mayo vs. butter pt 1

I thought I had seen it all, till I saw someone at the shelter put mayonnaise on oatmeal at breakfast. Another shelter guest and I looked at each other and kind of rolled our eyes and at the same time, mouthed, ‘mayonnaise on oatmeal?!?!?!?’ He asked the guy, “Why did you put mayo on oatmeal?” The guy said, “Mayo??? I thought that was butter.” We both replied, “Nope!!” He pushed his bowl away in disgust. It would have been funny if it was not sadly true that often times, shelter food is either past its expiration date and/or already growing hair.

I always thought the Mormons were good at making up their own interpretations of words like EVERLASTING and COVENANT (what Joseph Smith said about polygamy), but that’s nothing compared to the shelter’s interpretation of PERMANENTLY and BANNED. Several people have been permanently banned from shelter property for such conduct as being drunk and belligerent, yet a couple of months later, they’re back and this time living at the shelter.

While the first thing I mentioned may be humorous and the 2nd thing may just make one roll their eyes, I had to mention it due to a thing called funding. This hard hit the economy has taken has even hit charitable funding agencies but it’s also hit or cut any government funding the shelter may receive. People who were once “permanently banned” are now allowed back due to the shelter needing to have as many names on their rolls as possible so that they can collect funding.  That’s how it’s been explained to me, be the information true or faulty in whole or in part.

The sad thing too is that this often puts people back in the shelter that may be a danger to others. While I’m personally glad that these individuals do not have to risk arrest by sleeping behind or in an abandoned building or under a bridge, one has to also wonder about their own personal safety in a shelter when such individuals are present. This shelter, even though it is new and $5 million dollars in building cost, has already received bomb threats (per sources that shall remain anonymous). This is also why the building has such a state of the art entry and fire alarm system. This is also why it has no windows that open. We’re at the mercy of the air system to circulate fresh air in and withdraw stale air. We also have some tight rules here too, some of which may seem harsh, some of which may seem redundant, some of which may seem too controlling towards people who should be able to behave like adults without such close supervision. Then again, we’re not all responsible adults. Some shelter people NEED that kind of close supervision.

This particular shelter in Statesville North Carolina IS the future of shelters and other new shelters around the country should be patterned after this one, at least in how they’re designed. How they’re run and are funded however, is something that needs to be discussed in later pieces on this subject. I hope this becomes a regular column generates some interest, comments, suggestions and overall support from readers. I’ll try to keep it timely, informative and even throw as much humor in as I can. People and situations at a place like this can and DOES generate a lot of funny stuff!