Is to start an affiliate HCA Care2 group for your geographical area in your state. Get Care2 members who are concerned about Homelessness to get involved in their area.

No matter what you hear from people in denial, homeless are everywhere. For everyone you see there are hundreds or even thousands who are not visable hiding from the law.

You can help people get involved. People want to help and find solutions if you start a way, a group where they can meet and discuss it.

Start a Care2 HCA group for your area, don't delay. The help we do may help us someday or help so the worst doesn't happen to us at all.

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*using hospitals or other buildings that are slated for demolition as shelters for the homeless?asked by Holly*

I've been seeing this commercial on TV lately with children talking about this being done. With all the vacant buildings around seems a given. It comes down to the same old thing POWER which if you have MONEY then you have POWER! If enough of us on Care2 develop a workable plan and implement it then it can work and make a difference. It doesn't matter if you live in NYC or a little town in Montana there is POWER in numbers also. You don't have to have a 501c unless your collecting money...my suggestion is find a strong group to umbrella under and use it. I think we all know groups of Veterans or such that would welcome a stronger coalition. Let me hear What you think?

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Dude.. This may help some homeless find homes in an intentional community. People can post both the kinds of communites they are looking for as well as the members the communities are looking for...

Intentional communities of course are not the solution to all homelessness but it maybe a solution for some. .

http://reach.ic.org/postings/?&display_all=true

Wish I found that sooner.

- Dana C. L.

"DNatureofDTrain"

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Wow, no wonder some have accused me of having a dual identity in being Denise!  She asks some of the same questions I would think of, but not be able to express as well.  Whew!

Anyway, I've only scanned briefly through all this information, in hopes that I can give some meaningful input.  If I'm not mistaken, there are some few squatters in vacant buildings, where the owners can do minimal repairs.  To serve an insurance purpose, if the squatter and/or visitors get hurt on the property?  I really don't know for sure.

Restaurants seem to be highly competitive everywhere nowadays.  My understanding is that it's always been a labor intensive career and/or ownership.  Moreso in the 2 paycheck household demands for healthy, quality food on the go.  Why would they lock their dumpsters?  Is there one here who could answer this question?  I must say, I'm amazed at how much unwritten activism I've stumbled upon, sometimes through legislation, against those less fortunate.

As for who qualifies as homeless, in personal observation, it is the single man, and single woman, who might have had to give her children up to foster care and/or adoption for their minimal care.  Many times they are able bodied and work enough to not qualify for much of anything.

If a plastic card program is going to be monitored by a "middleman", I would hope it would be more in an effort to preserve how little funding there seems to go around, in what might be a bigger demand, when the soldiers come home.  Certainly, there needs to be standards in place, but no gung ho behavioral modification tactics.  It seems such could be more harmful, as I've never seen the letting people hit rock bottom first, not always work so well, ending in injury or death.  I could be wrong, because many of these things I've attained in knowledge has been more from practical experience, than a professional perspective.

Another Idea.. Is Intentional Communites.

Maybe some of the homeless out there would be comfortable in an intentional Community like Setting.

Directory of Intentional Communites

http://directory.ic.org

Fellowship for intentional communities

http://fic.ic.org

http://communities.ic.org

http://icdb.org

I hope those links work right. If not add the www. in.

I am quickly posting this before I go back to researching.

- Dana C. L.

"DNatureofDTrain"

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are good if you know they will be distributed directly to the Homeless. Unfortunately there have been reports of the bins in some Grocery Stores actually being shipped overseas by Distributors for resale. There usually is no way for the donator to track this kind of donation.

Even a very well known International Non Profit once collected massive amounts of toys at Christmas and put them in port storage ready to be shipped out overseas. They were only exposed when someone broke in and hauled them all off with a semi. The story broke in the news of how heinous a crime it was, people wanted the thieves tracked down and prosecuted immediately! Until it dawned on people, "Hey, what were those toys doing at the port?" Then the TV & radio news reports suddenly got yanked and no further investigation was done to find who took the toys as that would have exposed the shady operation of toy collecting to sell overseas.

Redirection for profiteering off donated funds, food and other goods is just one more reason we have to start getting active in our local communities so we can have accountability.

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What an incredible waste....

As we have already discussed on another thread about Restaurants, there is just no excuse for this waste to be happening. This food, if prepaid for by charities, organizations and private citizens wouldn`t be going to waste. Prepaid cards or coupons could feed the Homeless as well as be another source of revenue for the Restaurant.

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No there is certainly no shortage of vacant lots, woods, abandoned and/or vacant businesses, storefronts, warehouses, office buildings and houses.

Lots & structures going to waste of course. Unfortunately local governments refuse to see these as viable help for the Homeless. In fact Squatters in US, Germany and other countries are regularly forced out by law enforcement. Personally I believe it is to keep rents high. If enough people squat, whether in abandoned buildings or in tents on vacant lots, that is an alternative to paying rent to the landlords and they can`t have that.

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nyc area, but maybe a place to look for ideas?

http://www.commonground.org/

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Here is a newspaper Item. This is what we have been doing. Thank you. Our restraunt is great.

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http://www.streetsense.org/about.jsp

I had to share this.  Today, I was downtown DC and the homeless are out everywhere trying to get a meal because there is no food pantry.  They did have but people were getting sick.  I asked questions.  But they publish this newspaper and the money goes to the person who sells them.  Check the link out.  One way to get money to by an apartment. 

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Well I must say this is great to have minds at work brainstorming here!

First, Scott, please stop worrying about Restaurants going out of business if they serve the Homeless for if this program is run right, the Restaurants will profit and this will be a new source of income for them in addition to helping the Homeless. 

The Restaurants won`t be donating free food or service. They will be paid for both. Yes, they might have to use their planning skills to find economical and nutritious meals but no they don`t have to donate them. Charitable orgs, religious or ngos all get monetary donations and hold fundraisers. Vouchers or gift certificates are prepaid. In fact a Restaurant could conceivably come up with its own Voucher/Plastic Card program and offer them for sale to charities. That could be another way to go.

I`m starting to realize though that probably the most difficult part of this is keeping the Restaurants honest and not abusing the system. It would be unconscionable for a Charity to purchase Vouchers/Plastic cards to distribute and the recipients were treated badly or served inedible food.

I mentioned this Restaurant food concept to a neighbor yesterday and she said she didn`t think it would work because her Pastor once gave vouchers to a poor family at Christmas time that were redeemable at a church members Restaurant. The family was served rotten meat and the owner of the Restaurant and his waitress were laughing about it behind the counter. My neighbor drove the family to the Restaurant then parked her car. When she entered the Restaurant she saw what was taking place. She then took the family to another Restaurant and paid for their meals herself.

So I think I was right, our biggest challenge would be keeping the Restaurants honest and respectful.

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So glad you`re here. It is so very important to know what could work as opposed to what doesn`t work in coming to the aid of the Homeless in any given area.

To just take it for granted that local charities are meeting the needs in an area is to bury ones head in the sand. If they were truly meeting those needs then people wouldn`t be out begging on the streets. Government and Non Governmental orgs make it so incredibly difficult to comply with requirements that only a handful meet those requirements. Which means the rest fall through the cracks of beaurocratic red tape.

November, I`m glad you are here to remind us of that and to help design new ways to aid the Homeless that actually help.

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I'm new here. Nice to be a part of this group.

A couple of months ago, I was at a little shopping center by my house, one that I've gone to for years. I happened to notice a sign, upon leaving the parking lot, that kind of bothered me. I don't remember exactly the words used, but in a nutshell, it said "don't hand out money or food to panhandlers, donate to your local charity if you want to REALLY help." I just kind of stared at the sign with my mouth open. The discrimination in MOST places is something that I find to be underplayed and called things a lot nicer. Now, because of that sign, people who used to sit there with their signs asking for food or work, don't. Hopefully, most of you reading this are aware that MOST 'charities' are bullshit and do not truly address the real issues, in a real way.

Unfortunately, another problem is that a lot of homeless people are too ashamed to come forth and ask for help or go to shelters or churches. Some of them are mentally ill. Some of them are terrified of people. Some of them have animals, which I think is great (as long as they're feed), and most shelters that I know of will not take animals! How do we reach these people?

 I think that local groups holding monthly meetings in a community center or something, where homeless people are encouraged to participate with their own ideas, is a start. Making these people feel like they are ALREADY part of the community, instead of disgusting inhuman outcasts, is a vital step. The safer and more accepted they feel, the more I think they will feel motivated and hopeful and willing to contribute to a solution.

These meetings would have, of course, food and water, donated by businesses. stores....hopefully. I don't know, it just sort of came to me. So much needs to be done! Just my thoughts.

I think the restaurant/church idea is a good one. I think another good one is to get television and movie stars, musicians and producers, etc. to come together for one night - for a charity dinner where it costs $1,000,000 a plate. People like Brad Pitt net (on average) about $7,000,000-$20,000,000 a year, depending on their professional activity, of course. Could you imagine how much frickin money could be generated? AAHHH...we can all dream..........

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Thanks for your input. I`m going to wait til Wolfsinger gets back here to further discuss this since she initially brought it up and her input is valued.

However, I will put in my two cents prior to that moment ....

You bring up an interesting point Denise. How are we to expect the Homeless to participate in a "Work For Food Program" if this would keep them away from a job that actually pays them currency of their Country? Work For Housing may entail the same problem.

And this isn`t counting the impact this could have on the possible displacement of others in the workplace, making them homeless.

History has taught me a few lessons. My father, during the depression, dug ditches (that didn`t need to be dug) on a made up Government job, a Work For Food program. He had four hungry children and a wife to feed at home (yes, we at least had a home, though we didn`t have the coal to heat it). He toiled 10 hrs digging ditches and received a small bag of apples to take home. I distinctly remember my mother bitterly weeping over what my father went through to get that pathetic bag of apples. She felt worse about his disappointment at not being able to provide for his family than anything.

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Some questions here:

A. How will you deal with restaurants not wanting homeless people in the dining rooms? (There are no public bathing facilities in most communities.)

B. How do you avoid the problem that having "homeless" people repair an existing sub-code building so that they can move in is tantamount to pulling them into slave-labor that replaces the existing construction trades who should be paid to renovate the old buildings? In fact, you probably would be using the labor of construction workers who have lost their homes because of having been thrown out of work.

C. Once they move in, they have a home. Are you going to continue to classify them as homeless and give them meal-cards to use in restaurants so that they can continue to be publicly identified as a category of humanity different from your own?

D. How are you going to support the homeless who do not adhere to the religions of the faith-based agencies?

Just thought I would ask

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hi to all,

i just found this site called click for cans:

http://www.chunky.com/ClickForCans.aspx

its all about the nfl and chunky soup, pls check it out

clicking is only good until midnight on November 30, 2005  so pleease visit asap, tell your friends, etc.

http://www.sparesomechange.com/

this site is full of links and is a search engine also.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/index.html

The National Coalition for the Homeless is a national network of people who are currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to a single mission. That mission, our common bond, is to end homelessness.

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It is funny you say something like locking the dumpsters.  In todays Washington Times, there was a picture of homeless picking through the garbage from a bakery.  That is why my orginal comment about a program for food to be distributed to the homeless from area restuarants, bakeries and groceries stores.  There is always some waste.  But the nutrients level can be low at times so the program with the plastic card or punch card is a back up system. 

This is why I thought of a punch card.  It could track the amount on the card.  The restuarants have a way to track transactions if it was a plastic card that can be swiped.  It is just like a debit card but like you suggested that there should not be any money on it because there may be abuse.  Now just for a senario.  A group of restuarants put the limit on a meal at $5.  The meal comes to $6 then the individual would have to pay for the rest of the meal.  It was $3 then there is no money exchange.  But that is one meal for the day.  If there was another transaction right after then there would be another meal.  There is so much you can do with this. 

If we had coupons on paper what limit would you put it at.  $1 and use as many as you needed.  I think the homeless will have a better chance of getting a good meal but the restuarant would go out of business or loose money.  I do not think the homeless would benefit from this plan.  They may not get three meals a day this way because there coupons will run out quicker.  They will not get the maximum benefit.  Punch hole a paper card will do the same as plastic swipe card in regards keeping track of how many meals someone has.  On the paper card must be the limit on each meal.  But how does the restaurant keep track of cost?? 

Peanut butter sandwiches was only a funny example.  If McDonald's was in this program then a hamburger meal (with fries a a drink) will do.  Subway or Dangelos then a 6 inch sub meal will do.  Small rural places through some of this out so it does not hurt to give one away once in awhile.  A diner or small restuarant are more likely to go out of business because of this. They cook to order.  Fast foods do not only on certain things. 

Grants on this would cost a lot.  Now I can only see if we have to hire someone to monitor the program.  Or the price to make the plastic swipe cards or punch cards.  In order for a grant to keep coming in (that will be the bigger problem if the program gets cut) there must be a lot of participation and must be successful. 

The only other problem I foresee is what if there was 100 homeless and they all went to the say restuarant.  That would hurt.  Do we limit the number of visits for homeless and tell the others to go somewhere else.  NO.  But there is another problem. 

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You bring up several considerations. First, since I have no experience about how or in what manner a card could be "loaded" or "reloaded" I`m going to assume it can be loaded with a service instead of cash. Hopefully anyway.

The Restaurants wouldn`t be out anything other than their willingness to participate in the program. The distributors will already have paid into the cards by purchasing them and/or reloading them. The distributors are the churches, local governments, charities or private citizens.

If reloading doesn`t seem practical, then one time usage or some sort of punchout might work in its sted.

Some sort of record has to be recorded via the card that can be transmitted to the distributer so the Restaurant can be paid. Totals from the month perhaps?

Revenues would be from grants or donations the distributors have anyway. This is just one of their ways to utilize them for Homeless needs.

As to students, I`m sure parents and grandparents would love to have a way to make sure students got a wholesome meal now and then so I see no reason not to mix this in with Homeless recipients. Perhaps this would help keep the Restaurants "honest" for they wouldn`t always be sure if the recipient were homeless or a student.

As to peanut butter & jelly sandwiches,  that wouldn`t be necessary since most all Restaurants throw away incredible amounts of perishable food that doesn`t get bought or served.  Why do you think they have taken to locking their dumpsters? To keep the Homeless from sorting through them. What a waste. Unless the Restaurants are "writing this off" of their taxes, it would seem to be a way to utilize this wasted/unserved food and make a profit off of it.

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If we do use a plastic card there will be no money on there.  They can not use the card and get change back.  That is out.  There would be a lot of abuse.  We do not need that hassle.  We need to work with an idea about a win-win situation.  We do not want the restuarant going out of business.  They need to agree mutually by the cost of living what amount to set the limit or only do it by meals.  Have three choices even if it is peanut and butter sandwiches.  You need something else since some people could be allergic to peanuts.  Even it is a surprise meal of left overs. 

Your point of saving money for rent is the crucial point.  If they can save money quicker then we can get the back on the road to success asap. 

Now how does someone get onto a program and be qualified as homeless.  A college student can go inside a homeless shelter and get the plastic card and use it when they can go home to their parents.  My point here is there is more room for abuse.  Which could lead to a restaurant going out of business. There is a need for an organization to monitor the activity.   Should there be a requirement of two months limit of being homeless etc. 

I really cannot put any emtions into this since I have my pop blocker on but this is really begining to a good plan.    After solving this we need to keep jobs in the communty to be able have them get money for rent so they will not become homelss again 

Scott

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I`ve never been in the Restaurant business but I see it in my area to be highly competitive with many excellent Restaurants failing right and left due to normal costs of doing business. Years back a business gave itself 2 years to turn a profit and become stable. Now a business must turn a profit as soon as possible due to high rent, utilities, etc. This in turn means less jobs for the community resulting in increased Homelessness.

I really do see this as a win-win situation both for Restaurants & Homeless. It would also play an important part in getting the Homeless back on their feet. Say someone is working but needs to eat while doing so but a lot of their pay has to go towards food that doesn`t have to be cooked as they have no facilities to do so. If they could get 2 or 3 square meals a day at designated Restaurants, this would help them towards saving enough money to rent a place.

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Well, I`m certainly not excluding the concept of a plastic card. If it could be recharged for meals at designated distribution centers it would actually be cost saving in the long run.

        The catalog I was talking about earlier was for the buyers who would be distributing the coupons they order from it for demographic reasons.

        But a plastic card could work for many Restaurants who have registered to be in the program. This is starting to sound like the Foodstamp program that now has a plastic card that had to be subsituted for coupons that could be sold for cash illegally.

        This "sounds" complicated but probably the most complicated part will be Restaurants who give crappy food in an attempt to cheat the system yet get paid for it.

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Donna,

Chamber of Commerce is the best way to go or a similar organization.  Restaurants and other organization pool their money into the Chamber of Commerce so the cost for the coupons and printing is already paid.  Chamber of Commerce pay for the printing cost for each organization or restaurant for advertising.  This would be another way to advertise. 

Now if you are homeless you do not have much to store.  You have to think being on the street in adverse condition you may loose these coupons.  That is why I think a plastic card would be better. (could be expensive) Easy to carry.  Can you think of a coupon booklet full of area restaurant that has 15 pages that need to be ripped out.  It gets bulky in someones pocket.  If you have a pocket book it might get stolen.  It rains in the middle of the night and gets all wet.  I am thinking extreme homeless here. 

I think people could pay no more then 19.95 (just to get this in mind  frame) for a booklet at a church and the church could distribute it too a homeless shelter and they give out to new comers each time.  Unless the person who pays for the coupons knows of someone then of course that person can hand deliver it to the homeless. 

Now each time uses the say plastic card, the plastic card does not keep a balance but keeps track of how many times used.  The restaurant will have to track how much given so it can use it as a tax deductible (now here is another whole can of worms)  or make sure it does not exceed the limit. 

Now instructions how to use this will be difficult.  We need to keep this simple.  There is so much to this.  But I really think this is doable. 

Scott

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thats a lot of questions.

Thats I`m thinking of a few more questions and possible solutions myself.

Maybe this should be something done through a business that could be a go-between for Restaurants and distribution points to keep it uniform. Possibly a Coupon Printer business or a broker would sell a variety of coupons (to be punched or not) to the Restaurants who could resell them to the distribution outlets, churches, charitable orgs, etc (in bulk) or the Coupon printer/broker could offer that service for a percentage.

The possibilities are many, just finding the most workable one for all parties without the final recipients (Homeless) losing in the end will be the challenge.

The recipients (Homeless) should not be responsible for any of the expense though.

The Coupon printer or broker could have a catalog of various Restaurants who honor the coupons in different sections of town when demographics might be an issue. A charitable org or church could then tailor the coupons they buy and give out to where those particular Homeless are. For instance, it wouldn`t be much help to a Homeless person or family to receive coupons for a Restaurant too many miles away for them to get there.

Theres a lot of bugs to be worked out but I still think it would be a good way for helping the Homeless. Not to mention increase revenue so a Restaurant can survive while helping the less fortunate at the same time.

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Well, it could be specifically for a certain meal or a variety of meals I suppose. This would have to be worked out with the individual Restaurants. It would have to be nutritious, appetizing, yet cost effective for the Restaurant to keep the cost down for those buying the coupons in bulk for distribution. Possibly a variety of coupons at different prices to choose from.

Sitdown, takeout or both would also be another consideration.

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I had another thought about this too

Churches would be, probably, the primary buyer of the coupons to distribute to the homeless but many a private citizen would no doubt love to buy some to give out to the homeless when they see them.

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Donna getting churches involved is a great idea.  Where I live the churches no matter what religion pool their resources to help the needy.  They form a central location to pick up food and clothes items.  Most of this is donated by people going to church.  Now the churches do outreaches to some of the restaurants to provide meals for the homeless.  If does make more business for the restaurant and a good reputation,

I know in most communities there is a Share program with the churches.  They pool the area groceries stores and get food that is before the sell date to the poor or homeless.  This is all done on a volunteer basis.  Someone will go to the grocery store get the food and bring it to a central church and a group of church volunteers will distribute the food.   The main food is bread and vegetables.  it is a very successful program. 

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I`ll start it off....

Heres one I`ve been thinking about...

It would be a win win situation if selected restaurants contacted churches (for starters) and offered coupons for purchase to be distributed to the homeless so they could get a good warm meal upon presentation of the coupon. Lets face it, the truly down & out are in desperate need of this and churches (for starters) would be an excellent avenue for this in reaching the homeless.

This also would help Restaurants increase their revenue for survival in a very competitive market. Not only would it be a new source of revenue but could actually bring in new customers who approve of this practice. I know I would go out of my way to frequent a restaurant I knew was making an effort to help the Homeless.

Some monitoring would be necessary to make sure Restaurants were treating the Homeless coupon recipients with respect and serving them wholesome food.

What does everyone think of this idea?

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This is a thread for posting ideas to come to the aid of the Homeless in some way, small or large.

Old ways and new untried ways. Please post them here on this thread.

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