SUNDAY 11-29-09
I had worked the previous night on call in the NICU at Roseville Kaiser. I had the day off …which turned out to be my first day off ever in my three work junkets to Sacramento from Albuquerque. I was going to make a day of it. So I visited "Loaves and Fishes" soup kitchen/day care/shelter/etc. in Sacramento.
From their website…”Our Philosophy …Without passing judgment, and in a spirit of love and hospitality, Loaves & Fishes feeds the hungry and shelters the homeless. We provide an oasis of welcome, safety, and cleanliness for homeless men, women and children seeking survival services.” It is run by a lady named Sister Libby. In college, many years ago, I worked in a shelter called St. Martin de Poor's in Chicago, run by Sister Connie and Sister Theresa. Ah, nostalgia…
”May I help you with something”, asked a 30-something African-American guy, wearing an official name tag. He was directing the traffic of a large dolly of cheese into the door labeled DINING ROOM/KITCHEN.
This was Hugh Thompson, or maybe it was Hugh Thomas. He had come to Sac to take a job driving a truck, but got laid off about a year ago. Then he started volunteering here, and now he works here for pay. Nice guy. L&F has a real big operation...which is a shame of course that the need is so great. Hugh tells me the crowds gather about 8 am at the L&F “Friendship Park”, where they pass out food tickets for lunch, and help people find work, or provide medical care, or child care. The operation is “across the tracks” literally from lots of nice homes and gentrified restaurants, etc. The Salvation Army is on the L&F side as well.
I asked him if there were still the tent cities that were in the paper back in the Spring. Hugh said “they” had moved them out, but he didn’t know to where, or who “they” were. I guess in truth I had kinda come over here today to see for myself… looking for those tent. I asked him if the folks had been moved to the State Fair Grounds. Hugh said that there was talk about moving them to Cal-Expo but that fell thorough. City was now making plans for where folks were to go this winter.
That their operation is "across the tracks" I found poetic...and as there are limited numbers of roads to get from the gentrified side to the L&F’s side. Here, every corner has a congregation of the dispossessed which I found sad but typical. There were small groups of maybe 10-25 people, men with long beards ala John Brown and leathery women, sitting on corners in a kind of industrial park area of their side of the tracks. Some of these folks had bikes to ride around…apparently the best mode of transportation. Me, I had a rented Chevy. Getting across the train tracks was a challenge in the car. It was a beautiful sunny day...big ass blue sky. It almost seemed like all the roads led out of this place and fast, rather than letting some drive into the place. The only people over here were the homeless and the very few folks caring for them. And me, I was the tourist…like in that Dave Massengil song. It wasn’t a bustling community really, teeming with people, but just the small groups and lots of empty space between them. It was kind of like Time Square was the week after 9/11.
I parked and went for a walk around. I left my iPOD behind. Technically it was my son Max’s iPOD. He gave it to me when a friend gave him a better one). I figured walking around in headphones might give someone a poor impression of me. There was a lovely new bike trail near the American River. Lots of young families with their well maintained little kids on new bikes riding across the bridge that took you over the river. It was a beautiful day to ride a bike.
On the walk, I found few stands of colorful newish Eureka tents nestled in gullies between the Union Pacific railroad tracks and the bike trail. There was a pit bull wearing a light jacket chained up near one tent...it seemed he yearned to be free. I snapped a picture, but then a guy called up asking “What are you taking a picture for”. I felt kind of ashamed. I asked him how long he’d been living there. He said “for a while”. I apologized for invading their privacy. I kept the picture anyway. I’ll put it up here when I can get it off the cell phone and into the computer.
On the walk I found this large opening in a razor wire fence at 14th and Ave C that seemed inviting. It seemed to be there for a purpose. So I climbed through and then up onto the railroad trestle. I walked about 3 miles along the railroad track to back behind the almond factory...Blue Diamond Almonds and the International Almond Exchange. Hell, I didn't know almonds came from factories. There were a few folks around but no massive encampments. People seemed isolated…leaning up against fences in places folks weren’t supposed to be, sitting on some fresh cardboard or an old mattress, sometimes listening to an MP3 player.
I made it back through the razor wire to the nice side of the tracks, got in my car, and drove back to a grocery store and then back to my comfortable hotel room. It is really nice here. I settled down to a DVD, a tumbler of sherry, soft cheese, some French bread, and a jar of pickled herring.
It was a really fantastic day.
Written Tuesday 12-1-09 while I should have been doing something else.
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