You Should Try This!! Non-Profit Donors Invited To Experience Homelessness For Themselves !

This is a GREAT IDEA ! HOMELESS FIELD TRIPS FOR THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE A HOME IN ORDER TO 'GET IT'. Remember. It took like more than a year for our people here in San Francisco, to convince our own City Agency workers (Human Services Agency & Department of Public Health) to GO INSIDE OUR HOMELESS SHELTERS and try their hand at navigating a chaotic, disconnected and time consuming homeless and housing systems we have here, which are similiar to programs in other U.S. Cities. Here is an example of a very sensible and wise 'trend' in which donors to non-profits are invited to become homeless, in order to experience what is really going on and raise money at the same time. Two weeks in a homeless life in any city in our country would teach the foundations, funders, sponsors, donors and philanthropists much more about the conditions we face every homeless day, than any brochure, promo or non-profit solicitor ever could. CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS ORGANIZATION'S EFFORTS TO BREAK DOWN MYTHS AND FANTASIES ABOUT OUR LIVES AND OUR DAILY NEED FOR SUPPORT FROM EVERYONE IN OUR COMMUNITIES, UNITED AND WORKING TOGETHER TO LIVE, NOT TO PROFIT FROM OUR PEOPLE'S MISERY AND MISFORTUNES. SFHomeless Yahoo! Group Moderators SOURCE: http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/othercities/albuquerque/stories/2009/01/19/daily11.html Monday, January 19, 2009, 2:44pm MST St. Martin's seeks people to experience homelessness New Mexico Business Weekly St. Martin's Hospitality Center is using an interesting method to raise funds in these tough economic times, and to put donors in touch with its mission. The center is seeking 12 people who want to experience what homelessness is like for themselves by offering a "Street Retreat." It's a practice that has been widespread among some nonprofits since the early 1990s, said Tracy Alexis, development director of St. Martin's, which is one of the largest providers of services for the homeless in New Mexico. It was founded by volunteers from local Episcopal churches. The "Street Retreat" experience lasts for three days and two nights, Jan. 28-30. Participants eat in soup kitchens and sleep outdoors, although the group will stay together for safety, Alexis said. The idea is not to take up shelter beds that are already scarce in the city, she added. St. Martin's asks each participant to gather 12 sponsors. Each sponsor pledges to support the participant for the three days with a $100 per-day-commitment. For more information on the Street Retreat, call Alexis at (505) 242-4399 x236. We like this idea . . . All Politicians and City Leaders Must Go Homeless For A Week Before They Can Speak With Any Authority About Issues and Problems That They Now DO NOT UNDERSTAND. In fact, no politician should be allowed to make any decisions that affect People whom he has not met and does not know and has not been 'in touch' with their real lives which are affected, for better or worse by every decision made on their behalf through our representatives. In these past 8 years, many people have suffered and died while many men and women grew in power, profits, property and cash while all of us have suffered by their shockingly aweful levels of greed and corruption; kidnapping, torture and bloodshed for oil and other corporate profits. ALL OF THEIR LIVES GREW RICH AND FAT WHILE WE SUFFERED AND DIED IN MANY CITIES AND IN MANY COUNTRIES AROUND THE EARTH. We must do what we can to share real life experiences and struggles with people who can and who will not harm us, but will turn their heads around, open their minds and hearts and help us all to prosper and be safe no matter where we go and no matter who we are. WE ARE ALL AMERICANS AND NOW IS OUR TIME TO RULE OUR OWN NATION BECAUSE WE ARE CHILDREN NO LONGER. WE ARE NOW ADULT ENOUGH AND WISE ENOUGH TO TAKE BACK CONTROL OF OUR COLLECTIVE DESITINY. TODAY, WE SALUTE PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, WITH GREAT HOPE. BTW, There is an End Of Bush Party at the end of Bush Street (at Presidio) later this afternoon, to celebrate the lifting of a great burden from our shoulders, as ex-president George W. Bush, leaves our nations' capital. The End Of Bush (in the White House, anyway... ). Now, it is Our Duty to restore honor to our Nation and to make our justice whole by prosecuting those people and organizations who have violated Our Treaties and Laws for personal profit and gain. We owe something called JUSTICE to every innocent man, woman and child who has died or suffered by a criminal or negligent act during these past 8 years, including ALL OF THE INNOCENT who have been beaten, kidnapped and tortured by corrupted and cruel officials and contractors who broke the law and brought Our Nation and Our People Great Disgrace In This World. POWER COMES BACK NOW TO OUR PEOPLE. . WE MUST PROSECUTE THEM ALL FOR THEIR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND TREASON AGAINST OUR PEOPLE. WE MUST HOLD THE BANKSTERS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE $300 BILLION WE WERE JUST CONNED OUT OF AND STOP THEM FROM TAKING ANY MORE. THEY ARE NOT ACCOUNTABLE. THEY ARE SCORPIONS WHO MUST BE TRUE TO THEIR NATURE, AS THAT TURTLE AND THE SCORPION CROSSING THE CREEK STORY GOES... ALL OF THEIR PROFITS CAME ON THE BACKS OF LIES, DECEPTIONS, DEREGULATION AND FAVORITISM AND LACK OF ENFORCEMENT BY THEIR FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES. WE MUST FORM A NEW MONETARY SYSTEM FOR OUR PEOPLE, WITHOUT THE BANKING AND FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM. THEY HAVE BECOME OBSOLETE IN THEIR GREED AND MUST BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN MESSES. THE AUTO AND OIL INDUSTRIES LIED, DECIEVED AND SUPPRESSED ALL INVENTIONS AND PROGRAMS RELATED TO CONSERVATION, FUEL EFFICIENCY AND ALTERNATIVE FUEL SOURCES FOR MORE THAN A HUNDRED YEARS NOW. WE NEED NEW ORGANIZATIONS TO HELP US GREEN OUR NATION, BUT THESE OLD BOY CORPORATIONS CANNOT BE TRUSTED, SO WE MUST CREATE NEW ORGANIZATIONS WITHOUT THEM. NEW PRESIDENT. NEW BLOOD IN OUR LEGISLATIVE HOUSES AND NEW PEOPLE DOING GOOD THINGS. LEAVE THE BAD FRUITS OF THE BAD TREES BEHIND TO ROT IN THEIR OWN CESS POOLS OF GREED AND TYRANNY. HAPPY INAGURATION DAY 2009 !! GOOD BYE GEORGE... HELLLLLLOOOOOO O-BAMA !!! DON'T LET THE BARN DOOR HIT YA IN THE ASS, GEORGEY, AS YOU SKIDADDLE AWAY BEFORE YOU ARE BROUGHT TO THE HAGUE TO STAND TRIAL FOR WAR CRIMES. SFHomeless Yahoo! Group Moderators

Undercover Article Exposes San Francisco Homeless Shelters

Awesome work by Amanda Witherell and Bryan Cohen of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, exposed abuse and neglect inside our City's tax funded shelters. Just as Board of Supervisors were given a bogus and misleading report by SF Human Services Agency Director Trent Rohrer, leading to a 9-2 Veto Proof Vote to pass new Shelter Standards of Care Law ...

read more | digg story

Photos of Meals Served in San Francisco Homeless Shelters- 5 photos

This information about homeless shelter meal photos, comes from Your new SFHomeless Yahoo Group Facebook site. WEB SOURCE: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44286&l=749d7&id=530713024 ( You can give out the link above to your friends, family and colleagues or forward a copy of this email to them ). MOST MEALS AT MOST OF OUR HOMELESS SHELTERS HAVE IMPROVED OVER LAST YEAR . . . We have noticed meals now being served has greatly improved at most non-profit tax funded and non-tax funded shelters. However, to maintain good nutrition and make sure that tax payers, food donators and the hungry residents' interests are being taken care of, we MUST convince our Board of Supervisors to fully fund the Registered Dietician Position to support our newly enacted Shelter Standards of Care Laws. The funding for the current SF Department of Public Health Registered Dietician has EXPIRED ! She was able to make some headway by running Pilot Meal Preparation and Nutrition Projects at Hamilton, MSC South and Next Door Shelters which have helped make sure that food is not being wasted and is being cooked and served properly (heated properly to safe temperatures, food stock rotation, safe food handling procedures, use of gloves, etc. basic safe food procedures that not every shelter staff member knows about...). GOOD NUTRITION AND ADEQUATE MEALS AND PORTIONS SAVE HEALTH AND MEDICAL COSTS, REDUCES SICKNESS AND SAVES TAX DOLLARS AND DONATED RESOURCES. HAVING THE MEALS MONITORED AT ALL SHELTERS MEANS MORE FOOD ON THE TABLE TO ENABLE OUR PEOPLE TO HAVE ENOUGH NUTRITION AND ENERGY TO THINK CLEARLY AND MOVE ON TO THEIR NEXT STEP. GOOD NUTRITION AND MEAL KITCHEN OVERSIGHT REDUCES COSTS AND HELPS IMPROVE THE HEALTH AND WELL BEING OF OUR RESIDENTS AND REDUCES MANY FORMS OF STRESS, CONFLICT AND MENTAL ILLNESS WHICH HELPS US ALL. SUPPORT THE CONTINUED FUNDING OF THE SHELTER STANDARD OF CARE REGISTERED DIETICIAN, TO MAKE SURE WE ARE ALL KEPT HEALTHY. CONTACT YOUR BOARD OF SUPERVISOR MEMBERS -TODAY- AND TELL THEM YOU DEMAND HUMANE MEALS AND FOOD SAFETY IN OUR CITY'S TAX FUNDED SHELTERS.

---

Your Photos - Meals Served In Homeless Shelters in San Francisco

Back to My Photos

5 photos Share this album with friends, even if they're not on Facebook.

Meals Served In Homeless Shelters in San Francisco - 5 photos

By SFhomeless Yahoogroup

Shows pictures of the size and quality of meals being served to homeless residents in tax funded and non-tax funded homeless shelters.

Shows pictures of the size and quality of meals being served to homeless residents in tax funded and non-tax funded homeless shelters.

Location: San Francisco, California USA

---

There are lots more photos of shelter meals at your SFHomeless Yahoo Group Flickr Site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/17317856@N06/sets/72157602848816012/ WE NEED YOUR HELP TO SHOW EVERYONE WHAT OUR MEALS LOOK LIKE TODAY ! ! ! EMAIL US TODAY WITH CURRENT PHOTOS OF THE MEALS ARE YOU SERVED IN OUR CITY'S HOMELESS SHELTERS AND FEEDING PLACES LIKE GLIDE'S, ST. ANTHONY'S DINING ROOM, ST. MARTIN DePORRES AND OTHERS. Please include the date, time and place where the photos were taken. Please describe the quantity and quality of the meals photographs ( i.g. tasty pancakes, burnt toast, moldy bread, real milk, etc.). --- Share Tips, Stories, Fotos & Resources. Get Shelter, SRO, Hotel and Housing Info in San Francisco, by Visiting our web sites: Our Yahoo! Group: groups.yahoo.com/group/sfhomeless/ Our Group Blog: sfhomelessyahoogroup.blogspot.com/

VIRGINIA CO. TAKES OVER HOMELESS SHELTER -PROTECTS RESIDENTS

clipped from wamu.org Arlington County Takes Over Homeless Shelter February 06, 2008 - In Virginia, Arlington County is taking control of its shelter designed to help the homeless during the winter months. The county decided to make the move when officials heard that employees of the current operator, the Arlington Street People's Assistance Network, made comments stating that the homeless were better off sleeping outside than in the shelter. Last week the county inspected the facility and found it to be safe and meeting all building codes. The contract has been terminated and no service disruptions are expected. Pat Brogan reports...

Listen to this feature

• Real Audio
• Windows Media

COMMENTS: If every county took this kind of swift, decisive action, lives, tax money and community resources would be saved from the abuse, theft, risk and losses that result from the bad conduct of homeless service and shelter provider's Directors, Supervisors and Staff. It seems like other counties take any 'bad conduct' of their shelter srevice providers more seriously, than SF Officials do here. Abuse is abuse. You either do the right thing and STOP IT or you become corrupted yourself and start to hide it, mnimalize it and 'sweep it under the rug' which seems to be what San Francisco has been doing for the past 15 years. Lack of backbone and serious committment to the safety of human beings, which is the paramount and supreme responsibility of all government employees and officials needs to come into play now to prevent further abuses, risks and harm to all of our residents that deserve to be protected. The welfare of humans should never take 'back seat' or be placed on the back burner because its inconvenient or costly to an offending service provider who is breaking moral, social and legal contacts with us all, every time they speak or act offensively towards any citizen or resident. The safety and needs of humans take absolute priority over business needs of any profit or non-profit corporation. Period. Any city employee or officials that 'plays' with these matters is guilty of aiding and furthering a criminal or neglectful and negligent activity. It's grossly offensive to 'give slack' to any person or organization that repeatedly violates any human being's rights. San Francisco could learn a lesson from counties that do not hesitate to act on behalf of their residents, especially their homeless elders, disabled, veterans and poor, to truly protect them from any abusive or harmful environments operated with tax payer money.

Watch the Video of People Supporting Shelter Standards of Care - SF Board of Supervisors Budget & Finance Meeting - Feb. 20, 2008

EVERYONE INTERESTED IN SEEING HOW SAN FRANCISCO HOMELESS SHELTERS HAVE BEEN OPERATING (ABUSING OUR RESIDENTS) FOR THE PAST 10 TO 15 YEARS, NEED TO WATCH THIS VIDEO CLOSELY. (it's long but worth watching)

It's the official video taping of the Wednesday Feb. 20, 2008 Meeting of the SF Budget & Finance Committee, under the SF Board of Supervisors.

[ SF Budget Process Note: Before a piece of pending legislation goes before the full Board of Supervisors, it has to be presented and passed by the Budget & Finance Committee.]

The City Hall chambers were packed with homeless people, advocates, community groups, Shelter Monitoring Committee Members, the Director of Tom Waddell Clinic (Dr. Deborah Borne, DPH), Linzie Coleman (Director of Next Door Shelter-Episcopal Community Services) that ALL spoke up in favor of passing these 'Minimum Standards of Care' to make dignity, respect, health, hygiene and safety practices become LAW that MUST BE ENFORCED.

A few of the Public Speakers presented photographs of conditions (torn mats, open electrical wiring boxes, racist graffiti stating 'Fuck Niggers' at one homeless resource center) which are exemplary of the same sort of material evidence that has been officially documented in the San Francisco Shelter Monitoring Committee (SMC) Quarterly Reports.



Other collaborating evidence has been uploaded by good and courageous anonymous shelter residents and staff, to the SFHomeless Yahoo! Group Site (Photo Section - Shelter Meals and Conditions).

Other photos (of empty beds while residents are turned away from long bed reservation lines) are available in the SF Bay Guardian Articles written by undercover journalists which did an excellent job of exposing the current conditions of these shelters.

February 2008 Articles From SFBG.COM: (they deserve nomination for the Pulitzer Prize for their awesome undercover work! )

1. Search for shelter: Bryan Cohen's nightly journals

2. Shelter shuffle - Inside San Francisco's confounding system of housing the homeless BY AMANDA WITHERELL

3.Five Days Homeless: The Journals

4. No shelter from the budget storm Buster's Place, the city's main 24-hour homeless drop-in center, faces closure BY BRYAN COHEN

HSA Reports (under Trent Rohrer, HSA Director) to our Board Of Supervisors fraudulently attempted to misled everyone into believing that the provisions and standards being demanded by shelter residents, directors, staff and community groups are 'already HSA Policies in effect', which is a lie.

A bold faced lie, considering the fact that most of the 'policy' items in their report have not and are not now 'in effect' at nearly all of the tax funded shelters !!!

Under Oath, this would be considered Perjury.

We know this - because we've spoken with residents of nearly every shelter and they all say the same thing.

At most shelters (including the ones itemized by HSA's report to the contrary) they cannot plug in cell phones; they cannot have their laundry done for free (they have no cash to speak of, since Mayor Newsom implemented 'Care not Cash' program... how unamerican is that ! ), they do not get bus tokens for meetings and appointments, they do not get a 'blanket and a sheet', et cetera.

It's one big gross disgusting lie to 'the people of San Francisco' and one big lie to our Honorable Board of Supervisors' and one gross miscarriage of justice and human decency to our homeless San Franciscan residents.

The point of this legislation is not to ever have to use the Enforcement Mechanism.

The point is to make sure that Shelters operate in strict accordance of 'The People' , as a matter of law, instead of leaving the compliance of these standards left to City Agencies who have not really done their job properly for the past 15 years.

Had they all done their job properly to safeguard and take 'good care' of our homeless residents in shelters, by enforcing their own contract requirements (and policies) we would not have been suffering abuse and 'nasty' shelter conditions for the past 15 years.

Millions of dollars, misery and suffering of thousands of shelter residents (and staff) would have been prevented if all of our shelters were held to a 'standard'.

These shelters were basically 'thrown together' with very little input and planning by including residents and staff in the process, which resulted in a shelter system that has been wholly neglectful, uncaring and hazardous to our homeless residenst and the entire San Francisco Community.

The $700,000 or $2,000,000 that this legislation is supposed to cost are pennies on the dollar, in terms of being an investment in our homeless people to restore 'law and order' into the shelters and enable our shelter residents to be provided with the 'basic' conditions and tools needed to get to 'their next step'.

We must do this so they can move on from the shelters rapidly -- instead of being what has been 'a captive shelter system' where most shelter residents were abused, barred from using plugs for their cell phones, ripped off and suffered losses by negligent and often 'criminal' staff and supervisors.

Their food and clothing stocks (paid for with tax dollars and charitable donations) were routinely stolen by Supervisors and staff at most of the shelters.

Contrary to what the SF Human Services Agency stated in their highly fraudulent and inaccurate, misleading report to the Board of Supervisors about all of these 'policies' most shelters refused to provide access to plugs, bus tokens to get to interviews and appointments, denied access to free laundry services because HSA failed to enforce most of their policies.

We find their conduct and report to the Board of Supervisors to be close to being criminally negligent because they failed in their duty to protect us for 15 years and they failed to REQUIRE and ENFORCE their own multi-million dollar contracts and policies inside our shelters.

People suffered, property was lost, people became sick and ill from unsanitary conditions and inadequate meals and likely many died preventable and predictable deaths -- due to the joint negligence of City Agencies and many of these tax funded and donation funded Shelter Directors, Supervisors and Staff.

Those are the facts as is born out by the testimony you will see and hear for yourself by watching this video carefully and by simple review of all of the Shelter Monitoring Committee Quarterly Reports and the recent newspaper reports by undercover journalists and in the SF Coalition on Homelessness' Shelter Shock Report .

Or, just ask any homeless shelter resident on the street. They ALL CONFIRM these horrific realities of 'homeless shelter' life in San Francisco, in 2008.

And remember folks, what happens here in San Francisco doesn't stay in San Francisco. It happens all across the country.

So, it is the responsibilty of every American Resident to send undercover journalists into Your City's Homeless Shelter and Housing systems.

Trust in and Verify stories and reports from your City's poor, elderly, homeless people and veterans about abuses and fraud operating in Your Cities.

Organize and support your homeless populations.

If not for their sake, do it for the sake of the fact that Your Tax Dollars and Community Donations are being stolen and ripped off by all kinds of organizations, agencies and even 'church affiliated' non-profits that 'hide' their criminal activity by preying on and intimidating the most vulnerable members of our society in shelters, food banks, missions and housing programs In Your Town, Every Day !!!

Check it out and email us with your tips, stories, photos and evidenc eof what's happening where you live. We will forward your information to federal and state authorities, homeless coalitions, legal suport groups and the general public in order to stop this massive loss of money and wasting of good people's lives.

Remember. You have been lied to. We have all been lied to...

Based on all that we have seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears, MOST homeless people are not the problem in our communities because they do not even get the bare minimum of 'what they need' to 'move on' from homelessness. NO.

It has been and is being stolen by abusive, untrained, unqualified service providers across the country.

Most of the anger and 'bad conduct' of our nation's homeless is a direct result of being abused, beaten, underfed and mistreated by bad people that make their living off of our tax dollars and charitable donations and they blame the homeless to misdirect attention away from their horrendous crimes.

This is what RICO (Racketeering) and the False Claims Act are all about. Investigation and Enforcement tools to stop the abuse and theft of tax funded programs and services. Put them all in jail !

People are making money by submitting false claims for goods and services that are NOT being delivered properly to our nation's homeless.

And you can readily see that even Government Agencies, like HSA in San Francisco, will and do falsify reports to assist in the covering up of unlawful, immoral and criminally negligent acts committed by non-profit management and staff.

Totally Un-American and totally unacceptable by any standard of human decency.

SF Shelter Standards of Care - Investment vs. Class Action Law Suit - You Decide ? Either or - or Both.

SF homeless residents noticed a few details missing from news reports (i.g. right to 'plug in' cell phones & other details ARE included in the Standards of Care) on this. There's ample documentation of 15 years of abuse & negligence by the City & its Shelters. Our legislation's cheaper than paying class action suits, for millions of dollars. More- Open Letter to City Officials & 'church' affiliated non-profits: [ Ignore any part of the letter below that does not apply to you. If any part does apply, take a good, long look at yourself in a mirror and decide. What you are going to do, to 'make up' for 15 years of systematic abuse. ] To Whom It May Concern in our City Government and the Non-Profit Directors, Supervisors & Staff in our tax funded and donation funded Homeless Shelters & Housing Systems: Thought you might want to check this out. It's food for thought. ---- Now that we, as a community, have finally 'put it all together'; documented everyone's stories, read all the SMC Inspection Reports, looked at previous cases in other cities (with similiar conditions) -- we have come to some resonable conclusions, based on facts. Neither this City, nor the Boards, Committees and Directors that 'oversee' & manage these shelters have been taking 'reasonable care' of our homeless people for the last 15 years. And they have not done their duty to dilligently enforce contract requirements (and HSA policies), to curb these widespread cycles of abuse and neglect, over the past 15 years. We keep repeating '15 years' to emphasize that in 2008, we are only now willing to face the realities of our own tax funded shelter system. That's about 14 years 'late' for us, as a community, to implement standards that would have greatly reduced the suffering of our residents and saved us millions, if not a billion dollars that has been essentially 'wasted' by haters, cheaters, liars and thieves that have all profited, while our homeless residents suffered and died from preventable and highly predictable causes. WE FAILED THEM ALL. WE FAILED OURSELVES. WE CREATED AND PERPETUATED THE CORRUPT SYSTEM THAT WE ARE NOW GOING TO FIX. We are NOT talking about 'everybody' in the system. But all it takes a few abusers and a few cheaters to basically ruin the value of even the best designed system. This is nothing new, although the shelter abuses were 'well hidden' for many years until the good homeless people and shelter staff started to expose the realities of our shelters. A similiar example would be like when there was widerspread abuse and cruelty (like shock treatment, experimental drugs, whippings, beatings, food poisoning) inside of our state mental hospitals and institutions. This condition was allowed to grow because of lax enforcement against the bad individuals and management that 'turned a blind eye' or actually performed or encouraged the abuse of their own clients. Instead of putting the blame on the state and local agencies that had a 'duty' to go into those hospitals and hold the management and staff accountable, in civil and criminal courts (holding individuals accountable), Governor Ronald Reagan decided to pass a sweeping law that basically let all of the mentally ill people to 'go free' to the streets, unprotected. The cats were let loose out of their cages and exploited the moment they hit the streets. Here again -- if our City and State agencies had done 'their duty' and gone into these shelters (without bias against the homeless resident whistleblowers) and actually applied liquidated damage clauses and pulled the contracts of the repeat offender shelter organization and transitioned them to other organizations with proven track records (like Haight-Ashbury and St. Boniface, for example) --- that would have forced the offensive or negligent service providers to 'get their own' act together, internally with hiring standards, written policies, drug testing of staff, et cetera) without the need for our community to step in where they have failed. If you want to reform a 'system' - first you must look to see if the 'system' is being run properly by the people charged with running the system. It makes no sense to shut down 'a site' because its hurting people. Buildings, like guns, are inanimate objects that cannot be at fault for how ignorant or criminally oriented individuals misuse them to cause harm to others. Why do Mayors, Government Officials and Agencies keep shutting down places (hospitals, shelters, drop in centers, etc.) -- instead of, 'doing their job' which is to hold individuals and groups ACCOUNTABLE for their Conduct ? Every time they do this (shut down a place or a program) they announce a New Place or a New Program and expect everyone to be happy, now. On paper that may look good. In a Press Release that may sound good. Once its done it may even feel good.... at first. But, if you go back and hire the Same Bad People and the Same Incompetent Non-Profits to run the New Programs and the New Places, then nothing has changed for the better. In fact, its now worse. Because the Clients are the same and you promised to help them and protect them and when you gave them a new place or a new program, they were filled with happiness, hope and joy.... Then of course, once they got into the new program or the new place they become Doubly Traumatized because the same bad people that abused them last year in the Old Place and the Old Program are now here, at the New Place with more money and more power than before. And then we have the revenge and the retaliation used to beat down the residents and whistleblowers even more.... By filling up 'new programs' and 'new places' with the same bad people is like rewarding them for their past bad behavior. In fact, you have now empowered them and enabled them to 'feel free' to increase the level of the their abuse and drug dealing and violence and theft because you have proved to them, that they are not going to be 'held accountable' for their wrongdoing.... Oh, no. They are learning from our elected officials that they shall be, in effect, rewarded for bad behavior. Bush and his regime do the same thing. He does not enforce the law. He copies things; he does not create things. He does not 'think ahead' and set up safeguards and tracking of money and materials going to Iran and Afghanistan. He is NOT CAPABLE of empathy for others. He 'acts' he does not 'think'. He 'tells people what to do' because he 'does not want to listen' to anyone but himself. His 'ego' will not permit him to admit when he is wrong. His friends and associates that break the law are rewarded with more and better jobs. In Bush's World, whistleblowers are attacked. Whistleblowers are fired. Whistleblowers are slandered and mocked. What kind of a Mayor and a Board of Supervisors and City Workers and Non-Profit Agencies, do we really have in San Francisco ? Are they really working 'with us' or are they working against us ? Are they more like JFK, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy ? Or, are they more like Bush, Cheney, Nixon and the San Diego Food Bank Directors that stole and resold almost all of their donated and taxpayer funded food stocks, a couple years back ? Do our 'community and civic leaders' just 'talk the talk' like a con artist or do they 'walk the walk" like a mature, responsible adult member of our community ? They keep borrowing ideas (copy cats) from other places like New York and try to force these ideas down our throats. They keep hiring companies from Florida and New York who are incapable of having our best interests at heart, they way good, local San Franciscans would. Instead of 'working with' us, they want to 'control' and 'manage' us according to their ways instead of our own. If we do not do 'what they want us to do' then they will write us up with citations, they will harrass us, they will criminalize us, in the name of public safety. If I am better off sleeping in a park instead of one of these dangerous, non-ventilated, petri dish shelters, then by what authority can anyone force me into one of them ? Do I not have the right to make up my own mind and have the right to put my body only in places where I feel safe ? What if Gavin Newsom was homeless ? Let's say, hypothetically, he got caught up in scandals and lost his power because he was no longer found to be useful or credible ? What if he missed his house payments and he woke up one day - home-less. Or, what if a petition was circulated to terminate Trent Rohrer's position, as Director of HSA ? What if he was caught stealing and was put out into the streets, without a penny to his name and was 'temporarily' unemployable ? If these two men, whom yesterday were fully employed and seemingly 'powerful' were to suddenly become 'home-less', would we force them to go into a dangerous (meaning a place full of abuse and neglect) shelter ? Or would we tell them that they can stay in a designated park, give them a tent and a sleeping bag and help them by 'fixing' the shelters by 'enforcing' contracts and laws and get rid of the criminally abusive staff so that we can make the shelters safe for them ? What would Gavin Newsom or Trent Rhorer say if we told them 'Stop sleeping in the park or go to jail ' ? What if we said, Gee, Trent, we can tell by your constant 'twitching' and nervousness that you are 'slightly' mentally ill and need treatment. We'd like to help you but, unfortunately, we just cut the budget (for no good reason) and decided to cut funds for treating people like you. And Gavin, gee, we know that you have a few enemies in town that are trying to find you and beat you up because you did things that caused them to suffer. We know you can't go the shelters because some people you owe money too are looking for you there. We'd like to send you to a 24 hour crisis center, so you can rest and get yourself organized, but we cut the budget (for no good reason) and we don't have a safe place for you to go anymore. We'd like to help you but can't you just panhandle to make enough money so you can get a hotel room for the night ? Or, hang on... we can put you up into an SRO, but tell us first, if you have any allergic reactions to bug bites, abestos or have a drug addiction, because unfortunately, we're understaffed and don't have any rooms available that are bug free, but if you're willing to 'rough it' for six months, we'll get you on this housing list and if you check back with us every week, we promise not to drop you from the list or let our friends and relatives 'cut in line' ahead of you. In fact, if you give me $20 bucks, right now, I can get you a nice room at a new SRO for at least a night ? What ? You have no cash ? You have care not cash ? You don't have a cell phone or you can't find a place to plug in your phone so you can call us ? Oh, you are allergic to bed bugs.... geez... sorry, but I guess we can't help you today.... Do you think Gavin would take that lying down ? Do you think Trent Rohrer would call that 'acceptable' and 'in line' with HSA Policies if he were the one that was suffering by lack of adherence to HSA contracts ? Scary, isn't it. Well, what Gavin and Trent 'do to us' is exactly what could happen to ANY SAN FRANCISCAN -- AT ANY TIME. NATURAL DISASTER, EARTHQUAKE, SUDDEN JOB LOSS, PHYSICAL AILMENT, ACCIDENT, DIVORCE, BANKRUPTCY, FIRE, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE... ALL ROADS LEAD TO HOME-LESS-NESS. Don't you think, as a somewhat reasonable man of intelligence (with or without a substance abuse problem) he would resist being told to do things that are against his own personal self interest ? You bet he would. He would run straight to his lawyer and tell the courts that city employees are causing him great harm and stress by forcing him to sleep somewhere that is likely to cause him harm. So would any of us, because it's wrong. You cannot solve the problems of a City like San Francisco, where respect and smarts are common. The only way to solve Our Problems in a meaningful way is by all us, having patience and courage to sit down at the table together and Create Our Own Solutions. That is how we have always done it because that is how leaders and leadership and ownership are used to make sure we all agree to rules that we all intend to follow through on. You can Make People do things by using force, but that is not respect or an example of 'free will'. It's called opression. A Dictatorship. A Rule by Fear and Intimidation that never lasts because its 'fantasy'. Real Love and True Respect can last a lifetime and beyond. Ruling by Fear and Intimidation can never give us lasting positive results or positive behavioral changes because eventually, the people you thought were 'under your control' will rise up with anger and rage because you tried to take away their freedoms. The day always comes when the people are more angry than fearful because of they way in which, YOU have been mistreating THEM. If you want people to do something, first you need to talk with them. Listen to what they are telling you. You need to have faith in them or they will not have faith in you. You need to believe that what they are saying to you (like about shelter conditions) is a fact, until proven otherwise. Then you need to 'work with them' and help them arrive at their own reasonable conclusions about what needs to be done or changed to 'fix' whatever is broken. Once you have done that, then they will help you to make the changes and they will make sure that everyone plays by the rules, because they are the ones that helped to create the rules. They will make sure that 'their will' be done. This is because you did not take away their 'free will' to make their own decisions, to govern themselves with your support and guideance. That it how you make 'a community' work. It takes leadership. It takes every person in a position of power, authority or leading role to Set The Example of being honest, being fair, being kind, being lawful, doing the right thing. Our country's best leaders are the ones that listened to the people. The ones that consistently 'go out' 'to the people' and have conversations, give and take, deal with harsh realities (not disneyland fairy tale reports that come from on high, far away from where the people really live and work). Those kind of leaders the people will follow -- to their death, because their leaders led by example and 'showed' they cared by being 'with the people', not far away, against them. This is not rocket science but too many our City Officials and City Workers and Shelter Staff seem to think they are Superior to those of us that, for the moment, do not have 'material wealth' or that are mentally ill or addicted to drugs or home-less. They become 'control freaks' in denial, because actually, people with this type of Superiority Complex are actually suffering from some sort of undiagnosed mental illness or they were raised to be greedy, abusive and criminal. If nobody stops them, then they will keep going, getting worse and worse until they cause a tragedy. By not screening them out of contracts funded with tax dollars and donations, this City and the Church Affiliated Service Providers are guilty of placing Bad Role Models to watch over the most vulnerable members of our community. That is criminal negligence. Go to the dictionary and look up the phrase 'Criminal Negligence'. The City and the Shelters, acting in concert, have been receiving federal monies and community donations to finance known criminal activities, in which individuals and small groups have been committing horrendous crimes and abuses against people that are unable to defend themselves. Thousands of our fellow San Franciscans (and Katrina Victims and other US residents) seeking care, refuge and 'shelter' have been verbally, mentally and physically abused, raped, beaten, corrupted and lost their dignity, self-esteem, personal property and in some cases, their lives -- All as a direct, predicatable result of 'gross negligence' on the part of this City and the Non-Profit Organizations we contract with. When City Employees and Officials and Contracting Organizations do not take 'reasonable care' of the people and property and resources in their care, they are considered to be 'Negligent' because they neglected their duties and the rights and failed to respect the people they serve. When people are negligent and their negligence (especially it keeps being repeated year after year) causes preventable harm and crimes to take place, it's called 'Criminal Negligence'. Thats when 'neglect' moves from just causing accidental losses into the realm of causing harm and losses of property and life that could have been prevented, had these people not been neglectful. There are many good people inside the City and inside the non-profits. We're stricting talking about the cheaters and the 'blind' that have refused to accept responsibility for what has taken place. The ones that 'took money' and resources out of our shelter and housing systems, so they could buy property and homes on the backs of the home-less. We have people that we TRUST in all kinds of government and non-profit agencies... locally, and across the country. This is a network of 'good people' that cannot be bribed, that are not corrupted that have been fighting these kinds of battles for centuries, here and in other countries. These 'negligent' matters have nothing to do with our 'good people' that step in and step up to protect all San Franciscans. We are talking about those individuals that by ignorance, fear or whatever, either cause the abuse or 'turn a blind eye' or that profit from the 'way things have been' for too long, now. On the contrary, some people and agencies, in this City and in each of your respective entities have done their best to conceal, downplay and outright lie and deny -- that these abuses even existed, let alone existed to the extent that we now know, which has resulted in causing great harm, abuse and injury to tens of thousands of our San Francisco residents (over the past 10 to 15 years). So, let's stop playing the lying game because it no longer works, now. And it was all so predictable and preventable. Had any one of you, made a decision and taken effort to tell the truth and implement standards, guides and models to prevent the harm you have all caused, then we could have had a lot more homeless people 'moving on' and we could have prevented a whole lot of suffering and waste of tax dollars -- and loss of life and property. Let's forget for a moment about the contract requirements and the HSA Policies that have not been reasonably enforced to prevent these abuses. Let's talk about why Shelter Directors REFUSE to play by the rules we set down for them. We know this because HSA Policy says.... 'cell phones may be used by clients at all tax funded shelters...' This is a lie. HSA knows it. The SMC knows it. The Mayor should know this. The Board of Supervisors, should know this. They should all know it because every homeless person that has been to Next Door or most all other shelters knows what happens if you try to plug in your cell phone so you can keep in touch with family, look for work, get call backs for work... The staff (and your case manager) will tell you that if you plug in your cell phone again, it will be confiscated. At Next Door, as recent as six months ago, some staff would try to charge you $20 bucks to get your confiscated cell phone back. And if you actually take the time and effort to read the Quarterly Shelter Monitoring Reports (which go to the Mayor's Office; our Board of Supervisors and to Trent Rohrer at HSA) you will see numerous references taken from Staff/Client Complaints and SMC Site Inspections and Public Meeting Minutes all collaborate the facts. At almost all shelters, YOU CANNOT PLUG IN YOUR CELL PHONE TO CHARGE. The 'mind set' at some shelters has alway been 'We do not want these homeless people gettin too comfortable, up in here....' . That ignorant and thoughtless 'mind set' (or 'shelter management culture) 'fosters' a systematic climate of neglect and abuse that continues, even as we write this today. You failed to provide role models. 'You' being city officials and shelter management. You failed to screen out your Director's, Supervisors and Staff for illicit drug use, violence, abuse and did not make 'integrity', literacy and 'clean living' for a year or two, as a basic job requirement. If you want a good role model to enable residents to regain confidence, self esteem and become motivated to be 'self sufficient', then you need to hire angels (people who are good, kind and capable of empathy, even if they have not been drug addicted, poor or homeless themselves, per se). Along with qualified angels we need proven reformed backsliders (who have been there but have been proven themselves to be clean, kind and nonabusive for the past year or two) so they can 'relate' to the homeless because they've gone through many of the same experiences that they have. When a person in an authority role 'sets a good example' it creates instant respect and good behavior (mimicking) on the part of the shelter residents. If you want to cause harm to the sick and elderly, hire a known felon with multiple, recent drug and violence issues whom was just released last month to watch over the shelter residents.... You all ignored the homeless and 'blamed it all' on them. Instead of looking at yourselves and your organization's 'lack of standards' that are the root of all of the mayhem and chaos we've seen happen over and over again, all these years. It's not 'our behavior' -- it's your lack of vision, training, qualifications, standards and 'ego' that is THE PROBLEM. We are NOT your problem. YOU and people like you that act like you are above contract requirements and 'the law' are EVERYONE'S PROBLEM. You hired family members, associates (thugs) and all sorts of unqualified people that abuse us, for so long now. You all did what you could to 'hide' the facts about all of this. You falsified 'case management' notes and documents. You tried to destroy 'write-ups' made by hateful, abusive staff. You lied to protect each other (friends and family members on staff). You do not even understand basic, common terms like 'conflict of interest', 'nepotism', 'favoritism' and the harms that come from your ignorance of the meaning and crucial importance these phrases have to keeping us safe from harm and abusive practices. You filed False Claims with government agencies to finance your corrupted shelters, at the expense of our dignity, our safety and in some cases, at the expense of the lives of people that never asked to be homeless. We never asked to be abused or neglected. We never even considered or imagined in our wildest dreams, that we would be abused by our own local people -- that make a salary from OUR TAX DOLLARS. While all of you were making tons of money in salaries for 'doing so little', unqualified for the positions you held and ate the good food and took the good clothes and left us the scraps. SHAME ON ALL OF YOU FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE. WE CANNOT TRUST YOU, EVER AGAIN. IF WE HAVE BEEN 'DOING TO YOU' WHAT YOU ALL 'HAVE DONE TO US' YOU WOULD NOT TRUST US EITHER. BUT 'DOING THE RIGHT THING NOW' IS ONE STEP TOWARDS YOUR REDEMPTION IN THIS COMMUNITY. The Mayor and some members of this community can get behind 'sweeps' and spending millions to write up 'nuisance' citations but you can't be bothered with spending a lousy 1 or 2 million dollars on basic health and hygiene in shelters or for a 24 hour crisis shelter or to help the 'slightly mentally ill' ? You'll spend several million to pay police overtime to write out unjust tickets, but you won't spend a couple million to prevent the mentally ill and homeless from predictable harm, violence and trauma ? The problem with homelessness in San Francisco is NOT the homeless. The problem with 'homelessness' in San Franciso is the people in positions or public trust whom have forsaken their duties, in order to 'profit' and make personal and political financial gains -- off the backs of our poor, mentally ill and elderly residents. This is who and what we hate about this whole situation: Those of you who have no backbone to stand up for whats right. Those of you that put money -- ahead of people's dignity, safety and their very lives. Those of you that put 'surface' ahead os substance... you are the ones who have the problem. Your excessive greed. Your excessive negligence and lack of meaningful oversight. Your lack of courage and lack of integrity is THE MAJOR CAUSE of violence, abuse and aggravation of mental illness that faces our community today. Your indifference and your criminal negligence makes us sick to our stomachs. ... And some of you claim to be of 'the church' -- Christians. How would your 'Jesus' have been treating all of our homeless residents ? Would 'Jesus' have lied to cover up ? Would he have remained silent while watching the haters and the abusers and the drug dealers conduct their business, contrary to all morales and against all american principles and international concepts of humanity and human decency ? We talk about these kinds of things every day, as we go through your shelter and housing 'merry-go-rounds' and you all have disgusted us for 15 years, now. Isn't time you all grew up and stopped your exploitation of our homeless, poor and elderly and disabled residents ? Please distribute to each Board & Committee Member, or your related organizations, as you see fit. Share this story with anyone that either 'hates the homeless' or is 'clueless', arrogant, mean, greedy or hateful towards other human beings... Enlighten them for the sake of our beloved San Francisco..... read more digg story

$10,000 Reward Fund - Info - Housing/Shelter Staff Drug Dealing, etc.

Pilot program that is looking for volunteer coordinators and funding sources for start-up, short term and long term funding. Also looking for partners in communities, law enforcement, journalism and legal industries to make sure the program succeeds in placing a very high priority on the elimination of crime in places where the most vulnerable members of community live and work. This will become a model for other cities after it has proven itself in San Francisco's homeless community, shelters, resource centers, housing and drug programs for the elderly, veterans, mentally ill, disabled, poor and homeless residents of San Francisco where millions are spent on facilities and resources that are being wasted and pfilfered by organized crime groups, inside the offices and facilities of our City's tax funded and donation funded non-profit service providers. We are talking about millions of dollars in funds and unreported criminal profits and diversion of funds, resources and embezzlement. And to mention, the loss and harm caused to the residents and participants of these programs whom are being intimidated, sold drugs, forced to sell drugs and routinely being robbed and denied services by the people that control the theft, graft, corruption and drug sales, from inside our City's programs and services.

NowPublic

Tags: GRANTS rico San Francisco abuse of power anti-corruption breeds corruption Crime dealing department of justice Dignity drug embezzlement episcopal exploitation extortion false claims act fraud fund Funding homeless housing humane treatment info intimidation law enforcement murder non-profits organized crime pilot program POVERTY programs racketeering rape Respect reward shelters Staff standards of care violence volunteers WATCHDOGS WHISTLEBLOWERS World

Setting standards (SF Homeless Shelter Standards of Care)

San Francisco's homeless shelters, overdue for basic necessities, may be about to change.Points out the SF Human Services Agency gave us a misleading report on pending Standards of Care Legislation; the rest of San Francisco knew was misleading. Bravo to SF Budget Analyst's Office and the Board of Supervisors that 'got this right'. WE LOVE SF! read more digg story

SF Winter Shelters - Getting Much Colder with ECS Supervisor Antoine at the Reins

Well, the next few days after Christmas were even colder and more hectic for the guests of the Winter Shelter Program in San Francisco, out perated by Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco which is currently using the site at St. Mary's Cathedral at 1111 Gough St., in the winter wonderland of San Francisco, CA.
Apparently, after The City received complaints, they sent out some people to check out the conditions for themselves.

On this night, the shelter guests were served a very nice dinner and they were very grateful for that.

But, as soon as they tried to sit down to eat, they were handed 'Survey Forms' for fill out and there were people buzzing around the room with cameras taking pictures.

Luckily, the guests were not too distracted with the cameras and fan fare, as they were given some extra presents, which did not succeed in distracting them too much , so as to not fill in their surveys.

We've been told by several eyewitnesses that about 40 or more complaints or feedback surveys, were given back to the HSA representative, whom may be a contract compliance person, overseeing the City's tax funded shelters (contracted, with contracts that say 'all guests must be treated with dignity and respect. It's a breach of their word, every time Shelter Staff and especially Supervisors, break that agreement.)

That's aside from another handful of these confidential surveys that we were told, the ECS Supervisor/Manager Antoine had taken and read. And hopefully, passed directly on to HSA without sharing the contents of those complaints (investigations) with other staff or supervisors at ECS. That would be a whole mess of 'bad faith' on the part of people being paid by our tax dollars and community dontations.


The tired and hungry shelter guests, filled their surveys out, as best they could making great mention of how much they despised the InterFaith Winter Shelter Program Manager/Supervisor from ECS named Antoine or Antwayn (we still can't get his name yet ).

In fact, so many guests filled out surveys that by the time the HSA (Human Services Agency) representive left, there were still a handful of surveys that had not been turned in... Everyone else turned them into a secure box to protect privacy and keep them intact until they were opened later, at the City Agency Offices.

Well, just so happens that the ECS Supervisor saw the homeless guests with the Surveys that were NOT turned in and he took them and started to read them, right there in front of other ECS Staff and all of the other homeless guests.

He was real upset because most of the negative comments (based on interviews and converfsations with a whole lot of homeless guests) were about him !! And here he is the subject of the complaints, taking control of official San Francisco City's HSA Complaint Forms, totally violating Privacy Rights and City Shelter Policies on shelter resident's privacy rights.

A very dangerous situation that could and may have led to retaliation by this ECS Supervisor/Manager against all of the homeless guests, the very next night...

This retaliation scenario may have been played out the next night when the guests were served (not with a good meal like the night before) with a single scoop of 'rigatoni', as several homeless guests put it.

Not to mention the 'line trampling' incident in which once again, this same ECS Manager/Supervisor turned up the heat when the homeless guest tried to line up and again, this 'Antoine' did not manage his line correctly and he was so abusive of the guests, that a racial slur was uttered by the homelss guests (tired of his abusive and unprofessionalways) which caused him to react violently (telling everyone near him to get out of the line) which eventually caused a 'run' for the doors, in which 3 people fell donw and two homeless guests were 'trampled underfoot' on the stairs and in the line leading into the Church entrance.

So, we have been writing about this ECS Supervisor ever since we got reports about his escalating, violent demeanor back at Episcopal Trinity Church and since he was not able to 'get that line together' because in part, due to a large group of latinos, we predicted that unless he changed his ways or ECS did something to upgrade the professional oversight of that line, there would be an escalation of violence (and along racial lines).

So, here we are a month later, and this known incompetent, untrusted man is still 'doing the same thing' causing known, preventable abuse,violence and harm to the homeless guests of the churches.

We keep asking, WHY ?

When are the people at ECS going to 'start listening' and start hiring better people for Supervisors and Managers ?

How many abuses are the homeless going to suffer before they (ECS) gets this right ?

They may be asking themselves (ECS) 'what does these homeless people want ? When are they going to be satisfied and stop their complaining ?'

When homeless people are treated with dignity and respect and are managed by good staff that 'really care' then we are happy to off of the streets and are really easily satisfied.

But, when we are yelled at by people that obviously 'do not care' about us and supervisors that obviously 'do not respect their own staff and yell at them too, in front of us' then what do you expect ?

If we were in charge of managing YOU.

And instead of being nice to you and speaking to you like a responsible adult and instead of showing you how much we care about YOU, we were to scream at you, call you names and treat you like a dog, then we would expect you call us on it. EVERYONE in this City deserves dignity and respect.

When you try to 'dominate' and 'intimidate' people in a physical way, you do not get respect you get fear and anger which later turns to violence.

You (ECS) keep hiring people with 'thug like' control freak mentalities and that will never work. Never has worked.

Then you hire nice, well respected new guys like 'Eduardo' (who also gave it to Antoine because of Antoine's mistreatment of him, other staff and shelter clients) and that other new guy, the big one (Kent?) and when they started out, they were very nice and respectful of the homeless guests and the homeless people responded favorably to both of those men, because we ll 'felt' that in their hearts, they cared about us.

Many of us have known them for a long time and if they asked us to 'jump' we would say 'how high, sir' because we trusted and respected them because they trusted and treated us with Respect and Dignity.

Now, this new guy, Ken, that's his name, the day after Antoine pulled his lillte power trip stunt that caused people to get trampled, Ken's attitude has 'gone down' and he is starting to 'become like Antoine' which makes us all very sad.

Ken told everyone to leave almost an hour early because 'he was worn out' and being burnt out because him and the other ECS staff obviously cannot stand the way that Atoine operates. We just found out that Eduardo was fired because of Antoine. What a friggin joke.

Eduardo would have been one of ECS's best supervisors (in time) because he used respect and 'real caring' to keep the homeless people together and calmed down.

People like Antoine can only seem to 'intimidate' people which always comes back on them because Karma is a real bitch, especially when you mistreat people that need love and respect, not hatred and intimdation.

Treat us with respect and ask us what you want us to do, and we will usually do it.

Disrespect us and yall at us and we will resent you and work together to get better services for ourselves, in spite of you.

When will ECS get it right ? We're talking about hiring standards again...

Stay tuned.....

01-08-2008 EDITING NOTES: We made some corrections to this blog posting. editWe clarified that guests freely filled out their forms and that had nothing to do with the gifts. The way it was before was grammtically correct but didn't 'read right'.
The text was bad and there was no intent to infer that the gifts had anything to do with preventing people from doing their surveys. We just hope the other handful made it to HSA. Which is what we also added, to this blog post.

Enjoy this New Year ! Rock 'n Roll & Rythm 'n Blues.... with a lil' salsa mixed in!

San Francisco InterFaith Winter Shelter Said 'No Christmas Breakfast' to Homeless Guests.

Homeless Guests were denied a Christmas breakfast and worse, while staying at San Francisco's Interfaith Winter Shelter, located at St. Mary's Cathedral, 1111 Gough St, being operated by ECS (Episcopal Community Services) Supervisors, Staff and their selected 'volunteers'. Not only were the winter shelter homeless guests denied breakfast on Christmas Day, they were served 'room temperature' leftovers for breakfast this morning, Wednesday, December 26th, 2007, by ECS Staff/Volunteers. This morning's 'breakfast' had apparently not been cooked or reheated properly and was, in reality, not a breakfast, at all. It was 'dinner leftovers' that had been cooked 36 hours beforehand (it was their Dec. 24th, dinner) and may have been left 'sitting out' for many hours or even days, without refrigeration. Dozens of homeless guests (some of whom have attended cooking schools or already knew about 'safe serving' and 'safe food handling' protocols) refused to eat the meals because they were 'room temperature' all the way through to the center of the portions served which indicate the food had not been refrigerated or re-heated properly, creating a great environment for bacteria to grow. Including possible tainting of the food with any number of harmful and life threatening things like E.Coli, salmonella or other life forms that grow rapidly, after just two hours of being at room temperature. IF YOU HAVE EATEN MEALS THAT MAY NOT HAVE BEEN COOKED OR REFRIGERATED PROPERLY AT THESE WINTER SHELTERS OR ANY OTHER PLEASE SEE A MEDICAL CLINIC OR PUBLIC HEALTH SITE FOR A CHECK UP FOR POSSIBLE FOOD POISONING. More information located at the SFHomeless Yahoo! Group Blog Site: http://sfhomelessyahoogroup.blogspot.com/2007/12/san-francisco-interfaith-winter-shelter.html STAY ALERT !! BE SAFE !!

NowPublic

Tags: Christmas church gough San Francisco San Francisco bacteria bad meals breakfast dph E. coli ECS episcopal episcopal community services food handling food poisoning Guests Health Department Health Risk homeless homeless shelters hsa interfaith leftovers People Public Health public safety s.a.f.e. Salmonella sfdph sfhomeless yahoo group http://www.nowpublic.com/tag/sfhomeless@yahoo.com shelter St. Marys Cathedral staying unsafe food winter shelters