November brings us into the time where we begin to wait for Christmas, wait upon the Lord to come. We look for signs and symbols of the season. About a year ago, this was the time when one of our homeless men, a regular to our meal line, began wearing his Santa hat. It is a time of hope for many of us.
We have the results of the Autumn Soiree from the end of September. Again big thanks to the Soiree Committee; Co-chairs Rebecca Snure and Rosemary Spruce, Lisa Seiler, Pastor Miller, Pastor Radatz, TACO board president Lois Case, and all those who helped in so many ways.
What an amazing night, and when all is calculated, we will have raised $17,000 for the work of TACO. I was overwhelmed at the giving and the fun had by all that evening. Thanks also to everyone who donated items and funds to make this auction come to life. Without these donations, we would not have been able to raise anything. Thanks also to the over 200 who came and shopped, bought, and ate and listened. We are also so thankful to our emcees: KPBS reporter Rebecca Tolin and First Lutheran member Joe Slevcoe, who was ably assisted by First Lutheran president Doug Snure along with the members of Gallop and all others who volunteered that night.
We are excited to begin planning our Soiree for next year. If you didn’t get to come this time, look for information for next autumn and we hope you can come. First Lutheran will receive a tithe of 20% of the money raised to defray the costs of wear and tear to the facility from our use. This is in addition to our regular tithe.
We also have been moving on our Christmas In July campaign. We have successfully reached our goal to be able to purchase 250 backpacks to be filled with necessary items. These bags will be given out on the Friday before Christmas. We are very excited and know that many wait to see what gifts we will have on that day. Thank you all for your support of this project and all who gave funds to Ladonna, Lisa, Mina and myself.
At the end of October, when I am writing this, we are already waiting. On the 23rd of the month, many of us as volunteers and TACO staff, along with about 50 or more homeless men and women attended a nighttime meeting of the City Council at the Point Loma Nazarene College. Excitement was in the air. This was the night when we hoped for word that the city would place a moratorium on the issuing of sleeping tickets. These are the tickets that homeless men, women, and families receive for sleeping outside even though there are not beds available to them anywhere. We hoped also to have time to share with the City Council the effect of these tickets on those who already have so little.
Around fifteen or twenty homeless persons had submitted speaker’s slips indicating the desire to speak about this issue. After three hours, Scott Peters, the president of the Council, having moved the item to last on the agenda, said that there would not be time for more than one person to be allowed to speak. After about five minutes, the issue was over and we were being asked to go back downtown, to go back home or to wherever it would be that one could hope to sleep for the night without being ticketed. Nothing had been resolved and the hope was diminished.
Going back to the church afterwards, there was some talk in the patio. Several people thanked us for going and thanked us for taking them since it was decided to have three issues of homelessness discussed so far away from where those who are homeless stay. There was genuine gratitude in people’s voices even though we felt that nothing had happened. It seemed that for some folks the hope did not lie in our City Council but rather in the relationships between us all working together even when it doesn’t work in our vision in the moment. We continue to hope and pray that our elected officials will stand for justice on this issue in the coming month that by Christmas those on our streets will not have to hide from the police to sleep.
Jim Lovell
Project Coordinator