Today it was more cabbage and broccoli which went to ESHC, St. Francis House and Food Not Bombs.
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Feb
25
On Wednesday, February 25, 2009, Al Deinhart and Mary Lawrence met with Lorenzo Laws, Mt. Zion AME Church in Hastings, to initiate a connection between PUSH’s efforts which have largely been concentrated in St Augustine and the distinctly different problems facing the Hastings community. Although still in seminary with limited time, Pastor Laws agreed such a connection would be beneficial and to devote some time to this effort.
Discussion centered around PUSH’s concerns that the Emergency Services Homeless Coalition’s point in time survey of January 27, 2009 was flawed resulting in a total homeless count of 1370 for the entire county. Considering this is only a 10% increase over two years ago, that the foreclosure rate for St Johns County in just the last year is up 130% and that the current economic climate worsens by the day, the accuracy of the count is imperative to the mayor’s new effort to create a new 10 year plan to end homelessness. In PUSH’s view, the final count by the ESHC cannot possibly jive with reality on the ground.
Despite his busy schedule, Pastor Laws agreed to:
1. Conduct a survey of homelessness in the Hastings area
2. Contact Mike Mitchell at the OUR center in Hastings for ideas
3. Contact clergy in the ministerial alliance to acquire further people in areas like Ponte Vedra who are also working with the homeless
4. Work with Gerald Glover who is involved with Hastings youth
5. Contact Johnny Barnes at Johnny’s Kitchen for information
Currently during harvest season, Mt Zion serves a Sunday breakfast to the migrant workers and has a food bank. Mary passed on information about the gleaning project which may be a rewarding activity for the youth working with Gerald.
We look forward to collaboration with Pastor Laws and the members of his community. Any forthcoming information will be published on the PUSH website. Ideas like this are always welcome from our members. For 2009, outreach and collaboration will be PUSH’s main effort.
Feb
23
The Homelessness Marathon is an annual 14-hour radio broadcast featuring the voices and stories of homeless people from around the United States The Homelessness Marathon features live call-ins all night long via a national toll-free number. PUSH held a listen-in at First United Methodist Church in St Augustine for the first 2 hours of the Homelessness Marathon
Guests on the call in included many homeless individuals, particularly from the Mississippi area where the broadcast originated. It brought home to PUSH listeners not only the scope but the diversity of problems leading to homelessness. Keith McCarthy, one of the founders of Food Not Bombs, spoke at length about his experiences in New Orleans in the early days after Katrina. His account of the disorganization and delay in actual help was astounding.
PUSH attempted about 20 times to get through on the "anyone" call in line during the listening period from 7:45PM to 8:25PM without success. The program’s second hour was to deal with trends in homeless veterans but by the end of our session, this was not yet addressed.
The broadcast was streamed by various radio stations and we used Sarasota’s signal. The main website also streamed live and will archive some of the segments. It is enlightening to hear how other communities are helping people with no place to call home.
Feb
22
PUSH members joined about 30 other community members for an organizing workshop and concert presented by the Riot Folk Collective and sponsored by Loose Screws in St. Augustine. The Activism to Organizing and concert were part of their "Respect Yer Mama 2009 Bicycle Tour." The workshop helped attendees focus on the root similarities of our causes and to begin exploring ways we can work together to rebuild our community. The concert featured contemporary folk music by Shannon Murray and Evan Greer addressing a wide variety of social issues.
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