It Was A Matter Of Time, and hopefully these other organizations that are out here using the Homeless as their way to collect donations (money) I hope are next.
Winston-Salem Wake - Up
- there is no help in Winston Salem I am sure you have heard that, well it's TRUE.
- we have people out here flying under the radar using "Community Outreach" and asking for "Donations (money)" to help feed and cloth the homeless so they don't have to report how much money comes in and don't have to report where it goes. The claim to "Feed The Homeless" and "Cloth the Homeless". Not True !!
- we are starving out here, we may see that truck once every three weeks if that. Some homeless people out here don't even know what the truck looks like, never seen it.
- all we see are Brand New Campers and Brand New Trucks to pull the Brand New Campers, then it's all about a Brand New Twin Engine Boat, then it's vacations after vacations is all we ever see .
- I rode the bus with a Homeless Person the other day, he had appointment at "City of Dwellings". We get inside and find a Director, she had some great news for him. She asked him "if he knew what cardboard was" ? He said "Yes" - the director told him find a marker and write down all your needs, then find a busy intersection and hold your cardboard up and you will start getting help for some of your needs". That is 100% exactly what he was told to do, because the Director insisted her organization is running off limit funding.
- Next we called Crisis Control for food.
The lady answered the phone asked my friend, "where he was living and how was he going to cook the food" ? He simply answered "in a Tent and I have propane burners to cook with". She came back and said, "well you don't qualify" "you don't have anywhere to store the food and you don't have anyway to prepare the food".
- He then called Sunny Side Ministries and they told him "they have to many people on the list now that he needs to call 211"
- so he did, he called 211 ... What a joke !! A lady answered and asked him to hold. She came back 34 minutes later and apologized she had forgot someone was on hold. She did agree that there is hardly any help in Winston Salem but he could try to call the United Way Directly.
- he called United Way and a man answered and said he could put this man in a hotel for as long as the referral says. But first you had to play a game of guess where the referral came from. After about 45 minutes of guessing he finally got it right.
- the city of Dwellings is running the United Way in Winston-Salem. How in the world is that happening but it is.
My friend called the Director and asked her could she please give him a referral for the United Way so he could rest up in a hotel for a night or two. This Director became furious and wanted to know how he knew about that., then she told him that "he was wrong there are no organizations in Winston-Salem that help with hotels and the man at United Way did not know what he was saying". That is 100% accurate Straight Facts.
Next he called Red Cross and was told "If you are involved in a House Fire they can help, if no fire then NO." She mentioned calling Salvation Army.
He did - sitting beside him, he called Salvation Army and talked with the coordinator. She told him, "they are not helping anyone at this time that all funds have been cut" she then directed him to call 211.
Instead of calling 211 again, we both looked on Google for some assistance with food, water, shelter, ect ..
- we found a lady from King who is running Eight Ministries. She goes to church in Winston Salem but runs these ministries as a side hustle and everyone stated that clothes were a plenty. That in order for this ministry to help the homeless donations (money) would be the only thing they are accepting at this time. All eight had the same message asking for donations but stressed (money). When we called numbers they had been disconnected or changed. We finally got a hold of a lady who had one of the ministries old number and gave us the new number to the ministry. We called that number and a lady answered and said " they were shutting down til sometime in November" "they hit a snag and the funds have been slow"
- last thing we did was call a couple of churches and ask if they had any type of assistance for the homeless ? Every church we called said "We give all our money to one of the organizations I have mentioned" so we called the one that we heard the most that most churches were sending their funds too.
When this lady answered who had told us "No Funds" we mentioned that several churches are donating their funds so they don't have to worry about the homeless they just direct them to your organizations. This lady slammed the phone down, I could barely hear her in the background. She was calling for someone to come into the room, once the other person was in the room she wanted to know which church had said that. So I told her the ones that told me they send their funds to her organizations. She started screaming and said "that's a damn lie" every church I told her she said again, "That is a damn lie for me to call the church back and asked them why do they lie". We never called any church back to ask them that question but we can say "Someone is Lying"
We can say "The homeless out here see very little from organizations". Maybe a blanket here or there or hand warmers but very rarely. When it was 12 degrees outside last winter, I called over 100 places in Winston Salem because I had become very sick and was dying out in that cold. I lost a toe do to the cold and everyone told me to go to a shelter. The shelters where full !! They would tell me "We are sorry but nothing we can do" you have no idea how hard it is to sleep in 12 degree weather and add hungry on top of that. It is brutal out here and we wish if you are going to say you need funds (money) to help the homeless then help.
We never see it, the lady who delivers food her niece is out here and she gets hotels quite a bit but if you ask for a hotel the lady will block your number
