Apparently I Wasn't Following The Rules...

Everyone in the Lifebridge shelter has a chore. For the last two months, my chore was the refridgerator. I was to go through everything in there and get rid of what didn't belong there. The reasons for this are simple.

1: Anyone who has had roommates knows that you need to share the space.  

2: Sometimes people forget things like fruit and other perishable items that tend to take on a life of their own if you don't get rid of them after a while.

3: You can see by the video clip that shelter policy is quite clear. Any item that does not have a proper name or date is thrown out. Anything that is left in the refridgerator over seven days is thrown out. This policy is posted very clearly on the refridgerator for anyone to see it.



So, recently there was an incident. On one such day, I was going through the refridgerator and there were a lot of bags in there that were way past the required time. Sometimes I will change the date myself, so that this person will not have to lose their groceries, but this is only in the case that I can see what's in the bag and that I can see for myself that it is not perishable.

The bottomline is, as the person responsible for the chore, it's my call and it's my ass on the line if I don't occasionally throw things out. Mainly for the reasons above.

Please note that this refridgerator is not in anyone's home. It is a courtesy provided by the Lifebridge staff. It's there so that people who get food stamps or have a little bit of income can store the occasional cold beverage, or a few things to get them through the week on days when they might miss a scheduled shelter meal.

And it's not an industrial sized refridgerator either. It's a standard home appliance that only has so much room. And when you're living with twenty or so people who need to use the same space, you can see how it's a little bit selfish and arrogant to fill each shelf up with five or six bags of your own food and drinks.

So some things got thrown out. Now, most of the staff have been supportive of my decision. I also go the extra mile and really scrub out the fridge, because some of the flimisier containers tend to break open and things get spilled. Any chef can tell you that a food spills can lead to all sorts of health hazards. And honestly, when I'm not the one doing this particular chore, the refridgerator never gets a thorough cleaning.

So because of the effort I put into it, the staff generally had no problem with it.

That is until a staff member, whom I shall refer to as Christopher was working a couple days ago.

As stated, I threw some things out. People found out quickly and threw a fit. These are the people who pretty much hang out at the shelter all day and therefore have absolutely no reason not to check the dates on their grocery bags. They have time to sit there and watch movies all day, but they can't get up off their ass and write a simple date on a piece of paper, staple it to their bag and see that it doesn't get tossed? Right.

Again, ordinarily I have the support of certain staff members when I throw things out. But not when Christopher is in charge.

"You got to follow the rules, Nate," he said. "You don't throw other people's food out."

To which I calmly replied, "But the rules very clearly state that if it's not properly dated and labeled it needs to be thrown out."

At this point Christopher exploded. Screaming at me in front of everyone and growing steadily more abusive as his voice rose. Let me put it this way, if I were to ever speak to a police office the way this guy, a professional and a paid staff member at this homeless shelter, spoke to me, I'd be arrested.

The situation grew even worse, as shelter residents followed Christopher's example and made their hostility know to me.

Naturally, by the time the director of the shelter found out, this whole situation got twisted around so that somehow this was all my fault. That I had no right to throw anything out, inspite of the rules which you can read right there in the video clip.

So there you go, readers. Once again, Lifebridge, an organization devoted to aiding the homeless teachers scores a win.

If You Read This...

I was recently screamed at by a shelter staff member, for following shelter policies in regards to certain items in the refridgerator. I am not exaggerating, I was literally screamed at. If you do not believe a shelter has the right to act this way towards it's residents, then copy and paste the letter below into an e-mail and send it out to every Letters to the Editor section of your local paper.

In this rough economic climate, it’s only natural to expect that people will suffer a bit of hard luck. As much as we would like to pretend otherwise, the homeless exist. That means there is a need for places and services to assist those people, including, but not limited to shelters.

The question a lot of people in Salem, Massachusetts have no doubt been asking is just what is the Lifebridge Shelter doing to improve this situation in our town?

When you go into the living area of Lifebridge, the first thing you are likely to notice is the people who are just sitting around, reading, watching TV, or just staring off into space. These aren’t just people who have jobs and are simply taking it easy. The majority of them are people who are there every single day, all day, unless otherwise asked to leave. Half of them will only leave of their own volition to smoke, or to run down to the store to buy cigarettes and junk food. Remember this.

There is no doubt that some of these residents are mentally ill. There are also those who have limited mobility, or disabilities that otherwise make it difficult to leave the building. Once again, the majority of the people you will meet here have no greater disability than their own overinflated sense of entitlement.

Failure or refusal on behalf of staff members to enforce certain policies fuels this entitlement. People who would lose their beds or other services in a much stricter environment mistake this laxness for the norm.

Intoxicated residents who are banned by one staff member are given the run of the place by another. The lives of residents who need oxygen to breathe at night are placed in danger as residents prop the exit to the sleeping area open, allowing cigarette smoke to blow in. Remember this as well, it will be important later.

To speak to some of the residents, you might be lead to believe that you were in the Hawthorne Hotel rather than a homeless shelter. But then again, hotels have rules and policies that are better enforced. And those people actually pay to spend the night there.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have the one percent of shelter residents who do take advantage of the services and try to improve their situations. If you see them at the shelter at all they are likely eating, sleeping, or heaven forbid taking it easy for a little bit. But they are awake and out the door early in the morning. If they do have jobs, they are faithful to their schedules and working hard to get a place to live. If they are unemployed then they are pounding the pavement in search of work.

Ironically, these are the people who suffer the most. Instead of assistance, they are given excuses. Appointments are made with their caseworkers, only to be canceled or forgotten without notice. Miscommunications between staff lead to misunderstandings that can cause these people to miss a meal, or to wind up being needlessly penalized.

Probably the worst offense of all is when a staff member who cannot properly manage their stress takes it out on a resident. This creates a hostile environment as that person’s inner circle of residents now believes that they can mistreat the victim. This is further reinforced when that staff member refuses to apologize, thus ensuring that a supposedly safe environment grows potentially dangerous.

Take a moment to think about that. As mentioned, there are mentally ill people living in this shelter. Some of these people would not be credible witnesses in a court case and very likely, if one of them were to tell you what someone did to them, you would likely dismiss them. But try to imagine a relative of yours.

Maybe someone with a similar mental illness or an elderly relative with Alzheimer’s disease, who for whatever reason has been placed in a home or other sheltered environment. How would you feel, knowing that a nurse or an orderly took out their frustrations on that loved one? Where would you draw the line? How would you feel if you were that person and you felt threatened and intimidated by people who were supposed to be there to help you?

What does this have to do with you, the citizen of Salem, Massachusetts or any other town with a similar situation to deal with? Well, at one point or another you’ve probably been asked to donate to one of these shelters.

You might have seen a booth at a fair, or attended a benefit dinner to support a homeless shelter. Or, perhaps you received a pamphlet from a place like Lifebridge, full of color photos of the staff, residents, and campus. In that pamphlet is an envelope where you would put a check or money order in one of the amounts requested.

The question you need to ask yourself is after reading this letter, do you honestly believe that this is a place you would want to donate your money? Does this sound like a place where your hard earned dollars would go towards caring for the mentally ill or for helping that once percent who just need that extra boost. Or does it sound more like you’re funding a twenty-four hour college fraternity party? Read on.

A number of the aforementioned residents, who suffer from those disabilities and limited mobility, will receive a disability check. Half of that money will go towards cigarettes. Similarly, their food stamps will pay for junk food while they enjoy full meals provided by donations from well meaning businesses and church groups. To add further insult to injury, the oxygen tanks, which many of these smokers use believe it or not, were paid for by health insurance that was provided by the state.

So in a sense, you, the tax payer have all ready paid a substantial amount for these people to just sit around, smoking, eating and reading. Do you really need to donate more money for them to do the exact same thing?

Please feel free to contact me with any further questions you have and please read my blog, The Morlock’s Voice.