Another day in Paradise

Comments
sireena	12/4/2012 8:22:14 PM I love that song and always listen to it around Christmas time...it's very powerful! Kay and I are wrapping toys to take to the local Domestic Violence shelter on Christmas Eve this year as it's an organization seldom mentioned as being "needy" during the holidays. I can only imagine how depressing and frightening it is for children to be there...especially during the holidays. It's a great way to show Kayla how lucky SHE is! Merry Christmas Joseph!
josephfromabove	12/4/2012 8:36:16 PM All but for the grace of....everyone is fortunate. Happy Holidays, and Merry Christmas Rox. Instead of going to shelters find a homeless family on the streets who are too proud to go to a shelter. They will be in shopping center parking lots, and emergency parking for hospitals so they can use the restrooms for the children.
josephfromabove	12/4/2012 8:37:47 PM First they live in their cars till they lose them, then they will turn to a shelter, or freeze to death.
lkavour92	12/5/2012 3:04:49 PM Here it is people living in tents and campers of sorts inthe campgrounds....presumably the community is paying there campground fees and helping them with stamps and such...the kids go off to school but the chances of getting into a real home might be slim....When Ilived up in NY the local church sponsored a family from Kosovo....they all chipped in got them a rental home passage here visas and everyone donated whatever they needed to get their home furnished...When they arrived they got jobs english lessons, the whole family worked..even one of the boys mowed lawns..In a little more than a year they bought their own house, They did so good...but the people here seem so beaten down, drugs and alcohol are a problem, the children are rag tag...it is sad what has happened to some....like that photograph from "Dust Bowl" times worn, wan women and thin children with haunted eyes....
josephfromabove	12/5/2012 9:26:07 PM They have lost Hope Leslie
lkavour92	12/6/2012 4:53:21 PM I read in our local paper tonite the county is required to count their homeless people on Jan 24 for some kind of aid...The lady who runs "feed my sheep" a meal service for the poor and homeless, says it is hard to determine how many are homeless and the people she sees are mentally incapacitated , have alcohol and drug problems and do not want any close contact with the authorities...Winter is here and many people are camped out in the mountains in make do shelters...It IS sad in this land of plenty that people are in such dire straits....Especially the little families, at my flea booth I see little families come by with 3 or 4 little kids, no shoes looking longingly at our little display of used toys (we give them out to all kids) Dad and mom trying to get a bed or even just a mattress or bureau for their homes and scratching up money from the seats of the car to buy....believe me we have given away just about as much as we have sold this last season...seems that there is alot more needy people around..Right now we are more or less devolving the booth til spring and I have a sign on the road "Free Clothing" I have heaps of good and wearable clothing that we are offering free to anyone who has the need....
josephfromabove	12/6/2012 7:59:42 PM The needy do not trust government, they see them as the root of all evil, and stay as far away from them as possible. They may be getting ready to exterminate them they figure. I know it is madness, but in today's society it could happen. You are kind to the people who need it, and it will be returned to you.
lkavour92	12/7/2012 9:01:24 AM In the winter it is difficult for us to sell and as a result the times are "thin"....but that being said, GOD always creates a situation whereby our "roof" remains intact and we thank him for that.In our effort to disperse the clothing we have I have been hugged by little old ladies and thanked profusely by young moms struggling, and it has formed a seed in my mind...We are working on taking our little "Junk" business in a different direction in the spring...I would love to find a way to meld sales and "giving" in that plan...I know that if I had blankets right now I could give them out in piles, people come by every week asking for blankets...Something to think about....a "Pay it forward" business...
josephfromabove	12/7/2012 6:26:28 PM THat's what they used to do with old clothes, make quilts out of them.
dawgpaws	12/13/2012 5:07:37 PM I used to work at a Salvation Army Shelter in Anchorage. We coordinated with all the other shelters. It was during the Reagan recession in the 80's and they came flocking up believing the streets were paved with gold and they'd make $50 an hour pumping gas. Most of them had no skills. Anchorage is very skill oriented-high tech. I remember a hillbilly family of about 23 or so people all crammed into one "bedroom" of the shelter - grandma, grandpa, their adult kids, the grandkids and a few great-grandkids. There were 5000 folks in just one tent city in the area and we were on total overflow. No one wants to be down and out. No one knows what to do. Unemployment insurance is gone for most people. And while this too shall pass, it is a horrible thing to endure.
josephfromabove	12/22/2012 9:32:04 PM You can thank Ronnie Reagan for all this havoc now, he started it with signing away our sovereignity in a treaty with the UN.Then the foreigners started the onslaught of buying land and companies, and the companies lobbied to get overseas. so much for Reagans trickle down economics. He trickled down all of America, and it's heart of jobs, pride, and manufacturing.