8/30/2006
Aug. 30 gripe
A NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) e-mailed me today, wanting information about the Interfaith Hospitality Network, which wants to open a "homeless shelter" in her suburban Pittsburgh neighborhood, she wrote. She was looking for information about the IHN here, the trouble it's caused, the declining property values, the hobos and derelicts urinating out the windows, I dunno.
I got angry. I wrote her back about the facts of Interfaith Hospitality Network: that is is NOT a homeless shelter rather an organization that assists families who are in economic trouble and have lost their homes. The IHN house on Beau Street is not a shelter but a resource center for these people, a place where they can get assistance in finding jobs and places to live, and where their kids can be looked after while they're at job interviews. Local churches host these families - feed them and bed them down for the night, and when that's not possible, IHN puts them up in motels with donations from its supporters.
The writer was looking for some fuel for the group that she's forming to keep this organization out of her neighborhood. I told her that Washington - and all the participating churches - are proud to have such an organization here.
I hope this woman never finds herself in a situation where, after a couple of bad breaks, she finds herself and her family out on the street with no one to offer them help.
