Posted on 06/09/2016 7:13:29 AM PDT by mainestategop
The following is the testimony of one David Campos, a former member of Share Wheel who witnessed first hand, discrimination, theft, fraud and other problems in SHARE
My name is David Campos, I am a former member of SHARE. I was in Share from 2010 to 2012. I became homeless after I was laid off from work and my job got outsourced to China. I was able to get a part time job to help myself but it wasn't enough.
I joined Share in 2010. I liked the place, it was laid back, everyone kept to themselves there were just a few rules to follow and it was all good. Overtime you had people come in who were jerks, who were addicts, who were psycho, who were just mean people.
I first stayed at All saints cathedral which was an Lutheran church I think, it was near Rainier Beach which is the hood in Seattle. The church itself was actually more in Columbia City I think which isn't as bad. The people at our church weren't bad either at first but more and more people who were hardcore bums came in.
The shelters are run by an EC. I don't remember what that means but its a member of the shelter who is chosen to run the place in elections. Our EC was a crazy old guy who always wanted to have the last word. He would have fits and yell at people for whatever reason no matter how stupid or trivial. To make things worse he wouldn't take responsibility for his own actions.
Our shelter had to be closed on some occasions because people didn't want to do chores or because the EC, the old guy or another idiot wouldn't do his or her job right and got the supervisors on us. All Saints got shut down completely because of a 5 person brawl that the pastor had to break up, it was started by two couples, all of them mentally ill, all of them addicts and they were always provoking incidents at the shelter. Eventually All Saints kicked the homeless out after one of the residents broke into the church to rob it.
The church cancelled its contract with Share. Why they didn't do this sooner I don't know. By this time I was in another church shelter run by Share, Woodland Park. The shelter was run by these three idiots named Tim, John and Scott. Tim, the EC was a skin head who always acted like a dick. He would make fun of everyone and call them names and then tell them to go to hell. He always tried to provoke fights with other shelter guests and egg them on to attack him so he would permanently bar them.
On a couple of occasions I saw it happen. Tim made fun of one of the guests, calling him names like a wuss, a pussy and a crybaby and he would talk about people's mothers. This guy he made fun got wound up and smashed a plate in the kitchen then broke a window and shouted something at Tim then walked out of the shelter with his stuff. The second time it happened he provoked a man outside at night and he took a swing at him He got a shiner. To make things worse the man who hit him was drunk but he seemed to enjoy it.
Scott alternated with Tim as EC or AC. He was a redneck who hated minorities and gays. One time we had a man who was kinda gay with a lisp and all, we said nothing at first but then Scott would ridicule him and say anti-gay slurs while he was in the same room. He later outed him and had him banned from the shelter just for being gay. I said nothing because I was a afraid of losing my bed. I should have.
John is another person who usually helps out as EC or AC. He's a veteran I think. I know he was in the military and he's old and cranky. He's also strict. Mess up once in the smallest way and you lose your bed. Miss a chore that didn't matter, you were barred for good. Forget to pick up after yourself and leave so much as a couple of crumbs, OUT! If you have alcohol in your breath or if he thinks its alcohol you're out!
I later got kicked out for missing a chore and showing up with beer in my breath then getting into it with Tim and Scott. I got permanently bared from there I think. But I'm not an alcoholic. I just on occasion have a beer with my friends. See, I sometimes drink with friends when were together. I'm not an alcoholic I'm more of a social drinker but I guess peer pressure is a weakness for me so I let myself go and showed up drunk, pissed and fed up with both their bulls**t. Its my fault yes but it was worth it.
I went to Maple Leaf shelter next which was a big mistake. Maple leaf is at Maple Leaf baptist church in North Seattle. The shelter was on hinges and the shelter was closed several times because either they didn't do their chores or they found booze bottles on the street or in the dumpster or somewhere else. The ECs either didn't give a damn or didn't know what they were doing.
Well I stayed there for awhile and things seemed to get better but then I got into a fight on the bus with this crazy dude when we were on the way there. To make things worse I had two or three beers with friends an hour before so that made me a target for the EC. It was this nut job on our bus, not from our shelter just some jerk, he got physical so I hit him with my umbrella. I got kicked off the bus for it and they all went on this guys side even though he started it, was psycho and violent and just because i had alcohol in my breath.
When I got to the shelter on the next bus, they blamed me for the fight and said I made the shelter look bad because of it. They also ran me down for being under the influence. The shelter voted to evict me and I spent the night outside. Again, I admit its all my fault in some ways for drinking but I'm sure if I had been completely sober the bastards would've still sided against me.
Before getting my place I went to St John's lutheran church. They had a share shelter unfortunately one week after I arrived John screened in from Woodland park after they had enough of his BS and he later became EC. He announced that SHARE had permanently bared me for the fight on the bus and for being intoxicated even though I only had three beers and the other guy started it. He had me evicted that night and I was out on the streets again. I didn't even know I had been barred from all the shelters.
That was my last time in SHARE/WHEEL. I later got a full time job and a place of my own outside Seattle where I still am and happy. Now and again I have a beer with my buddies but I try to cut back so it doesn't become a problem. I'd say if there's anything positive SHARE did for me it was that I don't drink as often out of fear that having beer breath would make me a target but I don't think they should get any money from the city. They're racist, homophobic, the people in charge are all jerks and if you so much as sneeze the wrong way you're in trouble. I don't think our taxes should go to that.
Well that's it. I just want to also add that there are other shelters in Seattle, I think they should get the taxes not these morons.
This has been a testimony from David Campos, former Share member and formerly homeless in Seattle.
Seems to me that some of the money would be well spent to hire professional social workers with no mental health issues to run these places.
At the core of most bum problems are addiction and mental illness.
Both can be treated, but it takes effort.
Bums do not want to make the effort.
And that there is the crux.
My brother was a heroin addict. I helped get him clean. I paid for his (expensive for a poor 26 yr old) rehab and went with him to AA meetings - you can’t just drop those types off at the door and pick them up an hour later, oh no.
Anyway, the founder of his rehab place in San Mateo CA, “P90” I think was called, was robbed and stabbed to death by one of the clients. I did not know the guy but he helped get my brother and many, many other people off hard drugs. He was killed by a bum.
Maurice Newhope and two other guys who infiltrated SHARE with me last year told me of a place in Seattle called the Recovery Cafe. Its in a historic landmark couple blocks from Whole foods and near the convention center. Very good! They serve buffet style lunches, tea, coffee and provide counseling and support for addicts mostly homeless. They are more effective I'm told than the government even the local Mission. I don't know if its because of the all you can eat lunch buffet or because the people who run it. They are spectacular people there.
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