Hmmm, part 2, Homeless America

So furthering my rant on the homeless situation here in our country leads me to a very interesting story involving someone that i was blessed enough to meet recently. She is a very nice lady that like a lot of our citizens was laid off and still trying to survive in these harsh times.

I couldn't believe that after working long hours day in and day out she was left to live off of less than 200 dollars a week in unemployment benefits. That just doesnt seem to make any sense to me. How can anyone live off of so little and expect NOT to end up on the street? So she explained to me that she was able to find a bed in a shelter for a short time only to be treated worse than she ever has by the staff that run this so-called safe haven. At this time i'm trying to locate her, apparently she was "suspended from services" because she couldn't pay to stay. Now, what i dont understand is that there are others struggling to survive and watching every penney, yet these "homeless shelters" are charging them to have a place to sleep. I thought that this was a country that took care of our own, but unfortunately i was terribly mistaken. So, im still trying to wrap myself around all this.

I was told the rules are this:

"clients" have to be out of bed at 6am
"clients" have to be in the downstairs room by 7:30am
If you have doctors orders to remain in bed (even if pregnant) you still have to abide by those rules

There is no breakfast served
Everyday between the hours of 11am and 1pm everyone has to vacate the building reguardless of weather and reguardless of having small children

You are NOT under any circumstance allowed to enter your room until after 6:30pm everyday and then you're allowed to eat (3 to4 day old food) shower and be in bed by 9:30pm

Now i completely understand structure and some people aren't used to routine, but i think it's a bit harsh don't you?

Now another thing that i found unreal was the fact that these citizens also have to worry about what little they have left being stolen from the "trusted staff" that runs this place.

An example is this, one of the "clients" purchased coffee and creamer for the others to share, you know something nice for everyone. Well apparently while everyone was "out for the day" they returned only to find half of everything missing, they also woke up to the rest gone. If someone entered the houses of the staff and took something the police would be called immediately, but because people are in a bad situation it's considered ok?

Now, understand this, there are a lot of good hearted people that are out there that will go out of thier ways to donate clothing, food, personal products, only to now find out that the people that these things are meant for end up in the homes of the "staff members" meant to watch over and help.

I don't understand how someone could smile and seem so "good hearted" in the public eye only to treat others as if they are in prison. I full understand that any type of social service is stressful, but that gives no one the right to treat others like cattle. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and if that is something that's difficult for these "staff members" then maybe they should look into other career choices and let people that actually care step in.