Bursting with Questions

I believe it was Oscar Romero who said, “When I feed the poor they call me a saint, when I ask why the poor are poor they call me a communist.” I don’t know if I got that quote exactly right but it is close. That is my question. Why are the poor poor? I took McDonalds to “the guys” (from now on “the guys” will be a reference to the homeless people I visit) yesterday. After watching the documentary “Super Size-Me” I think I probably shouldn’t have but it’s cheap and it’s close. Shy walked with me to get the food, she told me about her hip, her sister who works for an insurance company in Dallas, and… wait… you have family? (I thought to myself). How is that possible? I was overwhelmed with curiosity. What is your story Shy?... I didn’t actually ask the question but I’m dying to know.

I have so many assumptions about why they are in the position they are in, that I fear to ask them any questions.

You are homeless because you choose this.

You are homeless because you are a crack head.

You are homeless because of bad decisions.

The list goes on, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who has assumed such things.

At the same time, I am researching all the different ministries and non-profit organizations and government aide that are focused on homelessness in Austin TX. There are a bunch, more than I expected. Why then with all this money, and all these people and all these resources are there still homeless people in Austin? My quest for the next month is to make contact with every group or organization that is involved in this effort and get informed.

I have questions (if anyone else has a question I haven’t thought about please let me know).

1. What is your budget?

2. Where does that come from?

3. Who do you partner with?

4. What are your goals for 2008?

5. Why with all these other groups involved in the same effort are there still homeless people in Austin?

My guess is I’m going to get radically different answers, especially to question 5. It is a place to start. From there I can assess where to go next I suppose.

Back to “the guys”, they were so gracious for the food. We sat at a picnic table outside HEB and talked about the Cowboys. They talked about leaving this area. Suprising to me, I assumed with the congestion here at the Y in Oak Hill this was a prime location for getting hand outs. I was wrong. “the guys” say that most everyone jammed up in traffic are trying to get home or where ever they are going and are ticked off that traffic is so bad (and let me tell you it is bad, sometimes it takes me 10 minutes just to get out of the parking lot). So the last thing anyone wants to see or care about is someone at the corner asking for help. Funny I thought. “the guys” see you/me all ticked off in the car, and they know, “there goes my lunch!” Well…that’s not so funny…but…well…that’s all I got.