advising professors the journals got long and complicated. They looked ridiculous and tedious in this format. So, I decided to post excerpts from each week. I am mostly writing about my examination of some of the business models of homeless helping organizations in Key West but there is a good deal of study of other areas of the homeless helping business as well.
An Entreprenurial Study of Homeless Solutions 