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| Proposed new logo for L&F after name change to "Loaf & Gone Fishing." | |
Friendship Park when I went to it, today, shortly after 1:00 PM was closed. This after being told yesterday, when to my surprise, I found the park open at about noon, that the scheduled three-day-close was cancelled.
On Monday, yesterday, in the afternoon, I spoke with Garren, who runs the park, who told me the three-day close was cancelled because of the rain thing. You see, rain is, supposedly, a reason not to close because one wants Friendship Park to be open to aid the homeless on miserable rain-swept days.
But on Monday, Natasha told me the closure of the park for spring cleaning was cancelled, for the time being, because rain impeded cleaning and painting in the park.
Last week, there was no reason to think that Friendship Park would be closed before, maybe, Memorial Day or the day following. Yet, suddenly notices at the Info kiosk said it was to close Monday Tuesday and Wednesday of this week even though Friendship Park had been closed for three days about a month ago and we were told that employees used that time to clean.
When I was there on Tuesday, Rod was in the cul-de-sac picking up litter. The gate was closed and locked. He told me they notified the denizens over the loudspeaker of the closure. That same day. Over a loudspeaker that no one can understand unless one is standing within a few yards of the damn sound-distorting speakers.
When Loaves & Fishes is having a rally, they put up a banner in the park. When Loaves & Fishes wants people to turn out for a hearing regarding a summary motion downtown, they distribute flyers and close the park – as if pressuring a judge with high attendance of homeless people in his courtroom would sway the outcome favorably. As if a capable judge can be/should be swayed by popular opinion. As if this isn't just another Sister Libby vanity thing.
Loaves & Fishes continues to fail to notify those it serves the times when its services are available and when they will not be made available.
If Loaves & Fishes was a business, it would be out of business. If its donors knew how badly and incompassionately Loaves & Fishes was run, it would be out of business.
Comments
Failure to keep homeless people apprised of hours open for business is a major shortcoming for a so-called homeless-help charity, like Loaves & Fishes. People walk miles to get to L&F and the same distance on their return trip home or to their campsite.
It is disgraceful how little Loaves & Fishes provides for the approx $5 million they receive in donations each year. I would bet that most donors to the charity would be appalled by any analysis of how little is done for the good of homeless people by the massive pile of money the organization receives.
Highly curious that you should describe an effort to provide the 'truth of things' to the public an act of whining, when, indeed, Loaves & Fishes is the whiniest organization I could imagine. They protest continually for aid from the city, when they do so little of they give themselves as their task: to feed and shelter the homeless.