Tent City Today

Eric and I visited Tent City today. We brought up some water and some apples, which we got at Costco. When we walked up, a man immediately came up to me and took the case of water that I was struggling with, and a kid tried to take the case that hubby-Eric was having no problem with. The boy, maybe 7 or 8 years old, insisted he could carry it, but as Eric handed it over it was clear he wasn't going to be able to support the weight. Another guy took the case, and the kid looked mildly upset. Eric went to go get some more cases, and I suggested to the kid that he go help Eric as I was sure he could carry the apples. The boy happily took off after Eric with his father trailing. The three of them managed the rest of our contributions while I filled out the donation form.

The Tent City is under siege by some folks in the neighborhood who are very upset at its proximity to schools. There is a movement to try to ban it from returning to the neighborhood, and we got a flyer that asked for support in the movement by coming to the city council meeting to complain. I am inclined to go to the meeting and point out that well before Tent City moved in, the same neighborhood had a nutcase in a house across the street from one of the schools who was stockpiling weapons. Just because somebody has a house doesn't mean they are safe, and just because somebody is homeless doesn't mean they aren't. The organization calls itself "Care4Schools"... apparently caring for schools doesn't involve caring about people.

For more information about the organization of Tent City, check out Saint Brendan Parish's Info Site, donations can also be made there. If you prefer to send me on errands, you can send money to me through Amazon Honor System or Paypal. I strongly recommend going through the church instead, as the only advantage to having me do it is that I'll blog about it. It seems that any of you inclined to donate have followed my advice, since I haven't got anything from Amazon Honor or Paypal.

For my previous posts on the subject: first reaction, letter to the Seattle Times (they did not publish it), attack of the killer newsvans (ok, just a mention that hubby-Eric was nearly run down by some), my first visit to the tent city, another Bothell resident responds, tent city in the news, my second visit to the tent ciy, more tent city in the news, my third visit to tent city (with pictures!), and my fourth visit to tent city.