September 23, 2011
4. Newblog2011: 09/23/11 "Impact/hopeFound" employment services
Last week, I was at Woods Mullen (no code--maybe I should have said that before, at other times, but I'm saying it now and won't consider it necessary to say it again), the other Boston Public Health Commission shelter, in Boston. If people will remember, the way the 2 shelters work is that people go to the Woods Mullen shelter and either stay there or take a free bus out to the shelter in Quincy. You have a shelter ID, show the staff that, and they give you a piece of paper that is your bus pass for that night’s free bus to the other shelter. It’s a similar process each morning, although, since you’re already there, you don’t have to show your ID to get your bus pass back to Boston.
Last week, I was at the Boston shelter, getting my ticket to go to Quincy, when I saw a sign on the wall for something called “Impact,” an employment agency that said it specifically helps homeless people. It gave a time and date for when the representative would be at the Boston shelter.
I showed up at the right time and on the right day. I met with the representative, who seemed happy to talk with me. She said that they can help place people in jobs; I said I was looking for something that wasn’t too high-stress and that didn’t demand too much from me, that I could do a few days a week until my living situation stabilized and I could move on to work that was more demanding. She told me that she thought she could probably help me, that her agency also helps people with transportation to work, clothes for interviews, and even getting into a place that has apartments where working, homeless people can stay while they save money so that they can move into apartments that they pay for themselves.
She told me that I needed a letter from a shelter verifying my homelessness, and also a referral from the shelter in order to sign up with an agency. We made an appointment for me to see her, which I cancelled later that night when I found out that I had to stay at the Quincy or the Boston shelter for at least 7 days in a row in order to get that paperwork. I left her a voicemail that said I would call her to reschedule as soon as I had the letters she had requested.
I had only been staying at the Quincy shelter for about 3 days when I met with her; that was one of the main reasons why I continued to stay there, so that I could get the paperwork I needed to sign up with her agency. Don’t think that I wasn’t counting the days “Day 3…Day 4….Day 5….Day 6….Day 7.”
I was unbarred (no code; maybe I should have written “no code” in similar situations on my blog before this, but I didn’t think of it) from the Pine Street Inn on September 16, 2011; that was the end of my 2-week bar. I didn’t go back because I didn’t want to have to start all over again with them, and for other reasons that I’ve described previously, such as the fact that the Quincy shelter has more flexibility for time because you don’t have to be back in the middle of the day to get a bed, but mostly because I thought I’d be able to sign up with that employment agency and be moving on with things.
I got that paperwork at the beginning of this week. I called Impact and left a message with the person I’d spoken to before. She didn’t call me back.
I called again the next day and left a message in the main mailbox. There’s been no reply.
What I’m wondering is if the harassing conglomerate found out that I had spoken with the representative from that agency and if the harassing conglomerate has been harassing and threatening her and/or the agency and/or other people who work in that agency, or if she or the agency decided that they weren’t going to try to work with me because they would attract the abusive attention of the conglomerate.
I just looked at the Impact/hopeFound website for the first time. Here are some captions from it:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“At last count, 7,529 people were homeless in Boston. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can make a difference.”
“Homeless for more than 8 years, Linda found herself hospitalized with a serious infection caused by long-term substance abuse. With the support of hopeFound, Linda transformed her life. Read more about Linda”
(At the top of each page, there are rotating quotes, one of which is this):
“It is so refreshing to talk to other volunteers and hear about the things they do to help the guests at hopeFound.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 23, 2011
I don’t even know how long its been that various people in the harassing conglomerate have been trying to imply that I have a substance abuse problem. I don’t have any kind of substance abuse problem; I almost never touch alcohol. I’ve never had an entire drink to myself or even ordered one more than a couple of times in my life. I’ve never smoked marijuana. I’ve never had any kind of substance abuse problem AT ALL.
As for the harassment in the language on the Impact/hopeFound website, and the reference to “Making A Difference;” those things ought to be obvious to anyone who’s been reading my blogs for more than a few months.
Copyright, with noted exceptions, L. Kochmans, September 23, 2011 @ 4:19 p.m.
4. Newblog2011: 09/23/11 "Impact/hopeFound" employment services
Last week, I was at Woods Mullen (no code--maybe I should have said that before, at other times, but I'm saying it now and won't consider it necessary to say it again), the other Boston Public Health Commission shelter, in Boston. If people will remember, the way the 2 shelters work is that people go to the Woods Mullen shelter and either stay there or take a free bus out to the shelter in Quincy. You have a shelter ID, show the staff that, and they give you a piece of paper that is your bus pass for that night’s free bus to the other shelter. It’s a similar process each morning, although, since you’re already there, you don’t have to show your ID to get your bus pass back to Boston.
Last week, I was at the Boston shelter, getting my ticket to go to Quincy, when I saw a sign on the wall for something called “Impact,” an employment agency that said it specifically helps homeless people. It gave a time and date for when the representative would be at the Boston shelter.
I showed up at the right time and on the right day. I met with the representative, who seemed happy to talk with me. She said that they can help place people in jobs; I said I was looking for something that wasn’t too high-stress and that didn’t demand too much from me, that I could do a few days a week until my living situation stabilized and I could move on to work that was more demanding. She told me that she thought she could probably help me, that her agency also helps people with transportation to work, clothes for interviews, and even getting into a place that has apartments where working, homeless people can stay while they save money so that they can move into apartments that they pay for themselves.
She told me that I needed a letter from a shelter verifying my homelessness, and also a referral from the shelter in order to sign up with an agency. We made an appointment for me to see her, which I cancelled later that night when I found out that I had to stay at the Quincy or the Boston shelter for at least 7 days in a row in order to get that paperwork. I left her a voicemail that said I would call her to reschedule as soon as I had the letters she had requested.
I had only been staying at the Quincy shelter for about 3 days when I met with her; that was one of the main reasons why I continued to stay there, so that I could get the paperwork I needed to sign up with her agency. Don’t think that I wasn’t counting the days “Day 3…Day 4….Day 5….Day 6….Day 7.”
I was unbarred (no code; maybe I should have written “no code” in similar situations on my blog before this, but I didn’t think of it) from the Pine Street Inn on September 16, 2011; that was the end of my 2-week bar. I didn’t go back because I didn’t want to have to start all over again with them, and for other reasons that I’ve described previously, such as the fact that the Quincy shelter has more flexibility for time because you don’t have to be back in the middle of the day to get a bed, but mostly because I thought I’d be able to sign up with that employment agency and be moving on with things.
I got that paperwork at the beginning of this week. I called Impact and left a message with the person I’d spoken to before. She didn’t call me back.
I called again the next day and left a message in the main mailbox. There’s been no reply.
What I’m wondering is if the harassing conglomerate found out that I had spoken with the representative from that agency and if the harassing conglomerate has been harassing and threatening her and/or the agency and/or other people who work in that agency, or if she or the agency decided that they weren’t going to try to work with me because they would attract the abusive attention of the conglomerate.
I just looked at the Impact/hopeFound website for the first time. Here are some captions from it:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“At last count, 7,529 people were homeless in Boston. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can make a difference.”
“Homeless for more than 8 years, Linda found herself hospitalized with a serious infection caused by long-term substance abuse. With the support of hopeFound, Linda transformed her life. Read more about Linda”
(At the top of each page, there are rotating quotes, one of which is this):
“It is so refreshing to talk to other volunteers and hear about the things they do to help the guests at hopeFound.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 23, 2011
I don’t even know how long its been that various people in the harassing conglomerate have been trying to imply that I have a substance abuse problem. I don’t have any kind of substance abuse problem; I almost never touch alcohol. I’ve never had an entire drink to myself or even ordered one more than a couple of times in my life. I’ve never smoked marijuana. I’ve never had any kind of substance abuse problem AT ALL.
As for the harassment in the language on the Impact/hopeFound website, and the reference to “Making A Difference;” those things ought to be obvious to anyone who’s been reading my blogs for more than a few months.
Copyright, with noted exceptions, L. Kochmans, September 23, 2011 @ 4:19 p.m.