This story from today’s New York Times illustrates the problems of the homeless and the working poor. Tomorrow, people from Holy Innocents will distribute grocery bags and shopping lists in neighborhoods near the church for a spring food drive. The following week, on Palm Sunday, we’ll return to pick up any bags that have been set out, full of non-perishable food and personal toiletries. This food will go to build up our supplemental food pantry. We also support the nearby Schaumburg Food Pantry, but their hours are limited to 9-5 daily, and they also have a six-week curb on how often an individual or family can pick up groceries. They do this for very good reasons – families needing food more frequently than that should be on assistance, getting food stamps. But the fact remains that for some people, getting to the Pantry during work hours might not be easy. Many of the hungry and homeless and working poor actually hold down jobs, and don’t have the luxury of taking off on personal business.
In coming weeks, we hope to have one evening a month when someone will be at the church to distribute a bag or two to the needy, during the time when the Bishop’s Committee meets. This will probably be on the third Tuesday of each month.
The news story is available via a link to the NYT news archive, so registration to read the story should not be necessary.
People Living In Cars Try To Keep It Secret
FAIRFAX, Va. ? After being evicted from his apartment last year, Larry Chaney lived in his car for five months in Erie, Pa. As he passed the time at local cafes, he always put a ring of old house keys and several envelopes with bills on the table to give the impression that he had a home like everyone else.
While Michelle Kennedy was living in her car with her three children in Belfast, Me., she parked someplace different each night so no one would notice them, and she instructed the children to tell anyone who asked that they were “staying with friends.”
Last year, William R. Alford started keeping a car cover over the station wagon where he sleeps. “I originally just had drapes, but the condensation on the inside of the windows was a dead giveaway,” said Mr. Alford, who has been homeless here in Fairfax since May 2005.
As with all homeless people, finding food, warmth and a place to clean up is a constant struggle. But for those who live in their cars, remaining inconspicuous is its own challenge, and though living this way is illegal in most places, experts and advocates believe it is a growing trend.
