Not a Solution
Doing away with the Noah shelter is not a solution and could make the problem worse. Reduce the number of beds available and people will still be here, some causing more problems not less. Moving the shelter makes it hard for people we don't have cars to get to work or mental health services which doesn’t help. Ending homelessness need a layered approach. We need 1. some sort of housing that is affordable for people working minimum wage jobs, 2. housing, education and job development for people who have gone through recovery from addiction, etc but not solidly on their feet and for people beginning recovery, like Homeless Not Hopeless 3. a place like Noah shelter.
Most of all though, we need compassion. We need to understand that this is holy work. The Bible specifically demands hospitality toward the other "for you were strangers in a strange land" (Lev. 19:34 and see Ex. 12:49). Isaiah states that one of the duties of those spiritually connected is to "give thy bread to the hungry," and to "bring the poor that are cast out to thy house" (Isa. 58:7).
Where will people go if Noah Shelter is closed? Will you bring people into your home? What happens in January and zero degrees? What if it was your son or father, your sister or you?
Rachel Carey-Harper for Barnstable Friends Meeting (a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisset Monthly Meeting)
Doing away with the Noah shelter is not a solution and could make the problem worse. Reduce the number of beds available and people will still be here, some causing more problems not less. Moving the shelter makes it hard for people we don't have cars to get to work or mental health services which doesn’t help. Ending homelessness need a layered approach. We need 1. some sort of housing that is affordable for people working minimum wage jobs, 2. housing, education and job development for people who have gone through recovery from addiction, etc but not solidly on their feet and for people beginning recovery, like Homeless Not Hopeless 3. a place like Noah shelter.
Most of all though, we need compassion. We need to understand that this is holy work. The Bible specifically demands hospitality toward the other "for you were strangers in a strange land" (Lev. 19:34 and see Ex. 12:49). Isaiah states that one of the duties of those spiritually connected is to "give thy bread to the hungry," and to "bring the poor that are cast out to thy house" (Isa. 58:7).
Where will people go if Noah Shelter is closed? Will you bring people into your home? What happens in January and zero degrees? What if it was your son or father, your sister or you?
Rachel Carey-Harper for Barnstable Friends Meeting (a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisset Monthly Meeting)
(letter appeared in Cape Cod Times, published 5/29/2014)
Dear Editor,
While we applaud Harwich Conservation Trust's hope to purchase 40 acres in Harwich ("Scrambling to buy some history" May 26 CCTimes), we are concerned that it would be a purchase of stolen land only once removed from the family that perpetrated, and for centuries profited from, the theft in the first place. By what right did the land transfer from Wampanoag people? In all likelihood it was through the Doctrine of Christian Discovery. Receiving stolen property is a crime and in many cases there is no statue of limitations. We encourage people who are not descendants of the original inhabitants to consider this because the harm that has been done and the privileges enjoyed by our ancestors and even today by us personally, whether we know it or not, have serious consequences for our souls. That of God within, the essence of who we really are, exists in eternity, therefore serious wrongs do not dissipate with the passage of time. There is a good way to move forward in an effort to be in right relationship with our indigenous neighbors. The long journey of healing begins with the first steps of interrupting the behavior and knowing about and acknowledging the harm. There are alternatives including a donation of the property to Native Land Conservancy, Inc. 19 Pine Road Mashpee, MA 02649. This way, true love can prevail.
Rachel Carey-Harper, Barnstable Friends Meeting (a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisset Monthly Meeting)
While we applaud Harwich Conservation Trust's hope to purchase 40 acres in Harwich ("Scrambling to buy some history" May 26 CCTimes), we are concerned that it would be a purchase of stolen land only once removed from the family that perpetrated, and for centuries profited from, the theft in the first place. By what right did the land transfer from Wampanoag people? In all likelihood it was through the Doctrine of Christian Discovery. Receiving stolen property is a crime and in many cases there is no statue of limitations. We encourage people who are not descendants of the original inhabitants to consider this because the harm that has been done and the privileges enjoyed by our ancestors and even today by us personally, whether we know it or not, have serious consequences for our souls. That of God within, the essence of who we really are, exists in eternity, therefore serious wrongs do not dissipate with the passage of time. There is a good way to move forward in an effort to be in right relationship with our indigenous neighbors. The long journey of healing begins with the first steps of interrupting the behavior and knowing about and acknowledging the harm. There are alternatives including a donation of the property to Native Land Conservancy, Inc. 19 Pine Road Mashpee, MA 02649. This way, true love can prevail.
Rachel Carey-Harper, Barnstable Friends Meeting (a Preparative Meeting of Mattapoisset Monthly Meeting)
(letter appeared in Cape Cod Times, published 12/02/2012 )
Truth
A recent article about clearing the homeless camps says its purpose was to "encourage people living in them to get off the streets" but is this true? The high price for a rental apartment, "affordable housing" geared to middle income wage earners, coupled with the extreme difficulties that any organization has in establishing a group living situation and the many bylaws of our towns seems designed to punish rather then help. To walk a path to solve this problem requires reassessment, both community policies, priorities and personal attitudes.
We are ALL part of the Divine whole; the illusions of the world do give way to the infinite place of Love like the sun through a Cape Cod foggy morning. Rather then punish the poor, the disabled, those who sleep in the dust , you and I can be part of the solution. We are all related, more same then different, each of us doing our very best to fulfill our divine purpose with all our stumbling even if we can't see it in the "other". Let's be examples of healing not harm, focusing on Light in heart and mind and spirit and walk cheerfully through this together.
Rachel Carey-Harper, clerk
Barnstable Friends Meeting, Marstons Mills
A recent article about clearing the homeless camps says its purpose was to "encourage people living in them to get off the streets" but is this true? The high price for a rental apartment, "affordable housing" geared to middle income wage earners, coupled with the extreme difficulties that any organization has in establishing a group living situation and the many bylaws of our towns seems designed to punish rather then help. To walk a path to solve this problem requires reassessment, both community policies, priorities and personal attitudes.
We are ALL part of the Divine whole; the illusions of the world do give way to the infinite place of Love like the sun through a Cape Cod foggy morning. Rather then punish the poor, the disabled, those who sleep in the dust , you and I can be part of the solution. We are all related, more same then different, each of us doing our very best to fulfill our divine purpose with all our stumbling even if we can't see it in the "other". Let's be examples of healing not harm, focusing on Light in heart and mind and spirit and walk cheerfully through this together.
Rachel Carey-Harper, clerk
Barnstable Friends Meeting, Marstons Mills
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