Skip to main content

Sac County to abandon Mather progams to VOA

The Bee gives us the bad news this morning that the county is set to throw in the towel and hand its homeless programs at Mather over to the Christian-faith-based organization Volunteers of America for Greater Sacramento.

Horrors.

Homeless people who have nothing or next to nothing should be, at very least, under some protection from the government.

Instead, the county intends to pass the buck and put homeless folk fully under the whip of VOA, the organization that ran the Concentration Camp at Cal Expo ― known as Overflow ― during winter seasons in years past.

VOA (along with Loaves & Fishes) is a central Sacramento homeless-help organization that follows a philosophy of "warehousing the rabble" as opposed to helping homeless folk become more responsible and, then, opening up our world to opportunities and, possibly, eventually, real happiness.

VOA pays its national CEO/President an obscene salary, in excess of $300,000, and, locally, has many salaried employees working solely for the purpose of polishing the organization's image.  [VOA ― to its credit ― does have a four-star (highest) rating at Charity Navigator, but it should be noted that Charity Navigator, a conservative organization, promotes charities as businesses and does not deduct, for ratings purposes, for an org paying huge salaries, as I certainly think it should!  See Charity Navigator's 2009 CEO Compensation Study.]

VOA is a failed organization that properly had county programs taken away from it a year or so ago.  Now, because it's there raising money and has employees to feed, it will be thrown a big, meaty bone by the county, at the expense - I dare say, I must say - of homeless people's future livelihoods and lives.

The county has responsibilities toward its citizens that it should not be allowed to farm out to an essentially-private organization that, weirdly, overpays employees while expecting gullible retirees and others in our community to volunteer their time.

The usual suspect homeless-help organizations in Sacramento always keep their market share of the business of running homeless people around in circles.  It is an ongoing tragedy.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

More obstacles revealed in effort to make Mather cottages habitable

Mold, asbestos and lead paint, oh my! The 35 cottages out at Mather Community Campus seem closer to being condemned today than ever again being inhabited. But the expectation that some of the cottages can and will be restored to house homeless families before spring abides. A report in the Sacramento Bee tells us ... Some [of the cottages] have extensive mold, a county analysis showed. It's not clear how the county planned to deal with lead paint and asbestos, [Rancho Cordova] Councilwoman Linda Budge said. Still, hope of getting some of the cottages in shape such that homeless families can move in is in play, though not before New Year's day.  Word of where the money might come from to make needed restorations has not been forthcoming, though it is known that the Winter Shelter Task Force hopes to hold a fundraiser to boost the pool of funds to meet the need to keep homeless people warm and safe. At the end of October, placing families, totalling 105 individuals, was

Ron Russell and Summerhills Realty

Readers of this blog should be aware that I am receiving some information that Summerhills Realty and someone named Ron E. Russell is using this blog as a reference in an effort to scam homeless people.  Be aware that Mr. Russell and his business is cited as a possible perpetrator of fraud by a website called Ripoff Report .  See this webpage .  Also, there is this claim of fraud against Ron Russell Properties at the website BizClaims - Latest scams, frauds and complaints . Please be aware that the information of being 'ripped off'' may be coming from only one source is coming from multiple sources, with perhaps as many as twelve persons/couples now pursuing legal action after paying thousands of dollars for services and receiving none of the services that were promised/contracted. While I know neither Mr. Russell nor Summerhills, I do know that an inordinate number of “in links” from readers of this blog have come via summerhillsrealestate.com for quite some time.  I

In an act of Collective Punishment, Loaves & Fishes closes its park in the morning on New Year’s Day

Calvin [a "green hat" in Unfriendly Park] makes the argument for continued incompetent management. Hobbes represents me — only, in real life, I don't have that good a coat . In an act of Collective Punishment, Loaves & Fishes closes its park in the morning on New Year’s Day In one respect — and only one — that I can think of, Loaves & Fishes is NOT hypocritical: The management hates the way America is run and wants to turn it into a backward communist country . Consistent with that, Loaves & Fishes’ management runs its facility like a backward communist country. The People’s Republic of Loaves & Fishes. A seemingly minor thing happened on New Year’s Day. A couple of people smoked a joint in Loaves & Fishes’ Friendship Park and one of the park directors, or both of them, determined, at about 10am, that, in retribution, they would punish all the homeless there by closing the park for the day. This is something the managers of the park do all the