In from the Cold

Members of Poor People United bring homeless in from the cold.

Tonight Poor People United went out with several volunteers to help those unfortunate enough to have to stay outside. The temperature at the time of this writing, only a few hours after being outside, is about two degrees fahrenheit. This is well below the ten degree "trigger" set last night at a meeting between PPU and assorted officials.
There was some doubt among PPU members whether tonight's action would be a success or not. The group got off to a frigid start gathering outside the public library on South Ave and Court St. After going over a few ground rules about how to proceed we continued to our first destination, the remains of the old subway system under Dinosaur BBQ. It seemed to get colder as we entered into the subway, the remains of the old Court Street Station and the overheads both covered in ice. The first spot to check was a place called the Captain's Chair. It is a little shack up on the top of the steps that used to lead to Court Street, nobody was home. We weaved our way deeper into the maze that once was a bustling underground transportation system. Deeper into the "hole" as it is known to those who inhabit it, we came across a group of several men sleeping on a ledge. The men seemed a bit intimated, and rightly so. A large group of about seven people waving flashlights had invaded their territory. Charles quickly announced we were with PPU and had warm beds waiting at the Cadillac Hotel.
The enticement of a warm bed won over all but one of the bunch. So far everything seemed to be going according to plan. The next step was to call Lifeline and report that people were in need of a bed but it did not go so smoothly. Once the call to Lifeline is placed, they are supposed to transfer the call to the Department of Health and Human Services. The lady informed us she was unaware of such a plan. Charles was put on hold for a while, and finally we were put through to DHHS. The group split up at that point, some continued to search for others while a few people took the three guys over to the hotel.
From there we went over to the Hall of Justice parking complex were we located three more guys. The night was a resounding success. This sweep netted six people that were able to get warm beds instead of sleeping in the cold. This is in addition to the six people that came out of the cold in an earlier search of the area. The system did not work perfectly, but well enough for the first try.