Tuesday, October 17, 2006
WE DON'T KNOW HOW GOOD WE HAVE IT -- THE GUBBIO PROJECT
We sit here at our computers reading the news and talking with each other, and we don't even have a clue how dismal and desperate life can get.
In San Francisco, the Gubbio Project in the Tenderloin district provides a place where the homeless can sleep without fear of being robbed or molested.
They line up each weekday morning -- not for food or clothes or welfare checks, but for the simple luxury of lying down and falling asleep.
For hundreds of homeless people in San Francisco, the wooden pews of St. Boniface Catholic Church in the Tenderloin are the only place where they can sleep for a solid nine hours.
Many say they're too frightened of being robbed or attacked if they sleep on the streets or in shelters at night, so they force themselves to stay awake until the church opens at 7 a.m. and they can drift off peacefully until 4 p.m.
The program is in financial trouble since keeping the church open for the homeless requires paying someone to oversee it, and the donations have dried up. It costs $140,000 annually to run the program. This lack of funds will cause the program to shut down at noon.
The opportunity to sleep in a safe environment has meant for Miley Wilson, 55, that
he has been out of jail since February 2005 - his longest period of freedom since he was 13. He said he recently kicked his crack addiction and attributes it, in part, to the staff at St. Boniface. ..."I have peace when I come here. I reach back to my old morals, to my parents and my grandparents," he said. "I'm not reaching for the drugs."
Jeffery Grant, 44 said that
he never has dreams when he dozes outside; he has to keep his guard up and resists the urge to fall into a deep sleep. At St. Boniface, though, he dreams. "Good dreams," he said. "About good things happening in my life."
Not all agree that the program is a good thing. Angela Alioto, a former San Francisco suprvisor, said
"Nobody should be sleeping in the day and up all night. It's just not humane. ...They won't assertively search for permanent, supportive housing if they think they can sleep in the church all day long."
We'll leave aside the obvious fact that there are countless Americans who work all night and sleep during the day, and who find it to be humane enough to continue doing it.
To contribute, make a check payable to St. Boniface Neighborhood Center and address it to 133 Golden Gate Ave., San Francisco, CA 94102.
