spring 2004

Dear Friend;

It’s not official yet but it sure seems like spring.  Warmer temperatures, people outside, trees and flowers budding, all sure signs spring is near.  Another sure sign spring is near; people’s imaginations begin to stir.  Some of our greatest accomplishments have happened in the spring.  Greatness is only achieved through imagination.  Imagination is defined as “the formation of a mental image of something that is not perceived as real and is not present to the senses; imagination reveals what the world could be.”  I want you to use your imagination.

First! Could you imagine placing all your most prized possessions in a locker the size of one you had when you were in high school?  Could you imagine waiting for someone to offer you food and not being able to choose when or what you ate?  Could you imagine the school bus picking you up in front of a homeless shelter?  Could you imagine wondering everyday where you will sleep at night?  Could you imagine never being able to provide your children with a safe warm place called home?  It doesn’t take the imagination of homeless people to perceive this, it is their reality.

Now imagine, “A community without homelessness.” How do we end homelessness?  Offer more shelter services, yes!  Provide comprehensive services to all homeless, yes!  Add more shelter beds in this community, yes!  Look for opportunities to develop more affordable housing partnerships, yes!  Provide more emergency assistance to people in crisis to prevent them from becoming homeless, yes!

Imagination “reveals what the world could be;” use your imagination to see what your part of the world could be, one without homelessness.  It will take more than imagination it will take people working together.  It can begin with you and The Other Place.

Respectfully,
Tina M. Patterson
Tina M. Patterson
Executive Director

back to exec. dir. corner