Please meet Tony, a homeless man who has spent day and night during Redding's exceptionally cold winter outdoors. As hundreds of people a day pass by Tony across the street from the downtown post office, many of them leave love offerings... clothes, food, blankets, .......money.
Tony has severe problems with his feet, and has a very hard time walking. For several months Tony was allowed to sit under cover of the Amtrack station on a bench, until construction has driven him to the spot you see today.
As you can see, and if you were to ask Tony, handouts do help...
Unfortunately homeless "Tony" could not make it through the night...
I looked at the paramedic and said he was dying on that bench... He agreed
Tony spent many months staying under the porch on a bench of the Redding Amtrack depot until construction forced him out on the bench across the street from the downtown Post Office on Yuba St.. Usually he can hobble over to the covered Raba bus station when it rains but he could not even get up when Fire and EMS arrived. He was hunched over all day which was very disturbing . Im sure he was very close to dying.
Redding Police and businesses are very hot to do a "Handouts Don't Help" campaign to try to drive some of the homeless out of town, As a Christian we are very much against as we could gage Tony's condition through out the day as we gave him love offerings.
Les Kinny member of Redding Coalition for the Homeless offers Tony a hot breakfast on a cold morning.
UPDATE: 1/25/2013
I went to visit Tony at Shasta Regional Medical Center . The nurses said I had to wear a gown, gloves, and a mask.
As I approached his room the sickening smell of gangrene and rotting flesh met me in the hallway. Tony was mercifully asleep. His feet uncovered and unrecognizable at first, shocked me to no end. Although Tony is a black man, it was painfully obvious his feet looked dead, Tony in all probability will loose both legs as well as his feet...
15 comments:
This is a fantastic fantastic piece. The more that know the more that will grow.
These are the kinds of articles that are capable of making change. This is a masterpiece. The general public's perception is nothing more than the majority they have been taught. Great piece. Bravo.
Where is Tony now?
Tony is still in the hospital today, I will give updates here
I am praying for Tony!
I hope Tony is okay and wish for a speedy recovery and that this blog has helped the community to do more.Paula
It should also be noted that when the call taker for Shascom 911 was notified that this was a requested welfare check on a homeless man the response from the emergency operator was "Well then why dont YOU help him."
It is sad that we will treat pets better than people. The operator should be fired, Most people are not qualified to give medical care and if they are want money before touching someone. We need to realize that there are different types of homeless. We have mental patients, drug/alcohol addicts, people who are truly down on their luck.
I feel for all of them but I would tough love that addicts/cons and try to help the ones like this that really need help, I am unfortunately only one step above being there myself but thank god there are still people with a heart, Thank you for being there & caring!
...maybe the state attorney general needs to do a little 911 ass kicking !!! ...call Disability Rights California please. They're mandated by law to be the disability advocates in CA. ...Tony might end up comfey rich! ...they're extra powerful & cool legal folks. Good luck!
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I'm so happy that Tony is getting the help he needs. I hope after this, Tony is no longer homeless. The homeless are still human. May God wrap his arms around all homeless people.
I'm glad Tony is getting the help he needs. Clearly all the love offerings were helpful in the short term but did nothing to help him improve his life. Had he sought help earlier from the programs that could give him food, shelter and medical attention, perhaps he would not be losing his limbs today. Tony needed more than a hot meal or a few bucks from a well-meaning citizen. Tony needed much, much more care. The goal of the handouts don't help campaign is not to cut off help, but to give them the help they truly need instead of small offerings that only prolong their homelessness and allow disease, addiction to slowly squeeze the life out of them. This story is a great example of why handouts really don't help. If you want to give lovingly to a homeless person, direct them to a program that will help. Feeding them today, only gets them through today. Getting them back on their feet helps them for the rest of their lives.
I came from the bayarea to redding.i met alot of people iñ redding , i cañ truely say the homeless ones i met ,are now my best friends.i love being out there with them .i have a home to go to,that dont make me a better person its gets cold out there believe me yeah and i can act like a spoil brat who needs to go home.they will give me the shirt off there back to keep me warm there only shirt!! Until youve been in there shoes or kicked it with them youll never no a true friendship. i just thought id share that with you....
We're Southern California based, but we will be adding your blog to our list of Homeless Bloggers and Poverty Activists. Visit us on Google Blogger. EXPOSE HOMELESSNESS! Keep up the great work!
Thank you so very much !
Been there, agree 100%
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