I woke up this morning before sunrise. The temperature was in the teens and the weight in my chest was back with a vengeance. My throat was raspy sore and I couldn't stop coughing and hacking. I felt so deathly ill.I wondered out to the truck to get some throat medication and was inundated with mule deer galloping in from every direction. The numbers kept rising, 10, 20, 30, 50 until there was so many both Rio and Gracie sought shelter under the truck. This is rutting season and those bucks sure are snorty.
Follow @DeniseBundyBy noon it became obvious that this wasn't going to be a nice or forgiving day. The temperature was starting to drop into the 30's. Too ill to work an entire day I worked the morning and looked to the sky for any impending snow. It was cold, overcast.. a damp chilly morning with snow so close you could almost feel it. A very uncomfortable day for a homeless person.
By 1 pm the snow started.. I stood outside with my heart in the pit of my stomach, but the snow didn't start sticking until 3 pm. Being homeless means that you can't jump for joy at the sight of snow falling. You can't do all the normal things ~ being clean, warm and comfortable is a rare luxury.Being homeless means that you are not even a real person anymore. This none person is dreading tonight.
Picture The HomelessMonday 1/9: Newsletter Writing @ 2:00-4:00pm
Tired of the mainstream media like the Daily News and New York Post telling YOUR story and making you look like a criminal or homeless stereotype?! Then join PTH leaders in developing our own newsletter to tell your story through your own voice. In this session will be brainstorming ideas, topics and designs for the newsletter.Tuesday 1/10: Redefining The Homeless Stereotype @ 6:00-8:00pm
Wednesday 1/11: Tell YOUR Story: Oral History Day!
Most people hear homeless and think "dirty," "smelly," and "drunk." WE KNOW THIS ISN'T TRUE! Come through to this H.O.A. session to discuss how as a community we build our power and resources to redefine what it means to be homeless and what a homeless person looks like.What does it mean to tell a story? To tell a story means to teach a lesson, to move people and make change, to voice the stories of thousands of voiceless souls, and to create history for your people. Join Picture The Homeless in documenting the life, love, power, and resilience of the homeless and formerly homeless.
http://picturethehomeless.org/blog/node/310
"We don't see homeless people as real people."
- Mark Horvath, Invisible People
That lead photo is of David. He lives in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. He's been homeless since losing his "wife and dog...and then his house." We don't know a lot about David, but we know a lot more than we did a few seconds ago thanks to Invisible People.
You see, Invisible People doesn't serve the homeless community by providing beds or meals; they travel America, collecting stories first-hand from people living on the streets, and they also connect people who are homeless to online networking through Gmail, Facebook and Twitter.
"Homeless services are broken. We don't need to hear from another politician," says founder Mark Horvath. "We need to hear from the single mom living in the van with two kids."
It's a salient point. So often, even the well-intentioned media (ourselves included!) are talking about something second hand. Invisible People posts YouTube clips of homeless people talking about their day to day struggles in their own words, without filtering or spin.
The interviews are personal and dignified. And it's all to raise awareness about how bad things actually are, fleshing out the story behind someone we might otherwise allow homelessness to overshadow.
"I was homeless many years ago. Now I've traveled to 400-500 homeless shelters around the world," says Horvath. "I don't know if I'd stay in a shelter. Many are unclean. Many aren't safe. You're lucky if you're asleep by midnight."
Yes, Invisible People was founded by Mark Horvath, who was himeself homeless for years following a job loss in the entertainment industry. The organization's social media is run by a woman who is currently homeless (who, thanks to several good samaritans, will have a roof over her head for the holidays). In other words, the people driving the service are the same people who've been there.
"We're making everybody known. Those people down in an alley matter. They count. They're just like us, and we forgot them for so long," says Horvath. "That's what we do, we bring them up to the forefront."
There has to be someone related to Robert & Sylve Huckins must have some means to reach them, if it be Michael Huckins, Dr.Kenneth Ogilvie ( Diana Huckins? Dominic Huckins? Malcolm Huckins? ) or Patricia Ogilvie-Huckins and get them to return ALL of the money they stole from us so that I can buy a home and get our lives back. I am begging anyone in this family for help.I don't believe I have EVER witnessed any none violent crime that can be as devastating as stealing someone's home. I am walking in Dorothy McKeevers footsteps, day by day, month by month, year by year.
Liam Griffin, I sat in your law office with two witnesses as you gave me your promise, your guarantee, that our money would be returned before harm came to us.
Patricia Ogilvie-Huckins you were present the day I signed contract with your son. You walked out of the kitchen with Sylve Huckins and your son introduced me to you. He told you that I was the British horse trainer he had told you about, the one he was going to build the home and barn for. Why didn't you say something? There may be a rational and reasonable explanation but I have spent over 3 years, homeless, not understanding it. I understand it even less knowing that though I was a total stranger, both Dorothy McKeever and Sally Canning you KNEW, and you knew what your son had done to them and others.
Dr. Kenneth Ogilvie, I contacted you and simply asked for a reference, not knowing that Robert Huckins was your cousin. Robert Huckins had just stolen over $30,000 from the domestic violence shelter, HEAL, yet everyone was trying to hide it. There was a history of stealing large amounts of money. $65,000 PLUS from Nancy Canning. $89,000 PLUS from Dorothy McKeever, $45,000 from Francis McKinney. The list just goes on and on and on.
Because of Robert Huckins I ended up paying $140,000 to be homeless.. sat in the cold, emotionally, physically and financially broke. In the middle of a recession, with no way to recover the stolen funds.
Today Robert Huckins has his own home...
He also has OUR home.....
He also has a lot of people's money...
And his freedom.
Women are not banks or loan institutions. Women should not be the source of a retirement fund for people who don't want to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. Holding women hostage while playing with the judicial system, a horrendous game of cat and mouse extending YEARS, with the victims whose very homes, families and stability are in jeopardy is cruelty, as cruel as a physical beating. It is financial and emotional RAPE. Homelessness is not justice. It is a slow, painful death.
Please, I beg with everything I have within me, please convince Robert Huckins to stop this torture and return the building fund he stole from us so we too, can have a home.
Relevant pages:
http://roberthuckinsvictim.
http://roberthuckinsvictim.
http://roberthuckinsvictim.blogspot.com/2011/12/white-nothing-but-white.html
“A home is not a mere transient shelter its essence lies in the personalities of the people who live in it.” ~ Henry Louis Mencken
