"More Food Than We Know What To Do With"

As anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis or watches the local news can tell you, March roared into Uptown like a lion.  Accusations were made and tempers grew short as homeless advocates and the Salvation Army squared off against 46th Ward Ald. James Cappleman.

It all happened after a meeting between the alderman and the Army, during which he asked that the S.A.'s Mobile Feeding Truck continue to provide services and outreach to the chronic homeless who sleep in the park and under the viaducts of Lake Shore Drive in Uptown, and also asked that they refrain from feeding the hardcore homeless at that location.

Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown has done a series of articles condemning the alderman as heartless and ignorant about social issues ("dangerous" was his description, to be precise).  Occupy Rogers Park and assorted sympathizers held a rally at the alderman's office last on Wednesday, chanting "Hands Off The Homeless!" and carrying signs accusing the alderman of wanting those living rough to die of starvation.

We're sure that they will be relieved to find out that the homeless themselves don't want the Salvation Army's food.  In fact, they have plenty of food, so much that they feed the wildlife in the park with the extra.  From Mark Brown's latest column (and at this point, we think he should just move to Uptown, since he's spending so much time here):

And then there’s the food: the church lady who comes from the suburbs every Sunday with a home-cooked meal; the Chinese restaurant owner who drops off his leftovers late at night, and lots and lots of McDonald’s hamburgers, so many burgers in fact, owing to the restaurant’s nearby location, that the people under the viaduct pine for a Kentucky Fried Chicken to open in the neighborhood.

“We’ve got more food than we know what to do with,” says Tamara “Tami” Walsh, who has been on the streets for 19 months since losing her home in Channahon. [...]  In the category of strange but true, the viaduct dwellers say they don’t really need food from the Salvation Army’s mobile soup kitchen, which stops just yards away every weekday.

According to Brown, what do the homeless tell him they really want?  Services.  Housing. Help.

With all the other donated food, most told me they don’t eat the free soup, although they do avail themselves of the assistance of the Salvation Army social workers who accompany the food truck and try to solve other problems for them, including the biggest one — finding housing.

So it all comes full circle.

• The Salvation Army wants to provide relief and outreach, but insists that its soup is its "calling card" and that it must offer it to entice the homeless to come to their truck to meet the social workers.
• The alderman wants them to provide relief and outreach, but without providing food.
• The chronic homeless who spoke with Mark Brown say they don't want or need the Salvation Army's soup, but do want their services, and help finding housing.

Seems like everyone is on the same page (at least they're reading from the same chapter), and that there's more common ground than differences.  No one's a monster.  Everyone wants the same thing: to get the people out of the viaduct and into the social service system, and safe, clean, permanent housing.

Time for everyone to hold hands, sing a couple choruses of Kumbaya, and start figuring out a way to work together to achieve that goal.