We asked for your assistance in finding a solution to homelessness and hunger. We also asked for your truth. And, we got it – thank you!

From personal encounters with those on the street to the mind chatter and questions that live inside our heads, we learn from each other’s struggle and reactions. We learn about our own humanity. We learn that we are more alike than different. And, we learn to see, feel and give with our hearts. Everything we do matters.

Huge heartfelt thanks and appreciation go out to those who took the time to share their thoughts and reactions, several of which are being shared in this issue with permission.

From Jan Allen

Dear Kelly,

Thanks for the story in the newsletter. As I read it, I thought of many of my own encounters over the years with the homeless.

When I lived in NY City I never left home with out plenty of change in my pockets to disperse all along the way.

In my earlier years of floundering and wandering across America, I often only had a dollar or two in my pocket. I wrote short stories of my encounters with my fellow wanderers.

I found a few remains of burnt pages from journals and short stories that I pulled from the ashes from my studio fire, so I am fresh with those memories.

I however always felt that I could call home (wherever and whom ever that might mean) and get bus fare to return. Many times I was down to my last dollar, and you realize that a buck doesn’t buy much. I remember in those days that a pack of cigarettes only cost about a dollar, and you could get a six-pack of beer for five. When walking alone in the world, sleeping under your overcoat on floors of bus and train stations, writing down my impressions, I felt camaraderie with Kerouac. A one dollar investment for a pack of cigarettes equaled about ten social encounters. A six pack was a party! Sometimes food for the soul feeds one more than a candy bar from a vending machine. I no longer smoke, or travel without a credit card, or hitch hike alone. However, I still connect with those of a broken spirit wherever I find them, and do my best to leaving us both feeling a little richer…one way or another.

I am attaching a piece from my friend Larry, whom I went to Vermont College with. He has created these beautiful bronze statues about a foot in height that he distributes to people who participate in the Grown Man Naked project.

His other work generally takes the form of video documentation of community interactions that he performs. In one video, he steps into a bagel shop men’s room, comes out dressed as Superman. He goes about escorting elderly people across a busy traffic intersection. In another, he has provided waiters in black pants, ties and white shirts to serve people snacks and drinks at bus stops. He has decorated the stops with valances and café curtains, and provided music as well.

One of my favorites is his Free Advice table. He engages with ALL KINDS of people who come to sit at his table and talk about their problems. Generally, he offers no advice, only keeps the conversation going until the person comes to a place of solving their own problems through the course of the dialogue.

Kelly, I hope you find peace in your own belly, the kind of peace that all the money in the world can’t buy, and that all of the food in the world can’t fill. Perhaps we can all present a Peace Offering from that place of being…from that center of being. I find that for me, operating from a place of guilt in the center, only feeds more guilt and carves an endless pit in my gut. There is always more to be done, never enough equity, etc. We do what we can in any given moment. Your starting these conversations offers a big helping hand at addressing the problems. I guess I believe that energy transcends all. By that I mean that if we were all in the same boat, what could we offer that would make a difference? What acts of caring kindness could we offer that would feed the soul when the belly is empty?

Love, Jan Allen

What is the Grown Man Naked Project?

Grown Man Naked Project is an effort to encourage a connection between two disparate communities; the art patron and the homeless community. Because the project works upon the principal of gift giving, the figurines are not for sale. If you are interested in accessing a Grown Man Naked Figurine, these are the steps you must take to attain them.

1. Recognize that your city has a homeless community, and go into it.

2. Talk with a homeless person.

3. Offer a gift or exchange. You might: share a meal with them, offer some other meaningful exchange such as a cigarette or just chatting.

4. Sit down with the homeless person and talk to them. Find out how they became homeless, for how long, why? Find out some things about them as a person that has nothing to do with their homelessness. Hand write that story on a piece of paper.

5. Shake their hand and thank them.

6. Bring back the story to the artist.

7. Take home the Grown Man Naked figurine.

8. Be aware the real gift of this project is connection between people. A gift that stops giving becomes a simple possession. One suggestion to continue the life of the gift: offer the same experience to someone else and use your figurine as a gift that keeps giving.

From Lisa Krueger

Wow. What a compelling piece. I felt like you had been inside my head monitoring my thoughts over the years that I have lived in Chicago. I asked Annie (my sister) when she was here if there is a homelessness problem in Flint. She said there is but it isn’t seen like it is here in Chicago. What do I do? I try to do what you do, look them in the eye to acknowledge that I have seen them. I accompany that with a look of sympathy and a smile if I can muster it up but I do not give money. I realized early on that if I gave money to each homeless person who asked I’d be in the same position as they were. Besides, then I hear stories of “scams” where these people really aren’t homeless and/or use the money for drugs and liquor and the skepticism grew and the doubts came up and I decided that I didn’t want to use my hard earned money to possibly contribute to that.

My volunteerism has always focused on time spent with kids in the hope that maybe my involvement/interaction would help interrupt the cycle. My charitable donations tend to go that way, too.

I don’t actually have any answers but would be very interested in learning what feedback you get back.

Lisa

From Quin

One of the biggest barriers for me to give money to people who approach me on the street is me not wanting to be defrauded. Until I moved to the Chicago area, I had not experienced people asking me for money on almost a daily basis. Fairly quickly I feel I was able to start to identify the scams. Since I acted in and directed a number of plays, I started to realize that many of the people asking me for money were just good performers who had developed successful scripts and costumes and performed at the right location and the opportune time. Apparently they were good at reading marks too.

The guys dressed like a commuter who lost his wallet or left it home or at the office who needed money to buy a ticket home. The guys who ran out of gas (carrying a gas can sometimes) who needed money to buy gas. Early on I actually believed a guy with the gas can scam, gave him way more than he asked for and gave him all my information so he could reimburse me for the money I gave him. A minute or so after I gave him the money something didn’t seem right. He wasn’t walking toward where the cars were or the gas stations were located and he didn’t ask me to drive him to the pump to fill the gas can, etc. So I started walking after him and called to him. He took one look at me and took off running with his empty gas can in hand. I never saw him or my money again.

Then the TV stations and some magazines ran exposes on some “beggars” who made significant amounts of money, drove nice cars, etc. Begging was their talent so to speak. And, they did well at it.

There was a woman and two children who formed themselves into the same tableau asking for money several times a week in a break on the stairway going down to the subway in the old First Chicago building. It all felt like a staged event to me and I doubted whether the children were her’s. They felt more like “rent a child” children.

Thus I became a complete skeptic about the motives of people asking me for money on the street. Either I felt certain the people asking for money were lying about their need or I felt I had no way of knowing whether they were going to use the money for food or coffee to feed themselves or their family rather than buy liquor or drugs. I give substantial sums of money and time to social service agencies who serve the poor and homeless. They are set up to make the best use of the money so it can help those truly in need rather than the scam artists who are preying on our desire to help our fellow man.

With all that being said, I know there are people begging on the street who truly could use the help. They don’t interact with the organized private and governmental support systems. I would like to help those people but I haven’t been able to get over my wariness and skepticism. However, this last winter on a very cold and windy Sunday I was walking in the alley next to my office building. I was heading east to Borders. There are bays where cars and trucks can pull in from the alley and drop off things at the back doors of the various businesses. They weren’t open on Sunday but two homeless guys had ducked into separate spots along the alley to get out of the bitter cold wind and were drinking what appeared to be alcohol from bottles wrapped in brown bags. They never said anything to me. But I concluded they could use some food so I bought some hamburgers from McDonalds on the way back to the office and kept them warm inside my jacket for those guys but when I got back to the alley they both had gone. So, I obviously lost my skepticism with those two men and tried to personalize my help. Maybe it was because they weren’t asking for anything. I could just tell by looking at them, that their clothes weren’t warm enough and if I gave them money they would drink it. They weren’t pretending anything so I guess that stimulated me to try to do something for them but I haven’t followed up with that idea.

I am in awe of Kelly thinking of ways to come up with a system to help people in need who have fallen through the cracks. I would be glad to think through approaches to addressing this problem with Kelly and others. Kelly’s coupon approach sounds like a private version of food stamps. Fraud has been rampant in that system. But it doesn’t mean that the private coupon system wouldn’t work. And then how to do it without having to have another massive bureaucracy in place to create, administer and monitor it.

I would love to hear more about this. Unfortunately, I have not been able to add much to the solution but I would be willing to participate in the dialogue.

Quin

From Joy

I am writing in response to the last newsletter. I have internally struggled with this issue in the past. I am now clear about my choice to not give money to people that ask for it on the street. Before I became clear about my choice I felt if I gave money I would be enabling what ever habit they had, I realized that was a judgment on my part and unfair. I have volunteered at enough shelters and homeless facilities to know that if a person wants help, it is available. Shelters in Boston even go out every night in search of people to offer shelter to. Often times the people take the food and refuse the bed. Granted there are people that have disabilities that may not have the ability to find assistance. Not in all cases but in most I believe a homeless person that has remained homeless for a long period of time has made an unconscious choice. They may not be aware that they have another choice. Honestly, I don’t have a solution. I can’t make that choice for them. Now when I pass a homeless person or a person asking for money I mentally wish them well.

Sincerely,

Joy Cumming

From Darris

I am the mother of a 10 year old boy. Last year on a cold night, my fiancé, my son and I found a homeless man huddled in a torn sleeping bag outside of a thrift store. He did not ask us for money but it was clear he could use some help. Together we decided we wanted to do something for him so we went to a fast food chain within walking distance and purchased $30 in food coupons. We went back to the man and engaged him in conversation. Dale turned out to be a remarkable person with an interesting life story. He still found everything to celebrate in life in spite of his dire circumstances. When we gave him the food coupons he was very appreciative. He sought to give us something back – we told him he already had.

My son was overwhelmed with empathy. He talked about the experience all the way home. We’ve talked about doing it again. Thank you for your honesty and questions. We all must do what we feel we can to help. Helping Dale helped us as a family. Dale found beauty in his life and he generously shared it with us.

In friendship and compassion,

Darris, Merle and Sayer

From Bill

What is present in Kelly’s article is the description of the physical, gut level, all too human, outpouring of the human heart in compassion for a person and a global circumstance that seems unsolvable. How in a world of unprecedented wealth is there starvation and persistent hunger? What is so important about this collection of observations and questions is that it aims directly at the core of the problem without using any words to describe it specifically.

Until we recognize that these are our brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers starving in Chicago and Somalia, it is unlikely that the most important actions will be taken. We are the richest nation in the world and as a people we are not happy or certainly don’t act as if we felt joyous in relationship to our lives. One reason is that we continue to neglect our family, the family of human kind. Jeffrey Sachs, a highly successful global economist (highly successful in this case means being the consultant of record during the economic revitalization of countries), says it would only require increasing the world’s investment in ending poverty from three tenth of one percent (.003) to seven tenths of one percent (.007) of the Gross National Product of the developed countries. He then goes on to outline his specific, pragmatic details as to what needs to be done. We can end hunger, persistent starvation and poverty as we know it, NOW.

We don’t have the will.

Kelly knows that she cannot be truly happy unless her family has shelter, food and opportunity. Her heart cries out for a solution. Her stomach hurts not as some psychological empathy, but in personal reaction to human suffering.

Until we have enough people well enough to be conscious of our interconnection as a global family, it is unlikely we will reach our goal. The problem is that we have yet to acknowledge that connection. There are probably enough food banks and shelters in Chicago that no one need to beg on the street, but is there not adequate cooperation and communication. Who is demanding it? Every bus shelter could contain the lists of available services. And even that is not the question. Where are the families? Where is the support system for every person? How did we become a nation waiting for others, often institutions, to solve our problems?

Warren Buffet, Melinda and Bill Gates are going to pour billions of dollars into sustainable solutions to global problems. They should be applauded at the highest levels for raising our consciousness and providing huge tangible assets. As long as anyone thinks that they can solve the problem, there will be no solution. Individuals, within themselves have the capacity for solutions. They need a leg up not a hand out. The Gates Foundation knows this, many do not. A shelter handing out anything without giving the recipients an opportunity to contribute to their own success, contribute to the problem. Teaching to fish and providing poles is far better than providing food.

It is us who are starving. We know it hurts and most of us cannot identify the source of the pain. Is everything I do today going to be consistent with treating my family with loving-kindness, dignity and grace? Do I see myself as responsible for the family of human kind? Are the shooters at Columbine my children? Am I willing to make the wellness of the planet my goal?