Reflections on the New Homeless Grapevine

   by A.C. Hall

So we want to have a newsletter in this city of Cleveland? And it will be named The Homeless Grapevine! We already know what the Grapevine is… or do we? Let’s talk about the title of this newsletter, The Homeless Grapevine. I can understand the homeless in the title because I was homeless.

    I came to Cleveland in November 1991. In my mental state of being I had no where to go. I did not know anyone in the city. At night I had no where to go, no home to go to. I was middle aged, able to work, and hang with the best. But I was homeless. My body was exposed to the elements: the sun , the rain, and the snow. This also left me physical state of being homeless. I went to a shelter. At first I listened to everything and everybody. This grew old fast. Soon I found out about food and clothing at St. Augustine’s, I found this by way of what the brothers were talking about—so the Grapevine was all the brothers talking.

    We already know is homeless and why…or do we? We used to think of a homeless man as being a drunk—that would be if this was 1965. But it’s not. It’s the 90’s and homeless is on the rise!! We could all feel that this is just the effect of Reaganomics and the trickle down effect…not to put any main emphasis on what got out being homeless. My goal was to get out of being homeless. I had to ask myself how could I get out of this unpleasant situation. I also tried not to get into anything I could not control. While being homeless some of us would find ways to get around some of the barriers. For example, when you are homeless you cannot register at the Ohio Bureau of Employment because of the lack of an address. This may discourage some, but in these times of need we have to be headstrong and fill-in our blanks areas,

     So again, we want to have a newsletter? Sure, because we can use the Grapevine to put into writing who we are and how we can help others and ourselves.      

Copyright NEOCH Homeless Grapevine Spring 1993 Issue