April 15, 2002
Happy "TAX DAY" everybody! For the first time in my memory, we got stuck with just the standard deductions this year. No itemization. What's the world coming to! It's great to be living so high on so little.....the RV lifestyle is still very appealing to us for all kinds of reasons.
We spent a few happy but dusty (real bad winds) days at Palm Springs and visited with friends who were there from the Escapade as well. Did some motorhome looking, but nothing serious. Hung For Sale signs on the rig without any lookers. Dang. But speaking of lookers (or selling the rig in general) we listed with www.rvonline.com and it's been a pleasant experience. They allow 2 pictures, but I could only think of one that would be good enough. I did list this website in the ad, and they apparently went to the site and picked another picture for us, and then put the ad on their website the very next day. That's excellent service in anybody's eyes.
We left Palm Springs and spent the next couple of days at the Escapee park in Casa Grande, AZ, on our way to Phoenix for our volunteer project.
Barb just loves the cactus' when they bloom. Truth be known, she likes them anyway. We were parked right in front of this plant at Casa Grande, and it was gorgeous.
We found where we were supposed to be for the project, and Roy and Lee took us under their wings immediately. They were our Group Leaders for the project, and since it didn't officially start until Monday, Roy let us tag along as he went to the local flea market to see if he could find some tools he'd been looking at. The vendor he wanted to see wasn't there, but there sure were plenty of other vendors there! First time I'd ever seen a Tattoo artist doing his thing at a flea market. Much as I want to get a tattoo, I'd pass on this operation. Besides, I had Barb with me, and she's dead set against me getting a tattoo. But I'm not giving up yet. It's only been a little over 2 years since I "retired" and I'm only 61, so there's still hope. We were pleased about the blue canvas stretched between rows of vendors. The shade was appreciated. Barb found some shoes that looked like they'd be fun....except they only came in kid's sizes. The wheels fold into the sole, and they're just plain walking shoes then. Wonder if they'll catch on. We've never seen them on the streets anywhere yet. And then I found the hat vendor, and Barb took a real interest in holding my hand again. Wonder why. Surely it isn't because I've got 5 hats hanging on the hooks by the door and another 10 or 15 stashed in the closet.
Here we are at "home". The old Sands hotel/motel was a beauty in its day, but that was long, long ago. Today the rooms are in pretty good shape, but it's been a long process. Two story place, sponsored by United Methodist Outreach Ministries (UMOM), and the Federal, State, and local governments. There are 96 family rooms, 66 of those are designated as "emergency" rooms, 30 for the disabled, plus 20 for battered women. They maintain about 95% occupancy; there's about 25 to 30 rooms vacated each month. The people stay in the facility for about 120 days usually, some longer of course depending on the severity of their condition and their needs. About 70% of the homeless staying here are here as the result of some addition, either drugs or alcohol or both. The rules are tight; UMOM is strict about what behavior is acceptable and what is not. Since they're owners and the residents are guests, there's no such thing as a search warrant if a search/seizure is appropriate. Of the 400 or so people living here, 60% are kids, an average of about 3.5 kids per parent. They get 60% of their funding from governments. There are 56 employees of which 45 or so are social workers. Volunteer labor does most the maintenance and repair. The volunteers have rebuilt the offices, expanding the space they need, and we're building additional storage space for the furniture, etc. that is donated. Boeing and other employers will send volunteers periodically as well as us SOWERS (Servants On Wheels Ever Ready). In case I haven't mentioned it before, SOWERS is an organization that acts as a kind of clearing house for Christian organizations that need some kind of volunteer labor, and the 2700 or so "units" like Barb and I who want to do some volunteer work of some kind. The only requirement to belong is to be a born again Christian and have a RV and be financially independent. There are projects throughout the US including Alaska, as well as Canada and Mexico. They vary from simple maintenance to building schools, churches, and camps. This facility has an annual budget of $3.5 million, and again 60% of that comes from governments, and 40% from private donations. There are 7 such facilities like this in the country, but this is the only one west of the Mississippi river. The group picture shows from left to right, Gene & Bonnie, Lee and Roy, us, Sally and Burke, Mary and Cal, and Emery. Emery is kind of a permanent fixture for the SOWERS here. He's been back many times and this October will actually be on staff in the maintenance department.
Lee and Roy only got to spend a day or two with us, as her mother took ill in Montana and they had to turn over the leadership of the group to Burke and Sally. And yes, that's a wall with "guards" on it behind them. The facility is located in the lower rent district of Phoenix, and has guards at the gate in front. Security people are walking around, and at night we can hear the sirens and helicopters overhead. Also, some of the residents occasionally will express themselves in loud abusive language that we can clearly hear. Any violation of the rules is not tolerated, and we feel relatively safe here even if it is a tad noisy. And on the right is the fearless crew tearing down the old storage shed getting ready to build the new expanded one.
On the left (from left to right) is Gene, the "foreman," me, Burke, the Group Leader, and Cal. Cal and I are the "newbies" on the crew, and the four of us all have varied backgrounds. Gene retired from the military, Burke was a manufacturers rep, and Cal was a school administrator. And here we are being carpenters....sort of. On the right Gene is helping me figure out how to turn this display case into a shadow box for a whiteboard in the conference room. Turned out we couldn't, so the whiteboard will just get glued to the wall with an attractive oak border.
The wall I look at every morning at breakfast is a cheery one, even if it is a wall. And Sally and Burke celebrated 51 years of marriage with a cake that Bonnie made with the "fixins" that Lee had left for the occasion. Even though we didn't get to spend much time with them before they left to be with Lee's mother, there were tears when Roy and Lee had to leave.
It's not all work and no play. Bonnie and Gene had a relative get married and this is how they came home. On the right is the new storage building in progress. I'm on the left, Burke is out front, and that's Cal in the background. Gene must be off getting more materials or tools.
And that's kind of the way it's going. Work, party, work. This wasn't Gene's birthday party, which we celebrated last night, but it was still some kind of a group/food thing. Gene had his birthday party with a wonderful berry pie, vanilla-bean ice cream, and lots of candles. These SOWERS know how to party! The lower picture is a gazebo we're building. There is a concerted effort here to let the residents know that life can be beautiful, and that there are reasons to stay straight and sober, and to go to work every day once they've learned some job skills. This has been a meaningful couple of weeks for us already.
In between all this, we've managed to get together with some very dear friends, Con and Phyllis Elnes (who fed us twice while they were here), from 1982 or so who used to live on Mercer Island with us in Washington State. Their son Eric is a minister and we visited his church and he actually remembered some comment I'd made to him when he was in high school. That young man will go far. They're incorporating drama, art, and music in one of their services in an attempt to reach out to people who don't find the more traditional church service appealing.
Since our group meets for devotions at 7:30 tomorrow morning as usual, I'm going to fold this up and mail it. Nite-nite.