The Sally and Res House
The homeless in Sarasota have a choice at night. Sleep out. or sleep at the Salvation Army Night Shelter for $10 per night.
That’s a lot of money if you are homeless and destitute.
The Salvation Army is known as the “Sally”.
I volunteer at Resurrection House which homeless people call “Res House”.
Res House during the day. The Sally at night if you can find the $10, and if you choose to sleep there.
Some people sleep out, either because they have no money, or because they hate the Sally, or because they cannot or will not keep the Sally’s rules, or because they choose to “live free”.
(Some wealthy people also choose to “live free”, but they are more skilled in covering their traces).
Sleeping out, or sleeping at the Sally, homeless people come to Res House during the day, Mondays through Fridays.
Please meet some of them.
M is in her late seventies. She receives Social Security payments. She is estranged from her son. M could afford to sleep at the Sally, but she chooses to sleep on a bench on Main Street. We worry about her every day. We think that her mind is losing stability. I call her “Lady M”, and she beams.
C is in his forties. He has a withered arm. We banter, mostly because I keep forgetting his name. Yesterday he asked to chat with me. “I was in Jail for 8 ½ years”, he said. “I am tired of living on the streets. My Momma is dead. I am all alone. I want to get sober and live in a sober house. I am tired of this life. You are my friend”.
I prayed with C, beseeching the Holy One to open the doors to a sober house for C.
J is first in line every day. He sleeps behind a Church three miles from here. He begins his walk to Res House at 4:00 a.m. He has no front teeth. We do his laundry, and he is in and out of the shower in a trice. I envy his daily good cheer.
He is excited these days as he has an offer of six months of work at a farm, 120 miles south of here. He is happy for he will be paid, and will live in a trailer on the farm. I pray that his employer will be compassionate. I will miss J.
B is in her mid 70’s. She sleeps out with her boyfriend M who is some 30 years younger than she. They arrived one morning covered with mosquito bites, from head to tail. We call her “Grandma”. She is so wise, so intelligent, so worldly wise. She knows so much about life and living.
B’s boyfriend M goes to the Labor Pool each day, hoping for a day of work. He is not always successful.
D is a handsome six footer in his late 20’s. He is so pleased that I remember his first and last names.
I was “bored” last Tuesday, so even though was not “my day”, I stopped by Res House. I think that the Holy One drew me there.
D wanted to pray with me. He’d heard of a fundamentalist Church which owns 4 duplexes and sleeps 16 homeless men. He so much wanted to live there, even though the “rules” would be tough.
I prayed with him. I prayed with him “a fundamentalist prayer” that the God who moves mountains would move so that D would be accepted to the Duplex.
On Wednesday he told me that he had been accepted. But he did not have the $2 to buy a ’bus pass in order to get to the house (some 4 miles away). I broke the rules of Res House and “slipped him” the two bucks.
Such is life at the Sally and at Res House.
============================================================
See this for a 2006 report on homelessness in SRQ.
http://www.sarasotamagazine.com/Articles/Sarasota-Magazine/2006/Summer/Lost-World.asp
That’s a lot of money if you are homeless and destitute.
The Salvation Army is known as the “Sally”.
I volunteer at Resurrection House which homeless people call “Res House”.
Res House during the day. The Sally at night if you can find the $10, and if you choose to sleep there.
Some people sleep out, either because they have no money, or because they hate the Sally, or because they cannot or will not keep the Sally’s rules, or because they choose to “live free”.
(Some wealthy people also choose to “live free”, but they are more skilled in covering their traces).
Sleeping out, or sleeping at the Sally, homeless people come to Res House during the day, Mondays through Fridays.
Please meet some of them.
M is in her late seventies. She receives Social Security payments. She is estranged from her son. M could afford to sleep at the Sally, but she chooses to sleep on a bench on Main Street. We worry about her every day. We think that her mind is losing stability. I call her “Lady M”, and she beams.
C is in his forties. He has a withered arm. We banter, mostly because I keep forgetting his name. Yesterday he asked to chat with me. “I was in Jail for 8 ½ years”, he said. “I am tired of living on the streets. My Momma is dead. I am all alone. I want to get sober and live in a sober house. I am tired of this life. You are my friend”.
I prayed with C, beseeching the Holy One to open the doors to a sober house for C.
J is first in line every day. He sleeps behind a Church three miles from here. He begins his walk to Res House at 4:00 a.m. He has no front teeth. We do his laundry, and he is in and out of the shower in a trice. I envy his daily good cheer.
He is excited these days as he has an offer of six months of work at a farm, 120 miles south of here. He is happy for he will be paid, and will live in a trailer on the farm. I pray that his employer will be compassionate. I will miss J.
B is in her mid 70’s. She sleeps out with her boyfriend M who is some 30 years younger than she. They arrived one morning covered with mosquito bites, from head to tail. We call her “Grandma”. She is so wise, so intelligent, so worldly wise. She knows so much about life and living.
B’s boyfriend M goes to the Labor Pool each day, hoping for a day of work. He is not always successful.
D is a handsome six footer in his late 20’s. He is so pleased that I remember his first and last names.
I was “bored” last Tuesday, so even though was not “my day”, I stopped by Res House. I think that the Holy One drew me there.
D wanted to pray with me. He’d heard of a fundamentalist Church which owns 4 duplexes and sleeps 16 homeless men. He so much wanted to live there, even though the “rules” would be tough.
I prayed with him. I prayed with him “a fundamentalist prayer” that the God who moves mountains would move so that D would be accepted to the Duplex.
On Wednesday he told me that he had been accepted. But he did not have the $2 to buy a ’bus pass in order to get to the house (some 4 miles away). I broke the rules of Res House and “slipped him” the two bucks.
Such is life at the Sally and at Res House.
============================================================
See this for a 2006 report on homelessness in SRQ.
http://www.sarasotamagazine.com/Articles/Sarasota-Magazine/2006/Summer/Lost-World.asp
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