He Barely Exists
This morning I went on a mission. I got a call from a friend on Saturday that there was a report of a homeless family living in a small wooded area nearby. He told me that he was going out there today to investigate and see what could be done. He joked that he would make sure his life insurance was paid up for his wife. I quickly volunteered to come along and help.
We met at a nearby convenience store and drove over in his car to the area in question. My friend and I hiked through the woods looking along side paths for areas that would be properly secluded for a family to live. It didn’t take long, and we found a man in his 40’s walking through the woods. He was very good at playing it off, but when we asked if he lived here in the woods, he owned up pretty quickly. He had watched our approach for at least five minutes and he had clearly adapted to his situation.
We bought him a cup of coffee (he wouldn’t let us buy him food) and gave him some cash and discussed his situation in hopes of helping the guy. He had grown up locally and graduated from my high school a decade before me. His story is not unlike many homeless people. He worked for 12 years in a trade where it was easy to get paid in cash, so when layoffs came, he had no unemployment. Around the same time, his girlfriend had a medical issue that confined her to a nearby medical facility. He visits her several times a week and eats meals with her. She doesn’t know where he is living.
He relies on the kindness of a childhood friend who comes out to get him when the weather is too cold (he is there on this frigid night). He keeps abreast of the weather by watching the weather channel with his girlfriend. He has an ample supply of clothing, but his only protection from the weather is a tarp.
He says he is clean and sober, and I had no reason to doubt him. We asked him how we could help him, and all he really wanted was a job. But he has other issues.
He has no ID. He needs a birth certificate from the state that he was born in, but he needs ID to get it. He has requested it twice, but both times the money order has been returned to him, and he is unable to get his money back on them. It may end up requiring a visit to his home state to get a judge to order a birth certificate to be issued. It is a several hour drive to get there. He has no employment history, no bill history and no proof that he even exists. I have to make a few phone calls tomorrow and try to delve into the bureaucracy of some other state to see what accomodations can be made.
Add to this that a homeless man that wants to live in Newark to be near his girlfriend has no shelter options, unlike many women and children in similar situations.
My friend and I gave the guy our numbers and instructions to call us if he needs to. His situation is dire now, but he is one stolen tarp from having no protection from the winter weather. Hopefully we will be able to get a sleeping bag to the guy in the next day or two. I also plan on dropping off a few of the handwarmers that I use when tailgating in December and January.
We may will not make a dent in this issue (it is certain to get worse before it gets better) but I would like to make this guys situation better. If anyone has any resources in Newark for a homeless man or work in the building trades, a little would go a long way with this man.
Tags: Delaware, homelessness, The Economy
I’m not sure what to say, except we should all cherish how lucky we are.
LG, please be careful.
Thanks for the concern, P. I never felt like I was in danger. He was quite calm and matter-of-fact about the whole thing.
I can understand his plight with the ID thing. I had a friend whose house caught fire one night and she lost every form of ID when she left the house with her kids in their PJ’s.
She needed a birth certificate to get a social security card or a license reissued, and vice versa. She ended up getting a police report, or some kind of documentation that stated her documented residence had caught fire, and the state reissued her ID, and got the ball moving.
You might want to check with the Dept. of Labor to see if there is any way they can squirrel him into a job in any trade he can be qualified for until he can get back on his feet. I wouldn’t wait for something in construction.. anything is better than nothing.
LG
As much as I hate the Department of Homeland Security, the new E-Verify program they set up for potential employees can probably help this guy if he at least has a social security number. I also remember reading that Catholic Charities has found similar issues in working to get jobs for the homeless. It suggests to me that instead of the Department of Labor you might want to call some of the local charities that work with the homeless downtown, because I suspect they have mechanisms in place to help like this.
Likewise check the Red Cross, which helps disaster victims in similar situations re-establish their IDs. I guarantee you there is a system or a workaround that some organization in the State has found.
I just got back from walking the dog and it is impossible to imagine how someone can live outside in weather like this.
Great blog post G.
I sent this off to a couple of friends in Newark to see if they have any ideas on either shelter or employment. An additional resource for help on the ID might be the Ministry of Caring too. The Newark Area Welfare Committee might be able to help someway.
Is there anything that we can do to help? I’m pretty much on the road until Saturday, but if you need something, I’ll do what I can.
Could he try Sunday Breakfast Mission, or Sojourner’s place?
Not a job in the building trades – but a job that requires minimal qualifications and might be enough just to get him up and running:
http://www.udel.edu/udjobs/current/t-Disp-PS.html
Best of luck to the guy…
Miss AO – Those are in Wilmington, aren’t they?
So you don’t want poor people to live in workforce housing near you… but homeless people living in the woods is ok.
I guess as long as they stay hidden, then they don’t affect your housing values.
George – I think you are trying to be funny. This guy would not be in workforce housing in any way, shape or form, you dolt.
I could go further, but your ignorance is annoying me.
MissAO – Their location in Wilmington is a hard sell. His girlfriend is very important to him (and vice-versa) I don’t think he would go to Wilmington.
Cassandra – Thanks for the suggestion. I have sent a message to NAWC.
I will try calling some of the other organizations later today.
I’d write about the baby seal I saved yesterday but it would take away from this very kind hearted story..
bravo geek
Thank you for doing this. This is what life is all about — helping others — one at a time….
I’m going to send the info to someone who may be able to help.
Boy, that’s scary. I’d be happy to give him some help too. I’d be willing to donate some camping gear to him. And I’ll try spread the word to some others to see if they have any ideas to help.
Sorry, Wilmington shelters are all I’m aware of. I thought it would be better than being out in the open on a evening as cold as tonight.
Good man LG!
Jason wrote:
I knew a guy who lived out behind a concrete plant in southeastern Virginia, and had done so from around 1972 through at least 1990. He was a Vietnam veteran, he got a check from the government every month, and his mother had a small house only a few blocks away.
But he was messed up in the head. I’d see him, in the middle of July, hot as the hinges of Hell, walking down the street in heavy, oil-blackened winter clothes, yelling at the top of his lungs in an argument with God.
Still, while he was a head case, he was also clever and able: he survived all of those winters living back there, in old mixer drums, in abandoned admixture tanks, drinking his water out of a creek. These things can be survived.
Maybe we should start checking on the state parks. In LA there are tent cities and in many other cities as well. This is the beginning of the “Grapes of Wrath” story.
Many people don’t want to go into the shelters, they are fearful of other “housemates”. Check the number of men down around the train station or a few blocks from the Sunday Breakfast mision. If you live at the shelter you have to leave during the day…on the streets, you can back for meals but have to leave again.
Look at all the boarded up houses, empty…and the City of Wilmington is bidding on them. so they can keep them empty.
This is America after Bush and trickle down economics of the last 30 years.
I wonder how many families have no heat or electricity tonight? Some have already used their allowance from the charities. These are the stories that should be told to Jack Markell on Tuesday night!
The Friendship House (which runs shelters in Wilmington) helps administer the NEC, Newark Empowerment Center. Their new website is http://www.fhnec.org/ (it is a work in progress). They are funded by a coalition of area faith communities, and strive to help at-need individuals and families in a coordinated manner.
Five area Newark congregations, on a rotating basis, open their doors on cold nights, in a program called Code Purple Sanctuary. This was begun last winter, and continues this winter. This program is coordinated by the NEC.
I hear that in order to receive help from NAWC (Newark Area Welfare Committee) “they must be referred by the Hudson State Service Center next to the Post Office on Rt. 273. I suggest that they get an appointment there and any assistance that is available for them will be offered.”