Downtown 5/10/2010

I arrived downtown at around 11:00 a.m. It is interesting to me that some homeless folks you can find in the same place for several weeks in a row and others you don't. I have driven down Olive St. for several weeks now in hopes of seeing any of the four men in front of the abandoned auto body repair shop from several weeks back, but to no avail. However, I did see Gerald from last week sleeping on the sidewalk again, just a couple of blocks down from there. Gerald is very young, I'm guessing under thirty years old. I asked if he had any family that could help him out and I could tell from the hesitation in his answer that family relations were strained. At this point, his family is probably still his best option to getting off the streets.
A little while later, I found Willie in an alley off Hooper street where he usually lives. I hadn't seen Willie in a couple of months so we talked awhile and got caught up on things. Apparently, he had most of his stuff stolen a few weeks ago. I was able to give him another jacket, a blanket, shoes and socks along with some food and water. Willie told me he was hoping I'd come by. I wrote last week about the man who several months ago answered, when I asked if he needed help with, "I'm hungry and thirsty." Well, it was this man, Willie. Since he lives in an alley, I nearly always get to spend time just talking with him. He is always nice and polite with me and is someone you wouldn't mind having as a neighbor. I gave him a couple of "Guidepost" magazines which he really appreciated. He also told me that my friend, [Downtown] Richard Brown, who lives a couple of streets away had all of his stuff stolen too. I noticed last week that Richard's stuff was not there where it normally is and I wondered what had happened. I'll be watching to see where he ends up.
In between where Richard normally is and Willie's alley I found another man named Willie living under the freeway at 14th and Hoooper. This Willie is a new arrival to this area. I was able to help him with some food and water but couldn't stop there for very long and had to keep moving. He had seen Richard Brown recycling the day before but didn't know where he was staying now.
After leaving this area, I turned on Central Ave and headed up town. Along the way I saw Matthew walking down the street. You may remember him from a few weeks back. He was the homeless man with the toothache. I asked him how his tooth was doing and if the Hall's cough drops had given him any relief from the pain. He told me his tooth had been hurting some lately and that the cough drops did help. I just happened to have a half a bag of them with me so I gave them to him along with some food.
From there I headed towards Lincoln Park. Along the way, I found Abel Martinez pushing a shopping cart at Mission Blvd and Cesar Chavez Blvd and was able to help him with some food. When I got to the Lincoln Park area I saw probably a half dozen shopping carts semi hidden in bushes. You can see as these people are out "working" (recycling) they leave their stuff behind. That's when it gets stolen. It's a lot harder to take all your stuff with you as you go recycling so they try and find a safe place to leave it. This leads to endlessly having to start all over when they return and find their belongings pilfered. This gets to be very demoralizing for them and there's little they can do about it short of taking it all with them wherever they go. I walked through the park and found Marcos lying on a piece of cardboard. He needed the bag of food I gave him and was very glad to get it. As always, it was a privilege to serve these men. As much as they need the physical items I give them, they need a friend just as much. --Until next week. John