ten ₱esos

Today we remember Scott Brayton, who died at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1996 during practice for the Indy 500.

On this date in 1973, Vietnam began releasing the remaining tortured, diseased American captives, including John McCain, James Stockdale, Bud Day, and Robinson Risner, from its dank, vermin-infested prisons in Hanoi.

A Los Angeles task force created by the Chamber of Commerce and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles has a plan, Home for Good, to end homelessness in L.A. within five years. It intends to build houses for 12,000 of 48,000 chronically unemployed persons and to provide food, maintenance, and other services — at a cost of $235 million per year.

The plan, based on the task force’s study of what other cities had done, was embraced by political and civic leaders.

Zev Yaroslavsky, of the County Board of Supervisors, said, “This is not rocket science. It’s been done in New York, it’s been done in Atlanta, and it’s been done in San Francisco.”

I didn’t know that New York, Atlanta, and San Francisco have no homeless residents.

Richard Bloom, the mayor of Santa Monica, said,  “Do I think it can happen? Yes, because I’ve seen what happens in other cities, like New York City, Denver and Boston.”

Does that mean that New York, Denver and Boston have no homeless residents?

The Los Angeles City Controller, Wendy Greuel, said, “It’s easy to get up in the morning, go to work, drive home and never encounter someone who is homeless.  I don’t think it’s seeped into the public’s consciousness that homelessness is a problem.”

.AmeriCorps has 75,000 Americans serving their communities in 1- or 2-year commitments, using their skills and ideals to aid others.

…As an AmeriCorps member, you can address community needs in education, the environment, public safety, social services, homeland security, and other areas.

We also serve in national nonprofit organizations like Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, Teach for America, and hundreds of smaller community organizations, secular and faith-based.

Whether your service makes a community safer, gives a child a second chance, alleviates poverty, or helps to protect our environment, you have the ability to find solutions and make a difference.  Care to join AmeriCorps? . list of Florida programs

I visited campsites of homeless persons a mile-and-a-half from Panama City Rescue Mission.  I made a few low-quality photos with my camera phone, without photographing the denizens (except my escort).

makeshift gate to the woods »→

“A hungry people listens not to reason, nor cares for justice, nor is bent by prayers.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A hungry man is not a free man. – Adlai Stevenson

I hadn’t had a job since February 2008.  I could arise most days whenever I desired.  I had no boss, no time cards to stamp or punch, no work schedule, no commute …

Now I have worked two weeks in Panama City Rescue Mission as a ‘resource connector,’ helping homeless persons, including just-released prisoners, to seek employment, shelter, state vocation rehabilitation, Social Security benefits, Medicaid, SNAP grocery cards, military veteran medical-care enrollment, veteran disability compensation, etcetera.

Lord, hear our prayers for women and men, boys and girls who are homeless, for those sleeping under bridges, on benches, in alleys, in bus stations and under trees.

Lord, inspire us to help our brethren who suffer nights of fitful sleep in places unsecure, who wander in the day, looking for work and hoping for housing.

Lord, help us to mend families that are split because rent could not be paid on time and relatives could not take in everyone. »→

The first essential component of social justice is adequate food for all mankind. — Norman Borlaug

…….At Free Rice.com, I reached level 50 in English vocabulary, the default quiz, before losing interest. I encourage you to visit FreeRice.com and do one of the quizzes to donate rice to UN’s World Food Program. Quizzes for adults and kids are:

Famous Paintings

The Philippines government reports that 240 persons are known to have died in severe flooding caused by Tropical Storm Ketsana.

The country has appealed for foreign aid to deal with the disaster which has displaced more than 450,000 persons, including 375,000 who are in makeshift shelters. »→

A recent World Health Organization study resulted in a report that 1.5 million Filipinos under age five suffer from diarrhea at any time due to lack of access to clean water, basic sanitation facilities and poor hygiene practices. »→

I found FreeRice.com, a website committed to ending hunger. Advertising sponsors pay the UN World Food Program for our participation in an online vocabulary game. For each word shown in turn, click on one of the four given possible definitions or synonyms. Every correct answer gains 20 grains of rice for the poor, donated by the sponsors. »→

AidtoChildren.com has a very easy vocabulary game in which one selects from four supplied choices the correct synonym for words such as beverage, student, guardian, doubtful, triumph, fate, gratitude, deadlock, sanitary, functional and fumble. If the FreeRice.com vocabulary game is too challenging for your children, steer them to AidtoChildren.com, where each correct answer nets a quarter of a cent for children in poverty who’re beneficiaries of World Vision. »→

Because I stayed up late helping Mack with his project and feeding him and puttering around on my own, I didn’t go to bed anywhere near midnight.  And when I awoke, my right shoulder and my knees hurt so much I was disinclined to arise and go to work rebuilding the chapel in Baguio Gold.  I hadn’t told anyone that I’d be there, anyway.  So tomorrow I should begin working there (if they permit me). »→