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I recently ran into an old friend outside of a Mall, he was collecting money for a church charity to help homeless people. Later I ran into him and found out that the charity was a scam, and they were just keeping the money for themselves. My first thought was these are the guys that give charities a bad name. He dismissed my moral judgement by saying the money was going to help homeless people, just it was him and his buddies and the money was actually helping homeless people, unlike the "approved Charities".
I ran out of gas coming back from a job interview the one day. I grabbed my emergency can from back of the van and walked to the nearest gas station and asked people who were pumping gas if they could spare a dollar or two of gas to get me home. A couple of people choose to ignore me completely, as if I was invisible. One person told me that they had to borrow money for what they were getting. One said he wouldn't give me money because I would just buy booze or drugs,
I pointed out that I was asking for gas not money... He responded that I would probably sell it.
One gentleman gave me $1.55 in small change and wished me good luck and offered me a ride back to my van.
When I gave the $1.55 to the attendant, she told me to leave or they would call the police.
Bottom line five out of six people treated me like a dirty stray dog, one helped with all he could.The truth is that my gas station experience went pretty much as I expected. What I didn't expect is the treatment that I received from people who claim to be charitable organizations. Having no source of income,
I turned to those organizations that collect money to help the poor and suffering. The Red Cross only helps disaster victims, The United Way, Goodwill and other organizations who say they help the poor,
told me that they give their money to churches, food pantries, groups and projects, not individuals,
they suggested that I go to the local churches. The churches hid behind secretaries who said they didn't have funds.
Nowhere was I allowed to talk to a minister or preacher, some churches just sent me away often very rudely.
Ministers who come regularly to the soup kitchen, told me I should pray more The travelers aid society has a big website and will gladly take your donations,
they say that you must go to a local office for help, but if you go to the local offices listed,
you will find them all closed due to lack of funding...So after a couple weeks sleeping in my van, with my little dog in a Walmart parking lot, the temperature in Florida hit all time lows, dropping into the 30's.
So I checked into a homeless shelter, along with numerous other good people who have fallen through the cracks.
First thing they told me was I had to get rid of my dog, second was to piss in a cup...The homeless shelter requires proof of identification and a drug test before you could get a bed, alcohol or drugs in your system and you are turned away, there was a small tent encampment in the woods nearby for those who couldn't pass muster
However it is interesting to note that the shelter provides free tobacco and coffee.
The difference I was told is that they are legal, I pointed out that alcohol is legal as well,
they said federal grant funds require no alcohol.While staying there, they treat you more like jail or boot camp, than a place to protect you from the cold.
You have to be in by 6:00 pm every day to sign for your bed. You are awakened at 6 am to do chores and get kicked out at 7:30 am, supposedly to look for work, with most of the residents going to the local mall or library, because there are no jobs to be found and those opportunities that do exist, expect you to apply by computer and to have transportation to and from work.The director had a nazi influenced god complex. He claims the right to go through your personal things, when you are not there, if he suspects you may have any contraband or he doesn't like the way you made your bed, either way all your stuff is opened and dumped on the floor for you to clean up when you get back., They told me, it's not like you're in jail after all you could always leave if you don't like it and don't mind freezing to death.
They have a meeting once a week to give the housed a chance to talk about the rights and wrongs of the operation,
but the director cuts everybody off in mid sentence, with we tried that it didn't work next...
The haves and have nots still exist in the shelter, we were forced to give up a table that several of us were using for puzzles
so that the few patrons with laptops, could be online 12 hours a day, yet I was not allowed to set up my tower computer because
it would take up community space. The puzzle issue was solved very directly by the director, he threw them all away...
While there I was scolded for bringing my dog by to visit and twice scolded for fraternizing with the woods people and told if caught again I could just go live with them.
The office also serves as a clothing and food pantry for the poor and homeless on Fridays, how ever if you live in the shelter, you are not homeless and can't have food or clothes during your sixty day stay.
It's winter and cold outside, after you have been ejected at 7:30am,
the "soup kitchen" next door is open from 8am -8:30am for breakfast.
The office is open from 9:00am to 4:00pm and is a toasty 75 degrees,
while the shelter thermostat is set at 66 degrees.. The soup kitchen reopens at 5:00 pm, run each day by a different church. Some nights you get a choice of menu, but no seconds allowed, no take out.
Leaving something on your plate because you don't like it and suffer the punishment of cold stares and perhaps rude remarks.
The rude remarks don't only come from the church going people that serve you, the token Jew from the shelter complains every night about the lack of kosher food and refuses to take off his hat during the evening prayer because they pray to the lord Jesus.
Still he eats some of the food every night...
The people staying in the shelter are varied. Most are men over fifty, many are veterans who have reached the age where no one wants to hire them. A couple families who lost their home to forfeiture. Also small family who was conned into renting a house by someone who didn't actually own it, which I am told is a very popular scam with so many foreclosed houses standing about.
Just break in change the locks and rent it to some sucker, using a throw away cell phone. Take the money and run, it's amazing what the criminal mind thinks of to survive in a downed economy.
Unwed mothers and small children reign on the woman's side of the shelter.Which leads to those other people, those not good enough for the shelter because they failed the drug test, showed up with alcohol on their breath or used up their time.
In the woods nearby the shelter there are small encampments of people who are not good enough for the shelter. Mostly hard core alcoholics, who just can't or don't want to quit drinking. Also among the fray a transvestite with no ID, several people whom run out of time at the shelter. Most of them are on the food stamp program, but they make their money standing outside of Sam's Club, with their folded up cardboard homeless signs, they tend to share their food, booze and money. They were the only ones that gave me gas money during my stay in Port Charlotte. In return I went and gather wood everyday with my van, to keep the fire going...
I also donated much of my furniture, so we could sit in actual chairs at a real table...Hypocrisy runs wild in the charity world, a small sample; I watched the director of the shelter go to the bathroom, do his duty and leave without even approaching the sink or sanitizer provided. Not unexpected but it was 30 minutes after giving us a speech on the importance of hand washing to our health in the crowded close quarters that we exist in.
Bottom line today's charities have become like corporations, whose only purpose is to provide jobs for those hypocrites running the charities. So the next time you see someone with a sign saying that they are homeless, don't judge them right away, offer them a job, give them some cash because you never know when you will be in the same place, in an unstable economy like we currently have. The homeless don't need a sixty day stay in boot camp, they need long term housing arrangements until the economy expands enough to reintegrate them into society.
So I give to the needy because...
The American Red Cross's President and CEO, Marsha J. Evans', salary for the year was $951,957 plus expenses.
The United Way's President, Brian Gallagher, receives a $675,000 base salary along with numerous expense benefits.
UNICEF'S CEO, Caryl M. Stern, receives $1,900,000 per year ($158 grand per month) plus all expenses including a ROLLS ROYCE. Less than 5 cents (4.4 cents) per donated dollar goes to the cause.
The Wounded Warrior Project pays it's Ceo $496,415
25 of America's Worst Charities
NOW HERE IS WHERE YOUR “SPARE” CHANGE SHOULD BE GOING!The Salvation Army's Commissioner Todd Bassett receives a salary of only $13,000 per year
(plus housing) for managing this $2 billion dollar organization.
96 percent of donated dollars go to the cause.The American Legion National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!The Veterans of Foreign Wars National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!The Disabled American Veterans National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!The Military Order of Purple Hearts National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!The Vietnam Veterans Association National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!
Posted by Ronald E. Gascon on Friday, December 11, 2015
