Tick Tock Sheptock

Saturday, October 29th was a wet, cold miserable day in Washington, DC. There was a light rain throughout the day. It felt like the temperature was somewhere between 35 and 40 throughout the daylight hours, though I missed the forecast. We even got some snow that evening and had an even colder night. DC Law defines "hypothermia season" in two ways -- by date and by temperature. DC Government's Department of Human Services (DHS) is required by law to provide enough shelter for all people who present as homeless between November 1st and march 31st. However, if it freezes before or after that time frame(including the windchill factor), they must be prepared to provide shelter to all who are in need of it and are within the city limits at that time (regardless of whether or not that person claims to be a resident of the city). But on that fateful day in October, a homeless man in a wheelchair was denied shelter and died in the parking lot behind the shelter. I've yet ...

On Tuesday, June 28th I went to DC's Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library to speak to a group of over 100 teenagers who are part of the Summer Youth Employment Program about homelessness -- to do a sensitivity training of the youth about the homeless issue. (This is the same program which former DC mayor Adrian Fenty pitted against the homeless last year when he shifted homeless funding into it.) This portion of the SYEP is one of the many steps that the MLK Library has taken in recent years to better serve its homeless patrons. While there, I was saddened by the news that Pam Stovall, the associate director of the library had passed. She lost her battle with breast cancer on Sunday, June 26th. As Audrey Middleton broke the news to me, she said, "I just received an e-mail from Pam on Thursday. Everyone was saying, 'When Pam comes back, we're going to do this and tell her that.' Then, next thing you know, we get word that she passed". Pam Stovall was a ...