Since Halloween is my favorite holiday, the ones that follow to close out the rest of the year are just a strain on time and money. Yes, I enjoy getting together with family and friends to share a yearly meal of thanksgiving, but I’ve become more of a Scrooge when it comes to bought gifts.
Many people see the arrival of cold weather as the signal of the coming of the holiday season, especially if it snows around Christmas time–a cliche I’m so over that I make a point to complain when I travel to be with my family in Virginia rather than us meeting in a warmer climate.
Yet, the arrival of the cold, sleet, and rain have worried me more than previous years. This is the first year that homeless people have camped out in tents along the grassy wide medians of major streets. As far as I can remember, they’ve been under major under passes, but now, they’ve spread out to what I would consider far more comfortable accommodations.
According to a recent article, homeless citizens feel that their things are safer in a public space versus the woods. Plus, when they are camped under an overpass, they are nearer to a bus line, so they can have transportation to their job(s).
In the past, I’ve donated coats and canned goods to the less fortunate. How does one donate better housing? Where’s the donation box for that? ‘Tis the season of giving and yet, everything is a band-aid for a temporary fix.
In another article, I read that the city is kicking around the idea of buying a motel (hotel?) to temporarily house the homeless. As a bonus, the city isn’t even going to require homeless citizens to seek services in order to respect a sense of choice.
With that in mind, I researched how to contact the mayor. I’m sure it’s no coincidence there wasn’t an email address for him. Instead, I had to read all the descriptions of his staff to find out which person was assigned to deal with homeless. The gist of my message was a request to donate money to a homeless shelter on the behalf of my family in lieu of buying them gift to add to their cathedral of material goods. If I even get a response, I’ll add that I’d love to help purchase one of those hotel rooms to name after my family. In that way, my gift to them would be housing homeless people.