We have a homeless advocate who works tirelessly with the homeless - by operating the House of Mercy, a homeless shelter that also feeds many people. Run by Sister Grace (who has been arrested many times protesting the way homeless are treated) - the House provides food and services to more than 4,000 people a month - however the numbers are growing here. (I've been in her office that is covered with pictures - she also makes sure the homeless are properly buried - and these were the many people she helped do that for). Many of the homeless here were sleeping in the Civic garage and had been for a few years, but that was locked up recently (I talk all the time to a couple guys on the street who stayed in the garage - guess it was quite the dangerous place to stay too.
Sister Grace has been on a raising money campaign to buy another house - but in the meantime she organized some "villages" here with donated items of tents, sleeping bags etc. This "village" nicknamed Sanctuary Village housed up about 20 people - they lived basically under a newly built bridge (this was set up after the City kicked them out of a little park downtown). Sister Grace negotiated with the City in October to allow these people to squat on this tiny parcel of land - with the end date to be December 28th. To their surprise, the City bombed in on them Saturday morning bulldozing all tents and their belongings into dumpsters. Many lost what little they had including ID's and Social Security cards. Sister Grace has managed to put some of them up at her place and find some motel rooms for others and is still pursuing donations to purchase a house. Rumors of why the City jumped the gun on the agreement was that there was a tent fire there last Thursday, that there is a 5K run that will go past them and even better that they didn't want the out of town guests to witness that when they come to the City to watch the fireworks.
They couldn't let them alone sleeping under a bridge ...
From their Facebook -
Today, December 20, 2014, the City of Rochester, NY destroyed Sanctuary Village. This was the last stop for people with no place to go. Tents, sleeping bags, tarps, and, personal items (we've since found out that IDs and social security cards were trashed) were bulldozed into a dumpster. No city official present, including the RPD, would take responsibility for this atrocity, five days before Christmas.
What it looked like before
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And Saturday - after
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Note the crowd of people walking away - one article I read said that the City had found homes for all but three people. Uh-huh.
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Sister Grace has been on a raising money campaign to buy another house - but in the meantime she organized some "villages" here with donated items of tents, sleeping bags etc. This "village" nicknamed Sanctuary Village housed up about 20 people - they lived basically under a newly built bridge (this was set up after the City kicked them out of a little park downtown). Sister Grace negotiated with the City in October to allow these people to squat on this tiny parcel of land - with the end date to be December 28th. To their surprise, the City bombed in on them Saturday morning bulldozing all tents and their belongings into dumpsters. Many lost what little they had including ID's and Social Security cards. Sister Grace has managed to put some of them up at her place and find some motel rooms for others and is still pursuing donations to purchase a house. Rumors of why the City jumped the gun on the agreement was that there was a tent fire there last Thursday, that there is a 5K run that will go past them and even better that they didn't want the out of town guests to witness that when they come to the City to watch the fireworks.
They couldn't let them alone sleeping under a bridge ...
From their Facebook -
Today, December 20, 2014, the City of Rochester, NY destroyed Sanctuary Village. This was the last stop for people with no place to go. Tents, sleeping bags, tarps, and, personal items (we've since found out that IDs and social security cards were trashed) were bulldozed into a dumpster. No city official present, including the RPD, would take responsibility for this atrocity, five days before Christmas.
What it looked like before
View attachment 19956
View attachment 19957
And Saturday - after
View attachment 19958
View attachment 19959
View attachment 19960
View attachment 19961
Note the crowd of people walking away - one article I read said that the City had found homes for all but three people. Uh-huh.
View attachment 19962
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