The Jewels Helping Hands MagicOwl Bus
I had the honor to go out and assist the Jewels Helping Hands crew in serving over 200 sandwiches, water, snacks, bagels, some dog food, and a whole lot of love, compassion, friendship, but most of all I believe that Julie, Jason, and their helpers provide people with HOPE that arose out of a simple purpose back in November at what started as a Hunger Strike to end/suspend the oppressive No Sit/No Lie ordinance because there were no available shelter beds and warming centers had not been opened. That Hunger Strike led to the now legendary Camp Hope, from which many organizations and individuals rose to the challenge of providing the services/supplies that our Spokane City government was ignoring.
One of the groups/organizations/nonprofits that rose to the challenge of meeting the needs of not only the residents of Camp Hope, but those of our city's homeless population is Jewels Helping Hands. They have gone from a small group of people helping people to a nonprofit organization that provides meals for shelters like Family Promise's Open Doors Family Shelter, they have a makeshift foodbank and provide "food boxes" to those that need them, a clothing bank that provides much needed "lightly used" clothing for our friends that are homeless, along with the MagicOwl Bus that travels throughout the city and provides meals/sandwiches/snacks/dog food and other items to Spokane's less fortunate citizens that are living on the street.
In my opinion the one thing that they provide the most is Hope.
Camp Hope provided Hope to the people on Spokane's streets struggling from day to day with one very basic unmet need, housing. As human beings, I most certainly hope we all are human beings, we should agree that no human being should go without some very basic needs met.
1. Housing, some sort of shelter that leads to permanent housing.
2. Food, no one should go hungry in our nation. Considering the amount of food we as a nation waste on a daily basis, feeding the hungry should be a non-issue.
3. Healthcare, some basic form of healthcare needs to be provided. The "revolving doors" at our nation's emergency rooms is costing the American taxpayer billions of dollars a year to service the debt incurred because individuals cannot afford to go to the doctor's office and be seen for common ailments that do not require ER visits.
4. An unfortunate by-product of homelessness is Substance Abuse. Substances are used to help ease the traumas that have led to homelessness, or just the traumatic experience in and of itself of being homeless and learning to survive and not become one of homelessness' missing in action.
Those are just the basic needs, in my opinion as someone who has been homeless and someone who has advocated for those that are homeless, that must be met before we can get down to the real work, and that is helping those that can recover and once again become productive "tax-paying" members of society and those that will need disability services for a short time or long-term in order to keep them safe and secure with a roof over their heads and the help they need to stay there.
Jewels Helping Hands is doing just that, providing hope. It's not just a sandwich, if that's all you see you are missing it altogether. It's that human-connection, the touch exchanged when handing them the sandwich, the eye-contact, the need for all human beings to feel loved and cared for. Isn't that something we can all agree on? Does anything else really matter as much? Would it be so hard for you to keep a few loose bucks to hand that person that touches you on that drive to or from work? Come-on, we've all felt it, but then all the justification starts in our heads about whether or not they'll use it for booze or drugs. Does that matter that much for a couple of bucks or some loose change? Go with your feelings and do what they tell you, you'll feel better for it and you just might brighten someone else's day and yours as well. Jewel's crew does exactly that, they brighten people's days, they bring Hope to those that have lost it all, in my opinion it's a special kind of Hope. It's the Hope that sprang-out of a Movement represented by an encampment of little blue tents filled with people that the powers in charge of the City of Spokane had ignored and discarded in sub-zero temperatures with little concern for their safety and well-being. They were actually more concerned with the safety and well-being of their employees exiting/entering the building than with that of the residents of Camp Hope. Many rose-up to the call to help the people of Camp Hope, from little old ladies pushing walkers (BTW she was a member of one of Spokane's Founding Families, but did not want to be identified) to some of the most powerful both in wealth and influence trying to do the best they could for those that needed it most, and many like Julie Garcia and Jason Green continue to do so with the help of others that jumped on the wave that Camp Hope continues to create in our beautiful city, a Wave of Hope, a Wave that is perpetual, a Wave that helps those that need it most. If you're not riding Camp Hope's Wave, please grab your boards and join us we will take you for the ride of your life!!!
Comments