Posted on 04/22/2006 3:06:19 PM PDT by BeAllYouCanBe
Will Rice enjoyed the first massage of his life Friday -- so much so that his eyes were closed, and he was oblivious to the world around him for the first time in ages. "It's beautiful. It's necessary. I mean, this is cool," Rice, 58, said, relaxing in a massage chair more commonly seen in a tony spa as Barbara Lytle, a therapeutic masseuse, worked her magic.
It wasn't a fancy spa, but the more pedestrian St. Vincent de Paul Community Center on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland, where Rice and scores of other homeless men and women got some help at Project Homeless Connect, a one-stop fair providing 42 services ranging from massages to dental care to drug- and alcohol-addiction programs. There was a table for the folks from Alcoholics Anonymous, another where people could sign up for food stamps and another where homeless veterans could find a helping hand. There also was a walk-up version of Alameda County's innovative Homeless/Caring Court in which Superior Court Judge Gordon Baranco helped people clear their criminal records of minor offenses. They even had secure shopping cart parking. The idea is to help cut through the red tape that often overwhelms many of the 3,500 homeless people in Oakland, which has the largest population of homeless people in the East Bay.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Sorry, all I forgot to mention the secure shopping cart parking.
Massage for homeless people? WTF?
Yes, I get your point. Why has it taken so long for this capitalist society to finally become humane?
Soon workers everywhere will have massages paid for by the government. Your evil notions of "paying for services" are obsolete.
I suspect that if you cancelled all of the homeless programs, the total money saved in one year would buy each homeless person a home.
What happened to cell phones?
There should be cell phones available to our homeless to communicate to other "fellow travelers".
I think that you are well meaning but you missed the point totally!!
If you provided them with a home then they wouldn't be homeless any longer.
The money is not the issue here it is the intention.
hundreds.
Rub-The-Homeless Ping!
How would you handle giving away cash if you didn't have bureaucracies to help with the distribution?
In order for children to learn to accept handouts they must learn early.
I feel like people here at FR don't have any hearts!!
Homeless Ping
You maybe aware that homeless people don't have computers so not many will "PING-IN" here!!
Given that we have free schools, how about we fire the beaurocrats, can the paperwork, and just feed the kids?
"If...you're...go...ing...to...San...Fran...cisco,
"Be...sure...to wear...Nox...ema...in...your...nose,
"All...over...town...bums...are...pis...sing,
"Summer...time...will...be a sewer hose..."
I have seen a few homeless people with working lap tops.
I get your point. Free Love!!
We feed everybody's kids -- just go and plot them out and we'll take care of them.
This is just like Hillery wants it.
Yes, computers are getting cheap.
We must have this as a new right!
So long as they get rubbed.
I think the crime is the money spent on the beaurocrats, not the money spent to feed the kids.
I have to fill out some stupid form each year, asserting that my kids are not eligible for free lunches - then hundreds of federal employees have to process it.
We could save billions, by just feeding the kids. It would be a lot cheaper.
"Congress created the NSLP after an investigation into the health of young men rejected in the World War II draft showed a connection between physical deficiencies and childhood malnutrition. In response, Congress enacted the 1946 National School Lunch Act as a "measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation's children."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.