Punky
Dear state House Representative Duran.
My name is Athena, and I am a part of the organization Denver Homeless Out Loud. I would like to schedule a meeting with you to talk about our organization’s efforts to get a Homeless
Bill of Rights passed in the Colorado legislature. Human and constitutional rights are being violated every day, and people are being criminalized for basic acts of survival. I could list many facts or data about this from our findings in surveying nearly 500 people experiencing
homelessness, but I would instead like to tell you what I witnessed a few weeks ago, while going home after a Denver Homeless Out Loud meeting.
While handing out DHOL’s newspaper for the homeless: “Get Loud,” I came across a 65 year old veteran, sitting on the steps of the fountain in Civic Center Park. I asked if he wanted a paper, and he told me he could not see and would not be able to read it. I sat next to him and asked if he could maybe get a seeing-eye dog. He said he was not sure, but he could not see because of his cataracts. He was supposed to have surgery at the VA, but when he showed up they were “closed for remodeling.” They told him they could not help him at the moment but that he should stay and wait till they could, but he did not want to wait. This was the third appointment he had made with them--the others had been cancelled. He said he also had a lung infection, had emphysema, and was dehydrated. He was also tapering off the medication Methadone (even worse to detox from than heroin), which he said made his cataracts even worse.
I asked him how he got to this spot, and he said somebody helped him--because he cannot see at all. Thankfully that person also got him some water that he was gulping vigorously down. I helped him get to the end of the park and laid his blanket out for him. He said he would be ok until the police came to tell him to move along.
I asked if they ever offer him help. He said no, they just tell him to move along. I asked where he was going to go, and he said he had no idea--he couldn’t even see. This man has a unique situation, but he is not the only one. Every homeless person has a unique situation that is not
taken into consideration. He is not the only one having to deal with the vicious discrimination and cycles of homelessness. We are working to end the mistreatment of people experiencing homelessness.
When we meet with you we will explain how criminalizing homelessness hurts the economy and our whole society, and how enacting a Homeless Bill of Rights can benefit all of Colorado.
Punky
My name is Athena, and I am a part of the organization Denver Homeless Out Loud. I would like to schedule a meeting with you to talk about our organization’s efforts to get a Homeless
Bill of Rights passed in the Colorado legislature. Human and constitutional rights are being violated every day, and people are being criminalized for basic acts of survival. I could list many facts or data about this from our findings in surveying nearly 500 people experiencing
homelessness, but I would instead like to tell you what I witnessed a few weeks ago, while going home after a Denver Homeless Out Loud meeting.
While handing out DHOL’s newspaper for the homeless: “Get Loud,” I came across a 65 year old veteran, sitting on the steps of the fountain in Civic Center Park. I asked if he wanted a paper, and he told me he could not see and would not be able to read it. I sat next to him and asked if he could maybe get a seeing-eye dog. He said he was not sure, but he could not see because of his cataracts. He was supposed to have surgery at the VA, but when he showed up they were “closed for remodeling.” They told him they could not help him at the moment but that he should stay and wait till they could, but he did not want to wait. This was the third appointment he had made with them--the others had been cancelled. He said he also had a lung infection, had emphysema, and was dehydrated. He was also tapering off the medication Methadone (even worse to detox from than heroin), which he said made his cataracts even worse.
I asked him how he got to this spot, and he said somebody helped him--because he cannot see at all. Thankfully that person also got him some water that he was gulping vigorously down. I helped him get to the end of the park and laid his blanket out for him. He said he would be ok until the police came to tell him to move along.
I asked if they ever offer him help. He said no, they just tell him to move along. I asked where he was going to go, and he said he had no idea--he couldn’t even see. This man has a unique situation, but he is not the only one. Every homeless person has a unique situation that is not
taken into consideration. He is not the only one having to deal with the vicious discrimination and cycles of homelessness. We are working to end the mistreatment of people experiencing homelessness.
When we meet with you we will explain how criminalizing homelessness hurts the economy and our whole society, and how enacting a Homeless Bill of Rights can benefit all of Colorado.
Punky
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