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| My visit to the homeless shelter and other things by Commander Tansin A. Darcos 10/31/2018, 6:40pm PDT | ||||
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| Let's go back roughly 2 weeks to late Friday night when a car apparently jumped the curb in front of my house, continued along the lawn and crashed into the brick wall of the dining room. All I noticed was a loud bang which I thought was some of my stuff falling over. None of us bothered to check on it, especially since the driver apparently did not incapacitate his car and was successfully able to commit a hit-and-run accident by driving away, most likely because they're uninsured.
Saturday morning we discover a large crack in the front wall, and someone else discovers the broken brick wall outside. Someone calls the landlord, who comes over, looks at the damage and calls the police, and his insurance company. Both Town of University Park police and Prince George's County Police come out. The county also sends a building inspector. The inspector can't tell how bad it is and decides for safety reasons to declare the building uninhabitable. He will give us time to pack or otherwise take things with us, but we have to leave until at least Monday when the regular inspectors can come out to check the place and say what needs to be done to bring the place back into compliance again and restore it to habitability. I am figuring motels in this area are upwards of $80 to $100 a day; I can't afford that and I don't know if either the landlord or the landlord's insurer is liable (if I carried Renters insurance it would have covered it but I didn't think it was worth $150 a year, I don't have a lot of stuff and have not had any serious problems.) So I call the county consolidated homeless shelter service. I explain about my disability and explain about the accident. After checking to see if I'd recently been in a homeless shelter, they determine there's none available, not even overflow housing. I mention that Prince George's House had an extra cot when I was there nine years earlier, but apparently they're full too. These spots go early and fast and it was about 9 in the morning. I'd need to try again early (6am or so) on Sunday. So I'm looking forward to clandestinely illegally sleeping in my room in the house, I'm not about to try sleeping on the street in my condition. Fortunately, about an hour-and-a-half later the Homeless Services agent calls me back, they have an opening at Prince George's House. How soon can I get there? Given it's Saturday and 11, with Prince George's County The Bus not in service on weekends and WMATA (Metro) probably doing weekend repairs on the trains, probably 3 or 4. I grabbed my wallet, my cellphone charger, my wheelchair charger, a soda, and a bag in order to carry it all, and head for Metrobus, and discover that completely unknown to me I was right; Metro is single-tracking most Metrorail trains now through closing Sunday, which cuts typical Saturday (and Sunday) service in half, e.g. trains usually running at 20 min. intervals now run every 40 minutes. But I still get to the shelter by about 2:30 because I know what shortcuts to take. Instead of taking the bus or train to downtown Washington, D.C. and transfer, I take the bus to New Carrollton Station, take the Orange Line train to Stadium-Armory Station- much closer than going to downtown - then transfer to the Blue Line to Addison Road Station. Then either roll out to the shelter or wait for the P12 Metrobus, the shelter is only about 5 blocks from the station. The shelter originally was at the end of a road with nothing but grass and/or trees around it, which ends at the driveway leading to the shelter. There was some digging across the small road but nothing serious. Nine years later there is a housing development including town homes to the right and even behind the shelter, on new roads that when I was there before were not. The shelter still looks pretty much the same. I'm assigned a bed - Bunk B6 - which is (obviously) the lower bunk of a bunk bed. I'm given a sheet, two blankets and a pillow, plus two washcloths and a towel for bathing. We have dinner around 6pm, can watch TV in the dining room - the TV is no longer a 20" model - someone has donated a large flatscreen, probably 40". Channels are free tv by antenna only but that's still about 8 channels each with 2-4 subchannels. Mostly ball games but sometimes they watch some of the network shows like Blue Bloods or Hawaii Five-O (the new one.) Every morning they offer breakfast at 6 to 7 but it is unannounced; you want it, you gotta wake up for it. On weekends they usually have lunch, often provided by a homeless support group or a church. On weekdays its just breakfast and dinner. Monday thru Saturday, however, when breakfast ends the lights go on in the dorm room and the attendant announces it's time for everyone assigned chores (cleaning the place and collecting trash) have to get up and perform them. This is one thing I get to skate by; chores are not assigned to the physically handicapped. I even asked about it, I can move a broom or a mop but no, it's not necessary. Sunday morning I sneak back to my (temporarily condemned house with the warning sticker and crime scene-style caution tape on the broken wall, grab some underwear and clothes so I have about 2 days worth of changes, my bag of Pods for laundry detergent (the shelter has a washer and dryer) and go back to the shelter. On the way I stop at the strip mall two blocks from Addison Road Station and at the Dollar Tree I pick up body wash, shampoo, a laundry basket and a bucket (all of which I have at home but easier to just buy for the stay.) You'd be amazed at the crap you can find in Dollar Stores. I get back to the shelter, and can now take a bath which I'm encouraged by a couple people there; I probably smell. I do my sponge-bath equivalent and change into clean clothes. Then I get in bed, plug in my wheelchair and one of my two cell phones and hit the hay until morning. The place goes dark and it's really dark, often I leave YouTube running when I'm in bed at home; only when I turn everything off is it ever as dark as home as it is every night at the shelter. -------- Story continues later. |
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My visit to the homeless shelter and other things by 10/31/2018, 6:40pm PDT  |
