Greetings everyone! My name is Jenn, and it is my duty today to report to you from Jeff Seemann’s campaign and tell you all about his fourth day on the streets of Canton, Ohio. Jeff is having a better day today than last night, and he’s very upbeat about finishing this 100 hours!
First, I have some distressing news about the area he is in. According to today’s Canton Repository, Canton is the 30th most dangerous city in the country. It has been rated more dangerous than New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. This was especially hard to read today, knowing that Jeff is out there right now. He’s been very fortunate so far, but his time is coming to a close. The safety of those around him will remain in jeopardy, and that does not sit well with him.
He has discussed his experiences of the previous 24 hours with me, and I’ll relay them on to you. I’ll check in later tonight from a friend’s house if anybody would like to talk.
Last night, as you probably know, was not a good night at all. The snow and wind was extremely rough, and Jeff did not have a warm place to sleep. At some point during the night, he spoke with Michelle and decided to go to the emergency room. He was complaining of frozen hands and aching bones, plus a rather nasty cough.
I do not know what time he made it to the emergency room, but without any identification, it was not easy to get medical attention. Jeff’s intent was to get help, but he still remained “in character” (my words, not his), because he needed to see how difficult it would be for a homeless man to get the attention he needs despite not having ID. However, they did do a workup on him, checked his BP, heart rate, checked for feeling in his fingers and toes. Basic stuff. But here’s where it gets interesting.
Two nurses performed the above process, and one of them left. The remaining nurse whispered to him that he was fine and could leave anytime, but that the doctor would be in to see him “in a few hours” if he wanted to stay. She smiled at him and then left, closing the door and dimming the lights. This nurse was probably not permitted to do so, but in an ER that was not at all busy, she allowed him to get a few hours of sleep in a bed before sending him out again. Jeff’s refusing to disclose which nurse and which hospital for fear of her getting in any trouble.
By morning, he was still sleepy, but felt better physically (and mentally) and headed back out. He had a lot of stops to make, which mostly were dead-ends.
Job and Family Services were unable to offer any assistance to help him get out of homelessness, but emergency food stamps were available (Jeff refused, leaving them for someone in genuine need). No emergency cash for a temporary residence was available at all.
JFS is a first-come, first-serve agency, and arriving late did not help his prospects, but he was told that even if he was the first one in line, this was as good as it was going to get.
Two other agencies that deal with mentally handicapped homeless people were very helpful, finding housing and medical assitance for people in this circumstance. However, Jeff was not going to use up any intake resources and get a diagnosis. he knew that the time spent with any case managers or evaluation therapists would be wasting their time, so he used these agencies as learning resources only.
There is one wonderful source, the American Rescue Workers. The have a group home on Market Avenue with free housing, but in order to earn your room you must work at the ARW warehouse. It’s basically a giant garage sale that goes on constantly. They have great stuff, and Jeff furnished his 2004 office for very little money from this place. People work there and can stay in the shelter for up to 90 days. They also provide job training and help out any way they can. It’s a nice way to try and turn lives around, but without any additional assitance, it’s woefully short of successful.
Now comes the fun part. The Salvation Army. Or to put it in Jeff’s words, The “Hello, how can I help you, oh I’m sorry, come back Friday” Army. No help whatsoever, but they do provide a free meal some afternoons.
Jeff tells me that he is not seeing any agency in town that provides any help beyond a single meal and an 8-hour bed. It’s all geared towards survival and nothing leans towards rehabilitation of lives or a much-needed boost back into society. This is what is eating at his heart right now.
He discussed with me an idea about a shelter which is geared towards digging people out of homelessness, but I’ll leave the details of that up to him to describe at a later date. He’s actually energized by his ideas, having seen what works and what does not in this area. He thinks he can incorporate what has been a success into his new plan, but doesn’t want to roll out any parts of it until he discusses it with local leaders.
Right now he’s finding a little bit of warmth at a nearby agency and will head out looking for shelter soon. It’s in the low 20s right now with a light snowfall. As of right now, he has about 30 hours to go and feels positive about finishing the task.
One last thing to share. Like many of you, he had his doubts about this. But his initial hopes are being realized, as he experiences not only the conflicts of survival, but also sees first-hand the gaping holes that prevent any real solutions from forming. With what he has learned already, he can begin to tackle the entire problem, rather than just plug individual holes one at a time.
I’ve always known Jeff to be a guy who’ll dive head-first into issues that others will ignore, but this is a new experience for him. He’s witnessing pain in others, and like I expected of him, he’s looking for ways to end that pain. I think he’s capable of doing it.
Leave him a message here, or at his blog. Anyone interested can contribute to his campaign at ActBlue.
Jeff asked me to leave you with this. He knows some people want to know what he wants to do first when his 100 hours are up. He says “hug his daughter”, but he’s out until 10pm tomorrow and she’ll be in bed. Second on the list is a shower and a shave, then to kiss his girlfriend January. But high up on that list is watching his tape of Ohio State beating Michigan. Again.
Thanks for listening!
Jenn
It’s obvious that Jeff isn’t the first person that nurse has helped out…major props to her.
What’s needed is the elimination of the conditions that lead people into homelessness…but until we get that done, what’s needed is a central location where people can get in touch with the needed resources, sort of a “one-stop-shop”. In this era of the Internet, it’s unconscionable that people have to trudge all over a city to find a bed and meal (hot or cold). Why can’t there be a central location where people can go, find out where the openings are for the evening and get over there, then come back to the central location the next day for job assistance, mental health or drug counseling, and all the other services needed to get people off the streets? But no, that would make too much damn sense…if people can’t maneuver the broken-assed system, they’re obviously too stupid to be helped, so we shouldn’t bother with them…
Sorry for the mini-rant — tell Jeff he’s in my thoughts and prayers tonight (and I owe him a pot of bean soup if he ever makes it out to the SF Bay Area)…
Thank you Jeff for caring so deeply about our homeless citizens that you did this experiment. Now maybe you can get the ball rolling and we can begin to work together to change the face of our once great nation. You are a mighty great young man. If I could I certainly would vote for you. After the holidays though, I will contribute to your campaign. Thank you for being you. Hug your daughter for me too.
I’m in awe of Jeff. Seriously.
My maternal instincts still think you should have gone home last night, but I’m relieved to find out that everything worked out for you, and that you were able to add to your wealth of experiences. I wish you the same good fortune tonight.
Regarding the problem itself, your findings – along with Cali Scribe’s post above – distressed me. I say this because you both have passion – but more on point – you both have solutions. And that made me realize just how easy it would be to set up programs to help the homeless in so many ways.
Sadly, my fears lead me to believe that the non-response from communities is by design. When viewing this from the perspective of local elitists – if the community achieved success in their programs for the homeless, those programs might draw additional homeless people to the area in search of assistance.
At that stage, the NIMBY crowd (Not In My Back Yard) typically steps in to vocalize their concerns about things such as property values decreasing and safety issues for their children. And the cycle continues, with the bureaucrats ignoring or postponing solutions – to ward off the pitchforked masses and retain the votes of their constituents.
I sincerely hope my fears are unfounded – and based merely on too many years of cynicism. Your endeavor is highly commendable and I wish you the best of success – in both your campaign, and in your efforts on behalf of the homeless.
Bless you. Stay safe.
the Opportunity Center of the Mid-Peninsula (which I referenced earlier this week, is hoping to be that sort of “one-stop” center, IIRC, with the addition of having some housing available on site.
And yes, there was plenty of NIMBYism involved in getting the project approved by the City Council, especially those who predicted that it would be a “homeless magnet”, drawing in the “undesirables” from all over the Bay Area.
I’m not sure what the estimated completion date is for the center — I’m considering doing some sort of volunteer work there if there’s anything available…
Nice going – congratulations on advancing beyond the mote of resistance!
and this morning, waiting for an update. I gave him my motherly concern and worried about his foolish self.
>Begin Rant
I’ve given this a lot of thought and I’ve got to say, this is a dumb-ass stunt. A really stupid, self-aggrandizing stunt and I don’t approve of it on any level.
First of all, Jeff is begging for contributions while he indulges in this so-called research. How is this different from David Blaine hanging over the Thames? It’s a publicity stunt for money, pure and simple.
Second, it’s not “real world” at all to dip in and out of homelessness for 100 hours. He can’t possibly get the sense of desperation and out-right fear that homeless people live with day-to-day because he’s going home tomorrow night. He could have learned everything he’s gotten out of this by just, um, talking to real homeless people.
Third, what’s the deal with going without ID. Does he think homeless people fall out of the sky?! A lot of them have valid driver’s licences; they just don’t own a car anymore because it got repossessed. They used to live in an apt. before they got evicted. They used to have jobs… Even the poor mental cases who get dumped on the streets are given ID’s.
I’ve volunteered in homeless shelters. I’ve worked in soup kitchens. What Jeff is doing is so lame it’s almost disrepectful of the folks who are really out in the cold for weeks and months and, sometimes, years.
Even a completely crazy homeless person wouldn’t have put themselves out in sub-zero weather. They would have friggin’ moved south already or staked out their cardboard box by a steam vent outside a dry cleaners. My crazy cousin lived for seven years on the streets between Dallas and New Orleans and he was too damn arrogant to ever seek refuge in an ER, even at the end when he was dying.
My step-son took a trip outside of reality two years ago and even he could think ahead to securing 30 day’s shelter during January. Even he had ID to cash a bad check and the cops let us know he was still alive so we could bring him back into the family.
So the whole scenario is unrealistic and beyond factual experience.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad Jeff went to the ER; he’d likely be dead or permanantly maimed otherwise. But, this whole endeaver is just plain stupid and half-assed. I don’t admire dumb people pulling stunts for money.
>end rant
And this has credibility coming from me because I don’t know Jeff from Mulla Nasruddin and consider politicians as a biological phylum somewhere slightly above pedophiles and slightly below pond scum.
And I would suggest that anyone with money to give to any politician give it to the homeless instead.
By posting his experiences, he made a lot of people, among a subset who are slightly less likely than the average affluent American to favor imprisonment of the homeless, aware of some key aspects of the reality, the stupidity of “programs” that provide, at best, a few hours shelter, then at dawn turn people out into the still freezing streets, “so they can look for a job” in a society where homeless people cannot get jobs.
The difficulty of accessing even those survival programs.
Once you are out of housing, you are out. And nobody knows how many people are priced out, every day.
Criminalization benefits the prison-industrial complex.
The revilement and demonization of the homeless is more than just an economic and political problem, it is a cultural problem.
And he may have even caused a couple of more thoughtful readers to consider how many paychecks away from homelessness they are.
So he may have reminded the comfortable that they may be at risk. Big friggin’ deal. He doesn’t get my support for that. If there are some among us who can afford an internet connection and don’t know they are two paychecks away from homeless — well, they can be awakened without someone putting his life at risk in a stupid stunt.
The reality is that soon-to-be homeless people know it is coming. They’ve got 30 days notice on eviction. They know that aren’t going to make the rent. Long before they are actually homeless they apply to the long-term (three month) shelters that can give them a fresh start. The vast majority of the soon-to-be homeless aren’t nut-cases; they apply for help before it’s too late. They arrange to move from their apt.s into a shelter before they end up on the streets with their kids.
Sometimes, they are in denial and they do spend a few nights wandering from shelter to shelter. And, yes, they do end up praying to Jeebus to earn their keep in a long-term support program. That’s the price that’s paid; the long-term support programs are supported by churches, not the government.
I hate it, DTF. I really do hate the fact that people get disposed of in our system. That they are treated as less than human and forced to play games to sustain themselves. But, I’ve been there and done that and paid the price. I sat in waiting rooms for days to get food stamps. I sat in waiting rooms to get medical assistance. It didn’t take 100 hours to get into the system; it took weeks of humiliation.
What Jeff is doing is skimming the surface, dipping a toe into the vast lake of what-it-really-is and that’s why I feel offended. It’s fake; it’s pretend. It’s phony next to the real experience of being broke and sick and homeless. He couldd freeze his ass off and he still won’t know what it’s like to be poor and hopeless. I’ll put my experiences up against his any day and I’ll win on validity. I have been fucking down and out and he is just pretending to be. So, it’s personal to me and I’m not going to get more specific. Jeff is faking and he shouldn’t get cred for that.
beyond his audience, since he is a politician and apparently well known, what I mean is that if even one person is inspired by what he did to do something to help someone who does not have the option of calling a friend, then good.
As I said, I don’t know him, and I certainly don’t know his heart, or how this experience will have changed him as a person. I do know that even if he gets elected to whatever it is he wants to get elected to, it is unlikely that he will be able, regardless of his sincerity, to single-handedly change the plight of the homeless as a population group, even in his community.
As you know from your own experiences, it is not a localized or isolated situation, it is systemic, and I will repeat myself: it is cultural.
Anything that gets done for any given homeless person will be done by an individual, it will not be done by politicians or their corporate sponsors.
That is, until the US has a Living Wage and Right to Housing, not to mention recognizing and providing medical treatment as a basic human right as opposed to a commercial product.
And yes, that will be a Revolution, and yes, I am in favor of it, and therefore in violation of the Patriot Act.