This Beautiful 11 Yr Old Black Female Has Raised 50 grand & Counting For the Cold & Homeless

“Arctic air on the way,” headlines read again….

Meet the beautiful, exceptionally precious and compassionate 11 year old, Khole Thompson. As noted in her photo, she raised $50,000 at least for the homeless in Chicago during this horrifically cold weather.

“When an 11-year-year-old girl in suburban Los Angeles learned Monday how cold it would be this week for homeless people in Chicago, she decided to do something about it.

After watching a newscast about the impending cold snap, Khloe Thompson created a GoFundMe page seeking donations for the local Salvation Army, a nonprofit group whose mission includes getting Chicago’s most vulnerable to a warm place this week.”

I went from grateful to enraged at reading; Bill Gates, who in an unrelated article (I believe it’s unrelated) he said,

“You don’t need to have a billion to be happy but it sure does help.” –Read that article here.

Imagine how much money he could have helped Khole donate to people in cities across America that have been severely impacted by the cold.

Then during the research for this post I found a few ways to help, which I’ll post below. That gave me a little hope for humanity…

We need to ensure that hope lasts, through people such as Khole Thompson, and their selfless actions.

The most recent cold is ongoing and there are things people can do in the less impacted states such as Texas,

Here is an excerpt from an article about a homeless man who was stolen from this world because he didn’t have a home in the absolutely freezing weather. This is just, I hope, to bring this to you emotionally; remember these are actual people suffering… Even when it’s not as severe as now, anyone in the more northern parts of the states knows how hard that cold can hit. This is unacceptable please don’t just close this article and move on to the next. Please be as brave as the precious child and the others like her… Check out links below.

The Maslow’s Army are blaming the cold for Martin’s death. They are also renewing their plea for change. The organization advocates for people battling addiction, alcoholism and mental illnesses.

In a Facebook post, Sam and Susan Landis of Maslow’s Army, a nonprofit called the death “unacceptable” and said the city needs a 24-hour a day facility where the homeless can find relief from the cold and heat.

Martin was familiar to members of The Maslow’s Army.

“We met Ken on our first Sunday outreach on Fountain Square almost one year ago. He was inspired to get his life together and began taking steps towards self-improvement,” read the another Facebook post on the Sam and Susan Landis page.

In August, the post said, Martin slipped in his recovery effort but “Maslow’s Army still continued to love on him and support him every way we could offering to take him to detox, meeting his basic needs every encounter including just last week.”

Maslow’s Army intends to continue its fight for a 24-hour shelter, taking its request to city hall. They have their sights set on the old Queensgate jail, a seven-story, 30,000 square foot space, that could house beds, a kitchen and more, Sam Landis said. All the group needs is funding.

There is one point on which Kevin Finn, President of Strategies to End Homelessness, agrees.

“The reality is, there is no reason a homeless person should be sleeping outside right now,” Finn said.

In Hamilton County, there are 12 homeless shelters and in Northern Kentucky, there are six, he said. Some are for families, some for women only, others men only. There are also two drop-in homeless shelters, both open 24 hours a day, one on each side of the river. They have expanded capacity for the winter months.

Shelterhouse, The Barron Center for Men in Queensgate offers an additional 200 beds in its winter shelter space through the end of February. Space is open to men and women. The Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky in Covington expands its shelter space through March, Finn said. Neither has ever reached capacity.

“What they might not know is when the weather gets the way it is now, some of the rules and requirements that are in place during warmer weather months are not required,” he said.

Last year, 90 percent of the area’s homeless people resided in a shelter, Finn said. Another 16 percent stayed outside on the street, the six percent overlap represents people who both went to shelters but also stayed outside.

There are people who, for a variety of reasons, will not go to shelters, Finn said. Reasons can range from mental health disorders, addiction or something else.

For placement or help getting in a homeless shelter, call (513) 381-7233.

Both Susan and Sam Landis have experienced homelessness and addiction. They are also studying for careers in the social service field at Northern Kentucky University. The system is not set up to meet the needs of homeless, Sam Landis said.

“We want to go to city hall and fight this,” Susan Landis said. “Tax dollars are being spent on a stadium and a fraction of this money could be used to help keep people warm. There are many groups out there with multimillion-dollar grants.”

“We still have this problem,” she said. “Let’s face it, something’s not being done.”

Councilman Chris Seelbach was one of the first to tweet the news of Ken Martin’s death. While the coroner has yet to determine the cause of death, Seelbach and others have drawn the conclusion Martin froze to death.

“We must do better,” Seelbach tweeted. “It’s just a matter of priorities. More tax money for those most vulnerable. Less tax money for millionaires and billionaires.”

Exactly where that money would come from and how much, Seelbach didn’t elaborate. He didn’t respond to messages left by The Enquirer.

Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld said he anticipates the council in 2018 will look at the issue of homelessness and make sure there are enough 24-hour shelters to protect people from dangerous weather, either hot or cold.

 

EVERY LITTLE BIT MATTERS; HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?

Do what you can, please… These are some basic, very basic ways to help…

1. Volunteers of America Chesapeake’s hypothermia prevention and response programs provide emergency shelter, meals and crisis intervention during the coldest months of the year. These programs serve homeless men and women each night from November through February. The program provides shelter, two hot meals (breakfast and dinner) and a bagged lunch. Also provided is access to case management and medical treatment as well as mental health and substance abuse services.

In addition to the caring professionalism of Volunteers of America Chesapeake’s homeless services staff, this life-saving service wouldn’t be possible without faith partners throughout the region, who open their sanctuaries in partnership with Volunteers of America Chesapeake’s programs to ensure that no one is left in the cold.

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2) How We Help End Homelessness

We reach out to homeless individuals through street outreach and mobile outreach services and once we engage with homeless individuals, youth and families with children, we provide assistance that ranges from paying a first month’s rent to offering permanent supportive housing so that people with disabilities can become stable and productive members of their communities. In 2017, we helped over 100,000 homeless individuals.

We have found that, without supportive services, housing is often not enough to end homelessness. From helping homeless youth, to providing assistance in obtaining disability benefits, to providing transportation, to offering intensive job training assistance to homeless veterans, we operate a number of innovative supportive services programs to support our efforts of ending homelessness in America.

EMERGENCY SHELTER

While permanent housing, often coupled with supportive services, is the best way to end homelessness, many individuals and families need short-term stabilization before they can find housing that will meet their long term needs. That’s why Volunteers of America, for over 122 years, has provided emergency assistance to homeless persons in the form of homeless shelters.

DROP-IN CENTERS

Since homeless persons can be reluctant to leave the streets and accept emergency shelter or transitional housing, we operate drop-in centers — places where homeless youth or adults can get off the streets and find a temporary safe haven. And often, when homeless persons begin to trust drop-in center staff, they agree to leave the streets and enter transitional or permanent housing.

PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING

For a significant number of homeless Americans with mental or physical impairments, often coupled with drug and/or alcohol use issues, long-term homelessness can only be ended by providing permanent housing coupled with intensive supportive services.

TRANSITIONAL HOUSING

Our transitional housing programs are operated with one goal in mind — to help individuals and families obtain permanent housing as quickly as possible. Our programs serve diverse populations — from women and children who are victims of domestic violence to homeless veterans who have spent years living on the streets.

Newark, NJ, ICE LockUp’s Exposed: Once Again! ANOTHER CRITICAL WATCHDOG REPORT: ROTTEN FOOD, DECAYING MATTRESSES

Why in hell do we have people in any positions of power who are abusing, in any shape or form, fellow humans, sexually harassing them, making them sleep in decaying beds…and then sarcastically playing it off as if it isn’t an issue… HOW DO THEY SLEEP AT NIGHT!?

And how do those of you who turn the other way live with your selfish souls?

This is more than I humane… and if you are one of these jerks who can’t even stand against what’s wrong but complain about those who DO speak out; it is you that is the fool and should be ashamed. I sure as hell am not and by being silent you only aid cruelty.

What is more, someone came talking to someone near me about a woman complaining about her food quality. He played some YouTube video they’d made into a joke of her, I didn’t fully understand what in hell they were on about…

Now I do. If I’d been more up to date then I’d have torn into their sick souls for truth and knowledge I will always inflict; I don’t care when or who you are… please share!

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A Newark, New Jersey immigrant detention center has been feeding detainees moldy, spoiled and foul-smelling food—an abuse that’s led detainees to file scores of grievances and to report symptoms of food poisoning, according to a report released Friday by the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General.

The center, which can house more than 900 men, is run by the Essex County Department of Corrections, under an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. DHS inspectors conducted a surprise visit last July and found multiple health-and-safety violations of detainee rights and ICE standards. The inspector general’s report noted that the Essex County Correctional Facility also failed to disclose to ICE, as required, incidents involving fights among detainees and hospitalization of detainees for mental illness.

A detainee also found a loaded gun belonging to a guard in a bathroom, the inspector general’s report said.  Center staff admitted to inspectors that they told the detainee who found the gun “not to discuss the matter with anyone,” according to inspectors.

In the report, inspectors noted that detainees filed about 200 grievances about food quality during the first six months of 2018.

“For dinner, we were served meatballs that smelled like fecal matter,” one detainee wrote.

“The food that we received has been complete garbage,” another wrote. He also wrote: “I have a stomach infection because of it and the nurse herself told me it was caused by the food.”

Inspectors observed “expired and moldy bread” in a refrigerator, despite requirements that staff toss it out.  “The food handling in general was so substandard that ICE and facility leadership had the kitchen manager replaced during our inspection,” inspectors reported.

ICE asserted that after seeing a draft of the report its officials “immediately initiated a follow-up review process” at the Essex facility. ICE and Essex detention officials could not be reached for comment.

ButWNYC radio in New York reported that ICE, in a statement,

said that conditions inside Essex had improved and that ICE was “committed to continually enhancing” detention operations to promote “a safe and secure environment.”

The inspector general additionally detailed how inspectors last July found showers at Essex covered with mold. Staff had placed trash cans under holes in ceilings to collect rain leaking in; two leaks were in detainee rooms right over their beds.

When inspectors asked guards about decaying mattresses they observed, the report says,

guards said they “wait for detainees to complain” before staff put in a request that mattresses be replaced.  😡😡

The Newark immigration detention center isn’t the first facility where DHS inspectors have found neglect and substandard conditions.

In October, a DHS inspector general report found violations at the Adelanto detention center in California that included inappropriate handcuffing and shackling of detainees and medical neglect, as theCenter for Public Integrity reported.

A dentist employed at Adelanto, which is operated by the private GEO Group, Inc., told inspectors that detainees could use strings from their socks to floss their teeth if dental floss was not available to them.

Inspectors also found evidence that a disabled detainee in a wheelchair was placed into “segregation,” or isolation, for nine days, during which time he was unable to sleep in a bed or brush his teeth.

In January, another DHS inspector general reportaccused ICE of issuing only two penalties against contractors holding immigrant detainees despite finding 14,000 violations of detainee rights and ICE standards. The violations were found at 106 contract detention centers from 2015 to 2018. Violations included contractors’ failure to report alleged sexual assaults to ICE. Last September, the Center reported on private-prison companies’ history, and allegations of abuses that include medical neglect.

This Isn’t the Start of Neglect From the US Against Puerto Rico…

I am surprised that I was taken aback when I began to realize how many people were unaware that Puerto Rico is, and has been, a part of Amerikkka…or at least it is in some ways, “Amerikkkan Liberation”- a term that is full of sarcasm if it’s not clear for America liberates no one. But in keeping this short; please, take the time to educate yourself on even simply how, why and what rights are given and denied to the people of Puerto Rico. The recent and on going tragedies in Puerto Rico’s Hurricane aftermath give a realistic and appalling view of how America, especially under Trump, treats the places it is supposed to protect. Let this be an eye opener: they want to try and keep us in the dark; ignorant, so we won’t unite. So we’ll stay in our places and marinate in wrongful, misplaced anger and hatred.  Keeping the people ignorant is a key step for people like Trump… But it’s been going on long, long before Trump’s racist ass came along.

It baffled/baffleS me how few care about Katrina just as this baffles me…How can so many not care?

Personally, it is absolutely, positively certain and clear to me how the lack of knowledge I speak of regarding Puerto Rico is intertwined with the current treatment of those who survived Hurricane Maria; many left in dire situations; they need the help that should be a birth right. Of course, Trump and his mockery of an administration will never step up and offer the help they would an Island of white supremacists. Not being dramatic but real. The fact that some people (too many and especially whites I’m noticing) roll their eyes at this legitimate belief is enough to make me physically ill. These same people then go on trying to claim whites are under attack and that they are the victims…Sickening, egotistical cowards! 

Before this turns into more of a novel, let me wrap this up.

The following is a well written, accurate and deeply felt article I recommend highly on the Crisis in Puerto Rico and why the current treatment really should not be shocking and is anything but a surprise to those of us with loved ones there; friends and family alike- let alone if you live in PR.
NOTE: I am reblogging, please click the link after the below quote to go to the original posters page where the detailed post and further reading can be found.

“Puerto Ricans on the island and the diaspora feel a sense of neglect and insensitivity—a sense of grievance backed by the actions of the federal government for the last century. The Wall Street Journal editorial “Second-Class Puerto Rico” resonates with citizens who have lived a history of mixed policies—Jones Act, Section 936, Medicaid, PROMESA—that at times are beneficial and at times hurt the island and its dependent economy.  Over time these policies have changed with the concerns of the U.S. government, which often ignore the direct or unintended consequences of these policies on Puerto Rico and its U.S. citizens.

[. . .] After a century of Puerto Rican U.S. citizenship, it is clear that the main goal of the Jones-Shafroth Act of augmenting a “bond” with Puerto Rico (and Puerto Ricans) by granting citizenship has been achieved. But the question is, “Is American citizenship worth the same for Puerto Ricans as it is for other Americans?” For too long, Congress has looked the other way while its inconsistent policies continue to harm Puerto Rico. It is high time for members of Congress to pay attention and act before the humanitarian crisis facing 3.4 million American citizens reaches a point of no return.”

Both quotes from the article on another bloggers page,here.

You can read the reasons for the above quotes and so much more if you click here for the page which I found it on. It contains not the article in a more enlightening light, but also a great wealth of information to inform and explain the above comments and quotes. Again… please do not forget to click here and read the knowledge of the post!

—Originally located at: THE U.S.’S NEGLECT OF PUERTO RICO HAS NEVER BEEN BENIGN ; REBLOGGED from original poster, found HERE.