Local Homeless Folks in the Neighborhood.

Homelessness is not a subject I enjoy talking about regularly but recently there has been an increase in that population in Sweetwater and across Monroe County. Here in Sweetwater in an area just off the Old 68 Highway, there is a group living in the woods. They do not bother anyone but occasionally we see them walking to town down Pedigo Ridge or see them somewhere on Main Street in Sweetwater. I believe this group of people are victims of generational poverty. I have confirmed this assumption by listening to some of their stories.

One of the younger is a gal who we paid to do weeding in my flower beds. She is sweet and very appreciative of anything we can do for her. We became acquainted with her when she flagged my husband down one Friday morning and asked for a ride to a court hearing. This young girl is in her thirties and has recently had her children taken from her. She also told us she would be going to jail soon over some trouble she recently was in for being with the wrong people at the wrong time. The first time I met her she asked me how long Mike and I had lived in our house. I told her thirty-five years or so. She said, "I knew you were the people who helped my mom, myself, and siblings years ago when I was a baby." What she was talking about was when our kids were small. One evening I saw a black truck parked on the VFW Road that aligns with our land and some people in it. They were there for a long time before I approached them. In the truck was a young woman and three small children. There was an infant girl among the kids. I asked her if I could help her she said they had nowhere to go. I went to the house and mentioned this to Mike and we decided to invite them in and get some food. They spent a couple of hours with us and Michelle played with the infant on my piano. She taught her a song called, Mary Had a Little Lamb. After they left we never heard from them again.

That circumstance has stayed in the back of my mind as unique and out of the ordinary. Let's fast forward to the night I met this young woman who asked me about the years lived in my home. The reason for her question was she was the infant child that Michelle taught Mary Had a Little Lamb and she never forgot the kindness given to herself and her family. I was so surprised to find that she was that infant child and that she remembered that night. The sad part of this story is this young girl was homeless as an infant and now she is homeless as an adult some thirty-five years later. That is what I call generational poverty.

She has helped us tremendously with our yard, doing weeding in my flower beds better than any hired service I could find. Given the fact that we are still working and don't have the time needed to keep the gardens up, she has been a godsend. We consider that money well spent. She has done a great job and offers to do more when we need it. Yes, we are planning to find her more work.

She came down last night while I was outside pruning my roses and it startled me because, of course, I was not expecting her and asked if Mike or I could take her to pick up her check. Mike was at church so I told her to wait until he came home and she could ask him. In the meantime, she asked if she could use my wifi she hopefully could find someone who could take her right away. She has a phone that costs 20 dollars a month with so many minutes. I had lent her my wifi to call her children one evening so I said why sure, as long as you don't share it with anyone else. So far she has proven to be very honest with me.

The young girl found success with

a ride and came to my front door to let me know. At this time she also asked me another question very politely. She asked if I had the stuff to make her a sandwich. I stopped for a second and thought, she may be hungry if she trying to get to her check so I asked her, do you like peanut butter? She immediately said yes, I told her to give me five minutes. I made her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and gave her a pack with a couple of cookies, and a bottle of water. She thanked me and went on her way. I figure the way things are nowadays if someone is hungry and asks for something to eat, I can make them a sandwich. I don't know how some folks would feel about me helping a homeless person, but I'm a firm believer in helping someone willing to help themselves, and if the way she worked for us in my flower garden is an indication of her intentions then yes I can help them out. If you are wondering about allowing her to use my wifi, well, sometimes you have to weigh the pros and cons of that person in their situation and decide if they are trustworthy enough to go to that level. In this case, I choose to take a chance and see if she is a person of her word. So far she is doing fine.