Food stamps and church songs

Here are a few words from Mr. Seay (pictured above) about his food stamps and a bonafide church hymn from Mr. Ernest Tyree (who'd like to give a shout out to Emmanuel, at Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee).





This blog is taking a little break. I'll be checking in though, to sort through all the many thousands of comments you folks will no doubt be sending but otherwise, we'll return to our regularly scheduled programming in a couple of weeks.

Neighborly

Trish and Jesse are neighbors and friends. They each have a room in local SRO housing. Of the two, he's more likely to be without food and she's more likely to see that he gets something; either from her own supply or from the food truck. Apparently, he's offered to take her out to Red Lobster when he gets his check but it's still in the planning stages and their conversation is pretty funny... listen



Thanks to both of them for letting me/us eavesdrop on the whole thing. I'd also like to thank Regina Hackett at Seattle PI's Art to Go, for sending a nice crowd of people our way since last Friday. This (below) is a photo of Trish and her daughter, taken when they lived in Germany, some forty years ago.

Horseshoe nails and whiskey (part 1)

Old James (who doesn't seem all that old) talks a little about the necklace he was given ten years ago, when he was homeless. Today he lives in SRO housing.

Mr. Harper

It didn't take long to figure out that Mr. Harper had stories. There were knots tied in the straps of his overalls and an eagle on his baseball cap. He was wearing high-end sneakers and keeping an eye out for a new-used pair, he said. He lives at a nearby nursing facility but thanks to the kind women at Gallatin C.A.R.E.S., a community food bank and thrift store, he still gets to go to work every day, helping them organize the piles of hangers.

Mr. Harper loves to sing "at church or just anywhere", he says. He sang all the verses of Roll Jordon the first time we met and then again two weeks later, on request. He still likes to shoot a little basketball too, much to the chagrin of his nurses.

(Note to the the Titans: Some one of you guys with four hundred pairs of shoes really ought to take a pair to Mr. Theodore Harper at Gallatin C.A.R.E.S. That man deserves an awesome pair of shoes, you'll know why in a minute.)

Here are a few words from him, and a good bit of the song.

Maurice

I caught up with Maurice Gordon at Loaves and Fishes on Wednesday afternoon. He said he asked someone if it was alright to play the piano and they told him it was fine so long as he actually could play. It's safe to say that a number of people were mesmerized. Maurice has fallen on hard times and currently resides at the Mission.