Biting
the Hand That Feeds You
Commentary
by
Pete Domanovic
I
am now living in a shelter owned and operated by the Salvation Army, I only need
to pay $112.00 per month service fee. Ooh-wee.
I am treated with respect, and can make my own decisions about my own
life. If I need to work a third
shift job, go for it.
The
place itself is clean and comfortable, the other clients are easy to get along
with, and you can see in their faces that they are not stressed.
It would be great if they used it as a national showplace for homeless
shelters.
The most positive thing it has going for it is, the
clients are not assigned to any type of caseworker,
nor do they have any type of straw boss hanging over their shoulder.
Nope, not present. Was this the brainwork of one of the Salvation Army
thousands of Administrative Director? No
it was not. The Salvation Army had
fourteen people left over from their limit of 400 people, and no more extra
shelter room in the city. With no
where else to put these people, they handed the keys to this building to a
[member of the National Service
program]. His name is Henry.
They told him to take these people over there and make
them do this and that, until the place is livable.
Well, Henry (formerly homeless himself), knew how biting words never drew
much enthusiasm from anyone that was being made to do something.
Henry asks politely and even joins in on the work.
He is constantly frustrated by never receiving anything needed on time,
or not at all from the Salvation Army. To
this day
This money you can multiply by 5 for the money from
President Bush; show me twenty percent and I’ll give the rest. The total for that building and the PASS program were
combined to total $1.2 million dollars. Outside the building is 75 parking
spaces, strictly for the use of the Salvation Army Headquarters Building staff.
In those parking spaces, all are full 5 days a week, between 8am and 5pm
park 75 near new, and some luxury automobiles.
Those seventy five automobiles have seventy five homes (not inner city)
to go to. ( I’ll bet ten dollars
to a donut that no homeless person has ever ridden in one of those cars
). It’s a good thing that
$1.2 million dollars is only a trickle from Clevelanders donations.
Otherwise what would the Sal Army do in New York or England without our
support? This is all known as
administrative costs.
To
justify administrative costs at the building I stay in, three people from the
Sal Army come over for about fifteen minutes at 7:00 pm on Wednesdays.
One offers housing opportunities, job opportunities, and saving plans.
The housing they offer is CMHA. We
have a better chance at the lottery, and if we’re not in there by now, we’re
not getting in. The job link is the
hiring hall, which actually found three people full time
It
seems this entire city is run by outsiders, people who have no real interest in
what is Cleveland. Whenever I hear
that we have to hire from outside for expertise from our creepy politicians,
something is really wrong with this picture.
We really need to start looking here for the things we need.
This summer I will be helping to campaign for local agencies to gain
support , so Clevelanders can help Clevelanders, and not ship our resources to
New York.
Editor’s
Note: As with all the commentaries including every thing from our good friend,
Pete, the opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those
of the Grapevine or the publisher
of the newspaper.
Copyright to the Northeast
Ohio Coalition for the Homeless and the Homeless Grapevine Cleveland Ohio 2004.