Home Sweet Home

I am formerly homeless for almost 3 days now. I moved in to supportive permanent housing at Deborah’s Place / Marah’s Thursday afternoon. I absolutely *LOVE* it here! I have never found such impressive, intensive case management practice anywhere, nor such love and welcoming! It’s unbelievable! Housing here is for women only. Male/female guests may be entertained on first floor and outside. Hot meals are served, laundry is free, there are a few pieces of workout equipment, a large library with computers, activities, a beautiful yard with gazebo and a great grill are all included with housing at no extra charges. Rent is free without income, or 30% of income. This is permanent housing so I can stay here forever or long as I want with all these extra benefits. It makes sense. Life is never ending goals and accomplishments, short and long term. This is like any other housing complex, but the management style is more personal and friendly. I like it. They accept donations so if you would like to help the 30 women who benefit from living here, please contact Deborah’s Place at Marah’s today! **Please check back soon–I will post photos and video soon!**

#Donations #ThankYou for the love!

Enormous gratitude for all the donations received recently for the homeless! Received were two bags of clothing, and also over 30 puzzles ranging in size from 500-2,000 pieces and a TV with built-in VCR player was donated by ONE person’s family alone! I collected the last of the current donations this afternoon–with promise to donate again in the future! #Awesome!!! The excitement by puzzle enthusiasts at the homeless shelter is indescribable–I was greeted with big eyes and a near scream with the first load of puzzles! I can’t thank Liz and my other followers enough for the joy brought to so many people! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

If you have something to donate, please let me know! Options are unlimited! Cross & Crown Church MOH is also in need of clothing, especially socks, shoes, and underwear. Please see my page about MOH here.

Payback!

I made it to Cross & Crown’s MOH yesterday and picked up some mail. *GOOD* mail–not bills! One was a prescription discount card. The other was a prepaid credit card that can be reloaded from a Green Dot Money Pak, purchasable at most stores! Having this card will allow me easier access the money donated to my Pay Pal account. (fyi: Pay Pal is not currently working but I hope to have it going again very soon–for now, money can be donated through the Green Dot Money Pak.) Easier access to money means I will be able to purchase things I need: phone service, bus passes, shoes or clothing. If I receive enough donations, I will be able to focus not just on myself, but also other homeless individuals and networking activities. In the future I would like to have separate cards for personal use and helping the homeless. When its raining, have you any idea how much I hate to not invite a homeless person in to McDonalds or a store for coffee? There is so much that could be done for the homeless population that isn’t being done!

I wonder if the homeless community could go on strike? Go on strike for better services or to give up being homeless for a day. If you need a job done, you could go up to one of them who are on strike and hire them on the spot, giving them opportunity to not be homeless for a day. It would take some thinking out and creativity, but couldn’t something similar be done? What are you thoughts on helping to improve the quality of life of those who are homeless?

The Spirit of Giving

This is the time of year when everyone looks to give to others. The holidays have a dramatic effect on people and I am no exception. I celebrate Christmas and my birthday is coming up very soon. Recent tweets by Jeff Shuey and Lotay Yang have inspired me! My mind is racing, contemplating what effort I might be able to do in celebration of my birthday and Christmas?! I would give anything to be able to organize an effort for a van to be donated to Cross and Crown Church so they can help the homeless! But that sadly is expensive and probably not as realistic a short-term goal at this time. So then what would be?! Perhaps I could organize a Christmas party and/or gifts for the homeless–maybe local businesses might be willing to donate? Gift certs and gift cards, free meals, gas cards, auto repair, clothes, shoes/boots…??? Maybe I could open a special PayPal account? I want to do something special for everyone! What can I do?!

Belly Dancing into my Heart

The From the Heart to the Hip fundraiser for PADS of Elgin last night was a success! Over $1,400 was raised! Woohoo!! There were a lot of raffles with happy winners! I was there and spoke on helping the homeless. I met several current followers and future ones–pleased to meet you!!! As always, I welcome comments in person and any other contact method–email, leave a message on my phone, send a fax, tweet me on Twitter, reply to my blog…

I had a great time last night! The dancers shimmied their way to my heart with their obvious happiness and beautiful dances, and all for a good cause! A table of donated articles of clothing, gloves, toilet paper, and so many other things was stacked full for the Elgin homeless! I met Elgin PADS executive director Dennis Hewitt and he is so nice! I was honestly amazed at the emotion I saw in him as he spoke of the homeless people that Elgin PADS helps! He really got to me with how heartfelt his words and expressions were. He didn’t speak like an “executive director”. He spoke like a person who truly cares about others. God bless him.

Dennis Hewitt, executive director of PADS of Elgin

The fundraiser was sponsored by Serafina with belly dancers from all over the area. They were fantastic! I can’t say who my favorite is because so many performed beautifully–and the outfits–OMG just as awesome! There was someone doing temporary henna tatoos at the show and I got one. The artist did beautifully detailed work! Here’s a picture of the henna tattoo on my hand:

My henna tattoo

I can’t wait to go to another fundraiser event! I plan to be with Black Card Circle on Nov. 19th in Chicago at the Rockit Bar and Grill. Will you join and support their great foundation?!

Shelters are open, & I am warm night & day

Well, I traveled to see my caseworker this morning, finding a quarter on the ground at the bus stop! I got an update finally on her conversation with another agency about me–and they couldn’t find my record. (Should that surprise me for some reason?) So she took more information from me and she’s going to call them back yet again. With any luck, my caseworker will actually call me back this time. I actually doubt it. Caseworkers aren’t known for calling people back. I’ll have to follow-up with her myself. While I was there another caseworker donations I think from her sister, and quite fortunately there were a few things I needed and could use! I put one on right away and have been much warmer all day, thank you! (I ham very happy about this!!!) We talked about health issues, including the possibility of SSDI in the future. Other than that, I updated her on the overnight shelters now being open and a that package someone will be sending me and a few other things going on. Overall–especially because of the clothes I received–I have to say today went well!

Physically, I have some nerve issues going on that is driving me NuTs! One of my arms has been numb and tingly all afternoon. My feet and legs aren’t as constantly numb and tingly nor are they very painful. With all the nerve problems plus muscle and joint pains, I might end up taking a Vicodin again tonight. I am trying to resist it.

It about time for me to leave for the shelter site. I hope you all have a good night! If anyone needs me, you can DM me @padschicago and it will go to my cell phone so I can reply. Or just send a text/call if you have my number. Cya!

The Value of a Dollar

How much is  a dollar worth?  Just ask a homeless person.

For just $1.00 to $5.00 a homeless person for  1 to 2 hours can:

• Drink a coffee or eat a meal.
• Sit indoors.
• Have access to a clean bathroom and sink to watch hands and face.
• Be out of the rain.
• Be safe from severe weather.
• Watch a movie matinee.
• Buy a ticket and ride the bus or train.
• Do laundry.
• Make calls on a pay phone.
• Put a small amount of gas for the day in their car’s gas tank.
• Access pool and shower facilities at a local park.

What a person can get out of it:

• Food.
• Shelter.
• Clean clothes.
• Hygiene care.
• Entertainment.
• Transportation to shelter, an interview, a job, and other appointments.
• Access to a toilet and facilities to do hygiene.
• A visit with family and friends, call to schedule a job interview.
• Social interaction and networking.
• A sense of normalcy (whatever normal is)
• Happiness.
• A love and gratitude for fellow man.

What you get:

• Happiness.
• God’s love and blessing.
• A love and gratitude for fellow man.
• Social interaction and networking.
• Increased self-satisfaction, self-love, self-worth, self-value

Unfortunately I am out of time on the computer early. Being a public library on a weekend, the computers fill up quickly.

Homeless shelter needs help A.S.A.P!

Please help if you can–Prayers and $5,000 in donations are needed for a Florida homeless shelter by June 10th! http://www.missionincitrus.com/homepage.html

Fixed broken links and more site news

Hey folks!  I fixed the broken links on the downloads page of the Pads Chicago website so feel help yourself! 

I am in the process of adding a promotions page to the site.  Here I will offer additional ways for you to help me, such as how to get me free cell phone minutes when you buy your own Virgin Mobile phone!  I will open the page very soon!

Also, to help your navigation I will be adding a navigation bar to each page in the site so you will no longer need to return to the home page just to go to another page on the site.  Hope this helps!

If you have any comments, tips or suggestions, please post a comment here or in the forums or email me at padschicago@aol.com.  Thank you!