Major Warm

NOTES FROM THE FIELD 2022

I met Steve/David. His parents named him Steven but he says he is the 4th reincarnation of King David and so prefers David – it’s the name Jesus gave him.

He believes that Jesus came to him and told him that we are 3 parts: the body, the soul, and the spirit. The body dies but the soul and spirit do not. The spirit is more finicky than the soul, the spirit is the us part and the soul is the Devine part.

He is 73. He gets SSA but it’s only $550 a month, not enough to pay any rent anywhere.

He tells me he’s cold at night and it’s very hard to find any shelter. A hoodie will give him an extra layer and that’ll help.

Very nice man. Mild mannered possessing a kindness within.
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I met JD halfway down an alleyway. JD had a briefcase and a small wooden table. He was reading a book and had a stack of papers on his “desk”.

I say “hey, you look like you’re open for business” and he says: “yeah, I’m open, I’m selling the world, any part of it including Antarctica and if you come back this afternoon I’ll have alien worlds to sell too. Inventory is low but hey, they’re alien worlds with aliens – think of that!”

Enthusiastic, positive guy – mid 50s.
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I met David aka Curly, Blake and Toni (Antoinette) in a parking lot. They’d slept there last night – luckily they had cardboard which helped but it’s cold and hard to find a good place to sleep. Blake had a hoodie but needed a sleeping bag. Curly and Toni had sleeping bags but needed hoodies.

They said they felt blessed to get something, to get anything.
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I met Amy, Jody and Tanner. Druggies by a gas station. These are the unsheltered people sheltered people frown at – yes, they’re trying to alter their mental state – and all of us would likely do the same if we had lived their lives.

Jody was the clear dominant male. Polite but curt. He asked if I’d any underwear as that’s what he needed – I didn’t.

Tanner was a sweet guy, just trying to get high.

Amy was quiet – that she’d been through it all was writ on her face.

Nice people – no different than friends meeting for a few glasses of wine except they had no meeting place, no glasses and no wine – so they were meeting as their circumstances allowed.

I asked Amy if she would prefer a blue or pink hoodie – blue is her favorite color but she knew someone who might want a pink one – her friend Toni/Antoinette. She was happy to hear I’d already met Toni (with Blake and Curly).
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I met David – a young, tall, good looking guy. He was taking in the sun in the middle of Von’s back empty parking lot. When I approached him he said “oh I’m just here cos it’s a good Wi-Fi spot.”

He’d blend in with any group of young surfers.

He said he didn’t need anything, he was okay and had enough. I asked about toilet paper and yes, he could use some. He then said “actually, do you have an extra large hoodie, I could use one.” I did.
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I stopped to talk to a fairly old lady – she slowly picked up her bags and silently walked away.

I tried to talk to a guy who immediately hurried away.

Over the years I’d estimate 10% of the unsheltered I’ve personally encountered shun contact.
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I met Jason and another. I’d seen Jason around. He’s someone that looks scary in that he usually walks around looking completely and totally bewildered with his trousers around his ankles. He wears long black underwear and is always completely unkempt. Sad to say, he absolutely stank to high heaven.

The other guy just said no to everything and pointed himself away from me.

When approaching everyone I never do so head-on, and never quickly – one must give whomever the option to engage or not – it needs to be their choice always. I never got Jason’s friends name – he seemed more together than Jason.
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I met Andrew. A bird flew low between me and Andrew singing as it flew. I asked Andrew if the bird was tame – he says no but it visits him a lot.

Andrew was okay for a hoodie – he needed trousers which I didn’t have but he also needed a sleeping bag.

A friend of his came along – he’d gotten Andrew a hoodie from a charity store with an eagle on it. His name was Michael.

Michael is an imposing guy – 6’ 2” and energetic – we fist-bumped as a greeting with Michael purposely fist-bumping far too hard.

I said I was talking to Andrew about a sleeping bag and asked if he needed one too. He didn’t and he didn’t like the assumption he might need one.

He came quickly right to me but I stood firm though I turned my body to 45 degrees. I can see he’s thinking about hard-poking me with his finger but as I’ve not shown fear (I was faking as I was worried) he stops short of doing so. He says “Voltaire says never judge a book by its cover as you may discover yourself.”

He said he had been burned out of the Bay Area in the wild fires; he had been a teacher and though he was living as a vagabond since 2017 he needed nothing and didn’t need my “fake help.”

He was belligerent and aggressive masking hurt pride. He asked for money and was generally enraged. He stormed off.

He definitely had the whitest teeth I’d seen among the unsheltered, maybe the whitest teeth I’d ever seen.

Andrew then said “He’s dangerous.”

I said “I hurt his pride in asking him if he needed anything” – I wasn’t trying to do that – but it’s get it, we all have our demons and we’re all just trying to get along.

Andrew doesn’t like him that much but his name reminds Andrew of his niece Mikela. He doesn’t see her, he doesn’t see anyone these days – hopefully that’ll change for him he says.
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I met Zach. He was in slippers but didn’t want anything – too much to carry and he’d lose it.

He was happy with cookies and socks.
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I met JD again, in the same alleyway. He didn’t remember my name but I did his. Then he says “That’s such a cool name.” I say JD is cool too and he says that he changed it when he got to California- it’s really Joseph Doyle. He hates “Joseph” and Jody as he was called for a time.

He says my name fits his “caveman index” and asks if he can tell me about it. I reply he can.

He says the caveman index is for cavemen and their ability to speak – “me man”, “make fire” – that works. Conor works too but Joseph doesn’t nor Benjamin or Katherine or any of those names. My name however does fit the caveman index.
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I came across an older man in a wheelchair. He was near passed out so I just left him a wrapped present (with hoodie, thermal socks, toothbrush, toothpaste, some cookies and chocolates inside).

I was happy to see that someone else had left him $20 bill.

As I was walking away a passerby saw me, pointed at me and mouthed “Merry Christmas to you.”


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Returning from an early walk to the beach I was 1/2 block from home when this guy walked up to me – pointed over the guys working on the sign in front of McDonald’s he says “I didn’t know they fixed McDonald’s signs – have you ever seen a McDonald’s sign being fixed before?”

I hadn’t and we talked in wonder about it for a while.

He was in his early 20s, multiple cuts on his face, no shoes no socks no shirt – definitely no service for him anywhere. He had a couple of thin blankets around him and that was it.

I said I’d hoodies and socks and shoes at home. I’m only 1/2 block away so I could go and be back in just a couple of minutes. He said “I’ll just walk with you” and I said great.

Stephen Nikolas Psarris is his name. It’s Greek – he was supposed to go there when he was a teen but there was trouble in Greece so he never went. He would have loved to go there and says he’d probably have stayed if he went.

He tells me he’s a “terrible alcoholic” and everything is hard.

We get to my place and he’s delighted to get a sleeping bag, 2 hoodies, thermal socks and I give him 3 pairs of shoes I intended to leave out in the alleyway.

He was delighted and moved. He puts out his hand and I shake it and tell him he’s welcome. He then puts his arms out wide and says “can I hug you please” and I hug him. He says “I love you, thank you” and holding the hug I say “you’re welcome.”

He says “I hope to get my keyboard back and I’ll come by and play some music.” I say that would be great, and he heads off.

I don’t know what will happen Stephen Nikolas Psarris but I was glad to have met him – a joyful guy.
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I met Mary.  She’s from the Caribbean, from the island of St Lucia.  It’s a lot warmer there.

She didn’t want a sleeping bag as she can’t carry it. She could use a hoodie though.

Carrying stuff is a problem for all unsheltered – they have no place for storage and so everything must be carried on one’s person and it’s a problem.

Mary is elderly and has 3 plastic grocery bags of stuff and a rolled up blanket.  She is able to carry a maximum of 3 of these 4 items at a time so wherever she’s going, she walks about 50 feet with some of the items then puts them down and goes back to bring the other items 50 feet and so it goes. All trips are double journeys but that in turn means she walks the 50 feet then walks back the 50 feet then walks the 50 feet again so she walks 3x the distance to go anywhere – it’s exhausting.

I offered to help her carry her items but she will not be parted from them.

This morning the fog is rolling in so she is heading to the local church where there’s some shelter from fog.  It’s 1/2 a mile away which means she’ll walk 1 1/2 miles to get there. This is her life.   

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OLDER POSTS

Notes From The Field

Operation Major Warm (Winter 2019) proved a very rewarding experience.

Dignity is our watchword so our approach was to introduce ourselves by name, ask the person’s name and shake hands when our outreached hands were welcomed.

We went out on many different occasions over December and January and found the experience overwhelmingly positive.…

by Rename the Walled Garden February 10, 2020February 11, 2020