http://homelessness.change.org/blog/view/city_arrests_homeless_man_and_locks_up_his_dog

I am not wealthy by any stretch of the imgination and I work for myself so my paychecks are thin but given what these people have it’s like being a millionaire. I have decided that if I have even just one paying client a portion of that will go towards helping this foundation.

This is a very important foundation that can help on a very real level. I appreciate you Brian and your very giving team for doing all that you can towards ending homelessness. These people deserve a better life no matter how they got there.

A smile, conversation and a dollar can do more than you know,

Dor

http://homelessness.change.org/blog/view/mapping_the_impact_of_the_recovery_act

NEWARK — Kendell Woolridge wants a place of his own — something stable, warm, and not Penn Station in Newark, where he wound up last week for the first time in his young life.

But he is the kind of guy you bet on. There’s something about him, the smile, the attitude, the belief that things will break his way again.

“I’m 23,” he said. “I’m not supposed to be homeless. I shouldn’t be living like this.”

Last week he was. And so were many young people like him.

It had been two years since he lost his job, the best one he said he ever had. Woolridge was the mascot of the Newark Bears — Ruppert — and the clubhouse manager, until he got laid off in 2007 when the baseball team changed ownership.

It was a great gig, because the stadium was home, too. He took care of the clubhouse, cleaned it, washed the players’ uniforms, then crashed in an office overnight.

When the job was over, so was his place to stay.

“That’s why I fell off,” he said.

He bounced from one friend’s house to another, holding down jobs at ShopRite, then Walgreens, but never making enough, he says, to be stable.

He knew it was rough out here, but not like this, not to the point of Penn Station.

He found himself somewhere by the PATH train, sleeping to stay warm, then heard there would be social service agencies at the Essex County Skating Rink in Branch Brook Park Wednesday. About 50 of the agencies come every year as part of a statewide program to count the homeless and connect them to services. The effort takes place in other counties as well, with volunteers looking for the homeless by waterfrosnts, bridges, abandoned warehouses and other places they may frequent to stay warm. Results are then turned over to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

While urban areas bear the brunt of poverty, the suffering has spread to Essex suburbs in ways that leave county officials staggered.

“Our food stamp program grew by 50 percent, and our Medicaid caseload grew by 31 percent in the last two years,” said Bruce Nigro, the county’s director of welfare.

In Montclair two years ago, 925 people applied for food stamps. That number has jumped to 1,256. In West Orange, 750 cases increased to 1,371, and Maplewood rose from 347 to 637, Livingston from 85 to 161.

“We’re seeing numbers we’ve never seen before,” Nigro said. “These are people who lost their jobs.”

A state agency tracking the face of the homeless sees more and more families in crisis every year.

“That was the one thing that stood out from the past two years,” said Colleen Velez, program manager for the New Jersey Corporation for Supportive Housing. “It was the beginning downturn of the economy.”

The need was evident Wednesday. Crowds of people showed up at the skating rink, lining up as early as 7 a.m., three hours before the doors opened. Kids were in strollers. Toddlers getting restless cried once inside. The playful ones ran around, then slid on the floor, laughing. The young families ate boxed lunches in the cafeteria, talked to representatives from the slew of agencies. They grabbed pamphlets and signed up for services if they were eligible. Soulful music played to make things somewhat festive, to make people feel better.

Darnella Smith, 38, was one of them. She’s been in Newark five months, living in transitional housing, having relocated when a storm flooded her home in Florida. Smith wants to work, but that’s going to be hard now. She’s five months pregnant, has three other children and is on assistance. The free haircuts for her boys were a big help.

Sitting next to her was Jacqueline Feliciano, 32. She wasn’t homeless but said she goes to the food pantries in Newark so she can feed her two young boys when food is low.

“The face of the homeless is getting younger and younger,” said Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo. “Look at all of the people here.”

In his county, DiVincenzo said, one out of every five residents is on some form of assistance. It’s disturbing to him. Make that alarming.

“More and more of these kids need jobs,” he said. “We need to find jobs for these young people. They want to work. They want help. That could be anyone of our kids. That could happen to anybody.”

In the early-morning hours Wednesday — midnight to 4 a.m. — volunteers fanned out in Newark to find the homeless so they could count them and tell them to come to the skating rink for help. Many of the usual haunts, like the old Essex County Jail, were abandoned. The waterfront was empty except for a loner known only as Fred. No one was under Route 280 by McCarter Highway, either. There were only remnants — clothing, bottles, cardboard, tarps — that let you know somebody had slept there at some point. It was cold, and many had found shelter elsewhere.

At Penn Station, a dozen or so people were on the floor in an enclosure by the Market Street bus lane. There was no heat, but it kept the wind out. They slept on newspapers, feet sticking out from underneath blankets, some with cardboard. One pair of small shoes was sandwiched by two larger pairs of feet: This is a family.

Upstairs by the PATH train, several more people found refuge in a vestibule. When the train pulled in around 3 a.m., they got on to ride all night long.

The final tally of homeless won’t be known for several days, but officials said 733 people came to the rink for help. Some had their eyes checked, others a haircut or nails done. Little things to ease the pain. They just needed something extra, maybe a hat, a coat for their kid, information on where to get food when the shelves get empty at the end of the month.

However you slice it — urban vs. suburbs — people are hurting. On cold nights, they are at Penn Station and shelters.

It’s enough to depress even the toughest of us.

But then there was Woolridge. He has been on his own since 19, when he had to leave home. Time for him to be a man, he said. He’s always worked. Even now, with no place to stay, he tended one of the food concession stands at Newark’s Prudential Center.

He takes the money he earns to care for his 1-year-old daughter, whom he sees as much as possible. That makes him proud. He said he prays to keep his head on straight and attends New Hope Baptist Church when he can on Sundays. He knows he should tell church members about his problems but feels embarrassed. It’s not supposed to be like this.

When he made his way to the skating rink, Woolridge bumped into a familiar face from a Bears game. It was DiVincenzo. Woolridge reminded the county executive that they shook hands years ago, when he was Ruppert. DiVincenzo remembered and offered him help so he wouldn’t have to go back to Penn Station.

Woolridge accepted, but changed his mind on the way to the shelter on Fulton Street. He was able to camp out with a friend instead.

For that night.

Then, on Friday, for some reason he can’t explain, Woolridge walked into the general manager’s office at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium.

He told them who he was, that he had once been Ruppert the Bear.

Well, they said, as it turned out, they needed a Ruppert for the new season. They hired him on the spot.

Woolridge starts March 6, making his Ruppert comeback appearance at the Nutley Irish Parade.

“I’m just trying to get back on my feet,” he said. “I’m going to see what happens next and go from there.”

http://sync.arkansasonline.com/videos/2010/jan/09/3781/