I didn't expect to have today off from work, but when it happened I was totally excited about the prospects of getting a trip downtown in between the morning time with my family and the afternoon gathering of our extended family. I cooked up some food and left the house at about 11:30.
It was a beautiful sunny day and clear due to the windy conditions. It was even more windy in the city and if you were in the shade it was downright cold (low 50's and windy). You'd better have a jacket on (I didn't) if you were in the shade for very long. I had a pot of hot pasta and several blankets to give out.
Now the last couple of times I've made this trip I've ended up at the parking lot at San Pedro Ave and 9th. They had gotten the last of the leftovers and I was determined that this time I would start down there and make sure all my friends there ate first. Also, they had told me that the owners of the parking lot were getting ready to kick them all off the premises, they just hadn't been told when yet. Well, I'm not sure when it happened (I was there the last time on the 13th), but they've all had to leave. I found out a lot of them have moved on. Red got out of the hospital and is in a transition home in the city of Bell and Shorty took a bus to Detroit. Natalie was there with her boyfriend (not sure what his name is). Remember she was worried about having to move outside the fenced parking lot. So below is a picture of the parking lot from across 10th street looking towards 9th, remember you can click on the photos and they'll get bigger:
and behind me is where Natalie and her boyfriend were staying and here is their picture below:
While I was there with them, several other people came by and I was able to help them too with food water and sometimes a blanket. If you look behind Natalie's boyfriend above, there were two people on the far corner. One of them came over to us, but I ended up driving down and meeting Carla on the corner. Here is her picture:
This photo was taken over the roof of my car. Carla's kind of hard to see, but that's her wrapped up in that light blue blanket. It was really windy on this corner and she was cold even in the sunlight. You can only imagine what it's going to be like tonight when the sun goes down.
So there were a few others that I helped, one was Jesus and he was walking by right there where Carla was. What I'll never forget was the parting conversation with Natalie before I left there. She had told me that she was from El Salvador and had no family here in America. What's surprising is her English is perfect, like she's been raised here all along. Anyway, when I left I had been noticing that she had that blanket wrapped around her that you see in the picture. I asked her if she had a jacket to wear and she told me she had a sweater (she might have even had it on under the blanket). Well I had a big heavy jacket on the floor of the front passenger seat. I didn't put it in the back of the car so that someone seeing it might take it just because it was 'better' than the one they had. I wanted to give it to someone who really really needed it. So I told her that this jacket I had saved just for her and handed it to her through the window. She told me, "I'll remember this always." Of all the presents I could receive or give away, this may have been my favorite ever. --Until next time. John
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