Thoughts, opinions and daily ramblings …

The 17th Annual Sleep-A-Thon for the Homeless Action Committee’s (HAC) Single Room Occupancy (SRO) and Outreach Van is going on as I type in Townsend Park in Albany.  Townsend Park, aka Pidgeon Park, is located at the intersection of Henry Johnson Blvd and Central Ave.  It’s a small park, just a strip of land dividing Central and Washington, but for some of the homeless it is/was a place to sit or sleep.  There used to be benches in this park but they have been removed, like removing the benches is going to solve the problem.  Guess what, the problem isn’t going away with the benches.  So what is the difference between HAC’s SRO and other shelters?  Mainly, a person does not have to be sober to spend the night.  While other places are turning “drunks” away,  HAC is welcoming them with the hope that if a person knows they have a place to stay maybe, just maybe, they can get back on their feet.  Things are tough all over these days and unfortunately budgets have been cut.  HAC is no exception, their funding was decreased this year, forcing them to raise even more money through donations than they had to last year.

I went to the Sleep-A-Thon this evening for a few hours and it brings things into perspective rather quickly.  There was a large crowd of people with signs and donation cans, carefully placed by the traffic lights.  Horns were honking and people were opening up their hearts and their wallets.  I’m a people watcher, it’s what I like to do, so this was interesting for me to observe.  Some people would sit in their car, look over, look away, look back and finally decide to give what they could.  Others would not even make eye contact.  I didn’t have a donation can but I had a sign.  It took me a while but I eventually saw that it had something written on both sides, the side that was facing me said “Honk for the Homeless”.  So I decided to try something out.  I noticed someone looking at my sign but it was clear that they were not going to donate.  I made sure to get their attention and I turned my sign around.  Most times the person cracked a smile and honked.  Hey, it was better than nothing.  It’s the little things in life!  It was also interesting to listen to people.  They were all there for the same cause, the homeless, which maybe made it more amusing to hear “I’m cold”.  And yes,  it’s cold tonight and windy!  I had gloves on but my fingers were getting numb after 2 hours, surprisingly my feet stayed warm but if I was out there much longer I’m sure that would have changed.  It was easy for any of us to go inside to get warm, there was a command center of sorts set up in a near by building.  But just think about those who are out there, day in and day out, who cannot easily go inside to warm up, not for any length of time anyway.  We would all return to our homes after a few hours or a night for the truly dedicated, not everyone has that.  And while it’s easy to pass judgement, it’s important to realize that anyone can come across hard times and you never know what might happen if you are placed in that situation.