As the initial grief of losing Senator Kennedy dulls, and as an antidote to the recent personal rants on the shame of being an American citizen today, I have something good to offer you.
Something uplifting and hopeful. I hope it brings a ray of sunshine to an otherwise cloudy season. . . please jump.
As I listened to the voice on the phone, red flags were popping everywhere. I didn't for a minute believe the line I was hearing, it had to be a set up of some sort . . . but I kept the appointment out of curiosity, secure in the knowledge that I was acting in good faith even if the other party was not. She was as surprised that I showed up, as I was to learn that she was serious.
Her street name is Angel. She is well named. A disabled mother, last Fall she lost her son (and her sole source of support) in a tragic, work-related accident. She spent the winter camping on the river. She watched as friends, and friends of friends, already compromised by physical and mental health issues, died from exposure for lack of shelter. She was determined to find a way to prevent any further deaths among the homeless population.
She wanted my help setting up a nonprofit corporation. She had used the Day Center's internet access to draft articles of incorporation, bylaws, a mission statement, and a list of goals and strategies. She needed a registered agent and a physical address. AngelLight, Inc., was born:
We at AngelLight, Inc. will provide the facilities and tools that would empower the growing number of homeless in Mesa County to challenge themselves to higher aspirations, improve their lifestyles, and to work toward self-sufficiency.
Facilitating privacy and dignity, hope and healing, further education, child care at every level, counseling, and life skills training, will help build self esteem and motivation. The culmination of these goals will establish community concord and charity from within the AngelLight organization.
For the next eight weeks, I worked with them to establish a basic operational framework. They met weekly, and received a crash course in learning to function as a Board of Directors and as an organization. They overcame the loss of their initial meeting space, internal disagreements over philosophical differences, and the abrupt loss of one very talented Director due to mental health issues. They all continued to show up, despite the fact that just getting to the meeting is difficult in a town that has virtually no public transportation system.
This is Grand Junction, Colorado. This is redstate wingnut territory, and it is virtually impossible to find a more homogenized, suburban, white bread, middle class, Republican enclave in the Country. The homeless are not just ignored, they are criminalized. There is no legal place in this Town for a homeless person to sleep, or to relieve themselves, after the public parks close at dusk.
AngelLight has a vision. It's big. Really big. I can't begin to list the obstacles that lie in their way. People of less character would not bother to try. But they don't quit. They don't stop. They understand, far better than I, how to tackle each day one step at a time, how to survive.
They know they have zero credibility, that they need to establish a track record, and that it will not be easy. Yesterday, they took their first babystep. In an attempt to reach out to the local community for support, they chose to "walk the walk," and trust that good intentions yield good results. As averse to the plight of the homeless as most of this community is, I took great satisfaction in the very positive news coverage that was generated. Please read and watch it for yourselves: here, here, and here.
They'll be in the parks again next weekend, and their next community outreach program will involve providing labor for odd jobs to those who need help, but can't afford to contract for it. I'll keep you posted.
AngelLight has reserved the domains angelightinc dot org and dot com. An interactive website is under construction, but there is nothing online yet. If you have kind words of encouragement, please leave them in the comments and I'll share them at the next Board meeting Tuesday night.
Maybe things are not so bleak, maybe there is hope - for even here, in the kingdom of wingnuttia, there be angels.