Today's Friday the 31st of October, and it's raining here in the foothills and the mountains of the northern CA Sierra. This means that the homeless have to now start enduring 6 or more months of cold wet rain or snow.
Charlie Brown, who said he'd give 5% of each campaign donation this cycle in his Promises Kept Veterans Charity Challenge to various organizations that have people depending on them for a hand UP and not a handout, will be making a donation in 2 hours to the Hospitality House of Grass Valley. Hospitality House opened in 2005 and is an interfaith organization which shelters the homeless during the winter at rotating locations.
http://www.hospitalityhouseshelter.o...
The ceremony will be at the Gathering Inn in old downtown Roseville, at 11 am at 201 Berkeley street.
As a Vietnam era Veteran, Charlie Brown is acutely aware that veterans make up a high percentage of the homeless population of this nation. Even if he loses the election, Charlie Brown would go on being an advocate for veterans and other people who are struggling for survival in hard times, because that is who he is.
One of the founders of Hospitality House was Bruce "Utah" Phillips, the musician, storyteller, historian, and local activist. ( link to many youtube videos of Utah performing here: http://www.youtube.com/... Warning, audio, funny, "Moose Turd Pie." ) (link to Utah Phillips website, which has the family's obituary- a must read. http://www.utahphillips.org/... )
Sadly, Utah passed away this spring after a bout of heart failure. Utah was famous for the phrase "your body is your ballot." He also said, regarding the current war, "they have money but we have time, and we have more time than they have money." I can hear him saying this in a church in Grass Valley during an Iraq War anniversary remembrance.
This is from the Hospitality House website:
http://www.hospitalityhouseshelter.o...
"All of us at Hospitality House are grieving the loss of a friend, a guide, and a fellow board member," said Don Lee, president of Hospitality House and pastor of Sierra Pines United Methodist Church. "Utah has been with us from the beginning of our homeless project, providing visionary leadership, acting as a moral compass, and reminding us what it means to be homeless.
"We will always remember the love and friendship he shared," Lee added. "And though the songs and stories will no longer come from his creative palette, they will most certainly live on in the lives of our guests, whose daily struggles, fears, and longings sing of the human spirit's capacity to find Life amidst the ruins."
Phillips, who was once homeless himself, felt a responsibility to help those in need. "The key to the entire enterprise is remembering that anyone could become homeless at any time," he said. "They are not the other. They are us."
"He was immensely compassionate," added Cindy Maple, executive director of Hospitality House. "He seemed to understand what it meant to be lost and searching (and) not to have solid ground under one's feet."
This time of year it is easy to get lost either literally or figuratively in person. Don't forget there are real people out there in need, and don't hesitate to be thinking about what we as a nation can be doing to make sure everybody doesn't have to sleep out in the rain or snow and has a meal to eat.
Yes, in our country.
Will update this later.