Three Ideas

There are several eager efforts afoot to try to add shelter in the county for what many see as a burgeoning population of homeless people that are living on the streets.

Here are three ideas of things that could be done to aid in the transitioning of homeless people from the street to either a shelter bed for something more optimal (like housing!)

IDEA # 1: A good many homeless men and women in Sac County and City are overweight. Something they might be able to do for themselves as a prelude to a great and glorious life that is more-wholesome, normal and ordinary and untroubled could be to Resist Diabetes.

The short article, at left, comes from the May, 2017, issue of Nutrition Action Healthletter.

It suggests that it can be of great benefit if prediabetes people get into a program of strength training to avoid diabetes.

We should encourage people to GET EXCITED about the idea of getting housing and a new, rebooted life. Being stronger (and perhaps thinner and healthier) could add greatly to people's optimism.

I am thinking that some sort of Fund-Me drive might make a program for prediabetes homeless people possible.

IDEA #2:   In the last minutes of the podcast Up First, episode for Tuesday, May 9, 2017  -- fast forward to 7:35 into the podcast, thus to hear the last 4:15 -- there is a discussion of fraud, theft and failure with $8 Billion that is called The Low Income Tax Credit Program that is supposed to be used to build housing for the poor. In its beginning it was a great and mostly successful plan that aided developers in creating low-rent apartments. NOW, 30 years after the program was started, it has been found that the investors and developers are winning with this program, to the detriment of low-income people Nowadays, the program is described as a "Subterranean ATM" that only the thieving developers have access to.

Can this program that has been undermined by graft get the attention of the City or State pols such that it can be forced to do what The Low Income Tax Credit Program was set up to do?? More apartments for low-income people would, of course, be a Godsend for families AND for Sacramento with its burgeoning population of poor folks having to live on the streets.

IDEA #3: In Brooklyn, New York, a group of homeless people banded together, somehow, led by an amazing, enterprising fellow named Ray, a passionate Christian. The many people in the group found a house that they could rent in Brooklyn -- that would be called 3Sixty House. And since many of them were very artistic -- indeed it was their artistry that bonded them -- they began to design and silk-screen T-shirts.

Oops, I forgot something else that bonded the group together: They were all passionate Christians.

The business that was created was named Grateful Apparel. It is an AMAZING business that makes spectacular, wonderful, delightful creations, dedicated to God. And today, nine years after its founding in 2008, it makes a very fine collection of t-shirts, hoodies, jackets, headgear, accessories, skateboards and more!

I was rendered homeless in 2008 and, somehow, almost immediately, I became aware of Grateful Apparel because, at that time, my thinking about what homeless people in Sacramento needed was JOBS, JOBS, JOBS.

Now, I cannot say that I think Sacramento could be so very amazing that it could expect to duplicate Grateful Apparel's genius and high level of artistry. But there are people in Sac who have amazing skills that they are not utilizing, all because they are stuck in "the Goldfish Bowl."

"The Goldfish Bowl" is how some homeless people I've known have described the homeless life -- in that it is day after day after day swimming in circles. You go from your shelter; to lunch; to the library; to the park and then back to your shelter -- with nothing changing.

One idea in how to help homeless people could be to assess their skills and then, from that, help them find a means to make money from what is their passion.

It is little known, but there are many incredibly brilliant men and women living the homeless life in Sacramento. Let us help them bloom to become yet better manifestations of the amazing people they are already!