Today I was blessed by a man that is currently homeless that stopped by my office. I was working just inside our storefront window and I made eye contact with him as he walked by. After he passed the office, he turned around and came back and walked in. We ended up having a 30 minute conversation about his life, my life, Young Life, the need for his story to get out there for more youth in our community to learn from. I ended up offering him a ride to St. Johns Shelter so that he could catch dinner as I was leaving the office for the day. Our conversation continued as we we drove the few blocks to the shelter in the rain. His outlook on life was a great encouragement to me. I am personally tired of the constant battle that pushes against members of our community that find themselves homeless. This is a recurring community theme that I can only label as the NIMBY Syndrome. Definition of NIMBY: Used to describe a person or an attitude, NIMBY is an abbreviation for Not In My Back Yard. A NIMBY might agree that a community or a neighborhood needs a homeless shelter, but doesnt want it placed too close to his or her own home or in the neighborhood. Lower property values, safety, and people that are perceived as the other should not have access to their neighborhood are either stated or inferred reasons for NIMBY Syndrome. i.e. Although the community council supported the zoning change, the NIMBYs argued strongly against the opening of a homeless shelter near their neighborhood. (Thank you Google for the extended definition) I would like to lobby our local faith, community and civic leaders to either open the doors to the recently proposed Day Shelter at 100 E. Mason St. to open or assist in providing a reasonable/better alternative. This is an urgent need in our neighborhood. I personally am going to step up my game by increasing my community advocacy to assist in working through this struggle. Anyone want to join me and many others that have been working on this for a long time already?
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 04:18:46 +0000
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