Free voice-mail helps the homeless.

[livinginphotographs]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/09/09/homeless.voicemail.ap/index.html

I just thought this was a pretty cool idea.

[DebJ]

1. wow that's great. Have to see what we do here in my city.

[DemoTex]

2. I did volunteer work at "The Stewpot" before leaving Dallas.

The Stewpot is a world-class advocate organization for the homeless. It provides medical and dental services, mail services, job and housing counseling, AA and NA meetings, new voice mail services, and - of course - a free lunch. The Community Voice Mail administrator in Dallas, quoted in this article, is a good friend, former neighbor, and great liberal Democrat.

I am in talks now with local homeless advocates in SC and NC to establish CVM here. Whether or not I will take the plunge and actually run it has not been decided. It took my friend in Dallas a full year of fund raising before CVM took its first call.

[livinginphotographs]

3. We desperately need something like that here in Richmond, VA.

We have a HUGE homeless problem, and yet the city seems content to ignore it. There's an occasional organization that helps, but they fall into the unfortunate category of being just homeless hotels. They come in, get a free shower, a meal, and move on. That does nothing to actually get these people off the streets.

Plus, every time someone tries to build a new shelter, the NIMBY effect kicks in.

Most of our homeless are veterans, or mentally-ill, or drug addicts, and (maybe I'm just being a naive liberal again) I think with the right support services, these people could actually get back on their feet.

But we're building a new performing arts center.....no money left over for something that will actually have a positive effect on the city. :eyes: