Truemors
Homeless Guests were denied their Christmas Breakfast and worse, while staying at San Francisco's Interfaith
Winter Shelter, located at St. Mary's Cathedral, 1111 Gough St..
The San Francisco Winter Shelter Program is being operated by ECS (Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco) Supervisors, Staff and their selected 'volunteers', which are also homeless people, staying in various shelters around the City.
Not only were the winter shelter homeless guests denied breakfast on Christmas Day, but they were served 'room temperature' leftovers as 'breakfast' this morning, Wednesday, December 26th, 2007, by ECS Staff/Volunteers.
This morning's 'breakfast' had apparently not
been cooked or reheated before being serve early this morning.
In fact, this 'breakfast' was in
reality, not a breakfast at all. It was actually the same homeless guest's 'dinner
leftovers' that had been cooked and served to them 36 hours ago (
it was their Dec. 24th, dinner! ).
Food that most certaintly had been left 'sitting out', for many hours or even days, without refrigeration.
Dozens of homeless guests (some of who've been
to cooking school or worked in kitchens, know all about basic 'safe
food handling' laws and safe protocols). They refused to
eat the meals because they were served at 'room temperature', all the way
through to the center of the portions served.
Whenever 'hot food' or 'cold
food' are served at room temperature, that means it has not been reheated 'hot
enough' or been chilled 'cold enough' to kill bacteria or slow down its usually
rapid growth.
This indicates that the food
had not been refrigerated or re-heated properly, creating a great environment
for bacteria to grow.
This type of improper and
illegal food handling fosters the likely incubation and rapid growth of any
number of common, harmful and life threatening cells, like E.Coli, salmonella or
other life forms that grow rapidly, after just two hours, of being left out, at room temperature.
In this case, billions of cells would likely be present after some 36 hours of being left out, unrefrigerated and not reheated according to health standards, to kill off bacteria.
We have all kinds of 'bacteria
growth charts', food handling manuals and guides on our SFHomeless Yahoo!
Group web site.
IF YOU HAVE EATEN MEALS THAT YOU THINK MAY NOT HAVE BEEN COOKED OR REFRIGERATED PROPERLY AT THESE WINTER SHELTERS OR AT ANY OTHER SHELTER -- PLEASE SEE A MEDICAL CLINIC OR PUBLIC HEALTH SITE FOR A CHECK UP FOR POSSIBLE FOOD POISONING.
MAKE SURE YOU TELL THE CLINIC OR
HEALTH CARE PROVIDER WHEN, WHERE AND WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN EATING PRIOR TO YOUR
ILLNESS OR SYMPTOMS.
OTHER HELPFUL HOMELESS SHELTER SURVIVAL TIPS: WHILE STAYING AT ANY HOMELESS SHELTER, ITS A GREAT IDEA
TO KEEP A DAILY JOURNAL OF EVERYTHING YOU OBSERVE AND EXPERIENCE WHILE STAYING THERE. SOME SHELTERS DO NOT HAVE OR
ENFORCE ANY HIRING OR DRUG TESTING STANDARDS.THEY OFTEN DO NOT HIRE QUALIFED PEOPLE. MANY OF THEM CANNOT READ OR WRITE. THEY OFTEN HAVE MORE ISSUES AND 'ANTI-SOCIAL', POWER TRIPPING BEHAVIOR THAT WILL CAUSE YOU HARM UNLESS YOU KEEP ALERT AND KEEP A
DAILY JOURNAL.INSTEAD, THEY HIRE FRIENDS, FAMILY AND 'ASSOCIATES' THAT MAY HAVE A RECENT HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, THEFT, DRUG USE OR DRUG SALES. SOME STAFF HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO SELL BEDS, DRUGS AND FOOD GOING BACK 15 YEARS, WHEN THEY WORKED OR MANAGED OTHER SHELTERS.UNQUALIFIED SHELTER MANAGEMENT AND STAFF PUT YOU AND THEIR GOOD STAFF AT RISK, EVERY DAY BECAUSE OF THEIR LACK OF ADHERENCE TO COMMON STANDARDS AND THE LAWS THAT WERE WRITTEN AND USED TO PROTECT US ALL.UNQUALIFIED STAFF AND BAD RESIDENTS AT OUR SHELTERS OFTEN ENGAGE IN ABUSE, LOAN SHARKING, THEFT, ASSAULT AND NEGLIGENCE THAT IS LIKELY TO HARM YOU OR CAUSE YOU TO LOSE PROPERTY OR BE DENIED SERVICES ILLEGALLY.
WITHOUT GOOD DOCUMENTATION, LIKE A JOURNAL, YOU WILL HAVE
PROBLEMS DEFENDING YOURSELF. WITH A GOOD JOURNAL, AND WITH GOOD WITNESSES, YOU STAND AN EXCELLENT CHANCE OF BEING ABLE TO STAY SAFE WHILE IN OUR HOMELESS SHELTERS.
EVERY TIME THEY PUT A RECENT VIOLENT FELON OR DRUG DEALER ON STAFF TO WATCH OVER YOU AT NIGHT, YOU ARE AT RISK OF BEING HARMED BY THEIR FORESEEABLE AND PREVENTABLE MISTAKES. THEY HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO LIE AND ISSUE FALSE OR ERRONEOUS WRITE-UP'S OR DENIALS OF SERVICE OR CUT OFF YOUR LOCK OR THROW OUT YOUR PROPERTY EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE PERMISSION FROM A CASE MANAGER OR SUPERVISOR. MANY STAFF DO NOT EVEN TALK TO EACH OTHER OR CHECK WITH
ANYONE BEFORE ISSUING WRITE-UPS OR THROWING OUT YOUR PROPERTY.
MAKE DAILY NOTES OF SHELTER CONDITIONS,
MEALS, STAFF BEHAVIOR,REST ROOM CLEANLINESS, BED OR MAT SPACING AND NOTES ABOUT HOW YOU ARE BEING TREATED BY STAFF AND MANAGEMENT, EVERY DAY.
IF YOU HAVE A 'CASE MANAGER' MAKE NOTES ABOUT WHAT SERVICES AND RESOURCES YOU ASKED THEM FOR AND KEEP TRACK OF WHAT THEY ACTUALLY GAVE YOU OR DIDN'T GIVE YOU TO HELP YOU MOVE ONTO YOUR 'NEXT STEPS' AWAY FROM BEING HOMELESS. KEEP TRACK OF ANY VOICEMAILS OR NOTES YOU LEAVE FOR THEM, ESPECIALLY TO DO WITH 'LATE PASSES' AND 'OVER NIGHT' PASSES JUST IN CASE OTHER STAFF TRY TO DENY YOU SERVICES FOR LEGITIMATE 'PASSES' OR 'NIGHTS OUT'.ALSO MAKE A NOTE (INVENTORY) OF ALL OF YOUR PROPERTY STORED AT A SHELTER. IF YOUR PROPERTY IS THROWN OUT PREMATURELY,
-AFTER- STAFF HAS GIVEN YOU AN EXTENSION OF TIME TO STORE YOUR THINGS THERE, YOU WILL NEED THE INVENTORY LIST OF YOUR LOST STUFF TO HELP YOU PROCESS A 'CLAIM' FOR LOSSES, IF SHELTER STAFF ARE NEGLIGENT OR CARELESS.
. More information located at the SFHomeless Yahoo! Group Blog Site:
http://sfhomelessyahoogroup.blogspot.com/2007/12/san-francisco-interfaith-winter-shelter.html
STAY ALERT
!! BE SAFE !! STAND UP !!
SPEAK UP !! DEFEND YOUR RIGHT TO BE SAFE !!
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