Spring Blossoms

Spring is really here, the warmer weather, as always, ringing the final knell for any lingering spring flowers. A week of sunshine without rain and the flower fairies are hard put to it to keep their blossoms alive, as the sandy soil dries out in a flash of a lamb's tail and before we know it the garden is fading and thirsty.A last celebration of spring, as the girls made a fairy garden, while we

Growing up in South Africa

The intrepid and adventurous fourThis picture says it all for me about children growing up in South Africa today.Ryan, the son of our coloured gardened/farm worker drew it a few days ago and I grabbed it to photograph to share with you. He goes to school with our children, his fees paid by a sponsorship fund we’ve just set up, and he spends most weekday afternoons here playing with them, until

Of Chocolate and Presidents

It’s Sunday - a leisurely day that stretches empty ahead of us, now the rush of German students and their teacher have departed for a three day exploration of the Cape. Our girls have abandoned us to have lunch with their aunt, so it is just three of us sitting down at the table to eat up the leftovers from last night’s braai: Grabouw boerewors and spicy chicken wings, with the wine-enriched

Rubbing Shoulders with Poverty

It was Blog action day on Wednesday. I saw it on Charlotte’s Web, where she posted about AIDS in South Africa. The theme that they asked Bloggers around the world to write about was poverty, to get a world wide dialogue going, whether from a personal or general point of view. I didn’t post about poverty on that day, though I did write a long comment on Charlotte’s post. The truth is that I

Sleeping in the woods

I got an email that was forwarded through the grapevine about some campers south of Jacksonville. Pretty much the groups were being surveyed, but the same thing came through each time: distancing from family the longer they were homeless.

Over the last decade before my own family became homeless we worked with a local non profit agency that performed food gleaning and redistribution. Although people vary from camp to camp the constant theme of family is seen in each group.

Whether for survival or a need to be part of something much like young organized street gangs, people choosing the camp lifestyle find alternatives rather than continue using existing services. Many of the reasons include safety from other homeless people becoming violent, victimization by gangs, or choice to avoid services due to prior problems with staff abusing their roles.

When something is unacceptable people make changes, for whatever reasons. While many providers in Jacksonville do and are attempting to make improvements to service delivery, continued retention of individuals with trends and patterns of abusive behavior to clients aren't adequately addressed.

And that's not just my own personal opinion. Within the next few weeks I'm hoping to see others with similar interests and voices heard, and maybe find a place for everyone to sit back with some popcorn in a home theater seating environment!

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Do something about your bucks wasted

One of the things common between a homeless family and one with a home is constant wasted cell phone minutes due to unsolicited calls.

Families experiencing homelessness usually used prepaid minutes for the sake of their kids, whether it's an emergency at school or able to communicate with a spouse across town. It's a lifelink that's necessary.

If you're getting calls on your phone from strange numbers not on your list, check out Harassing Caller Report. You can check if other's have too, and in many cases get those gaps filled of just what's going on with who's calling you.

You can also add additional information that others may find useful.

Toy Memories

All it takes is a toy, to make the years slip away and take you back in time. There is a certain plastic fire engine with loads of buttons, that we gave away to Tina, who cleans for us, for her little boy. He is now 2 ½ but was born premature with water on the brain, so has had a hard start to life with much time spent in hospital and he was not expected to live for long. Her love and

Panhandling: Freedom or Crime?

My wife and I were out this afternoon doing monthly errands, checking the 'T's were crossed and all the 'I's dotted. We spotted the gentleman pictured in the mirror reflection and weren't able to get our cameras out in time due to traffic.

In the picture the man panhandling with a sign seems minimized when he's not. Getting in front of him for a facial shot wouldn't have been respectful.

On a given day I pass probably two people panhandling along highways. The one prior last night almost caused a few people to wreck.

Some view panhandling as a form of freedom of speech, while others look at it as enabling the homeless cycle. It's a topic I'd rather stay off with using words and simply post a picture as I see it.

If your life is dim, maybe you could use some lighting fixtures...or something.

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Testing Talent

The children have just gone back to school after their two week break, the house is momentarily quiet, with four high school students from Germany asleep upstairs after their long flight here, come to work on building a sports field for our school during their holidays.I need to get the writing mojo back. It’s foundering beneath all the number of practical things needing doing. It feels like the

Homeless students at bus stops face higher risks

Once again students are facing the typical changes of the weather while heading to school. Fall brings changes in time zones, nasal congestion, nose blackheads, and traffic patterns when getting on the bus.

Kids that get on buses at stops servicing shelters don't have the same support as 'sheltered' students. In most situations kids are from one parent homes meaning that mom usually has to watch younger siblings while Jane or John get off to the bus from the shelter breakfast line.

That means all the problems facing kids at bus stops...those problems at least double in risk for kids in shelters. Longer walks to bus stops. More likely to be monitored by pedophiles, drug dealers, or pimps.

If you know a kid who's sheltered in temporary housing, take the time to listen and let them know you care about their safety.

If you know of any children residing in shelters with problems riding Duval County Public School buses, please feel free to contact myself at www.homelessinjax.com. All information is kept confidential and is dealt directly with decision makers at higher levels.

For all of our kids sakes.

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Is homelessness being reduced in Jacksonville

Depending on who you talk to, yes on a number of levels.

Jacksonville still has massive numbers of people that remain invisible to the counts, on points from local to international levels. Rewording of regulations show one person being identified as homeless by Florida State terms while that same person is NOT considered homeless by Federal HUD housing regulations.

That same person, along with her 11 children, are also NOT considered homeless by some other Florida Government regulations...if that makes sense.

Maybe local government officials could use some uptraining in linear motion. It'd give them a reason to take another field trip or something.

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When good drivers go bad

While throwing in a ban of pork and beans might be a sign of giving for some, it shows the amount of effort put in.

Here's a few tips if you're in the mood for charitable giving when it comes to the stomach. Most often you can coordinate with a local soup kitchen or shelter to find out if items need to be prepared on site or not.

Rice dishes
Cheese platters
Fruit platters
Carry out pizza
Chicken breast strips
Whole pork loins

No their not cheap choices and can cost, but if you're involved with a local church your group can consolidate their efforts into annual events. By scheduling annually multiple church groups can have better impacts and bring better quality food to those they're ministering to.

Take the example of pork loins. For a shelter serving 500 meals and four ounces a meat serving, that's a cost of only $250.00 when the loin is bought on sale.

Sometimes it's not a matter of the same group cycling in monthly, but rather letting groups that can plan efficiently. With a population of over one million, Jacksonville has more than 52 church groups per major service provider downtown.

There really isn't any reason for people in pressed suits putting three starches on a plate to hand to a child, now is there?

If you'd like to find alternative choices for appetizers, click the link.

The Milk Tart Calcium Solution

Crustless Milk Tart - now an official calcium food sourceBaking often seems to inspire a blog post. Perhaps that’s why I’ve hardly posted recently – I just haven’t been baking apart from the daily bread, which has become so automatic that it no longer gets the blog juices flowing. Today, after I’d spent an hour in the spring sunshine (yes we have sun! at last!) pulling a pretty flowering weed out

Local Non Profit wants to do the Web2.0 hustle!

A few weeks ago someone who introduced me to peer support groups while my family was homeless asked me to attend an upcoming meeting of theirs. It's not out of the ordinary for people to seek me out to support different things they're advocating, but there was something interesting that was asked in conjunction.

For me to bring my laptop.

Wondering if I was going to be asked to join a Board for the sake of handling recording of minutes, I was blunt. Turns out my friend wants to introduce his peers in his company to Facebook.com.

While individuals who are home PC savvy are familiar with social websites and portals, most companies don't have a Web 2.0 pressence in Jacksonville. They usually have a gratuitous website, but generally it's pretty lacking in connecting to people and losing out on a lot of potential.

It'll be interesting to see firsthand reactions of people without Facebook experience being asked to participate on a local non profit level. On one hand they'll be able to network with peers nationally. On the other...they can always make connections when the bottom falls out on their agency not being able to afford them in these financially harsh times on service providers.

Homeless with time at the library? Check out some franchise opportunities!