Category: Blog

My kid’s therapist (yes, my 13 year old has already been to therapy) once challenged him to walk the four doors down the road to the Circle K at the corner of our street, by himself.
To a person who grew up in the 70’s and 80’s that seems strange.
But how many of us middle class parents are afraid to let our kids out of our sight?
Today it’s all play dates where we shuttle our kids in cars from one house to another. Drop them off at 1:00pm. Pick them up promptly at 3:30pm.
Other than that the kids of today spend countless hours and countless days indoors. It’s safer that way.
After all, that’s what us parents, the “brave” kids of the 70’s and 80’s do.
We lopped the porches off our houses. We don’t care if there are sidewalks in front of our houses.
We too sit indoors, preferring to avoid eye contact with our neighbors.
From this study, loneliness and isolation:

• increases the risk of suicide for young and old alike.
• creates higher levels of perceived stress even when exposed to the same stressors as non-lonely people.
• raises levels of circulating stress hormones and levels of blood pressure.
• destroys the quality and efficiency of sleep, so that it is less restorative, both physically and psychologically. They wake up more at night and spend less time in bed actually sleeping than do the nonlonely.

Being with people is our natural habitat. Even introverts find happiness and joy being with people.
But, sadly, the communities of our society are eroding. We spend more time isolated and alone.
Church has often been the gateway to community for many people.
“Only 2 in 10 Americans under 30 believe attending a church is important or worthwhile.”
Like so many constructs of society, young people don’t feel like they belong in these groups.
And it’s not just young people. Many of my friends don’t participate in church or any other groups. Work has become our main source of community.
But I would imagine you can remember a time in your life when you were part of a community. Do you remember how it made you feel being with people like you? Being with people that shared a similar interest?
We are finding that people are experiencing that sense of community at Second Chance Village.
Yes, the people that live here are getting the benefits of our community. But so are the housed people who participate in our community.
We have people that:

• Bring food to share.
• Help organize our clothes closet.
• Help drive people to doctors appointments.
• Help work on renovating our space.
• Help work on our raised bed gardens.

But now we’re starting to be more than just a place where people can donate time. Now we’re starting to have events that people can participate in.
We’re having recovery meetings, church services and other really interesting group gatherings.
We run our main calendar through Meetup. You can CLICK HERE to see our upcoming events. We’ll also have a link to our events calendar on the top navigation of our site. You’ll want to check back often because we’ll be adding new events all the time. (I’m thinking a movie night would be cool, as an example.)
I know that it can be risky and uncomfortable coming into a new community the first time. But usually, the first time is the most difficult. From there on out it’s all fun!
A key part of our mission here at Second Chance Village is bringing the homeless together with the homed. This is the quickest way to solve the greatest tragedy in America today. No one deserves to be left forgotten on the street to fend for themselves.
See you at our next event!

We’ve got a cool online charity auction going on right now.
You can check it out and bid online here.
We’ve got a lot of really cool items. And EVERYTHING starts at $1.
And best of all, all the money goes to support our charity.
 

I hope you’ve had the chance to watch the speech Emma Gonzalez gave as a survivor of the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Speeches like this transcend human constraints like age.  Don’t we wonder how such a young person to be so articulate, clear and inspirational?
They also transcend politics and dividing ideologies.
Politicians and the powerful will quickly try to divide us on which side of the debate we stand. Do we stand for or against Emma Gonzalez?
“It’s not about guns. It’s about mental health.”
That simple two sentence response to Emma Gonzalez is a propaganda grenade that explodes in the minds of all Americans.
Now we’ve instantly forgotten every word Emma Gonzalez has said. We retreat to Facebook and have endless, irrational debates about whether or not guns kill.
This is how THEY all play us.
Look at this Gallup Poll of the percentage of people that primarily lean one party or another:

It is absolutely critical in understanding how America works by understanding those numbers.
Every election year between 85% to 92% of votes are already accounted for.
It’s the 8% to 15% politicians fight like hell for.
Ask any Texan or Californian how many times a presidential candidate makes a stop in their state. It’s almost none. They already know how those states are going to vote.
That fact should infuriate you.
You are just a reliable statistic to these people. I mean, doesn’t it seem odd to you that presidential candidates don’t spend much of any time in two of the most populous states in the country? That only means one thing. They don’t actually care about you. They only care about your vote.
So we get these brilliant, catchy, dividing propaganda statements like: “It’s not about guns. It’s about mental health.”
And let me be clear: that statement is just as helpful for Democrats as it is for Republicans.
Democrats LOVE the NRA just like Republicans LOVE abortion.
These wedge issues make their lives so much easier.
An issue they both hate is: How do we make kids safer?
That’s not catchy at all.
That’s messy. That’s complicated.
Sure. Democrats rally around those kinds of phrases. But they don’t truly want to fix the problem. They are just using that position to excite their base.
Bernie Sanders is the knight in shining armor for “Progressives” in America. Here is his stance on guns:

That is the PROGRESSIVE stance on guns in America.
If our politicians really, truly cared about kids getting killed in mass shootings they would be figuring out how to get guns out of the hands of Americans.
Australia bought and destroyed more than 600,000 automatic and semiautomatic weapons and pump-action shotguns.
Over the next few years, gun-death totals were cut nearly in half. Firearm suicides dropped to 0.8 per 100,000 people in 2006 from 2.2 in 1995, while firearm homicides dropped to 0.15 per 100,000 people in 2006 from 0.37 in 1995.
Why don’t we do that?
It’s a rhetorical question. You know why, right? BECAUSE IT WON’T GET THEM ELECTED!
They only care about getting into power and holding onto power.
They will tell you this is because they can then get inside and make important change. But the important change never comes. They just get more and more addicted to their power.
Republicans increase deficits. Democrats give healthcare to private companies.
But ultimately, I believe this is our fault. We the people are making this happen.
As long as the polls show that we are all correctly aligning to hot button issues then there is no reason to change.
There is a passive, look-the-other-way and blame-others mentality in America. And politicians love it. They can count on it.
But people like Emma Gonzalez muddy the waters. They make things complicated.
The FBI and mafia killed Martin Luther King Jr. for this very reason.
Change agents don’t make the powerful happy.
When change happens very often the first people to go are the existing powerful elites.
Could Emma Gonzalez take down the NRA? Hell yeah she could. Or, quite frankly, she could end up dead.
The NRA will not go quietly.
But change like this must happen.

• Kids shouldn’t get shot down at school.
• People shouldn’t be slaves.
• People shouldn’t live in frozen ditches across America.
• Kids shouldn’t die because they can’t afford healthcare.
• People shouldn’t have to go days without eating.

The list goes on and on. There is still much to do in the world and in America.
But know this: It is NEVER EVER the people in power that will make these changes.
It is people like Emma Gonzalez that make these changes.
It is people like YOU that make these changes.
 

If you aren’t a Catholic you probably have a belief about Catholics and, chances are, it’s not good.

• Withholding abortions to women that die because they were forced to give birth.
• Not giving out condoms in HIV ravaged Africa.
• Vehemently denouncing gay rights.
• And of course… child molestation.

Granted, these are self-inflicted wounds. Some are old beliefs that haven’t kept up with the times. Others are just straight up tragedies.
But there is a quiet power of Catholics that I had never known before working with the homeless.
Catholics are profoundly giving.
Catholic groups are among the biggest providers of social-service charity in the United States.
“Catholic charity seems to account for 17 percent to 34 percent of all nonprofit social-service charity”
Catholic Charities USA, has more than 2,500 local agencies that serve 10 million people annually.
This is as clear as the big nose on my face at Second Chance Village.
Catholics pour into our facility to help the homeless.
Hoban and Walsh high school students come every single week to bring us food.
Within our first year St. Vincent De Paul has given our group $3000 to spend on tents, sleeping bags, thermal underwear and tarps. They give similar amounts to several other local groups in Akron for the same things.
Wealthy Catholic individuals bring the power of their corporations to help build out our facility.
Peter Maurin Center, a Catholic Workers organization, was one of our first supporters. They pay for porta potties and trash service. They are critical to our operation.
And here’s the thing: They slip in and they slip out.
There is no prayer circle. There is no picture taking. There is no obligation put upon the homeless.
You would think it strange that people require things of those in need. But I see it happen all the time.
Shelters very often require a mandatory church service before you can go to bed and a mandatory prayer before every meal.
I always find this very odd.
How could you think forcing people to pray and go to church services helps your cause?
Time and time again people tell me they would rather live in the woods or their car or go to jail than be forced to pray for shelter and food. It’s condescending, dehumanizing and garishly egotistical and selfish.
How low does a person have to get before they get help with no strings attached?
Catholics let their actions speak for themselves.
It is an elegantly powerful strategy.
The students from Hoban and Walsh need no introduction. They are just our friends. And we all have so much love for them.
The people that stand in the middle of our day center yelling out prayers just have a different aura about them. It is very clear they want something in return for their generosity.
All of us are controlled by both good and bad forces. We all have two masters. None of us are purely good or purely bad.
As a community we help each other move one direction or the other. When we focus on the bad of others it becomes more likely they will become bad.
But when we focus on the good of others it is more likely they will become good.
The Pope, considered the infallible leader of the world’s 1 billion Roman Catholics, refused to sit in judgement of gay priests.
He said:
“Who am I to judge?”
That is the lesson we all need to learn. Who am I to judge? If the Pope can publicly utter those words how is it that lack of judgement is so difficult for the rest of us?
The only path to salvation is love, understanding, forgiveness and compassion. This is the message Catholics bring to our facility. Their presence makes me stronger. They remind me that this work is work that needs to be done and is the work God wants us to do.
This is the message we all need to bring to each other. Our judgement of others does nothing other than make society worse.
You are not the police. You are not the judge. You are not God.
Forgiveness and love lifts society up.
Focus on the good in all of us. Because we all have goodness within us.
Let the rest go.
 
 
 

If you have been homeless for long on the east side of Akron you either likely know of Buddy’s, or you’ve stayed at Buddy’s.
Buddy’s house is one of those rundown houses in an area called Laird Land. It’s an entire rundown area. Houses sell for under $20k.
Buddy is a chronic drinker that can’t quit. Now the word is that quitting might actually be too hard on his health at this point. He might not survive another detox episode.
But Buddy is a giver.
If you are out on the street it’s possible Buddy will let you stay at his house for free. He has almost no requirements. He’s the ultimate in low barrier homeless sheltering. Drinkers, crack smokers, meth addicts and opiate users all can come to Buddy’s.
Walking into Buddy’s living room is like walking into a tiny dive bar from the ’80s. The smoke is so thick it creates a haze throughout the entire building. Stale beer smell is everywhere. And people. People are packed in there. They are on all floors of the house.
He rents a couple rooms upstairs and his garage, if you have income. Otherwise, you can just stay there.
Chances are, you’ll get sick of staying at Buddy’s before Buddy gets sick of staying with you. Though people do move out, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Buddy kicking anyone out.
Though you can use drugs and alcohol at Buddy’s, he is not a known drug house. “Don’t shit where you sleep” is a pretty common sentiment in the low/no income world.
No one likes Buddy when he’s trying to quit drinking. He’s mean, angry and short tempered. Drinking makes Buddy much more friendly. It’s unlikely that he will stop drinking ever again at this point. He just can’t handle it physically.
Buddy’s is not anything a reputable non-profit would ever create. It’s chaos. But yet it is fundamentally important to the homeless community. Truly, Buddy’s should have a place of record as a homeless shelter in Akron.
The number of people Buddy has taken in and taken care of is uncountable. Buddy’s is a godsend for so many.
I tell you about Buddy’s simply because his house is just one of many.
The dirty secret of poverty in Akron and all across America is that the poor have no voice. They have no one telling their stories. And so cities can simply allow the rot and disease of extreme poverty to easily carry on without anyone knowing.
Cities don’t have the investigative reporting power like the national news does for national politicians. It is so easy for local politicians to get away with all kinds of atrocities. What does your mayor do on the weekends? How hard does your mayor work? You likely have no idea. But we know every detail of the life of a US President.
Cities will gladly ignore the festering poverty under their control as long as no one says anything about it.
The poverty in Akron is disgusting and embarrassing and a tragedy. People like Buddy pick up the significant slack that the system fails to recognize. There would be many more people living outside if it were not for people like Buddy.
Our food pantry is now open Monday through Friday 9-11am. I, Sage, run it. If I’m there (as I often am) other times, I will gladly let you come and shop. There is no limit to the amount of times you can come shop with us. Everything is free. Just come down the right side of the building at 15 Broad St in Akron.
This food pantry is allowing me to see a glimpse at the true grotesque, severe poverty in Akron.
There is a house near us that has 13 people in it. Men, women and children of all ages. There are 2 beds. No furniture. No blankets. No dishes. Nothing. They have nothing.
The largest number of people I’ve heard about in one house is 26.
A blind man came last week. He had no cane. He’s just blind.
The younger people come for food and supplies for the old people that can’t get out of the house.
The local scrap yards will sometimes give these people an old rusted shopping cart that someone dropped off. That is their transportation.
A 10 year old boy has been coming. He’s much more mature than his age. He asked me if we had any TVs. He said his dad would love to watch TV. I have a 13 inch black and white TV I can give him.
I’m finding it more and more difficult to contain my anger and rage at the churches who try to push out the poor people so the suburban, wealthy parishioners who come into the city for services once a week feel more comfortable.
I’m finding it more and more difficult to contain my anger and rage at the city who only talks about trying to figure out a way to get suburban people to move back into the city.
I’m finding it more and more difficult to contain my anger and rage at the people who tell me the answer is for these people to “put down the needle and get a job.”
The blind ignorance and selfish arrogance of those who profess in their words to Praise Jesus yet in their actions Praise Money wear down my veneer of politeness and political correctness.
But it is you, the people, that bring me great comfort and help me find peace and remind me that love is everywhere and will conquer all.
Yesterday I took six loads of blankets to the laundromat that needed dried. Tents leak and blankets get wet.
I was met by two different supporters of Second Chance Village. Their words were so kind and so loving. They talked endlessly about how impressed they are about the people who live at Second Chance Village. They were filled love and kindness.
On top of that, they paid for all the laundry.
I am so often overwhelmed by your love and kindness and incredible giving.
You are the ones saving the homeless and incredibly poor from an existence of total torture and grotesque hell on earth.
All I have done is given the homeless a basement and dirt to take care of themselves and have given you a platform to offer your generosity.
Every day you bring food (amazing food) for the villagers to eat.
Every day you bring hand warmers, blankets and coats to keep these people safe and warm.
Every day you bring your skills and help to make our facility a wonderful place for the villagers to work and live.
You are the best of humanity. And you are everywhere. There are way more good people than bad.
The bad people are mostly the leaders and the fearful. They obsess about loss and losing control.
You are not afraid. You only care about doing what is right. You cross both political parties. You are men and women. You are children. You are the aged. You are all ages. You are the poor and you are the wealthy.
We cannot expect change to come from our ministers, our priests, our mayors, our governors or our presidents. They are the ones who are afraid and clinging to their positions of power. The power corrupts their character. They become selfish and callous.
The powerful are often the opposite of love. They are fear.
You are the walking embodiment of love. You are the hand of God.
You. Are. Buddy.

I love watching the homed and the homeless interact.
They are like people from different countries.
They look the same. They talk the same. But yet there are distinct differences.
Generally, the homeless understand the homed. That’s simply because all these people lived in homes not too long ago.
But most homed people have never been homeless. So they are the ones that are typically caught off guard by some of the behaviors of the homeless.
There are a few unique behaviors some of the homeless exhibit. But the one I want to talk about today is the homeless walkabout.
Simply put: some of these people just disappear.
No one knows where they go. They don’t leave a note. They don’t give you an idea of when they’ll be back. They are just gone.
It’s disorienting for everyone involved. Even other homeless people.
It’s not like all homeless people do this. But it’s enough of a segment of the community that it is clearly a behavior that is a repeated pattern.
It’s very much like the walkabout that happens in the Australian Aboriginal society.
Wikipedia says, “Walkabout has come to be referred to as “temporary mobility” because its original name has been used as a derogatory term in Australian culture, demeaning its spiritual significance”
I think temporary mobility is a better phrase.
The homeless are practically the living incarnation of “temporary mobility.”
They have been spit out by society. And very often they quickly acclimate to the homeless lifestyle. Moving from place to place to place. Being kicked out of some places. Being forced to move out of other places often because the drugs and violence is too much to bear in other places.
They quickly lose their fear of mobility. All of their things fit in a small backpack. They have no ties to anything. No people. No things. Nothing.
And so they become untethered.
That’s a feeling that sticks with you.
This causes constant irritation with non-aboriginal employers in Australia. They don’t understand it, don’t respect it and can’t plan around it.
We have similar difficulties here at Second Chance Village.
All heads of departments like, maintenance, kitchen, lot coordinator are run by villagers. And all people under them are villagers.
One morning on one of the coldest days of the winter one of our elders was nowhere to be seen.
We all suspected he maybe left for a few days. But as I thought more and more about it I started to worry.
I went out to his tent. I called his name a few times. There was no answer. Finally, I had to open his tent to check. I expected the worst.
But he wasn’t there.
I don’t know where he goes. He never tells us when he leaves. And he never talks about it when he comes back. It’s like an entirely different life he has that none of us know anything about.
And that’s the way it is for several people.
Single women. Old men. Couples. People with pets. The only connection between these people is that they are homeless.
This repeatedly confuses, frustrates and sometimes hurts volunteers.
A volunteer will hire one of our people for a long-term job. They will be completely committed to the job for several days. And then they’ll just not show up one day.
The volunteer usually calls me worried and irritated.
This is a trait among homeless people that will always make traditional work very difficult for them. Just as it causes difficulty for the Australian Aborigines.
These are people that likely may never be suitable for a traditional 40 hour job the rest of their lives.
That’s not to say they don’t work hard. The opposite is true. These people will bicycle all over town all night long dumpster diving. For $30 they will detail your car for 8 hours. They will gladly take all your metal garbage and scrap it for cash.
But flipping burgers for 8 hours all day every day is probably not going to fly. You’ll be lucky if they tell you they quit. More likely they’ll stop showing up and never pickup their last check.
Successful people in society like this are called entrepreneurs. I haven’t had a job in 20 years. Not only am I totally unsure anyone would ever even hire me, I’m not sure I could actually survive a “job.”
Washing windows or selling apples on the street corner sounds WAY more enjoyable to me than someone telling me I need to show up every day at 8:15 and I can only wear jeans on “dress down Friday.”
I believe we need to help the homeless learn basic entrepreneurial skills. Like finding a sellable product, marketing it, pricing it and selling it.
You see them doing this everyday. These are our panhandlers. They panhandle because they know that it is a product that converts at a decent conversion rate. It pulls at people’s heart strings. It works ok.
In big cities like New York you’ll see panhandlers add certain skills to their repertoire. They’ll play an instrument. They will do some kind of street performance. This requires an audience that is walking. A driving audience is too difficult to entertain. A compelling sign is about the best you can do in Akron.
I do, however, think they need to test different products. We are moving towards creating our woodworking shop. So, maybe they can create items to sell that people will buy.
We just have to help them succeed with the skills and temperaments that they have. And we, as the housed community, have to help support them and believe in them.
Throwing people away hurts more than just these people. It hurts the fabric of our entire community.
So, if you ever find yourself wondering what happened to the homeless person you were having a perfectly lovely time with yesterday, don’t take it personally. They just needed to go for a walk. They’ll probably be back in a few days like nothing happened.
 

Rocky, my wife, opened up this morning’s family conversation with: “Whelp. It’s official. Selena Gomez is back with Justin Bieber and her mom is NOT happy.”
Selena is not an uncommon topic in our family because, like my wife, she has Lupus. In fact, Selena’s lupus is so bad that she has had chemo treatments and a kidney transplant… and she’s only 26.
Selena also has depression. If you type in her name into Google this article comes up on the front page:
Selena Gomez Opens Up About Mental Health and Instagram Fatigue – Vogue
In the article she says about her world tour: “Basically I felt I wasn’t good enough, wasn’t capable. I felt I wasn’t giving my fans anything, and they could see it.”
There are some studies that are suggesting autoimmune disorders are connected to depression because of inflammation.
Famous, successful people experiencing depression and anxiety is not uncommon at all.
Lady Gaga Opens Up About Her Depression | Teen Vogue
Kurt Cobain and Manic Depression (Bipolar Disorder) | Bipolar Lives:
Kurt was diagnosed at a young age with Attention Deficit Disorder [ADD], then later with bipolar disorder [also known as manic-depression].
There is an almost endless list of examples like this. Successful people experiencing significant mental health issues is a common recurring story.
In our family we often discuss how success is irrelevant to depression and other mental health issues. You live your life and mental health issues lay on top of your life no matter how successful or unsuccessful you are.
For years I’ve been on a steady dose of Citalopram. It’s a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) used to treat depression.
I’m not “celebrity” successful. But I’ve done OK in business. I now get to help the homeless with our day center and tent village. And my family is out of this world. They are SO amazing.
Yet depression and anxiety chase me around too.
I set this stage for you to now imagine this scenario:

• All of your family is dead or hates you.
• All your friends have given up on you and don’t answer your calls any more.
• You’ve spent years in prison.
• Your father beat you and your mother regularly.
• You were repeatedly molested as a kid.
• You started self medicating because $5 of Fentanyl takes away all the pain.
• Now your opiate tolerance is so high you are spending every penny just to stop the pain from coming back. Being “high” is a long gone dream.
• Chasing drugs takes all your time.
• You lost your job months ago.
• You can’t afford living anywhere.
• You stay in shelters with people you hate and can’t believe you are now on their level.

If Selena Gomez thinks “Basically I felt I wasn’t good enough,” imagine how homeless people feel.
They are in free fall. Every societal backup plan has failed. The bottom fell out long ago.
I just talked to a person yesterday who, through tears, cried, “How many times can I handle being at the end of my rope?”
These are people who hit “bottom” long ago. Bottom flew past them and now they have no idea where any of this ends.
Mental health issues are at the root of most homeless people I know.
Depression, anxiety and many more mental health conditions are constantly presenting themselves.
Because of the mental health issues along with the homeless issues, seeing some people just totally give up on society is common.
Yet, through all this they are survivors. They are resilient, determined and rarely will you hear them complain about any hardship they experience.
However, as soon as you start talking about mental health support and addiction support they often start to glaze over.
Clawing their way back into society is exhausting. Endless paperwork, hoops and logistical mazes.
The first step is getting 3 forms of identification: birth certificate, state id and social security card. Most people I know start here. They have lost all of these a long time ago.
These are sometimes adopted kids that were born in other states. I just paid $80 to some service to help a person get his out of state birth certificate. It required navigating a series of online forms and ended with paying with a credit card.
I don’t think I know a single homeless person with a credit card, much less $80.
But you need all of these. You can’t get a social security card if you don’t have a picture id. You can’t get a picture id if you don’t have a birth certificate.
And without these you can’t get any services. No food stamps. No Medicaid. No getting on a housing list.
There is a collective “screw it!” among many of these people.
Surviving takes all their time.
Engaging with the maze of society doesn’t feel worth it. Society hasn’t shown to be worth the effort.
And that’s when it begins to happen. These people begin to disappear. You very likely pass by these people every day of your life.
They are in the gas stations. They are walking down the sidewalk. They are in the library.
They try very hard to blend in. If they don’t have severe mental illness that causes them to talk to the voices in their heads, they are very quiet. They don’t look up. They don’t talk in front of strangers. If you go into their camp site they likely will not easily come out of their tents no matter what you offer them.
They move around really early in the morning and late at night.
And so they become invisible to society. And society is cool with that. Society is afraid of these people and embarrassed that we have these people.
It is a convenient symbiotic relationship. We won’t look at you if you don’t look at us. It’s an unspoken agreement.
Occasionally, these people do try to be seen. They try to take a stand to interact with society. They try not to be invisible.
These are the panhandlers.
But they have broken the agreement. They decided to not be invisible.
And many of us are upset by the broken agreement.
They should “get a job!” They probably are actually con artists driving into the city (often in Mercedes) from the suburbs to take all the sweet, easy inner city panhandling cash.
We scorn them because their visibility makes us uncomfortable. We aren’t supposed to have to look at them.
They need to become invisible again so we don’t have to deal with their existence. And in reality, most of these people would rather become invisible too.
They don’t want to beg from you. They don’t want to stand there and take your ignorant, closed minded verbal abuse. But they are fighting to get back in. They are fighting to be back in the mechanism of society through getting money.
Money is the admission pass to society. No money, no society, no community.
Not making money betrays your obligation to society. And so society excommunicates you. Your punishment is to become invisible.

There is an aspect to working with the homeless that I try not to discuss much.
There is a constant hum of fear and desperation in parts of the homeless population that is perverse, grotesque and endless.
I won’t do these kinds of stories often. I want this to be an arc of hope, salvation and redemption.
But this part of homelessness is something you need to know about.
It is not uncommon for the homeless to come to us having been robbed and/or beaten.
They rarely complain about it. It’s almost like it comes with the territory, in their eyes. They have a certain kind of resignation that something like this happened to them. They typically are smiling and hopeful and usually grateful that it wasn’t worse.
But this is a level of savagery that reaches some of the darkest most evil depths of humanity.
A person that has nothing, causes no trouble and then is stomped repeatedly in the face by a group of people could possibly represent the worst example of human capability.
The person in this picture is named Brian. It’s important that you know that. His name is Brian.

He is one of the countless invisible homeless that has no place in society.
He has found a barn in an area in Akron where he has setup a tent inside. He comes to our facility to get food and supplies. He takes the bus back and forth.
Brian has significant mental health issues. He constantly hears voices and can’t resist talking to them out loud. They are conflicting, evil  voices. The voices in his head talk almost continuously.
In spite of that, he is a kind, sweet man. I’ve never seen him hurt anyone. Even though his voices are scary he is able to control them.
I’m quite sure these voices were talking out loud when he was attacked. We know for certain, because of witnesses, Brian did not provoke this brutal attack. He was attacked without any provocation, other than likely the voices these others might have heard.
We asked if he wanted to press charges. He said no. He just wanted to go back to his tent.
There was talk from his friends of going after these people. They all agreed not to because violent revenge leads nowhere good.
This is a story with no happy ending. There is no uptick, happy arc I can give you here.
This brutal savagery will likely not stop because this isn’t seen as a hate crime. If he had been gay or Muslim and it was clear these people hated him for that this would be front page news.
But the homeless are not a protected class. People in government will still say things like, “Let’s be honest, no one wants to live next to the homeless.”
How we can in good conscience and moral certitude allow the shocking, unbelievable treatment of the poorest and weakest among us to continue is utterly unfathomable to me.
They aren’t allowed to exist anywhere. They can be kicked out of their hovel with a single call from a person who finds homelessness distasteful and having to look at them uncomfortable.
The cruel and unusual punishment of the homeless has no end.
Here are 71 Cities That Have Laws Against Feeding Homeless People
And then there are countless stories like these:
Death of Kelly Thomas – Wikipedia

Kelly Thomas (April 5, 1974 – July 10, 2011) was a homeless man diagnosed with schizophrenia who lived on the streets of Fullerton, California. He was killed by six members of the Fullerton Police Department, on July 5, 2011.

Police searching for teens who allegedly beat a homeless man to death, then ‘ran away laughing’ – The Washington Post
Cop beating homeless woman caught on camera
I’m telling you this story for one reason: The homeless MUST become a protected class. They have no rights whatsoever. They lose their freedom of religion at shelters. They are held to absurd and childish required bedtimes at shelters.
The laws of America make it illegal to be homeless.
Spikes are put on floors to keep homeless out of alcoves.


In Akron, an abandoned building owner put up an iron fence to not allow the homeless to sit under his small, unused awning during the day.
This is hate. Pure and simple.
This is the great American tragedy of our time. We cannot allow this violence and total lack of regard from our government any longer.
The Homeless Charity will be working on legislation to end the blatant disregard and total lack of compassion for the homeless.

My mom has been dead 2 Christmas’ now.
She always had a day after Christmas party.
It was one of those things that I didn’t always look forward to, because I was exhausted from all the other holiday events. But I was always glad we had it once I got there.
We’d have simple foods like bagels and fruit and appetizers. And then we’d usually go see a movie in the afternoon.
It was a low key event that tapered the end of Christmas without the abrupt end to it all that would normally happen.
I thought a lot about the meaning of Christmas this year. I’m not really sure I ever asked myself that question before: What is the meaning of Christmas?
Like all good religious stories, the meaning of Christmas is many layered.
The top layer is the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. That’s the one that is easy to get. It’s a very important layer. But it’s not the only layer.
The story of Jesus being born in a manger, in poverty, is no less astounding. Why would you take the son of God and have him born like that? That’s such a cool touch, when you think about it. If someone like that is the son of God what does it mean about how we treat all people?
What will the son of God look like in the second coming? Will we know him when we see him?
Mother Teresa is a big inspiration to me.
Jesus in His Most Distressing Disguise | Word On Fire

The secret to her infectious joy and boundless compassion was that in every person—every paralytic, every leper, every invalid, and every orphan—she recognized Jesus.

This belief was based on Matthew 25:35-40
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
This was the truth from the day Jesus was born.
I truly believe God likes to watch how we treat the most poor. I feel like it’s this interesting test He’s giving us to see if we’ve learned what he taught.
I always imagine Him not angry but, instead, shockingly amused like he’s watching a reality TV show.
“Not in my back yard” is such a thing that it has now become an acronym: NIMBY
Prisons, homeless shelters, you name it. If it threatens the property value of our home the teachings of Jesus go right out the window.
I often imagine people thinking that the teachings of Jesus are nice and all. But they aren’t meant for serious and important issues like the ones I’m dealing with.
So it’s really no wonder that we haven’t had the Second Coming yet. God has given America more money and resources than has ever been achieved before in the history of humanity and we still have:

• Countless people living under bridges.
• Kids living in cars.
• Healthcare that is too expensive.
• Education that puts people in debt the rest of their lives.

I just can’t stop thinking that He’s watching all this like we’d binge watch Jersey Shore or the Kardashians.
I imagine Him just throwing more and more money on America just to see what shocking thing we’ll do next.
And then He puts empty malls and abandoned houses everywhere in the middle of America and watches as politicians come up with endless reasons why it isn’t a good idea to put humans in them.
And the end of every episode, every week, is watching these people stream into church on Sunday morning for an hour. Then the credits role, “Tune in next week when we see rich Americans throw away endless food because their lawyers told them it’s too unsafe to give away.”
I imagine He just can’t turn that show off.
So the poverty angle of Christmas interests me a great deal.
But there is another aspect of Christmas that isn’t talked about as much. But is maybe equally as important.
It’s the community of it all.
I always loved the story of the 3 Wise Men, the little drummer boy, angels and shepherds. They all show up to see Jesus be born.
And they brought gold, frankincense and myrrh. That just seemed so cool to me. I still don’t know what frankincense and myrrh are but they sound REALLY fancy.
They traveled from the east a long distance to see this birth.
This is the magic I saw this week at Second Chance Village.
Yesterday, on Christmas Day, the Akron Jewish and Muslim community put on a HUGE dinner for the people living in tents in Second Chance Village.
On Christmas Eve a family of Asian decent came and put a massive dinner on for them that day.
The week before Christmas a group of very successful businessmen came into our facility to start building out what we need to electrify and heat our new community room.
The furnace is already in and the electric is going in this week.
This all was surrounded by countless others bringing food and clothing and hygiene supplies.
I have never in my life seen anything like it.
It was EXACTLY like all the wise men and angels and shepherds coming to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Shoot. We even had a kid named Timmy come by to bring homemade cookies.
Actually, the kids that participated in this week were all too many to count.
I imagine what Mary and Joseph must have felt like that night when all those people came to see Jesus. It’s an ocean of giving and love and hope and charity.
Overwhelming isn’t even the word for it.
I’m telling you. I experienced the birth of Jesus this week with the way you all came out in support of the homeless.
You get it.
You know what the birth of Jesus is all about. Even if you can’t describe it in words you get it.
It’s about love.
It’s about loving something you can’t understand and can’t even fully appreciate.
It’s just showing up because there is a force that feels like you should show up.
And now I see it everywhere I look.

• The new Star Wars movie is about coming together.
• Walking Dead (which I don’t even know why I can’t stop watching) is about coming together.
• The Grinch That Stole Christmas
• Christmas church service where many families only come to church once a year.
• Black Friday
• Christmas parties

I’m telling you, the story of community and coming together is everywhere. It’s like it’s shouting at me. Come together. Come together.
And in the case of Second Chance Village all these people came together because of the most poor in our community.
The gifts we get by giving help to the poor are greater than anything we ever can give to them.
Coming together and giving allows us all to rise up. It allows us to transcend the daily grind of things that probably aren’t all that important.
When we come together to help a common cause we all rise up just a little bit. We become a little greater. We become more like the image of God that He’s always wanted us to be.
Christmas is a powerful force that shows us the message. It’s a great universal story that causes us to act and reminds us of where we come from.
We are the creation of God. Jesus called us his brothers and sisters.
We are trying to learn the lessons He has taught.
We are reminded of them on Christmas Day. But the question is, what will we do the day after Christmas?
Have we learned the message well enough to keep coming together? Or do we just go back to our same habits?
I know for many of you the message of giving and coming together is a life long pursuit. I see it every single day at our charity.
There are many people that have found the path. They have found the enlightenment God has taught.
But there are others that still have yet to internalize it. They are the people that give and come together in the spirit of Christmas. They get it. But then they slip back.
These are the people for whom I’ve written this story. You are so close!
You feel the power of it all. It is the path God wants us to be on. Try to stay on it. It is the path to salvation for us all.
It is you that will save the world. It is you that will bring us together and solve all the problems of the world. Don’t give up. Your instincts are right.
Keep coming together. Keep giving. You are the hope of humanity.

This weekend represents a major milestone in the human rights movement of the homeless of Akron Ohio.
A group by the name of People 4 Homeless run by Dave Murray built this home.
The floor and all 4 sides are insulated. The slightly sloping roof is covered in a single piece of dense plastic that could be easily replaced if it gets holes.
There is a lock on the front door.
The entire back wall opens up to form a patio ceiling so you can relax under cover on nicer days.
This home took 5 days to build. And took about 1 hour to assemble on location.
It cost about $1000 in supplies.
Dave feels that costs could decrease to between $500 and $800. And he thinks he could get to the point where he could build 1 a day.
Here is a video of this amazing tiny home:

Let’s just stop and think about that for a minute.
You could house 100 of the most destitute homeless for $80,000.
This is the efficiency of innovation. Bureaucracy only looks at problems. Innovators only see solutions.
We have so much land in Akron that there should be almost no cost to get land from the Summit County Land Bank. There are currently 139 pieces of vacant land available right now in the Summit County Land Bank list.
There is only one excuse for not taking care of the homeless in Akron: FEAR.
The city has never faced its homeless crisis and therefore thinks it is a near impossibility to get a handle on it.
So let me lay it out for them:
Step 1: Stop the hemorrhaging. Give the homeless a place to exist. A tent. A tiny house. A vacant house. A vacant building. I don’t care. Give them a place where they are safe from the fear of being caught and thrown out. The administration is BY FAR the most dangerous threat to these people. Cold, violence, starvation, disease. All of these are secondary threats to the homeless.
Step 2: Have existing service providers go to these known locations to work with these people. Get them involved in mental health programs, addiction programs. Get them identifications. Get them food cards. Get them on the list for housing. Step 2 is incredibly easy. All of this currently exists.
Step 3: Work on affordable housing. There is no reason why we can’t build $20,000 homes in Akron. We have the talent and land to make this happen immediately.
Step 4: Assess the system and evolve with changing needs.
Step 1 and Step 4 will be the hardest for the administration to deal with. Changing and innovating are not their strong suits. So it is very likely we will constantly need to hold city officials accountable. I suspect a human rights law for the homeless will likely need to be created.
I honestly sometimes feel like I’m with the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars trying to restore freedom and justice for the homeless.
Everything we’re doing with the homeless is being met with suspicion and distrust from the administration.
According to them, we are jeopardizing the lives of the homeless. If we give them tents we are threatening them with hypothermia and death. If we let them sleep in our building we’re threatening them with fire and death.
Meanwhile, the actual homeless are living in the worst possible conditions imaginable because the administration doesn’t know what to do with them. The administration’s lack of action is the true and real threat to the homeless.
So, it is with a certain amount of trepidation that I tell you that the very first tiny home for the homeless has been built and put up in Akron Ohio.
To be VERY CLEAR it is NOT located in Second Chance Village.
We have built it in a secret camp in an undisclosed location.
It is our belief that the building department will not allow tiny homes to exist in Akron if they are not connected to utilities and meet all the building codes.
People living in infested, disease ridden illegal hidden camps are fine (until one person calls to complain about them). But trying to do something to make their lives slightly better is overtly illegal and must either comply or shut down.
So, until we get written confirmation that the city of Akron will allow homeless to live in tiny homes we will build them covertly and secretly.
But ultimately this is a great day for the homeless of Akron. The people of Akron are taking the lead in helping the homeless of Akron.
America was built on the foundation of “by the people, for the people.” This is how we will solve the homeless disease of America. The people will solve it.