Hard Times Cafe — An Empowerment Model
Presented by Hard Times Cafe Staff, Hard Times Cafe Staff, Hard Times Cafe
About the Speaker
The Hard Times Cafe was piloted through the Food Pantry in August of 1995. The Cafe is a grass-roots empowerment organization which provides Downtown residents with a forum to take more control over their lives and their neighborhood. The HTC holds a dinner and meeting every Wednesday from 5:30-7:15pm every Wednesday in the church dining room. Different community organizations volunteer each week to serve and clean up the meal to our neighbors. This meal is an important service to the community because, for many of the diners, this is the only meal they eat each week where they are served family style instead of standing in a line at the missions and soup kitchens.
About the Event
Announcements:
We were reminded of the resources available on our website: http://www.cfimichigan.org http://www.cfimichigan.org/ .
Our Donald Hansen Memorial Fund was mentioned. The money from this will be used for long term projects and goals and is set aside from our normal operating budget. Both are completely funded by the generous support of our membership, as we receive no other financial assistance for everything from room rental to special guest travel and speaking fees, equipment purchases, etc. We are a recognized 501©3 non-profit organization; therefore donations are tax deductible. Member and stockbroker, Bill Van Oosterhout, has graciously agreed to serve the Freethought Association as Director of Development.
Please note that the Book Discussion Group that Jeremy Crow had hosted, is hereby discontinued as Jeremy is attending to other projects and pursuits for now. If anyone would like to take up the gauntlet in leading a small group of this, or another, nature, you are encouraged to do so. The Freethought Association will help promote it.
On February 26 at 8PM, Freethought Commune members, Josh Dunigan and Jennifer Beahan will be participating in Diaspora, a Festival of Music and Dance in honor of Black History Month, presented by the World Dance Collective. Our FA member musicians will be drumming at the Ladies Literary Guild, 61 Sheldon Blvd., Grand Rapids, MI. Tickets are 5.00 and proceeds will benefit Arbor Circle’s Homeless Youth Services. For more information, contact Josh @ 616-334-6549.
Josh also announced that the drive for ceramic coffee mugs to replace the styrofoam ones, is now officially over after receiving such good response from the membership. He and Amanda will continue to provide these mugs, washed and set for our use, along with their delicious Mainline Coffees for our meetings, with our thanks for their faithful efforts.
On February 27 at 2PM, FA member and attorney, Marshall Grate, will participate in Open Dialogue #7: God in the Public Schools? Prayer, Pledge & Textbooks. Grate is on the Board of Directors for the Michigan Council for School Attorneys. The other presenter is Dr. Mark Kalthoff, Associate Professor of History, Hillsdale College. The moderator will be Ms. Shelley Irwin, Producer/Anchor for WGVU radio. It will be held at The Forum Church, 2208 Winchell Avenue, Kalamazoo. For more information call (269) 342-5852 or visit forumchurch.org.
The Movie Nights, hosted by Jason Pittman, are held at his home on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month (opposite of our regular FA meetings). The next one scheduled is for March 2, at 7PM, and will feature the film: Waking Life. For details: 616-634-2471 or . Please RSVP by email or phone.
Also on March 2nd, The Michigan Atheists will be sponsoring a March on Lansing. Formerly called the Godless March on Lansing, MI Atheist coordinator, Arlene-Marie has re-dubbed it a Demonstration to Defend Church & State Separation, for more inclusiveness. The demonstration will be from 11AM-1PM at the Michigan State Capitol, Lansing, Michigan. It is prompted by the the US Supreme Court hearing oral arguments involving the Ten Commandments being placed in taxpayer funded areas, entangling Church & State and in violation of Establishment Clause provisions.
Our next regular meeting will be on March 9. FA member, Dennis Murphy will present to us: Clash of Civilizations: The Ideas of Samuel Huntington. Murphy bring s a well informed historical perspective to his presentations.
March 11 at 7PM, the book: A Darwinian Left- Politics, Evolution and Cooperation by Peter Singer, will be discussed at a gathering at FA members John and Kathy’s fragrance free house; 826 Fairmount St. SE. Attendees will decide on the next book and place to meet. These book discussions occur in the 2nd Friday of each month at 7PM. For more information or how to obtain a copy of the short book, call 459-2373.
On March 16, the Movie Night feature will be The Lathe of Heaven. See above for contact and RSVP info.
The Freethought Women’s Group meetings, hosted by Jennifer Beahan, are held on the 3rd Saturdays of each month. The next one is on March 19 at 10AM, Jennifer’s house, 736 Lockwood St. NE, GR. Feel free to bring a snack or drink to share if you are planning on bringing something, or if you would like to submit an idea for discussion, are requesting directions or details, please contact Jennifer and RSVP by email or phone: 706-2029 or .
Freethought & the Arts will be our March 23rd meeting, with FA members performing music or showing their artwork. There are six people/acts signed up currently, with room for more. Please contact FA member and coordinator Charles LaRue: if you would like to participate or for more information.
We are still taking submissions for nominations for this year’s Freethinker Award, which may be either an individual or a group who/ that displays the ideals of freethought.
Skipping ahead, don’t forget our Freethought Garage Sale on May 28. Please save items for donation for this fundraiser. Thank you.
We are now running our snack table in a potluck fashion, rather than asking for volunteers at each meeting. Please bring in what you can to ensure a good variety and quantity of snack items. Remember that those who wish to, stop off at Vitales Restaurant (toward downtown, west from the Yankee Clipper Library) where we gather socially after the meetings. We have a reserved area and it is always a good time had there.
Presentation
Our topic for this meeting was Hard Times Cafe—An Empowerment Model. Rather than our typical speaker- at- the- podium presentation, the Hard Times Cafe mentor and coordinator, Kathy Needham, spoke along with three others who help facilitate the Cafe’s work, in chairs along a row in front of the podium. They will be introduced during the course of this summary.
The Hard Times Cafe was piloted through the Westminster Food Pantry in August of 1995. It is a grassroots empowerment organization which provides Downtown residents with a forum to take more control over their lives and their neighborhood. The HTC holds a dinner and meeting once per week at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, 47 Jefferson, SE. Different community organizations volunteer each week to serve and clean up the meal to those who attend. They are served in a sit down family dining style which has nothing of the practice or approach of the standing in line mission/ soup kitchen way. There is usually entertainment, and presentations and meals are served in a dignity- lending atmosphere of very comfortable, relaxed elegance.
This model is based on the hand up, not hand out model, where participants are active, earning points by a variety of means that they can then use to purchase personal care items and other things. Their meal is paid for by these points as well. This method serves to connect each person to the other, with each giving and receiving help, and each person being invested in their own individual success and to the betterment of their neighbors’ lives.
While the Cafe meets at a church, it is completely non-denominational; Needham herself is a non-theist, and there are never any religious requirements to take part in this non-profit organization. Needham explained at one point that often churches don’t really get what they are about. They are more used to the idea of charity; giving to others less fortunate while “saving” their souls. As noted, The HTC operates from no particular religious impetus and all who take part in its services pay for them by dint of their own efforts- via the points they earn, enhancing their humanity, dignity and sense of belonging to the extended family that constitutes the Cafe.
HTC members also learn work and job skills, get assistance on how to receive benefits that they have coming and other aspects of working in larger society and improving their lot in life. And while they can earn points from working on behalf of the Cafe, they can also garner them from attending meetings that work on addiction problems, or active participation in any other service (training, counseling, job seeking, etc.) that helps them take positive steps in their lives. In other words, they are encouraged to make good choices, stay with beneficial programs and practices and learn how to wend their way through the thicket of obstacles that often prevent the chronically homeless from taking part in measures that allow them to get onto an upward spiral.
Kathy Needham said she has been involved with the HTC for about six or seven years now and has had other, prior involvement with helping agencies, some of which are interconnected under the Heartside/ Downtown Neighborhood Association. One of the others on stage, Chris Jannereth, was himself homeless about four years ago and staying at a local mission. After he got into assisted housing, he began to volunteer at Westminster’s Food Pantry where he heard about the HTC. He began to to grow more and more involved with it and now is the co-coordinator of the Cafe. He has a strong belief in its work in getting people out of their economic and homeless situations, improving the lives of others and the community. He also publishes the newsletter for the group, noting what an achievement this was for him since only a short while back he did not even know how to turn on a computer.
The Grand Rapids HTC, Needham explained, is modeled after one in Claire County. Different areas provide different challenges and opportunities, and some of the approaches that worked there were not possible to duplicate in the Heartside Downtown Neighborhood. The problems faced by most members of HTC are chronic homelessness, substance abuse issues, mental health concerns and general disenfranchisement. Many who attend have been incarcerated and either have no access to, or do not know how to work within, the system. It is sometimes difficult to get strong commitment from those who take part in what HTC has to offer; the points system offers a further incentive for many to make and keep appointments that can get them on a better track again.
One of the things that personally irks Needham is the labeling from those regarding the HTC members and those in similar circumstances, such as referring to them by demeaning appellations like “bum.” They are, Needham noted, rich in other ways than having abundant currency. We were reminded how many people are so tenuously hanging onto home ownership and personal solvency. A couple missed paychecks, an illness and high medical costs, or any one of many other factors can devastate a family or individual with homelessness becoming a real prospect for them.
Others, who have been disenfranchised for long periods of time; maybe never fully integrated into the society most of us take for granted, have no skills for job seeking, personal presentation, social interaction skills, etc., and HTC addresses these issues as well.
Chris J. gave us a brief biographical sketch of the circumstances that led him to his current position at the HTC. He had lived in a trailer a quarter mile into the woods up north. Having M.S., he was unable to do many kinds of work. One day, he simply walked away from the life he was living and, needing medical attention, sought out assistance through a homeless vets organization. As an aside, he noted how swollen the ranks of the homeless are with war veterans and what a shame this is in our wealthy country that pays lip service to honoring those who served in the military. He made the rounds at Mel Trotter and Dwelling Place too, before finding the Westminster Food Pantry which gave him an opportunity to help out and contribute to something even with his physical disability. It was there that he met Kathy Needham and became part of the HTC. After learning the skills necessary to wade through the system, he was able to get disability funding and then got a car, place to stay, computer, and furniture.
Another presenter, Laurie W., told us she came to the Cafe four years ago when she didn’t know where she was heading in life. She spoke of finding reality there at the HTC. In doing for others and herself she discovered her own power and that she could do things she never thought she could before. Laurie told us that speaking in front of others was almost a paralyzing situation for her but that she has since led groups at HTC. The poise and calm affect she presented to us were indicative of her growth in this area. She now works as a job coordinator at the Cafe, which is a supervisory role where she has to keep on top of others. She derives a great sense of purpose from this and is grateful for what the HTC has given her. She is an encouraging, nurturing presence and knows from first hand experience what challenges the HTC members face and what they need to start to extricate themselves from their hard circumstances.
Maria R. was the fourth person on the stage. She came to the HTC by way of the Heartside Ministry. There she met some people who told her where she could get a free meal. She was curious and discovered the HTC. Those who told her about it have since left but she remains. She had felt very uncomfortable around others and found her ease in being by herself. She had no contact with family and having moved to this area from Texas, she knew no one here. She gradually got to know the people around her. She is an ex-junkie but has been clean for years now. As she learned skills that would keep her safe she became more involved with the community and found that her hunger for learning was filled best by the modality of speaking with others and from listening to presenters who came to the non-profit HTC. Deriving information from the general media sources was not as effective for her. Now she works at the Cafe by getting people signed up for volunteer work, keeping track of points earned and used at the HTC store and being the initial contact person people meet when they first come in. She too tries to be encouraging and enjoys seeing the transformation that occurs just from the simple act of being together at a sit down family style meal where they are served and treated with respect, instead of as charity cases.
They did not always have the point system and when it started, some were angry and/or confused. One person, however, who stormed off in resentment over it, ended up being an enthusiastic participant, accruing some 2000 points! They have an hourly rate of 6 points established that can be used for meals, services, or items from the alternative economy store.
One of our speakers mentioned how Grand Rapids was a good place for people in need but not so good about giving a sense of connectedness. The HTC program does not fit neatly into most preexisting models so, just as the church groups have a difficult time figuring out their “mission” thereby making them less likely as avenues of support, it is similarly hard for them to get funding from grants or other funding sources for this reason. Operating on a shoestring, they still get speakers and stretch their resources as far as they can. They are working on a book and a homeless experiential for students as revenue sources, currently.
They average 45-50 people per meeting once per week at Westminster Church and have a local office at Heartside. They get about 1200.00 a year from the GRACE hunger walk. They have an annual budget of only 7 – 8000.00 so it goes without saying that workers who receive an income are not doing what they do to generate a personal fortune. Needham talked about the need they have for good advertising.
The population they serve is a transient one. Some get back on their feet again and move on, others leave because the unrooted life on the move is the only one they know or feel comfortable with and others simply fade off to maybe show up again later. People from HTC can volunteer their talent and time where ever they wish and often help out at God’s Kitchen, Guiding Light, In the Image and other local places.
At Heartside there is an Art Room and Computer Room and there are classes for various skills, including typing. Some, who do not intend to take their training into the traditional working world still the feel pride of accomplishment in learning new skills.
Needham talked about Grand Rapids Improvement Notes (GRINs) that could work better for community businesses; where the notes become the means of exchange for people who do tasks to help out area businesses. These notes could be used out in the community, rather than just in exchange for the services provided by HTC. But the Hard Times Cafe must prove they are self- sustaining to be deemed eligible to implement this approach. As it is now, HTC can offer only personal care and cleaning products at its store. They cannot get the money churches get since they are not a church or affiliated with one and cannot compete for money that goes to shelters since they are not in that work either.
One startling figure our speakers remarked on was that, worldwide, the average homeless person is only nine years old! Officially in Grand Rapids there are 7-900 homeless people but it is a notoriously difficult population to get good counts on, having no address and being “off the grid” as they are, so the figure is thought to be much higher; perhaps two to three times higher. About a third of the homeless population in Grand Rapids are veterans. Many of the homeless simply refuse to sleep indoors and are oppositional to following any rules or guidelines. They feel more oppressed in shelters and under the rules they must follow, feel that their last vestiges of autonomy are removed. Many policies are stacked against them also, especially those who are depressed or mentally ill, where they must find work within 30 days of receiving aid. Often the work they can get is so low paying that they cannot pay for services adequately or they lose their job before they have accumulated any cushion and lose everything they had gained.
The Housing First program is an example our speakers mentioned of one that works well even though it has a counter intuitive approach. It gives people housing first off, and then the rest of the pieces fall into place better. Many who have never been homeless take so many things for granted that come from having a permanent address. Without the residential address, not only is getting employment almost impossible but also being eligible for many other forms of assistance is negated. This program is one example of something that is popular across the spectrum from conservatives to liberals. More liberal minded people like it for the obvious reasons of using governmental resources to help people in need, and conservatives like it because it gets more people off the dole sooner, reduces the glut of street people and ends up costing a lot less than just throwing money at people who can never get out of their predicament due to having no home. Like HTC, it also bestows a sense of dignity and pride in those who have their own place and establishes them as part of regular society.
There are a lot of built in challenges faced in society that make it only too easy to find oneself in similar circumstances. The only way some people can get welfare assistance is if one spouse leaves, which doesn’t seem to support the family values assertions of current day “compassionate conservatives.” Other times, when families break up, it leaves one adrift and cut off. HTC offers a new family of support for its members who may be cut off for a variety of reasons. Others who have a strike against them, such as a conviction, or past drug abuse problems, are not given a chance to prove themselves and so, are more likely fall back into the downward spiral life they had been living. Even for those with homes, and who are called the working poor, many find themselves choosing between medication and other basic needs. Many who cannot afford medicines end up self medicating via alcohol or cheaper street drugs. There are problems in getting SSI benefits and with the average payment being just over 500.00 per month, this does little to help with housing when rent is more than that and with nothing left over for other living expenses. Sometimes, even with subsidized housing, the individual can lose his/her job but the monthly rent does not catch up to the sudden loss in income in time and the person is caught without a means to pay and therefore ends up back on the streets. And in our current economy there aren’t enough jobs available for people with disabilities who still very much want to work.
Other problems include funding going to faith based sources that provide charity as part of their proselytizing or only give hand outs, not a means toward improvement of circumstances. In this way it perpetuates the problem; by keeping people needy, they have a ready source of souls to save who become dependent upon them, while other non-faith-based programs suffer great funding cuts and can provide fewer and less efficient services. Churches that have no experience in providing the specific services necessary are often inefficient in use of federal money, knowing how to obtain grants, doing the necessary paperwork and are, themselves, burdened when they must put forth their own money first before being reimbursed.
Kathy was asked where she got her own passion for this work from and said that her family was always community oriented and had worked with migrant children, in the Head Start program and other work with people in need. Kathy used to volunteer at Well House and now co-directs it. Her education was in social science and her own background was middle class.
Members learn self responsibility. People can be banned from there if their actions warrant it. To be allowed back they must go before the others and apologize to them. They are there to build people up however, not knock them down. It is meant to be an affirming place.
Needham said that networking and empowerment must be established first to prevent people from falling through the cracks in such tragic numbers. She spoke of other preventative measures that can be taken and ways to maintain people in homes, since once they become homeless everything else becomes more difficult and costly. Often funding sources are reluctant to provide housing because they believe the individual will just lose it anyway.
There is also the problem of follow up that needs to be addressed. Once a person gets back on the payroll again, they may still be prey to other factors that work against them. At the HTC, members do what they can for each other; they look out for each other. If someone is absent they find out what happened; if they need a ride to work, those with cars will get them there; if they need childcare, there are those who will help with this. Other problems are addressed to nip them in the bud before they become too massive and overwhelming for the person just getting back on his/ her feet again.
The term “empowerment” itself is sometimes seen as too vague (as opposed to the soup kitchen or homeless shelter concepts) and therefore it is harder to get financial support for the HTC for the unique niche that it fills. But it appears to be an important, life- changing one, and one worthy of support
Secretary: Charles LaRue
