I’d rather have the elderly get it than a bunch of freeloading people who refuse to work.
Yeah, I said that.
My former neighbor, who had a bunch of kids and whose husband was killed in a robbery when they were all small. Made it to her senior years with virtually no money. I was okay with her being on food stamps. Not many others.
I agree and I am sympathetic to the couple profiled in this article. However, if these were my parents, I would insist they live with me and my family and I’d move to a cheaper town if that’s what we had to do to get more room. Children love their grandparents and grandparents even contribute economically to a family by babysitting and freeing up both parents to work longer hours (if need be).
No way in hell would I let my parents be profiled in this type of article.
And I'll echo it. I went thru the slide show at the posted website and all the pics were of elderly people. There are resources out there but these people are not aware of them and likely have no family to help them and like the lady said, some are too proud to even ask.
I play senior softball here outside of Detroit and guys are getting together to play pick up ball. There is one semi-crazy guy we call Jimmie the Cab Driver who falls in the above category.
Last fall he took a bus for Texas to live with his niece. He was just kicked out so he came back here the only people he knows are us softball players.
He's a Vietnam vet whose total monthly income is only about $735.00. About $580 from social security and another $150. from his military disability. One of the guys picked him up at the Detroit bus station and found a cheap motel room for him for a couple days till his money ran out.
Then they found a church for him to stay in at night for a couple more days......Meanwhile another guy was callin everywhere trying to get help for Jimmie, the VA, the Vietnam Veterans Assn., the state of Michigan, on and on and on......
We succeeded in getting him on a list with the VA for housing but they said it might take anywhere from 6 months to a year. We got him applied for a Bridge card which will get him more money for food each month and the state or VA will also give him more money.
Meanwhile, it all came to a head when he showed up at the park last Friday while we were playing. He had run out of money and had to leave the motel we had found for him so he walked to a nearby coney island for the evening until it closed then he walked over to the park where we play ball and slept under a picnic table that night....After we found that out on Friday, another one of the guys stepped in to help. From what I've heard since then, we got Jimmy a place to stay with the Salvation Army in downtown Detroit but we don't know how long they will keep him.
It's a long story and just gets more complicated so I guess the point I'm trying to make is that yes, there are elderly people in need whose life circumstances were far different than ours and there are more than anyone can imagine.
Knowing Jimmy the Cab Driver for the past few years, I think I've gained some insight into how the homeless street people think.
Jimmy has no posessions whatsoever except a few clothes in a handbag and his softball glove. All he lives for now is to play softball, it doesn't matter to him if he eats or not or has a room to sleep in which is evidenced by his willingness to sleep under a picnic table in the cold. He asks for nothing and wants for nothing. As long as he can play softball he is happy............but he's a pain in the ass to the rest of us.