TL;DR Homelessness is bullshit and should not exist. Donate to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless through this fundraising link, and be entered into a raffle for a copy of “Chicago Transit Hikes” and a hand-knit hat. Every $10 donated will get you one entry into the raffle. Starting the moment this post goes live and ending Saturday at noon central. The winner will be contacted by me directly, but the real winners are the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless – the oldest organization in Illinois working to end homelessness at its root.
I’ve been stuck at home for not quite a year. I’m getting a little stir-crazy. I’m already dreaming of all the camping and backpacking I could do this spring. Meanwhile, I woke up to a snowstorm this morning that should plop another foot of snow on top of the foot of snow that was already on the ground. On the one hand, I’m dreaming of hammock camping season. On the other hand, this is winter in Chicago, and nothing is out of the ordinary.
I’m still super lucky. I have a roof over my head, I have a job that allows me to work remotely, I am warm and I have enough to eat. There are thousands of Chicagoans today who are experiencing homelessness who probably aren’t dreaming of spending time outdoors this spring. If I were planning a winter camp and saw that a foot of snow was in the forecast, I’d seriously consider canceling my trip, or bringing different or more things to make my stay in that storm more comfortable. A person experiencing homelessness isn’t so fortunate. When you live on the street, the only protection from the weather is what you can find or carry. To many people who are experiencing homelessness, taking refuge in a shelter during extreme weather events isn’t an option, often due to past negative experiences. You wouldn’t walk up to somebody at a public campground and start telling them their tent is set up wrong, or this is a better way to start a fire or correcting anything else you didn’t like about their campsite. You’d be rightly labeled a rude jerk. It’s kind of the same for people experiencing homelessness. If it’s not something you have personally experienced, it’s probably not a good idea to act like you know how to fix it.
Homeless encampments have one big thing in common with the average campground – gear. Everyone knows that a tent set up under a highway isn’t there because somebody thought it was a nice space to reconnect with nature. When somebody finds a sleeping bag tucked between concrete columns, just feet away from traffic, everyone knows that isn’t debris because it’s obviously the few belongings our neighbors who have the least, have to survive. Socks always matter more than most other things you could wear, that’s true for both urban and recreational campers. One huge difference is you can walk away from your unsecured, unguarded campground and feel reasonably confident it will be there when you get back. People experiencing homelessness don’t have that level of security or camaraderie. Often the police, the city, or even aldermen’s staff members, will “clean up” these encampments as if they’re littered only with trash and not with humans with nowhere else to go.
There is absolutely no good reason why homelessness should exist. There are plenty of good reasons that it persists, but not one good reason for it to continue existing. We have enough peopleless homes, and enough unhoused people, especially in Chicago where we invented the skyscraper, to solve this problem.
The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless is the oldest organization in Illinois working to end homelessness at its root. Because we are in the middle of a long cold snap, and because the snow hasn’t stopped in weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about our neighbors who are experiencing homelessness. CCH has seen gigantic victories in the last year to help keep people from experiencing homelessness in the first place, and to get people into supportive housing whenever possible.
So this week I am raising funds for CCH. Starting today, anyone who makes a donation to this fundraiser will be entered into a raffle for a signed copy of “Chicago Transit Hikes” and a hand knit ribbed beanie, made by me, specifically for the raffle winner. Every $10 donation will earn you one entry into the raffle. The raffle will end at Noon, Central Time, Saturday, February 20.
