On this Thanksgiving day, we all have much to be thankful for. Those of you who are blessed with good fortune, a home and job security, a family who is there for you through thick and thin and good health are blessed by the graces of God for your well being.
Then come the homeless citizens in America. They too, believe it or not are also blessed. They may not have all the amenities that life has to offer, however, when it comes to homeless shelters and I single out the Homeless Voice Shelter in Hollywood, FL, these fine HUMAN BEINGS can no longer consider themselves homeless.
They all have a job in one way or another, true, they may not have a single family residence, they may not have enough money to place into a savings account, they may not have an automobile, BUT what they do have is a newfound family of brothers and sisters who have blended into a unique and loving group of individuals and have self-proclaimed themselves as FAMILY.
December 14, 2009 will mark my fifth anniversary with the Homeless Voice Shelter. I have been blessed with the trust of the director, my dear friend, Mr. Sean Anthony Cononie. I have been blessed with the friendship of the residents that occupy the shelter. Although I do not live at the facility, I am part of this organization every day of my life. I look forward to the new challenges that the shelter presents me with and I am so honored and so blessed to have been given this special gift from God....the gift of trying to help those less fortunate than me.
I ask you all on this day of Thanksgiving, to slow down your lives a bit, pause for a moment and think about what all of you have and then thank God and your families for being in your lives and then thank God for allowing formerly homeless people a chance to once again have a home.
This year, as I reflect upon my life as I do each and every Thanksgiving, I thank God for Sean Cononie, my friend and my brother, I thank God for Lily DeCoste, my fiancee, the ONE I have been blessed with for over four and a half years, I thank God for my sister Diane, a Carmelite nun who unselfishly has devoted her life to God and to mankind, my sister Denyse who with her husband Michael has raised such a wonderful family, my brother Gerry who has literally adopted his grandson who is afflicted with autism and has become his number one priority in life other than his wonderful wife Lynne, I thank God that He gives me the opportunity to wake up every morning to try as hard as I can to help the homeless.
My wish to all of you who read my blog is that all of you take the time necessary to be thankful for whatever comes into your lives, no matter how great, no matter how small, be thankful that you have what you have and please be kind and gentle toward the homeless, they are all like you and me, they are human beings, created in God's image and please remember that when God created us ALL, there was no price tag attached to what we became, because when our final judgement day arrives, our riches will only be tallied by what our hearts allowed to store regarding love for mankind.
On behalf of myself, my fiancee, my family and The Homeless Voice Shelter in Hollywood, FL, please allow me to wish to all of you and your families a blessed Thanksgiving and continued blessings throughout this Holiday season.
Thanks to all of you and may God Bless You All!!!
Ron Gauthier
Advocate for the poor, oppressed and homeless in America.
http://www.helpinghomelessinamerica.blogspot.com/
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Open Up The Streets, The Homeless Are Coming, The Homeless Are Coming Thanks To A City Department's Heartlessness!!!
No, this is not Paul Revere's warning to the Colonials that the British are coming, this is Ron Gauthier's warning to the citizens of Hollywood, FL that the homeless are coming....yes, the homeless are coming.
This may appear to seem a bit outrageous or extreme, but the truth of the matter is, thanks to our local Fire Chief and his regulations, approximately eighty formerly homeless human beings are about to once again become homeless in the city of Hollywood, FL.
A sudden fire code enforcement that strangely enough was dormant for the past seven years has surfaced, forcing The Homeless Voice Shelter in Hollywood, FL to evict these people back into the streets. Where is the logic, where is the compassion, where is the common sense in our so-called leaders of this community?
Many of you out there view the homeless as a bunch of bums, drinking beer, taking drugs and lazy people looking to live their lives on handouts and pan handling money to support their habits. I will admit that this scenario applies to some homeless people, they are the ones who choose to live their lives this way and nothing, nor no one will ever change their desires to live this way, however, the fine people that are about to be cast out into the streets of Hollywood, FL are hard working individuals with morals, values and YES folks, INTEGRITY....they were merely victims of our economic times caused by our government and they are once again about to become victims of yet another government, that of the Hollywood, FL Fire Chief.
It seems as though the city of Hollywood, FL will only acknowledge shelters that are funded by Federal programs....why so, because the city can't touch the Federal Government and who's to say that the city of Hollywood, known for corruption by its officials in the past, isn't getting kickbacks from someone to exempt those shelters and agencies that are publicly funded....think about it!!! This same individual, our local fire chief has received awards and commendations from a Federally funded shelter in the city of Hollywood.
The Homeless Voice Shelter is a non-profit organization accepting no funds from any government agency on any level.....perhaps the very fact that this shelter is self-sufficient and not in the political game of greasing palms is the reason they are now being targeted by our city officials as being a thorn in their sorry, political sides.
The Homeless Voice Shelter has been operating for better than a decade, providing a home, food, clothing and yes jobs for those who lost it all. These individuals have been able to save money through their hard work and move on, back into mainstream society and perfectly functional and lest we forget, once again becoming tax paying citizens. The shelter also houses human beings that have disabilites, human beings that have been abandoned by their loved ones for one reason or another. These disabled people now living at the shelter face being thrown out into the streets once again (and to make matters worse, while these same individuals go to the nearby bus stop to get transportation to their doctors or health clinics, they now have to await their bus, standing on their feet because the city officials have removed the bus stop near the shelter therefore giving them no means of comfort while waiting for the bus to arrive.)
This is their home, they are not on the streets, they are part of a family of men and women who care about eachother, take care of one another and love eachother as the only family they have and yet the City of Hollywood, FL Fire Chief doesn't care about that and would rather have all of you see them in your streets, your neighborhoods, your trash cans, looking for food, your back yards, looking for shelter....
We as citizens of a community pay property taxes in order to provide the services we require to live comfortably, yet, with YOUR hard earned money, your taxes are being applied to needless projects, your city officials do what they want to do, because they can. Your city officials are not listening to you, they could care less about you until that precious election year comes around, how ironic that this is the time they seem to remember you.
Without the Homeless Voice Shelter, many of the citizens we provide a home for would be out in the streets with nothing to look forward to, yet, our local Fire Chief could care less about that because of codes and regulations that are being enforced.
Let me ask you all, when did these city officials call you at home to ask your opinion as to how government in this city should be run. I fully understand that we elect officials to represent us and our best interests, but let's be REAL here, your city officials don't give a darn about you or me or the homeless. They are out to set policy that is in their best interest, not mine, not yours and certainly not that of the poor and homeless in this community.
I URGE YOU ALL WHO READ THIS LATEST POST TO WAKE UP, PROTEST TOWARD THE CITY OF HOLLYWOOD, FL and let your officials know that you do not want formerly homeless citizens who now have a better life and a more promising future to be cast out back into the streets due to some egotistic needs and illogical codes.....
Please help me help the homeless, because with your prayers, your support and your help, we can create a better life and a more fruitful future for those less fortunate than YOU!!!
Thank you and may God bless you all.
Ron Gauthier
Advocate for the poor, the oppressed and the homeless in America.
http://www.helpinghomelessinamerica.blogspot.com/
This may appear to seem a bit outrageous or extreme, but the truth of the matter is, thanks to our local Fire Chief and his regulations, approximately eighty formerly homeless human beings are about to once again become homeless in the city of Hollywood, FL.
A sudden fire code enforcement that strangely enough was dormant for the past seven years has surfaced, forcing The Homeless Voice Shelter in Hollywood, FL to evict these people back into the streets. Where is the logic, where is the compassion, where is the common sense in our so-called leaders of this community?
Many of you out there view the homeless as a bunch of bums, drinking beer, taking drugs and lazy people looking to live their lives on handouts and pan handling money to support their habits. I will admit that this scenario applies to some homeless people, they are the ones who choose to live their lives this way and nothing, nor no one will ever change their desires to live this way, however, the fine people that are about to be cast out into the streets of Hollywood, FL are hard working individuals with morals, values and YES folks, INTEGRITY....they were merely victims of our economic times caused by our government and they are once again about to become victims of yet another government, that of the Hollywood, FL Fire Chief.
It seems as though the city of Hollywood, FL will only acknowledge shelters that are funded by Federal programs....why so, because the city can't touch the Federal Government and who's to say that the city of Hollywood, known for corruption by its officials in the past, isn't getting kickbacks from someone to exempt those shelters and agencies that are publicly funded....think about it!!! This same individual, our local fire chief has received awards and commendations from a Federally funded shelter in the city of Hollywood.
The Homeless Voice Shelter is a non-profit organization accepting no funds from any government agency on any level.....perhaps the very fact that this shelter is self-sufficient and not in the political game of greasing palms is the reason they are now being targeted by our city officials as being a thorn in their sorry, political sides.
The Homeless Voice Shelter has been operating for better than a decade, providing a home, food, clothing and yes jobs for those who lost it all. These individuals have been able to save money through their hard work and move on, back into mainstream society and perfectly functional and lest we forget, once again becoming tax paying citizens. The shelter also houses human beings that have disabilites, human beings that have been abandoned by their loved ones for one reason or another. These disabled people now living at the shelter face being thrown out into the streets once again (and to make matters worse, while these same individuals go to the nearby bus stop to get transportation to their doctors or health clinics, they now have to await their bus, standing on their feet because the city officials have removed the bus stop near the shelter therefore giving them no means of comfort while waiting for the bus to arrive.)
This is their home, they are not on the streets, they are part of a family of men and women who care about eachother, take care of one another and love eachother as the only family they have and yet the City of Hollywood, FL Fire Chief doesn't care about that and would rather have all of you see them in your streets, your neighborhoods, your trash cans, looking for food, your back yards, looking for shelter....
We as citizens of a community pay property taxes in order to provide the services we require to live comfortably, yet, with YOUR hard earned money, your taxes are being applied to needless projects, your city officials do what they want to do, because they can. Your city officials are not listening to you, they could care less about you until that precious election year comes around, how ironic that this is the time they seem to remember you.
Without the Homeless Voice Shelter, many of the citizens we provide a home for would be out in the streets with nothing to look forward to, yet, our local Fire Chief could care less about that because of codes and regulations that are being enforced.
Let me ask you all, when did these city officials call you at home to ask your opinion as to how government in this city should be run. I fully understand that we elect officials to represent us and our best interests, but let's be REAL here, your city officials don't give a darn about you or me or the homeless. They are out to set policy that is in their best interest, not mine, not yours and certainly not that of the poor and homeless in this community.
I URGE YOU ALL WHO READ THIS LATEST POST TO WAKE UP, PROTEST TOWARD THE CITY OF HOLLYWOOD, FL and let your officials know that you do not want formerly homeless citizens who now have a better life and a more promising future to be cast out back into the streets due to some egotistic needs and illogical codes.....
Please help me help the homeless, because with your prayers, your support and your help, we can create a better life and a more fruitful future for those less fortunate than YOU!!!
Thank you and may God bless you all.
Ron Gauthier
Advocate for the poor, the oppressed and the homeless in America.
http://www.helpinghomelessinamerica.blogspot.com/
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Thank God for what you have....then think a minute about what others have lost!!!
I have been away from my blog for a while, because, I've become a bit frustrated at the lack of comments or replies from anyone, however, I feel the need to write this and ask that you step back a moment and please think about what you have and then think about what others have lost.
You may have a beautiful home, a nice car, plenty of food on the table, a secure job and nothing in your life is going wrong. I thank God that if that characterizes you then I am happy for you and wish you continued success and happiness.
Now, let us all step back a minute and reflect upon those who are less fortunate, namely, the homeless who have lost everything and are struggling to figure out where their futures lie.
I once again ask all of you who do really care to open your eyes to homelessness in this country....help those less fortunate than you and pray that our government do something about allowing its citizens to be homeless.
Thank you as always and may God bless you all.
Ron Gauthier
http://www.helpinghomelessinamerica.blogspot.com/
You may have a beautiful home, a nice car, plenty of food on the table, a secure job and nothing in your life is going wrong. I thank God that if that characterizes you then I am happy for you and wish you continued success and happiness.
Now, let us all step back a minute and reflect upon those who are less fortunate, namely, the homeless who have lost everything and are struggling to figure out where their futures lie.
I once again ask all of you who do really care to open your eyes to homelessness in this country....help those less fortunate than you and pray that our government do something about allowing its citizens to be homeless.
Thank you as always and may God bless you all.
Ron Gauthier
http://www.helpinghomelessinamerica.blogspot.com/
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