I got to work early yesterday because I was driving the IT tech from out of town around.

I had just closed the car door when I sawrealised my cell phone was in the car and I would need it. I unlocked the door andreached in to get the phone then closed the door and headed the 100 feet up Crocker to the Village. This was before 9:00am.

About 2:30 I get hungry for lunch - okay - Famished is much more like it. I can not decide : walk to store or drive for food? I chise the store. When I came back with food for mwe and Nick there was someone tapping on the glass from the hallway - he was holding my keys.

I left my car keys in the DOOR LOCK of my Scion all day long. they were just hanging there and anyone could have used them to open the door and drive away, or at least plunder the car for money and goodies.

Imstead, this man stood my my car for a while and other people saw him looking suspicious and asked him what he was doing. He showed them the keys still in the door. They asked for the keys and he refused and carried them to the front door of Lamp and turned them in.

It turns out that the homeless man knew the car belonged to me and was worried that I had not come back but did not want to offend me by touching anything so he stood guard.

When I was handed my keys, the member who gave them to me said "It is a good thing you socialize". I walked out to the front door and met the key-bringer and together we went to my car as he told me the story. I checked for my ATM and ID and then gave him the only thing I had with me - a Dr. Pepper. He refused the drink several times and looked embarrassed to be rewarded - but I pushed it on him becuase I could smell the beer he had been drinking.

So WOW, my less than a year old car could have been stolen and it would have been my own fault, but for the honest and integrity that kept it safe while my keys were out in public from 9am to 3pm.

Subject:  Urgent Appeal on Behalf of Lamp Community

 

As most of you probably know, I work for Lamp Community, an amazing nonprofit service organization located in downtown Los Angeles that works to permanently end homelessness, improve health, and build self-sufficiency among homeless men and women living with severe mental illness.

 

I’m writing to you today to ask for your help. We find ourselves at the end of the fiscal year with a shortfall in foundation, corporate, and private donations. It is imperative that we raise $150,000 between now and June 30 to maintain our current level of services. Funds raised will help homeless men and women get and maintain housing and provide essential health and supportive services for them to thrive.

 

I believe in Lamp Community and the important work we’re doing to help homeless people with a severe mental illness in Los Angeles, many of whom were homeless for as long as a decade before coming to Lamp Community.

 

Please help! I’m asking you to contribute any amount you can in the next two weeks to help ensure Lamp Community can continue uninterrupted service and to fill the gap between the end of the fiscal year and the time grant monies will be received.

 

There are three ways you can donate:

 

1)     Donate online at: www.lampcommunity.org.  There is a link of the homepage to donate, or you can click directly on this link to the secure donation web site: https://www.givedirect.org/give/givefrm.asp?Action=GC&CID=1283

All donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law.

 

2)     Send a personal check payable to:
Lamp Community
Attn: Development
527 Crocker Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013

 

3)     Call Lamp Community’s Development Director, Joshua Schare, at 213-488-0879 with your credit card number and the amount you’d like to donate.

 

Thank you for considering this urgent appeal. I wouldn’t be sending you this request if I didn’t whole-heartedly believe in the work we do at Lamp Community – and if there wasn’t an urgent need for help. Please don’t wait, we need your help today!

 

Thank you.

 

P.S.  Please forward this e-mail to any of your contacts who might be willing to help Lamp Community during this time.

Pam worked at Lamp as a receptionist and she was a member.

 

 I remembered what it was that I want to tell you every morning when I drive to work.

You can tell the regulars in Skid Row by the way they drive. People who routinely drive down Alameda and 6th swerve like drunk drivers.

we are so used to them, and the uncomfortable plunk thunk of our cars toddling through them

photo by opentopia

that we learn to swerve around them , reading the asphalt like Braille. We never honk when the car coming from the opposite direction is suddenly coming at us head on, because we know that 50 feet back we were on his side of the avenue going round another pot hole - and we know the on-coming car will move before we crash.

It is official, I ordered the "I'm Blogging This" shirt from thinkgeek.com.
I FINALLY got around to sharing my Blogging mission with my supervisor and *whew* she thought it was a great and really cool idea. So what am I talking about?

I am on a bit of a mission to get chronically homeless, mentally ill adults up and on the web. I want to offer them the chance to become computer literate and internet friendly. I could tell you why, but how long do you have? In Short, I believe computer skills are Life Skills that give you independence and I hope that from reading stories about the people I know- readers will see Homeless people as People who are Homeless.

So . . . How do I do this? hmmmm

 
Can you think anything more fun than a web page all about yourself; spaces to show off pictures, talk to your friends and family, give updates on your life and just publish your thoughts? I sure can't! (so maybe that is why I have a Spaces, MySpace and Blogger account?!!?!?)

I was worried that the idea would not be embraced, but I was wrong!

The good people at Microsoft (Michael Coates) and MSN pointed me to Spaces.msn.com and sent me 20 books to teach from.  How AWESOME!!!!! I work at Lamp Community on Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles. Lamp is incredibly client focused and gives me access to thousands of men and women who receive services here. It is important that you know the pages made here are really the creation of the page makers and reflect their stories and personal views only. No one will tell them what to say and what they say is not a reflection of anyone else.

 

Currently, I work on this during lunch, after work and on the weekends as my personal project, but I hope that in next fiscal year I will be able to work it into my job description. I am crossing my fingers for continued support and greater things to come.

If you look, you will see my page is linked to once called HomelessLA and right now that is my hub for linking other pages. I have a flow plan in mind but I need more pages to really implement it.

Here are some of my starting Bloggers.

GabyWesley
Samir
Renee

Everyday as I drive in to work I think . . .
so here I am at the Laptop and Spaces is open
and sure enough
I don't know what I wanted to say

and it IS important and fascinating ( atleast to me)
but . . . alas
I don't remember what it is. Sorry

Anne, my friend from work left yesterday.
Her good-bye party was at Mexican Village in Silver Lake. Of course I got lost, but I think Los Angeles is a beautiful place so it was delightful. Here are some of the sights.

One of the little things that tourist don;t know is that Ceasar Chavez  turns into Sunset Blvd. "I'm ready for my close up . . . " *note to self, see that movie.

okay,  this would just get me fired . . . .

I want this t-shirt

from Thinkgeek.com

Pardon my complaining - I just need to vent.

I love where I work , but could people please learn to keep their hands to themselves.

"Ouch, I have a sunburn" is NOT NOT an invitation to pull my shirt down and poke me! aaarrgghhh! ya know?

Good madness, but hectic all the same.

the Member computer was broken by Tuesday Morning and I said they would have to wait until I was done with year end reports before I have time to fix it. I am planning to have actual fun this weekend and not volunteer my time here.

Instead I will be fixing my garden and doing Mommy things.If you have read my daughter's subtle remarks, you know this is a welcome change of pace.

The fun part of the week consisted of the Building a Healthier Community activities. It is like a steering committee and no matter how often I try to escape it, I am put back in the committee. I like to think it is because I am alot of fun. I am sure it is really because I rarely say No and when I do, people ignore me anyway.

Thursday we had a Karaoke event at The Lodge. About 50 people came and sang. It was very hot, so the popsicles and soda were a welcome treat.

The first photo is Roland setting up the equipment form the inside of the building. I think the picture makes him look like a worm comming out of an apple.

The second picture would be the committee setting up a shade tent.

Red is showing off on San Pedro street

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in case you can see the video ( it shows in Preview mode but not after I publish it) here is the link to Red

There are many of things I can take in stride, however roaches seem to be my weakness. I came in to retun the van keys ( I drove people and art to the Venice Art Walk), and thought I would grab something from my office.

Eww eww eww eww. Dead roach in the middle of my floor. Giant dear roach. Nasty.

I am grateful that I do not have to live on the streets or anywhere else where I am out-numbered by roaches!

I am the scary kind of calm your parents used to get before they grounded you for the summer. I am the restrained kind of calm that is like plastic wrap keeping my anxiety in.

Before I walked 4 steps into the building, 4 people started to tell me about the computers.
I set up 2 dell computers, good computers, light years better than their old computers, for anyone to use. It seems that someone did use them, as sinks, Coffee was poured into both monitors and then someone turned them on this morning so the "wire fry" stench reached out to capture me before I even got close to the machines

Breathe Sonya, breathe.

I am not mad, I am not even shocked; just wierded out. Everyting was going well, the porn was off the computers, people were starting to write more, some men had found their families . . . . and now this.

I went to Daily Planning and told them that I was not replacing the monitors until someone told me what they poured into the machines. I reminded them that I volunteer with them to teach them how to use the computers, and that I don't have time to fix this for them right now.

Yes, it is unfortunate for those people who used the computers and are on restriction - so they can't get to the library, but, what can I do?

This is Wall Street and 5th in Los Angeles. To me, this is the North border of Skid Row.  On the right, the mosaic is thew outside wall of the Central Station for the L.A.P.D..  Above the treetops, the business and banking buildings loom , just streets away.

Incidentally, if I ever die in a car accident, it will be because I have driven the wrong way on 6th street - again!

My office has few rules for visitors, but 2 of them are:

---

2. If you can not smile, it is okay. If you want to tell me about it: you have to face it, deal with it, or at least tell me what you think your options are.. This is a No Drama Zone.

---

It is May in LA and spring is inthe air. From where I sit I can hear all the sounds of the street.Occasionally I hear the clatter of shopping cart wheels and a wailing siren rushing down the street. Everyday hear the cat calls, the shouts, threats, laughter, and conversations of the people on San Pedro. Sometimes I wander out to visit. Other times I knock on the glass window and ask them to turn their music down.

We have many things in common, the residents of the street and I. We have many things that seperate us - taste in music is just the beginning,

Where I work, we serve Chonically Homeless, mentally ill, and often Dual or multi-diagnosed adults. My camera is always with me, so I expect to fill up my space at Spaces.msn.com with photographs. Yes, I have release forms from my subjects.

My fan is on and the sound of of the blades spinning is drumming out the street noises, but it is also dulling my ability to focus and I have so much to do today. It iis Spring, which means it is almost the end of the fiscal year and I have reports, reports, reports to do.

I have attached pictures of the streets beyone my window.