Downtown 6/27/2011

As you know, each trip downtown is different. Last week I felt led to get off the freeway at Santa Fe Ave and this week I felt led to go straight down to Cloud 9 Alley. When I parked on Los Angeles St I noticed across the street the shopping cart of a homeless person, although I didn't see anyone due to all the cars parked on the street. There is a high school on the other side of the street from Pastor Rodriguez's church. Well, I walked across the street there and saw the man who's cart I saw. He was lying down on the sidewalk. Turns out his name was Ruben and he had attended that high school some thirty years ago. He has pretty much always stayed in the area. We talked for awhile about the area and some of the people I knew around there. For the last few weeks, until Monday, someone had a tent set up on the sidewalk near the corner. I had tried to find out who was living in the tent, but now it was gone. He told me a man named Pancho was in there, but a couple of days prior to Monday they made him move on. I told Ruben about the Pastor Rodriguez's church there and that they would probably help him out from time to time if he needed it. He told me he had walked by it before and they asked him to come in but he didn't go. I urged him to go see them, they could help in more ways than one. In the alley behind the church I found Ray and we got to talk for probably 20 or 25 minutes. He told me he'd been looking for me each Sunday to stop by. Well, I have gone by there each Sunday, but didn't always announce myself if I didn't think anyone was there. He lives in an unused doorway to a building, covered up with blankets and pallets. Monday, I actually did call out to him. He was pretty happy to see me. He said, "I've been wondering when my 'boy' was going to come by again (He's about 10 years younger than me-the term 'boy' indicates close friendship)." He told me that our conversations are on a far deeper level than any that he has with anyone else! I was glad that he look's forward to our visits. At one point he looked in the bag of food I gave him and commented about how much he liked the bread. He told me the last loaf lasted him 4 days and he ate every slice.
I drove around skid row for awhile after this, but couldn't find a place to park by the police station, so I left the area and headed towards the Jack in the Box by Alameda. A couple of blocks away from there I saw Alan (hadn't seen him in quite awhile). He was sitting on the sidewalk eating something and when I called out to him he immediately came over to the car. Remember Alan doesn't ever say a word. I knew that whatever he was eating he probably got out of a dumpster, so I have him a bag of food and told him to remember that I loved him. He gave me a faint smile as he turned to walk away. At the Jack in the Box I found John Stokes opening doors for people. I took a couple of pictures of him at the door. He told me, for once he didn't need anything (he was wearing the jeans and shirt I had given him last week). Then he said, "Hey, do you have any of that spagetti?" Along with the chunky beef soup I put in the bags I often give out some cans of beef ravioli.
By mistake, I often pick up cans of spagetti because they look just like the cans of ravioli. Apparently, John had gotten one and he loved it. I had six cans in the car and sure enough, one was actually a can of spagetti. It made his day.
The next encounter was a few blocks from the Jack in the Box with a man named Phil. I had met him last week, but I wasn't sure if it was the first time or not. Anyway, you never know what to expect from one of these encounters and this one was quite unique. Phil is 52 years old and has been homeless for the last 12 years (4 of them in the San Diego area). He is quite articulate. During the course of our 30 plus minute conversation he explained that he is actually content with his place in life. He really works at recycling every day and provides nicely for himself by doing it. He told me that for over a year he paid a $100 a month for a storage unit that was filled with stuff from the floor to the ceiling that he had collected. He had ipads, iphones, dvd's and dvd players. Eventually, it got to be too much of a hassle to travel (with his carts) to the storage unit so he let it go. He told me he had made $31 recycling so far this day and with no overhead he was doing OK. He also said something interesting. He said his health insurance was the exercise he gets pushing his carts around every day! He did look pretty good. In fact, when I came up to him he was sewing up some clothes! I don't think I've ever seen a homeless person doing that before. He then started asking me about how and why I came down there. Needless to say, we got to know each other pretty well by the time we parted. Although he definitely knows my trips downtown are of a spiritual nature, he didn't want me to pray for him. During our conversation he did refer to several verses in the bible so I know he has had some training in that regard in his past. I'll take my time with Phil. We'll see where it leads.
By now it was time to head to the skid row area. Along the way, I was able to help two men. Both were sleeping on the sidewalk with very little. One of the men was unable to speak, I'm not sure why. The other man I almost missed because he was sleeping behind a chain link fence with a lot of leaves and trash around him (see photo). His name was Mario. I took two pictures of him, but I guess I forgot to save the second one (which was a closer picture). However, I'm sure you get the idea of his condition. Both of these men are the other end of the spectrum from
Phil! Mario said his 'stuff' had been stolen. Luckily, I had put a jacket in the trunk that morning. I probably won't get too many requests for jackets in the next couple of months, but after Mario put the jacket on, he said he had been cold the night before.
On the way to skid row I drove so that I could see if Jerry (the guy with one eye who sits at 7th & Los Angeles St) was there. I didn't see him, but along the way on 7th I saw a young woman about 30 years old sitting on the sidewalk about a block or two from where Jerry sits. She was sitting on her back pack and was about as dirty and skinny as they come. I drove around the block again in hopes of getting a picture of her as I drove by, but didn't see her the second time around. I drove on down 7th and parked and walked back to where she had been. I took a couple cans of food in a bag to give to her. I never did see her again. This area is actually a retail section on 7th Ave, about two or three blocks from the skid row area. I ended up prayer-walking the area and when I got back to the car there was a parking ticket waiting for me. I got one a while back when my schedule changed and I started going on a Mondays again instead of a Sunday. The same streets where you can park on a Sunday are no parking zones on Mondays.--Great! The things you learn on the streets (literally on the streets in this case). Until next week. John