April 21, 2001, Ho Plaza
The morning began with a day of service at both the
local Red Cross and with Ithaca Neighborhood Housing
Services. For one of these projects there were around a
dozen participants, eight or so that are Coalition
members. They did demolition work, destroying walls and
removing nails in a house on South Plain Street. The
house will later be renovated and sold under market
value, so that it can remain affordable housing.
Participants wore masks and goggles. In the midst of the
project, people from "Scotty's Place," a small camp for
homeless youth in West Virginia, showed up. Erik
Lehmann, a former member of the Coalition, is on their
board, and had invited them.
Around 5pm we assembled in the International Lounge of
Willard Straight Hall for an open-air forum on
homelessness. Unfortunately, the rain prevented it from
being very "open-air," but it was still successful. By
the end of the forum, over twenty people had gathered to
hear a great discussion about the complicities of
homeless issues in Ithaca and throughout the nation.
Participants learned a lot from Dan Lamb, from the
office of Congressman Maurice Hinchey, who spoke about
governmental solutions, and from the Board of Directors
of Scotty' Place, who spoke about activist solutions. We
even heard from an architecture student whose thesis
deals with use of space and homelessness, and many
Coalition members spoke from experience and fueled the
conversation with questions.
At 7:30pm the event moved to Cornell Cinema for a
showing of "Dark Days," a movie about homeless living
under the New York City subways. Fifty tickets were
distributed free of charge to Coalition members. The
movie was a compelling documentary that ultimately
offered hope for the homeless by showing how the
National Coalition for the Homeless worked to get the
people portrayed into apartments and stable life styles.
Director Mark Singer spoke afterward about his
experience filming and the aftermath of the award
winning film to a packed audience.
After the screening of "Dark Days," we proceeded
outside, where the rain had subsided, for the community
forum portion. We heard speeches from Erik Lehmann, one
of the Coalition's founders, and from current residents
of the Red Cross shelter in downtown Ithaca. After the
speeches, which served as excellent first-hand accounts
of homelessness, we watched "Faces of Homelessness," a
video-picture show put together by the National
Coalition for the Homeless. It is a very moving
experience, and spurred a great impromptu discussion
lead by a local homeless man named Buster.
The next event was the annual candlelight vigil. Despite
a windy evening leading to candles being blown out
easily, we had a great turnout. Sister Donna Fannon of
the Cornell Catholic Community and another
representative from the Cornell Center for Religion,
Ethics, and Social Policy led us in prayer. Afterwards,
everybody said a little bit about why they were there or
told a short story about their experiences with the
homeless.
One of the most entertaining aspects of the Sleepout was
(and always is) panhandling in the Collegetown bars.
Sleepout participants took to the streets with force,
and spread out all over. This helped to make sure that
everyone enjoying his or her Saturday night libations
was asked to donate some money. Despite the usual range
of interesting reactions to our requests, by the time
the bars were empty, the Coalition had raised over $200!
A vote was taken in Collegetown Bagels, where
panhandlers gathered to count the money and partake in
free hot beverages, to use the proceeds for donations to
Scotty's Place, the Red Cross shelter, and to the
homeless folks who helped us panhandle. Thankfully,
Collegetown bagels donated their leftover bagels and
pastries for our breakfast. This was great, because
David truly appreciates a good pastry.
Finally, after all these events and all the hard work,
everybody proceeded back up to Ho Plaza, where about a
dozen people slept out. A big hit was Bruce's
"supercart," which is a shopping cart that expands to
provide a living/display space. Sleeping bags from
Cornell Outdoor Education kept us warm and toasty. When
morning came, we woke up, packed up, and headed home
after a great Sleepout!