Rap, if I were a big, strong man there is no way I would do it. Different vibes, you know. As far as robbing and other violence are concerned, in Juneau there is less chance of that than just about anywhere.
I have a musician friend in Corrections - put in his 20 years as a warden in the local prison, retired, and after three weeks of retirement went back to work as director of the Halfway House.
I asked him why homeless people would choose Juneau to live in when it is so much warmer almost anywhere else. He said, Because they feel safer here. Down south, he said, you could get yourself killed for the sake of a good pair of boots. Maybe because it is hard to get out of Juneau with only water and air transport available it just isn't going to happen here.
Melissa, you have some great ideas there. There is one error: All of these people can come into the shelter for their three meals a day, as well as snacks almost all day long, whether or not they sleep there. They can also take showers, do their laundry, get bus tokens, make phone calls, read books and magazines, play games, do their own art projects (there are some who do), chat and bond. It is open to everybody from 7:00 am to 9:30 pm. People who sleep there have to go upstairs at 9:30 and leave the bedrooms at *:00 am. The local shelter is doing an excellent job, according to most reports I'm getting.
The city of Juneau is compiling a Directory of Non-Profit Services and this shelter will have a section in it. My job (volunteer) is to interview 20 or 30 people who use any of their services, find out their opinion of the available services and what else they think the city should be doing.
It is an interesting project. I have already interviewed 19 men and two women. I record our conversations but only the parts pertinent to the facilities are entered into my computer and will be in the directory.
But I think you are right- if I make my plans to run for a week- yikes, the prospect makes me shiver. But if I do that, there is no way I could feel it was tokenism. And I could do it- my part time job ended a couple of weeks ago - so I have the time available.
However I don't have to decide yet- I need to complete the current project, plus I have two housesitting commitments to fulfill in this next month.
But this afternoon when I was out walking my dog, I found myself looking at potential hideyholes...