In Shaw (an historically gentrified blog): Can I point you in the right direction?

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Can I point you in the right direction?

Sunday, there was too much going on when I was leaving the house. Among the minor neighborly chaos there was an old white guy sitting on a neighbor's (AfAm family) porch trying to get my attention. Maybe because I kept looking over at the porch trying to figure out was he Latino on the Latino family's porch or what. Anyway, when the neighborly chaos was managed, the old guy on the porch said he was diabetic and needed something to eat. I was rushed a bit confused, because something wasn't 'just so'. The security door was open, a sign that the occupants were home and this stranger was sitting on their stoop. I pointed him to the church across the street and told him that they could provide him with what he needed. In hindsight, I really should have made an attempt to either let the family know there was a strange guy on their porch or told him to get off their property.
Monday, rushing into the metro system there was a woman at the top of the R Street side of the Shaw metro station begging. She said she wanted some money so she could get something to eat. Since giving out money is not something I care to do, I pointed her in the direction of a 'soup kitchen' I knew was serving breakfast.
As it has gotten warmer I've been noticing people have been hanging out in places they weren't hanging out in Winter. I wonder if people move around seasonally? Recently I went out on my church's 'grate patrol' giving out sandwiches, snacks and for Summer, salad. When it was colder I noticed we ran out of sandwiches and soup and there were more stops. This time around, some of the drop off points had no people and the points we did stop off at, there were fewer people to serve. So I really do wonder if people move around seasonally? Moving to other areas that might be cooler, maybe less commercial areas where there is less heated concrete and more shady trees? Moving away from areas that provide services? I don't know, but that's what it looks like.