ADOPT-A-HOMELESS!

Just so you ALL KNOW…I have technically been HOMELESS (or “Houseless”, as some of them prefer to be called!) for over 3 YEARS NOW –TRUST ME, it is NOT EASY! Being HOMELESS is ONE of the BIGGEST FEARS in this country (*but not other countries!) and I am LIVING IT but YOU probably are not even AWARE that I am HOUSELESS because SOME of MY FRIENDS and SEVERAL STRANGERS have ADOPTED ME!

Especially Melissa Pabst and Myan Binder--who were once STRANGERS!!!

And in many places, even OUR NATION’S CAPITAL, the HOMELESS are STILL TREATED MUCH like the LEPERS were treated in JESUS TIMES.

Jesus and the Leper

 There have been MANY MORNINGS, where I wake up (in LA, St. Louis, Miami, Reno, Shasta, Chico, Reykjavík, Ojai, etc.) and I have NO IDEA where I will be staying that same night, but somehow I STILL MANAGE to HAVE FUN and BE of SERVICE to OTHERS…but IMAGINE what I could DO CREATE, BE of SERVICE, IF I did not have to worry about where I am going to sleep each night?!!!   *And who KNOWS what or how THAT HOMELESS DUDE or GAL you see regularly “loitering” could DO, CREATE or BE of SERVICE to Life and Love?

To this day, I STILL don’t understand WHY we, the UNITED STATES, one of the WEALTHIEST (Developed) COUNTRIES in the world (“America! Fuck Yeah!”) have HOMELESS, when I have LIVED in muy POOR (Less Developed) COUNTRIES (ie, Tanzania, Dominica, Honduras, parts of CHINA, etc.) and THEY DO NOT have a HOMELESS POPULATION…WTF?!   Or WHY we have SO MANY EMPTY, UNOCCUPIED HOMES and BULDINGS all over the country but yet NO SQUATTER RIGHTS like they do all over EUROPE!  

Therefore, I am suggesting the ADOPT-A-HOMELESS PERSON movement as just ONE possible SOULution, out of many possibilities, because as far as I can tell, the homeless population has RISEN since my first encounter with the HOMELESS, growing up in Washington DC.  **Ask my mother--  even in middle school, throughout high school and even my ONE year at Boston University…I consistently volunteered at Homeless Shelters in Northern SubUrban VA, DC, South Philly (!) and Boston! *And it BREAKS my HEART that we have not TRANSFORMED this STORY yet.

NOTE to DC: IF I were PRESIDENT, I would stay in a LUXURY SUITE at the Watergate Hotel or such, and TURN the WHITE HOUSE into a OUR HOUSE, open to whomever needs SHELTER--seriously! 

Just IMAGINE if everyONE who SAYS they “care” about HOMELESSNESS, were to ACTUALLY CARE for a HOUSELESS PERSON!  

I can see how ADOPTING a HOMELESS PERSON would REDUCE PETTY CRIMES (The Homeless are not stealing your new 80 FT Television Screen—I mean, where are they going to put it?!);  ADOPTING a HOMELESS PERSON would significantly INCREASE NEIGHBORHOOD BEAUTY, SAFETY and SECURITY; and SAVE TAX PAYERS a lot of bloody $MONEY$!

I once was ADOPTED by a FARM!  Lucky ME! *Thanks Jimmy and Macai!

  *I think you would be very surprised how EXPENSIVE EMERGENCY HEALTH CARE for a SICK or INJURED HOMELESS PERSON costs YOU, dear TAX PAYER!  Or a NIGHT in JAIL…which is where A LOT of HOMELESS end up for lack of place to stay. (But don’t listen to me, go do your own ECONOMICS 101 homework!) Also look up how the MORMONS in UTAH are HEALING the HOMELESS POPULATION---YEAH MORMONS!!!

And please KNOW that ADOPTING-A-HOMELESS does not mean you have to give them a whole room in your house (*even though that would be something JESUS/Allah and Buddha would do!) but just ACKNOWLEDGING them, SEEing THEM as PEOPLE…and since I have spent A LOT of my LIFE among the HOMELESS in THIS COUNTRY, I KNOW there are POETS, MUSICIANS, HEALERS, ENGINEERS, lots of highly SKILLED VETS…actually every single ONE of them was truly GIFTED in a UNIQUE way and I SEE the HOMELESS POPULATION as a VALUBALE (untapped) RESOURCE to US ALL IF they have their BASIC and most importantly, EMOTIONAL NEEDS MET and guess what?!  It does really START with YOU and ME!  We can ALL START by REGULARLY COMMUNICATING, authentically CONNECTING, CHECKING in on OUR HOUSELESS NEIGHBORS which is the TRUE DEFINITION of LOVE and CHARITY. 

And just so you know, at this very moment, CREATION STATION, which is a Visionary Community House and Non Profit Office in Cha Cha Chapmantown, Chico, has ADOPTED ME for the past week-ish…which ALLOWS ME the time, space and safety to write this blog and BE of SERVICE to YOU.

I would also like to take this OPPORTUNITY to THANK everyONE who has HOSTED ME over the PAST 3 YEARS…YOU are ALL PIONEERS in the ADOPT-A-HOMELESS MOVEMENT, who knew?!!  THANK YOU!!!!  You did DO what Jesus would do!!! Hahahahahaha!

I BELIEVE the ADOPT-A-HOMELESS MOVEMENT,  in combination with all the other great projects and programs going on across the country (Shout out to UTAH and DETROIT!), WILL END the HOMELESS STORY (FEAR and LEPERS!) FOREVER and EVER. Amen! A-Ho! YATZEE!

**And I would LOVE to HEAR more brilliant SOULutions to the HOMELESS EPIDEMIC in this country! 

  *I am BLESSED, thank you, more please!  

This is Kelly N Patterson Reporting from CREATION STATION, Cha Cha Chapmantown, California