It Is GO Time!
October 29, 2009Posted in: 0 Comments
Here it is, another important opportunity for the entire community to matter to those who matter. How awesome!
Nearly everything is in line. We start setting up down at the Civic Center Mall at 8 am Friday morning. Looks like weather calls for rain gear for Friday, but relatively warm, sort of got some Good News – and some Bad News.
Regardless, homelessness is a rain or shine event, just as is caring. Saturday and Sunday look fine!
Here is the lay of the land:
Friday opening ceremonies are at 6 pm, followed by the Mayoral Forum. We will be doing something different, when the candidates come down, we want them coming as if they had already won the election, and is already the Mayor. Bring your questions. Following this will be an open candidate forum until 8 pm for the council and judicial candidates.
The rest of the evening is entertainment, 8 pm is Todd Gagne, Or Something Like That @ 9, at 10pm Keys to Eden and after that the Grey Devils featuring Pat Lewandowski from 11 until, well whenever.
Saturday is Project Homeless Connect from 8 – 4 pm. Our Community Barbecue Dinner is from 5 – 6.30, from 6.30 – 7.00 is another Council & Judicial Candidates Forum, followed by Pat Lewandowki at 7, Tent City open mic at 8, Candice Coleman at 9, AJ Szozdja at 10, and then the Grey Devils featuring Pat Lewandowski until about whenever.
Sunday Morning 8 am to 10 am is the Reverse Celebrity Pancake Breakfast, followed by a Worship Service from 10.15 – 11.15 and finally closing ceremonies.
Tonight (Thursday night) @ 7 is another volunteer training at the Red Cross. This is a great place for new volunteers to meet all the other cool people that have been called to this.
I am sure we will all be updating our Facebook pages and status regularly over the weekend. If you have questions, you can call or email us. tentcity@1matters.org.
No more talk, it is time to change lives. We look forward seeing you, meeting you, hanging with you, and caring with you. No matter who you are, you matter!
20 Years Down, 20 to Go & Tent City Updates
October 27, 2009Posted in: 0 Comments
Tent City is this weekend, and things are going well. Here are some quick updates:
1) Clothing donations are literally piling in! We will be sorting this week from 4 – 7, Wednesday and Thursday 11 – 9. Thursday night in particular we will be loading the trailer from 4-7 pm and will need some help. Friday morning the trailer will land at TC @ 9 am, and we will need volunteers dedicated to this task. Those are major holes, and if you can help there, it would be appreciated and awesome.
2) As for clothing needs, we are down to needing gloves, socks, new long underwear and new boxers.
3) Most of the Saturday am Project Homeless Connect (PHC) slots are filled, there are about 25 left for the afternoon slots. If you are doing PHC, it is a pretty important role, so if you can please attend one of the training sessions being held Wednesday or Thursday, 7 pm – 9 pm at the Red Cross, 3100 W. Central. It is not required for volunteers in other areas, but certainly is beneficial to all.
4) Set up begins Friday 8 am to noon. Friday night we are having a Mayoral Forum at 7 pm. Please come on down. We would like to know what the candidates think might be solutions to reducing the poverty in our community. The more people attending, caring about the issue, the more the candidates understand our concerns.
4.5) Amanda Moore will be having vendor orientation (spelled jobs) for Toledo Streets at 4 pm both days. If you know someone who might benefit, have them there.
5) The full schedule of events will be posted on 1Matters tomorrow.
6) Weather- Looks like rain Friday, but with a high of 64, it won’t be the cold kind of rain. Nice weather on Saturday. But then again, you know how the weather goes here.
7) Today Toledo City Council is recognizing our 20 years of advocacy. I would LOVE it if all volunteers past and present could come down and get recognized. Especially Dan Rogers and Richard Langford, who 4 years ago said, “yah, let’s do it!” We are meeting at 3.45 at the City Council Chambers. In honor of our 20 years, council will also be voting on a resolution to add the unhoused to hate crimes legislation. Below you will find the justification for the need of such legislation.
Once again, thank you! It is all of the volunteers who matter to those who matter which changes lives.
1Matters, you really do!
The work we do together is so important to some 1.
It might be the life saved by the medical services; Or the life saved from frostbite; Or the life saved from the suicide that occurs when you become convinced you don’t matter; Or it might be the joy the volunteer, food or clothing donor gets by giving.
But to all, we do what we do at Tent City because of the Community. We all are the community. We believe everyone Matters!
We are an anomaly. Think about it, we are one of the few community events that don’t seek money; we just seek the things that can change lives. Any money we do get is used for the things that can change lives. All volunteer, no staff, no overhead.
Again, this is all because of the MOST important thing that changes the lives is your commitment to Matter. Your efforts to Matter. The hundreds of volunteers and guests who are somehow called to be there. You are actually the one who transforms lives.
It’s not the medical test that is important, it is the person who volunteered to come down and administer the test that is important. It is not the music or meals we provide, it is the people who provide them that are important.
So no matter what angle you look at 1Matters, it always is rooted in the people who Matter to those who Matter.
When I sat down I intended to write a ”20 year column”. You know, a retrospective of things we have learned, funny stories, sad stories, and stories of why and who.
But I can’t. Every time I start to think of the past 20 years I get slammed back into the next 20 years because so much needs to be done. So much.
Tent City is coming up this weekend, and we hope you will join us.
The Advocacy
Tent City is indeed a wonderful thing. Truly! One weekend a year we bring the entire community together to Matter.
But what about the rest of the year? What do we do? Most of us with 1Matters volunteer with Food for Thought every weekend, serve on various committees, and when necessary, stand up for those whose voice is not heard at the table.
Our advocacy is just about justice, social justice. Everyone Matters, don’t they?
Last week my dear longtime friend, council person Tom Waniewski called and asked if it would be ok for City Council to do a resolution honoring my 20 years of service.
He asked because as a friend he is very familiar with my philosophy of not doing “personal” publicity as none of this is “about ken”. In 20 years I have done only two personal type interviews: The Blade in 1994, and this month for Amanda’s Toledo Streets.
So when Tom called I shared with him that if this is to be done, that it really honor the group, and that it be short. I didn’t want our remarkable volunteers to feel like, “Ken did this for 20 years and all I got was this T-shirt.” Tom understood completely, and he should, he was one of the initial founders of Tent City 20 years ago.
Ok, that scene is set.
In the past year we have seen cases of some of our unhoused friends taking serious beatings. It enrages you when you run into a friend to find his jaw wired shut, arm in a cast, his ribs broken, and when you ask him what happened he tells you he doesn’t know, he was sitting on a bench and a bunch of kids jumped him.
Most of these crimes go unreported because they think the police won’t care.
Occasionally beatings or robberies of the unhoused escalate to a point someone sees it and thinks it’s not right. A case in point was Alexis Mean’s recent story of a woman living in her car who was robbed. Alexis saw it on the overnight police log, thought it not right and did the story.
For the past year I have been quietly following up on a case where unhoused individuals were assaulted, recorded on video, and then posted on YouTube.
The individuals have been arrested and charged with another crime on the tape, impersonating an officer. When I initially inquired about charges relating to the assaults I was told they were not pursued because they had no victims to press charges.
So for the past year I have been working to get a copy of the tape in the hopes of identifying the victims, but was told it is part of an investigation and cannot be released. I admit I’m not that smart, but when tapes of other crimes like bank robberies exist they are released to the public, those too I assume are used in the investigation.
I am not throwing TPD under the bus here. I come from a family of cops and completely understand the pressures of the job in good economic times, only to be magnified in times like the past year. I have to assume the video captures that enraged me last year were most likely from a different tape reviewed last week by TPD.
The assaults that outraged me, the pictures from the videos I saw that cause my persistence include spray painting an individual on a bench, urinating on an individual on a bench and tossing a “fluid” on an individual.
As well as urinating in a beer bottle, and giving it to another individual:
I first became aware of this after a post of Lisa Renee’s on Glass City Jungle, which linked this post.
Sadly, quite sadly most of the assaults have been just for sick amusement, “joy haters” if you will. Punks that think they are powerful if they beat the weakest, most vulnerable. It is has not elevated to a “sport” as it has in other cities like Miami,
But with cases like those linked above and in other Ohio cities, 1Matters and the rest of the Ohio Coalition for Homeless Advocates, led by Brian Davis with the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless are leading an effort to get the unhoused added to state hate crimes legislation. It is a no-brainer. If you beat or kill the most vulnerable, the weakest of our society, you really need to be held accountable. They matter!
For example for those performing the acts above, it might mean the difference between probation and a jail sentence.
Tomorrow Toledo city council will be joining the statewide effort to enact such a bill. Rather than getting us a T-shirt, they have agreed to vote on a resolution asking the state legislature to enact a law increasing the penalties for those harming our unhoused friends. The purpose of this resolution is to send a very important message to three constituencies:
To the state legislature it says: We, the community of Toledo Ohio want to have Ohio matter to those who matter.
To those who desire to harm the weakest among us, they will hear that in our community it will not stand, because in our community, everyone Matters in Toledo Ohio.
And to those, the unhoused citizens of our community who are our fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers, it says have faith and hope, because in the City of Toledo, you are the community, you really do matter.
Thank you. Onward, 20 years to go.
Last Minute Needs – Meeting this Thursday
October 19, 2009Posted in: 0 Comments
Things are going incredibly well. Volunteer sign-up is already ahead of last year. Some roles were filled up 3 weeks in advance.
We will be working on some publicity this week for the clothing drive. We are getting word out the major needed items right now are men’s jeans, gloves and long underwear. Donation sorting is being done this week and next week from 4 pm to 7 pm at Lifebridge. If you want to help with that, let us know.
On the food side we still need hot dog buns, bacon, sausage, eggs, butter pats and COFFEE!!! lol
There is a Tent City planning meeting again this Thursday @ 7 pm at the Red Cross. Some asked, so in case there are others, yes, they are open to anyone who wants to come and help. All you need is the spirit to serve. Ask Mr. Happy Feet. (inside joke)
A reminder that the volunteer trainings are the 28th and 29th at the same place. These are highly recommended for the people doing Homeless Connect, and recommended for anyone who will be spending time at Tent City.
If you want to volunteer, just check the Tent City Forum here and pick your role.
Some pretty cool stories are coming out of this already, can’t wait to share them.
Lastly, pray for good weather, but remember that homelessness is a rain or shine event.
Toledo Streets & Tent City Updates
October 14, 2009Posted in: 0 Comments
First, congratulations to Amanda Moore on her launch of Toledo Streets. This is Toledo’s first street paper and will give voice to the unhoused, not only the words, but also the actions.
Toledo Streets creates jobs. Toledo Streets creates a way for people to have the dignity of employment, not a hand out. The vendors are buying the papers from TS for a quarter, enough to cover printing costs, and then sell them on the streets for a dollar.
Again, congratulations Amanda!
Tent City Updates
Pretty amazing amount of activity.
1) The Food Team is meeting Thursday night, 7pm @ Red Cross. There are a few items yet to be acquired.
2) Cory Dippold, one of the staff of Leadership Toledo brings together student leaders from all over the region. Under his leadership so far are clothing drives put together by Julia Jurgensen who organized all of the Bedford schools and Lynn Daboul who is coordinating Maumee Valley. Check out the Tent City forum for updates.
2) Phil Skeldon is coordinating St. Johns, Michael Petro is coordinating Central Catholic, and Mark Dubiliak is coordinating Ursula high schools.
3) Lynn Cooper is coordinating a drive in Perrysburg through Zoar Lutheran, and Laurie Kornos put together a drive @ St. Andrews.
4) Just a reminder all donations can be dropped off at any Toledo or suburban fire stations. There are more drives so for ongoing updates check out the Donation Drive section of the forum.
5) Donation sorting is picking up at the Lifebridge Center as more clothes come in. Sorting is scheduled for Monday to Thursday from 4 pm to 7 pm @ Saturday 11 – 2 this week and next. Expanded hours will be added the last week, including daytime hours.
6) Entertainment of course will be awesome as always! Pat Lewandowski again will be gracing us all weekend, and he has put together an exceptional line up. Todd Gagne, Or Something Like That, East of Eden, and the Grey Devils are on Friday. Saturday night will have the Candice Coleman, An Open Mic, AJ Szozda, and the Grey Devils. Between sets we will again be blessed with poetry readings from some of regions most notable poets. We hope all of you will be able to stop down for some very fine performances throughout the weekend.
Stay tuned here, in the Tent City Forum and on Facebook for the latest updates.
