Coming in from Grady Hospital, we went to the Quiznos on 138 Peachtree Street NW right across the street from the GA Pacific building. It's store number #2689

Mom is in a wheel chair and we thought we would try the deal they had going on with the buy one get one for $1.00

NO One offered to help us when we struggled in the door. No one welcomed and as I pulled Mom in I notice the woman behind the counter scowling at us as if she were like " Ugh, a disabled person"

When she took our order, she was hostile and acted as if she didn't want to fix our sandwiches. I asked her about the deal and tried to engage in conversation with her but her responses were gruff as if she didn't want to talk.

She gave my mother a really nasty look and I felt as if we weren't welcome in the store because she was in a wheelchair.

Mom said she felt discriminated against and didn't want leave because she was hungry so we stayed.

No one helped us make space for her to sit at one of the tables and no one thanked us when we left. NO one opened the door and the food tasted shitty.

I am never going to Quiznos again and have filed a complaint and I want my $11.20 back.

We got the combos for the sandwiches which is why it's so high.

Ugh..

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There was another shooting tonight and this time I was outside and witnessed part of it. I didn't stick around to see the rest I ran inside and hit the floor.

The area I live in is part of Downtown Atlanta. We live right across the street from the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless. Courtland avenue between Pine and North Avenues is the home of several homeless drug dealers who use the bathroom on the sidewalks and shoot each other.

The police do nothing about it. I called 911 not once, but twice. No police were sent.

Why?

Because the Atlanta PD don't give a fuck as to what goes on here.

The majority of the homeless here are crack addicts and the drug dealers.

And I am asked why I help the homeless. Because not EVERY homeless person is a crack addict who will knife you for a piece of rock or a homeless drug dealer. If that were the case then you may as well call me a crack addict since I was homeless at the ages of 9, 10, 11 & some of my adult years.

I also saw the guy who grabbed my ass a couple weeks ago. His face is jacked up. He didn't mess with me but he gave me a dirty look.

Why don't we move? Because we can't afford to. Our apartment complex is really a hotel where we pay rent by the month and all the utilities are included. It's 5 minutes away from the ER that my mother goes to and a short walk to my job. We do have 24 hour security but safety isn't guaranteed once we leave the
premises.

I carry a corkscrew with a wicked little blade that I keep really sharp. I haven't had the opportunity to use it, but I am not afraid to if I have to. I will fight and take as many down with me as I can.

When I get the money, I may buy a taser gun and some mace.

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Darkness parts with the grace of fog~
Revealing depths of your being~
As our eyes lock~
Moments are frozen and forgotten~
Only to be remembered after the passing~
Of millennia~
Candlelight flickers in the damp air~
You smile~
Forever painting your image~
In my memory~
D�j� vu takes my hand again~
A trip through time~
Accompanied by distance voices of~
Saxophone and Shehnai~
For one more dance~
With you~

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I won't be able to participate in person, but will WALK IT OUT with Dani and Tim in spirit on September 26, 2009 on their walk for homelessness and abuse victims.

Add them on Facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/walkitoutfundraisers?ref=nf

Their website is http://www.walkitoutfundraisers.com/

They Need SPONSORS and SUPPORT!

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Had a GREAT wake up call! Someone donated $50 to the Art4TH Fundraiser putting the Paypal account balance at $91~waiting on $10 paypal check to clear which will put it at $101~received $8 from Doni which will put it at $108!!Paypal took out some fees from the previous donations so the total amount donated so far was around $120~no problem I can make up for it. I get paid next Friday and will put that check plus my tips made Monday and Tuesday~if I have enough~ in the bank and THEN I will have enought to file articles of incorporation with the GA Secretary of State!! PAYPAL will probably take out another fee on the $10 check so I want to be able to put some of my own money into it to make up for all the fees. I am so excited!!!!! The Art4TH Zine will be up later tonight and will have all the donors who donated either by check/money order or Paypal and the incentives they will receive!

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One click is all it takes to experience the Art4TH Zine and all of September's featured artists.~~

Art4TH News updates you about the Art4TH Fundraiser. We've raised $120 which will cover Johnna's filing the articles of incorporation and part of the $30 registration fee for the name "Art4TheHomeless" The donors~and all of them are getting incentives~are listed and so are the incentives they will be getting.~~

Saturday September 26, 2009, Pens For Peace Founders Tim and Dani will walk from San Fransisco to San Diego to raise $$ for homelessness, domestic and child abuse. Art4TH will be receiving 10% of those proceeds which will also go toward the $350 IRS Tax Exemption fee.~~

Kristofer Me�ko Bogdan is our feature visual artist~~

Richard Goldberg is our feature writer~~

Ratso's Place is our feature Zazzle Gallery

Kubera Cove is our feature Etsy Shoppe~~

We saved the best for last: Dylan Roberts is our feature musician with one of his newer songs: Lullabye.

Art4TH Zine is just one click away: http://www.art4thehomeless.org

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Went to work today. We have two new trainees: Bri and Heather, who are both very sweet young ladies. I worked with Bri tonight and have to hand it to her. She is very cool to work with and both she and Heather seem very interested in Art4TH. Heather wants to become a doctor for people who can't afford medical care which is great.

Tomorrow, I will zip down to the Atlanta chapter of the Nonprofits Foundations Organization and do some much needed research. I need bylaws for Art4TH and officers. I also need a CEO~who will be the paid person. I am thinking that I could fill that position for now and the Foundation presenter who presented that class said that it wouldn't be professional to be on the Board of Directors and the CEO/Founder at the same time but I can worry about that later on.

This is very overwhelming for me but I can take it head on. I believe in myself and the fact that this is my destiny, my heart, my passion and desire. I have the needed 3 voluntary board directors myself and Denise here in Atlanta and Yvette in NC which is not that far from here.

After researching tomorrow I have to work again :) I definitely need the money.

Any advice on this topic will be more than welcome!

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I live in the Savannah Suites~a hotel like apartment complex~and we are right next to the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless. We are also in the middle of a war zone. There have been shootings, fights, police raids, drugs being sold, and much more.

The residents of the nearby condos always complain about the shelter and each year around this time there is a rumor about the shelter closing down~but it never does. Just recently, the shelter has sued the City of Atlanta for cutting off their water.


Around 700 people get help from the shelter on any given night~the majority from what I see are the mentally ill who are too sick to reachout and get help and due to our laws, we can't force them to get help, and drug dealers who live on the streets and are constantly dealing drugs.



Each night, they provide a place for the homeless to stay off the streets. I have walked by there several times and the stench is not nice. It's germy and nasty but not because the shelter doesn't clean~I am sure they do~its because some of the homeless don't bathe. There are several gay prostitutes in the area and even though they are polite to my mother and I, they don't need to be in close proximity to the shelter. The shelter is getting bad rep around Atlanta b/c of all the drug activity, shootings, crime and prostitution.


There are more who are helped, though. My mother was helped. I was helped. I have seen new faces there~new meaning that I haven't seen them before. The Task Force has numerous resources where all you have to do is be willing to use them.


I have an idea, but not yet the money to make it happen. The idea is to work with city police and install state of the art surveilance around the block and our area. We need a system where someone is monitering the area 24/7 for drug activity, prostitution, etc., When we see on the moniter a crime being committed, the least punishement for them will be banishment from the shelter and the area. Of course the maximum would be jailtime.

There is just a couple of problems with that last one~the police let out the drug addicts who attack people and 911 doesn't even send the police out here anymore~at least they didn't when I called a couple of weeks ago. Also, the City of Atlanta (and this may be just my opinion but I am not the only that holds this) wants the shelter to close down because it is on Peachtree Street and doesn't want the homeless to be seen on the main street of Atlanta~it makes the City look bad


Personally, I think the shelter is performing a great service to the City of Atlanta and should be rewarded with the help, friendship, and support instead of being harassed, ignored, and discriminated against because of helping the homeless. We should work together instead of going to war with one another.


The people who run the shelter aren't perfect~but no one is. At least we have the option of going there for help if we ever need it. They help the drug dealers b/c they are people too and need the help~only we need to have proof that they are doing what I see some of them doing.

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