The poor hold strong against "Human Rights Violator" Bill Smith, despite their o

Much of the leadership of Poor People United, a group of poor and homeless advocates met tonight in St Josephs House of Hospitality, 402 South Avenue. The shelter is one of the few shelters they sometimes call home. A PPU organizer Charles Kellum spoke about uniting across Race lines, and around common interests. "Many of the people here at St Josephs are simply without any other alternative to hypothermia. Few shelters will accept the freezing poor unless they are funded by government money. We want to open and run our own emergency hypothermia shelter. We want to save the lives of people like us."

Jessica Chapman a Catholic Worker at St Josephs said thoughtfully after learning about the recent FTAA crisis "We're scared their unions will have to join ours. Kodak employees, nurses, police, healthcare and mental health workers are all in danger here. Neither St Josephs nor whatever shelter PPU is fighting for will be adequate to cope with the race to the bottom. The poor are getting poorer, and the working are getting poorer."

The leadership was forced to cancel its nurse's solidarity event on Saturday. The event intending to tie strong ties between labor and the poor. Charles Kelllum cited lack of resources. "I have to spend so much time just surviving that it's hard to organize. Sadly we have to focus on our own immediate needs, and our shelter."