Tent City 3: Homelessness At Our Door

When I first heard the name Tent City 3.. a lot of different things ran through my mind. What is tent city, why are they coming to my school, and how will this impact me?

All of these thoughts we a bit selfish and now that I know more about Tent city and the people who live there I have to say it has been one of the best experiences in my life. 

If you have read my previous post on my personal life, then you know that I too have been homeless and know the struggle of getting back on ones feet. 

Tent City 3 is a self managed homeless shelter where the rules are created by Share and Enforced by the members/residents of Tent City. 

Now before I get into what I have come to learn about Tent City let me give you a bit of background on who they are and why they are here. 

 Tent city is a transitional encampment that moves every three months to a new location, mostly hosted by church's or on private property. Tent City 3 was facing one of the most difficult dilemmas a shelter could face, they had no where to go and faced being disbanded for the next three months while they tired to find a place to host them. 

When Seattle Pacific University heard about this dilemma, We graciously open not only our arms but also our front door.  

Tent City 3 now resides on the main lawn on the north side of Tiffany Loop. 

During the few months before Tent City moved on to our front door, there had been a lot controversy over the location of where Tent City 3 would reside. Many people in the Fremont and Queen Ann area were against hosting the housing community that caters to the homeless. Sadly most people where against because they were naive and closed minded to what Tent City really is and how it can truly benefit the community. 

Tent City is a branch of the  Seattle Housing And Resource Effort, more commonly known as SHARE and is also a partner of WHEEL: Women's Housing Equality and Enhancement League.

Which are organizations of Homeless and formerly homeless members. 

SHARE/WHEEL is King County's largest shelter network, hosting 15 indoor shelters and 2 Tent Cities.  In addition to the shelters and tent cities they also facilitate Storage locker program and Housing for work program. Tent city currently caters to about 100 homeless people and provides them with shelter for as long as need, as long as they commit to the rules laid out by SHARE. 

So now you know who and what Tent City is, but if you haven't seen it for your self you are missing out.  SPU's Motto/Mantra is Engaging the Culture and Changing the World and it has never been more true than now. 

Hosting Tent City is more than just giving a 100 people a place to lay their heads at night. It is a learning opportunity, a way to serve the community and way to learn about how bad homelessness really is in Seattle. 
During my visit to Tent City I learned that they live by strict guide lines,The Tent City Code of Conduct prohibits  alcohol, drugs, weapons, fighting, abuse of any kind, littering or disturbing neighbors. 

All residents must sign an agreement to abide by this code and failure to do so can be cause for immediate expulsion. Residents form an Executive Committee that is responsible for site security, resident identification and donations management. 

One member of the Executive Committee is on duty, awake and available 24 hours per day. Police are contacted immediately if warranted by a situation.

The Tent City application states that Tent City residents are required to have valid picture identification with all prospective residents checked for warrants and sex offender status by the King County Sheriff’s Department. 

Tent City states that people with active warrants are not allowed to stay at Tent City. Tent City also reports that Police will be notified immediately of anyone rejected due to warrant status or that has registered sex offender status.

These rules are strictly enforced by the self governed residents, if anyone fails to follow the code of conduct they are kicked out and not allowed to return. However they can find shelter in any of the other SHARE programs, if they haven't been kicked out those shelters previously. 

Now you may be a bit confused on how Tent city is putting and end to homelessness, and honestly so was I. Which why I went in for a tour, this is what I learned. 

First off let me rid your mind of the fact that all homeless people are homeless due to drug or alcohol abuse. Every single resident of Tent city is completely clean and sober. 

Some of the residents of tent city are there because they were laid off and lost their house when they couldn't make ends meet. Some are there because they fell on hard times, or they were sick and couldn't work and ended up losing everything. These people are choosing to get out of the endless cycle of being homeless. Many of the formerly homeless return to tent city, not as residents, but as volunteers. 

All the people who reside in Tent city have the option to work for tent city, they are paid minimum wage to preform duties such as, being on night patrol, being a security guard, cooking meals, vehicle maintenance, grant writing.. and many other things. Other residents are able to find work outside of tent city. Since Tent City gives them a valid address they can apply for jobs and other things like ID Cards aiding in the process of finding a job. 

Residents of Tent city eat One hot meal a day, provided by volunteers throughout the community. 

Other meals are prepared by residents, with food that is provided by donations of local grocery stores. Currently Tent city only has a coffee pot and microwave. They have no refrigerator but have a few coolers to store food in. Tent City needs your help, If you can donate anything at all that would be amazing, 

Follow this link to see what Tent City 3  is in need of!

Tent city is a much needed but temporary resource in the battle to end Homelessness.  

Each year people come together and volunteer to count the Homeless. 

Its called One Night Count

"The One Night Count sets in motion a full year of education, engagement, and action for Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness ("the Coalition"). We work throughout the year to make sure that every person who is homeless counts."

Last years Count:

Now in 2015 these numbers have risen by 21% with an average 3772 people going to sleep each night on the streets of Seattle. 

If You would like to know how you can get Involved to End Homelessness

Visit these links

SPU- Get Involved

One Night Count

Tent City 3 

Where I learned to speak in silence....

Disclosure
( this post contains cuss words and contains violent content) 

Have you ever woken up and just thought to your self, how the fuck did I end up here. 
Well if you haven't... then your life must be either very boring, or you haven't really lived yet. When I look back at My life I wonder sometimes, How the fuck did I end up in that situation. Most people love to blame others, but I know that through out this story, these things happened to me because I did not always make the best choice either. I am not writing this to put anyone on blast.. or to call anyone else out. I am simply sharing my story with the world. Take it or leave it... I will be fine either way.

When I was about 15 or 16 years old.. hard to remember exactly because most of these memories I have tried to purge from mind...I lived in central point Oregon. By this time in my life my parents had already divorced. I lived with my mother and two of my sisters and my baby brother( who is special needs) and things there generally were good. That is until the no longer were.

When my younger sister was about 10 years old, (She is about 4-5 years younger than me.) she started getting into a lot of trouble. Most kids this age, at least in central point didn't really have much to do, school only fills up so much of your day.
 My sister and I use to fight all the time, mostly because I would get mad at her for stealing things from me. I know it probably wasn't the best way to go about these types of things, but when you are young you don't tend to think things through. 

  One day I had a bunch of friends over at my house, we were all in the living room hanging out. I can't quite remember what sparked this particular fight between me and my sister, but it was a full blown fist fight. 
My mom stepped in and tried to stop us but, it only escalated in a fight between my mother and I. We moved from the living room into the kitchen, and that is were things took a serious turn. My friends sat in shock and awe as my Mom continued to hit me, even after I had stopped fighting back. 

Things had gotten really out of hand, my friends stepped in and pulled me out of the house. They rushed me to their car and we drove away. 
When we finally had stopped, we reached Vancouver, Washington. This was my first time ever in Washington. 

I stayed there for a few days, and let the events of that day settle in my mind. I watched as the black and blue bruises covering my right side of my body turn grey and green. I had a black eye, a fat lip, I had bruised ribs, and a cracked collar bone. I didn't go to the hospital, I was afraid. I thought to my self, my mom has never beaten me before, damn she has only even spanked me like 3 times in my whole life. 
I was in complete shock the whole time I was in Vancouver. 
When I finally decided to go home, I told my friends that I would probably move to live with my dad. Just to give my Mom space during this time. 
Little did I know, that while I was gone, my little sister had gotten her self arrested and was currently in Juvenile Hall for theft. 
This had made things tense at home, and when I return, and told my mother I planned on moving out, she completely lost it. 

I started packing my things, even while she was yelling at me to stop. I told my Mom that i was leaving and there was nothing she could do to stop me. Like most people, she got caught up in the moment and yelled at me " You are not leaving here, the only way you will leave is if your dead.". I know now that she didn't mean that she wanted me to die. 
I was young, I was scared, I did what I though was to most rational and easiest way to get out. I took a glass cup and shattered it.

 I grabbed a piece of broken glass and I slit my arm.
 A good 3" inches across, it was deep but not deep enough to bleed out. My mother freaked out and called the police on me. My friends were still out in the living room, waiting, wondering what had happened. My mom stormed out and they had rushed in, they all stopped at the door when they saw the blood dripping from my arm. My friend/cousin Meagan started crying, I was too in shock from my own actions that I stood there frozen in time. 

The police and ambulance arrived, I was handcuffed and placed in the back of the squad car. Before they shut the door they but a temporary bandage on my arm. We drove off to the Hospital, where I was placed in the room with the white padded walls. You know the ones reserved for people who have tried to commit suicide. 

I sat in that room, alone for 2 hours, and then finally someone came in. 
They questioned me, asked my about why I slit my arm, and about the bruises on my body. I confessed to cutting my arm, because well why would I lie. I didn't want to die, I wasn't trying to kill my self, I was trying to escape my mom. 
They asked if I had given my self the bruises and cracked collar bone, and I told them no. That my mother had done it, and that I had witness to back up my story. 
The lady took some photos of the markings on my body, and told me that she would send in someone else to talk to me. 

After a few more interviews, they asked me if I wanted to press charges. I declined, because if I had done so, it could have meant that my sisters and brother might end up in foster care, or they would all be shipped to my Dad. Instead I told them I just didn't want to go home with my mom. So they arranged for me to live in a group home for a while. 

I stayed in the group home for a little over 2 weeks, and when I was released I went back to my mothers. When I arrived I told her that I didn't want to stay, that I wanted to live with my dad. She agreed to let me go this time, so I packed my things and set out to live with my dad in Portland Oregon. 

When I arrived at my Fathers everything was great, his new wife greeted me with open arms, and introduced me to here children. Living with my dad was awesome, I didn't enroll in school while I was there, because I stayed home, and helped to babysit my step siblings.

 After a about a year of living there, which puts me at about 17- going on 18, my Step mom took a turn for the worse. She became more and more aggressive towards me, we would constantly fight about how I disciplined her kids, which all I ever did was put them in time out. She however thought her kids were perfect and didn't need time out. I agreed to no longer put them in time out if it was that big of an issue. 

Things calmed down for a bit but not for very long. About two weeks before my 18th birthday, my step mother and I got into an argument. You would not believe the reason why either, it was because I gave her stupid fucking spoiled little demon children some fucking ice cream. Why did I give it to them, well I couldn't put them in timeout for not listening, so i bribed their good behavior with some ice cream. 
When she got home and saw that, she lost it, she yelled at my dad and at me, and then she did something no one ever thought she would do. 
That bitch.. told my Dad to choose her, or to choose me. 

Sadly, my dad choose her. 

Why? Not even to this day.. I don't know the answer to that. Maybe it was because my Dad was reliant on her support, my Father was until the day he died an Alcoholic,Druggie. Maybe he knew he wouldn't be able to take care of me with out her. Either way he kicked me out, and I at the young age of 17 became homeless in Portland. 
Like most people who are thrown into situations out side of their control I did what i could. I got a job working for the National Democratic party, as a canvasser, they paid me pretty good, but not good enough to get a place to stay every night. Basically I made just enough money to eat and that was it.

I had one friend during this whole time.. Jesse DeBra.. I didn't tell him at first that my Dad had kicked me out. Or that ever night since that night, I had ridden the Max from Gresham to Hillsoboro which is about 33 miles each way every night because I was to afraid to sleep at night. Portland is not the safest place at night, they have one of the largest homeless populations, and the crime rate is high at night. More people go missing along the max line, then anywhere else in Portland.
I had ever reason to fear for my life while I was homeless...

One night while riding the max, something happen and the train had to be emptied, so it could be worked. It dropped me and a few other stragglers in a pretty shady part of town. I was just a few stops from downtown Portland, over by Skidmore Fountain. I was headed back from Hillsboro when the max stopped, and I decided to continue on my way back to Gresham.
 I was walking along under the bridge, where they normally hold the Sat/Sun market. 
I though I was alone, but I wasn't.

I saw two men, who saw me from a far and instantly started yelling cat calls at me. They approached me, and asked me if I wanted to spend some time with them. I decline.. I started walking backwards, looking for a place to escape, a place I could run to, in order to get away. These men did not accept my answer, and continued to harass me. One of them noticed that I was searching for a way out, and he made his move. He grabbed me, and shoved me to ground. I screamed, I kicked.. I did everything I could do. I can remember now that while this was happening I only thought to my self, please just don't kill me. I knew that they were going to rape me... and I knew that they were going to kill me. 

Just as the second man started to rip my clothing off, a group of local street kids, about my age turned the corner. I watched them come around the corner, and I locked eyes with one of them, a Boy named Charlie. He immediately ran towards the guys who had me pinned down. Just as quickly the remainder of his friends jumped in, they started beating on the two men who had me held down. A girl name Sarah, helped me put my clothing back on, and asked me if I was okay. I replied that I was fine, that I would be fine. If those kids would have came even 30 seconds later, that man would have raped me. 
Charlie and Sarah and their friends, scared off the guys who attacked me, the offered to walk to over to the bus stop that would take me back up to Gresham. 
I thanked them, and told them that I owed them my life... they simply smiled and said that they don't allow that on their streets. That they knew If I had been the one to find someone else in that position that I would have done the same. I agreed, we parted ways, and I never saw them again. 

I have never told anyone about this night in Portland. Not a single person knows besides those who were involved, not even my best friend at the time knew about this... this is a secret I have kept locked behind velvet lips. Never allowing it to slip from my mind, and be heard by ears who either don't care to hear it, or wouldn't understand it. 

The Bus finally stopped at the QFC just by my Father house. I was to shaken to go to him, because I figured he would just turn me away. I went to the pay phone and used the last of my money to call my friend. I went to his house and told him everything, well almost everything....
 I remain homeless in Portland for just under 8 months...

 where I learned to speak in silence...