Homeless During A Hurricane

Jose Andres

 

Jose Andres is an internationally recognized celebrity chef who owns and operates several restaurants in the Washington, DC metropolitan area: Jaleo, Zaytinya and Oyamel.  It doesn't matter which one you choose, all of them serve delicious and innovative menus.  Personally, I love Oyamel and my son loves Jaleo.

 

Andres, born in Spain, is a busy, busy guy running his critically acclaimed and commercially successful business ventures but he also cares about his community and finds time to give back.

 

This weekend, as news reports forecast the arrival of Hurricane Sandy's on the East Coast, Andres rolled up his sleeves and worked the food line at DC Central Kitchen, prepping and coordinating meals for the city's homeless population, which has an even harder time finding food during a hurricane.

DC Central Kitchen is an inspiring and vital organization located in the city that offers job training to homeless men and women, giving them hope and a different set of life skills so that they can get become independent.  For over 25 years, DC Central Kitchen has been fighting hunger and today it also provides thousands of healthy, locally sourced school meals to low-income DC Public School students every day.

As Hurricane Sandy gathered speed, and wind and rain swirled around the nation's capital, Andres, who is a chair emiritus of DC Central Kitchen, joined other trained DC Central Kitchen workers to cook and organize meals make sure the homeless could continue to be fed for a number of days in case the power went out.

 

Andres is a food enthusiast which means that while he enjoys the creation of fantastic Spanish and Mexican cuisine he also doesn't like to see food go to waste and is generous in sharing his time and resources with others who are less fortunate.

We are lucky to have Andres and the DC Central Kitchen in our community!

 

Here's the link to The Washington Post story about Jose Andres and DC Central Kitchen:

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/all-we-can-eat/post/feeding-the-poor-and-homeless-during-hurricane-sandy/2012/10/29/98b05b30-21d5-11e2-8448-81b1ce7d6978_blog.html

Street Sense

Martin Walker

While buying tomatoes today at the FRESHFarm market near the White House, I met a homeless man named Martin, who was selling newspapers and waiting to go to a drug and alcohol treatment program in West Virginia.

I had seen Martin on previous trips to the market but didn't say more than "Hi!" or smile at him.  Today, I bought a newspaper from him and we started talking.  Martin told me that as a vendor for Street Sense newspapers he is similiar to a self-employed subcontractor.  That means that when I buy a newspaper I am investing in him and Street Sense.

I told him I had seen other people around town, especially near the Metro stops, selling Street Sense, but I didn't really know much about it.  Martin said that people usually think that he and others selling the newspapers go to a central office somewhere in DC to pick up free newspapers and then the homeless people sell them to make money.  That's not the whole picture.

Martin purchases his own newspapers upfront for 35 cents/an issue to cover publishing costs and he sells the papers for a suggested donation of $1.  This means that when a newspaper is bought for $1, that 35 cents of it repays Martin for his initial purchase.  The remaining 65 cents is Martin's profit that he uses to support himself.  The average vendor can earn about $45 a day.

I was curious about Martin's story because I know life can present changes quickly and I wondered how he had gotten to this place.  I also know it takes an inner strength to live life on the streets and to stay clean and heal yourself of drugs and alcohol. 

Martin said he is 40 years old and has a 20-year-old son.  He said he has a mother, a brother and a sister who live in the area "but they have lives of their own."  He told me he once worked in a law firm many years ago as the company's debt collector.  He was hurt in a car accident and wanted to take more time off than the company allowed, so he was laid off.  Martin said that's when his life totally unraveled and the drinking and drugs "helped me forget reality."

 

He has lived in shelters for years, just finished a 30-day rehab program at another facility and is now enrolled in a another program at So Others Might Eat (SOME).  The SOME program involves Martin going to West Virginia for 90 days of drug and alcohol rehabilitation and extensive support treatments.  He was supposed to leave for West Virginia this week but he had to go to the dentist today to have a tooth removed.  Martin said he is grateful to be in the SOME rehab program (which paid for his dental work) because after he completes the rehab program, SOME will also help him find transitional housing and then eventually his own apartment.

 

I asked him what keeps him going when times get really tough.  "I have discouraging moments," Martin said, "but I really can't imagine quitting on life itself."  

 

Martin quietly added: "When people consistently see a person living on the streets, don't assume that it is easy to get it back together.  Once you have lost everything it is very difficult to get back to mainstream living."

 

I thanked Martin for his time and wished him good luck.  I told him when I come to the market next week that I hoped I wouldn't see him here.  He said next week he hoped to be in the mountains of West Virginia following his rehab program.

On the way back to my office I thought about how I had gone to buy fresh veggies but learned about another person's journey.  Martin is remarkably resilient, constantly trying to stay clean and never giving up on himself.  I hope his life continues on its present course.

Now when I see someone in a neon vest selling Street Sense newspapers on the streets of Washington, DC, I'll know how these people are working a program and that buying a newspaper can help change a life.  

Nuns On The Bus

Nuns on The Bus

Independence of thought and action is what we celebrated yesterday on the Fourth of July and in keeping with that theme, I can't think of a more unique group of Americans who just finished traveling the country expressing their independent thoughts than the "Nuns on the Bus."

In case you missed this campaign that held its final rally yesterday, the Nuns on the Bus are a group of Catholic nuns who started a  two-week, 2,700 mile tour of the United States on June 18 to speak out against the Republican federal budget proposal put forth by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin which the nuns say favors wealthy Americans at the expense of poor families.

Led by Sister Simone Campbell, the nuns visited shelters, food pantries and community centers as wells as congressional offices to bring attention to social justice issues and  get the public to join them in their protest the House Republican budget.  Ryan has defended his budget cuts by saying the cuts were influenced by his Catholic faith.

"Many politicians offer deeply flawed theological justifications for the federal budget," Campbell said.  "They ought to get some theological help."

These days it is a bit unusual to even see a nun.  Nuns today are on society's frontlines.  If you do see a nun, she is usually in a school or a hospital, assisting in ways to strengthen her community.  When I was growing up there were lots of nuns and all of my friends and myself briefly thought about becoming a nun and then quickly abandoned the idea.

You would think that the Vatican would be pleased with their work for the common good but instead the Vatican recently issued a report criticizing their involvement in social justice issues and concluded that the nuns should be spending more time on preventing abortions and same-sex marriage.

Hmmmmmmm............My point about the nuns is that they are not afraid to speak up for themselves and give their point of view.

Coping with grief can involve many courses of action and your point of view on renewing your life is also important.  There is no exact timetable for how you handle your grief.  But you are in the process of rebuilding your life because it has drastically changed.

In experiencing the rebuilding of your life without your loved one, you are forging a new independence and it can sometimes be frightening.  Take life one day at a time and if you are starting to feel helpless, then reach out to someone you trust.

You are trying to redefine who you are because you lost the role that you had when your loved one was still alive and that can take time.

How should you spend that time?  Perhaps take some inspiration from the nuns and offer a helping hand to someone in need, and in offering assistance and support, you are also helping yourself by jumping back into life.