A Backward Look, etc., Continued ...

In Feburary, “Shelter Happens” continued to enumerate offenses against homeless people and problems in the management of the VOA Sheridan Community Homeless Shelter:

Shelter staff harass a resident who was waiting for a technical job; said he would amount to nothing; accused him of “shelter-hopping.” Man gets job he wants in Sheridan and lives happily ever after, but to do so had to ignore shelter “support.”
Resident on probation in court succeeds with job and begins GED; is harassed by staff for being at the shelter for so long.
Shelter’s “Not-Welcome-Back list is as thick as the phone book, and goes back years. One Sheridan woman didn’t think she could return because five years ago she had said a bad word at the shelter.
Shelter takes control of all medications, and, as we will see later, becomes responsible (if not liable) for missed doses, over-doses and loss through theft. Shelter director pretends to be doctor and pharmacist.
VOA pays itself $60,000 per year for “administrative costs” skimmed from donations from well-meaning people. Local execs enjoy fat wallets; shelter residents sometimes don’t get seconds on noodles because of “costs.”
VA Domiciliary does a better job in caring for veterans. Why do we have a vets program that doesn’t work in the shelter?
VOA National website says, “We stay with (the homeless) for as long as it takes to return them to self-sufficiency.” I write to the executives to point out that this is a lie in Sheridan. No response.
Shelter residents are expected to spy on one another when they are not at the shelter.
A woman resident is made even more miserable by the manipulative, control-oriented “care” at the shelter. Now “free,” the woman say she would stay under a bridge before ever returning to the shelter.
A female veteran gets kicked out of the shelter on Christmas morning.
Shelter welcomes only the well-behaved, the polite and the mannerful. Lack a refinement and pack your bags.
Shelter is a bad neighbor to fellow human beings who have hit hard times. Just what they need – a condescending, cruel, threatening, intrusive environment to add to the weight of their already-difficult struggle.

That sums the list from January and February. I hope this catches you up if you haven’t been reading for long, or if you visit once in a while.

All readers, friend or foe, are appreciated.

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