State parks near a big city - camping with the homless
NWescapee said
11:14 PM Jun 3, 2014
So, we have officially been houseless but not homeless (to quote one of our RV Dreams Family members) for just under a year. This weekend we returned to the area where we used to live, with a goal to complete 3 art shows for Dale's business, visit family and friends and shrink the storage room.
This is the first time since FT'ing that we know of that we've been camping in a state park with the homeless. We're between Seattle and Tacoma in WA state and the family 2 sites over from us has been homeless for about a week. They are tent camping in the state park while trying to figure out their next step. My heart breaks for the kids, we donated our beach ball that we had from our grandkid visit to give them another toy. The mom rebuffed all other offers of help while the grandma tried to explain. However, with a little conversation I've discovered that there are at least 4 other sites occupied by tent campers that are also among the homeless. June, in Western WA with the rain, cool temps and clouds, is not a great time to be tent camping in forests with grassy (aka muddy, cold) sites.
The folks in this situation that we've talked to thus far seem to be nice people, just down on their luck, out of jobs due to downsizing, out of money due to extended circumstances and trying to make by the best they can.
So, for those of you who have been at this a lot longer, how have you handled this kind of experience? The compassionate side of me wants to do something to help, the cautious side of me doesn't want to reveal that we have all our worldly possessions (except the sentimental stuff and things we didn't have time to get rid of in storage) in this huge 5th wheel camped amongst a few homeless, tent campers.
-- Edited by NWescapee on Wednesday 4th of June 2014 09:29:25 AM
Barbaraok said
11:21 PM Jun 3, 2014
We've seen an increase of this in lots of places. School buses stopping at RV parks is now a common site. We even see this in membership parks. We often meet the kids when we have Shadow outside, they want to pet the kitty. We oblige and say hello, but otherwise we respect their dignity and do not pry. If they ask for help, we try to give it, but otherwise we say hello while walking and stay to ourselves.
Barb
RickandJanice said
05:54 AM Jun 4, 2014
Dale and Ruth, first just for some humor, you are houseless, not homeless. Now, like Barb, we speak to everyone we see in campgrounds regardless of what they may be camping or living in and sounds like you do the same. The park we are in now has several units with what we consider the "working poor" living in them. They all seem like good people and are friendly and most of the units seem clean and in good shape, just older rigs. These type of people still have their pride and are trying to make a better life so we just try to be careful what we say or do so as not to offend or discourage them while continuing to be friendly and respectful. Sometimes just being friendly and showing respect is all they need right now, no matter how much you want to help them.
Lucky Mike said
06:15 AM Jun 4, 2014
some times I just help...like giving a little work for cash other times I feel it out , if they spend there whole nite drinking and smoking their way into there demise I back off.
I met a couple once I gambled on and put the money up for an older class C and helped them with a fleamarket business........I was amazed a few months later when I met them on the road and they paid me back and promised to pay it forward , I Know they will/have.
Been in those shoes and had a complete stranger help me out.......I will always remember him and always pay it forward!
Cant help them all but you always can help one ..and make a big difference in many as it unfolds
In memory of:
Barney & Harriette Atherton
Fulltimers that helped one at a time ,Thanks and you will always be missed!!!!
NWescapee said
09:37 AM Jun 4, 2014
OK Rick and Janice, corrected my post, silly mistake.
So, we talk to the kids, the youngest is fascinated with the slides, how do they work, how does the awning just "magically" come out? The Grandma is very friendly but Mom is very standoffish and has rebuffed any offers to help. We did give them one of our firestarters when they were having trouble lighting a fire and she didn't even like that. So, we'll go back to being friendly to the kids and laughing at their amazement that our kitty walks on a leash, she does a good job of entertaining them when we take her outside.
Dog Folks said
12:34 PM Jun 4, 2014
You have done your part when you say:"If there is any way we can help out, just holler."
The request for help is now up to them.
Lucky Mike said
12:59 PM Jun 4, 2014
one thing to keep in mind......everyone that is fulltiming is basically homeless/houseless.....some work ,some dont have to.......being in a campground whether your in a new rig or an old one......your just living within your means and trying to enjoy life as it is dealt.
you can live in a 250k coach and hit hard times.......and you would still be in the same campground or drydocking in walmart......
there are ex-millionaires sleeping under bridges.....all it takes is one crucial medical emergency.....loss in investments.....simple lay-off and one can start from scratch all-over......(ask me how I know)
NWescapee said
01:18 PM Jun 4, 2014
Lucky Mike - thought of you today as I walked through the campground for some exercise. I was greeted by "Knucklehead" a very friendly cat near the end of the campground, chatted a bit with the kitty's servant (you know, cats have servants, dogs have masters), made me think of you. She travels around the NW doing Pow Wows, uses her tent for her workshop. We had a fun chat about adventures of boon docking on BLM land when we don't need to be near a city and she's having a blast traveling the Indian Pow Wow circuit.
Barbaraok said
01:25 PM Jun 4, 2014
Lucky Mike,
We are houseless, but never are we homeless. Staying in a park does not mean that is all we can afford, it means that this is what we want to do at this point in our lives. We have met a lot of people who are in construction - fulltiming is a way of keeping the family together where the work is. Same for oil field workers, etc. Yes, some are in a park because that is all they can afford, but that certainly isn't true for everyone.
Barb
The Bear II said
01:52 PM Jun 4, 2014
Many of our friends and relatives with grown children have had to take them back in because the kids, single or married, can't find a job or have lost a job.
Over the weekend I found out my niece and nephew were able to both secure minimum wage jobs but were told they would only have the jobs for X months. The reason Affordable Care Act regulations & employer costs.
I'm seeing more and more homeless in our city along with stealth Van/RV dwellers. Most of the cities in the area have added parking restrictions to street parking and parking lots aimed at reducing homeless squatting. Unfortunately these regulations affect those of us who want to park our RVs on the street for more than a few hours.
It's amazing how much costs have gone up just in the past 5 years. Even fast food costs are rising, let alone a meal at a sit down restaurant. Fuel costs have levelled off but have taken a huge bite out of our budget.
You keep hearing the economy is getting better but I'm not seeing it. My costs are nearly 20% higher than they were 5 years ago. Even our RV storage lot has raised prices from $250 to $311 per month during the last 3 years.
The Bear II said
02:08 PM Jun 4, 2014
I read another thread that reminded me of something that fits better with this topic.
I've been reading several different RV Forums and Blogs for over 10 years. About 7 years ago I noticed a new trend on the forums aimed at or with fulltiming categories. There were a new type of person posting on these fulltiming forums. In the past the folks asking about fulltiming were primarily retirees, soon to retire or wanted to work and travel. 7 years ago you began to see more and more questions from folks who were looking to reduce their housing costs and considering the fulltime lifestyle.
Most of them had the need to reduce costs due to a job change... either downsizing or salary reduction or company closing.
RV parks (I'm guessing) use the profits from the permanent residents to offset the lack of tenants during the off season. Again like others have said many cities, counties and states have restricted the length of time RVers can stay in some RV Parks.
This homeless RV Park trend could be just the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully, things will change and these folks will have good luck in getting back on their feet.
BiggarView said
03:16 PM Jun 4, 2014
We are on a road trip/visit to see the grandson's highschool graduation in TX. We are tent camping and stopped at TT's Cherokee Landing just outside of Memphis. It was mostly empty (probably due to it being a Sunday afternoon) but for all the world we could have been one of those "homeless". We were not looked down upon or given our space. The hosts were friendly, and so were the few residents that did wander by. My take, we are part of a different kind of fraternity than the so called rat race majority. Friendly people, that to me is the way it "should be". That'll be the way I associate with the "new" neighbors once we start FTing as it is now in a S&B.
I like Mike's pay it forward anecdote. Reminds me of the time I ran out of gas (bad planning) returning to NAS Meridian MS for duty and a kindly older gent stopped and gave me the gas he'd just bought for his mower and told me the same thing, "pay it forward". Wouldn't give his name.
On the homeless, I am reminded of something that was once told to me by a wise individual... we are all only 3 days from being in the same boat. It takes just that long to ruin somebody's life from status quo to destitute(sometimes less than that). We are not so different when looking at others in that light.
WestWardHo said
04:18 PM Jun 4, 2014
Ruth & Dale,
It would challenge our hearts to see kids and their folks homeless like that. I can't stand it. We haven't run across that yet but there was one state park in Kentucky where I wondered. It was raining the whole time so we didn't get out much.
It's hard when the mom refuses all help. Think you've done all you can in this case.
Reminds me about when we were workamping last summer when one of the permanent's 6 year olds came into the office towing the most adorable 2.5 year old and announcing her grandpa was taking care of her because the mother didn't have a bit of food in their house for the little one and her baby. I was in the process do emptying our pantry when Grandpa told me he was babysitting while mom went to the grocery store. Talk about misunderstandings!
We can all hope for chances to pass it on. Today we came out of the VA hospital in Manchester, NH and Jesse helped a precious WWII Vet load his new wheel chair into the trunk of his car after seeing this little bent over man trying to load it himself. Vet had a "RVLiving" bumper sticker on his car. Sweet guy.
Sherry
PIEERE said
06:15 PM Jun 4, 2014
For me and I already know how close being homeless is!!! Was work camping as my only source of income after the job downsized in 2009. Had a Cl-C and about 3K$ to get moving down the road at 58 yrs. old. Located a winter job 1100 miles of traveling for no monies; but included a space and utilities for 18 hours a week. Then in May of 2010 I traveled 850 miles to another for min. wage and site/utilities.
The big hit was the heart attack the end of March 2012 that caused me to quit in July 2012. The finances ran out in Dec. Had to swallow my pride and used the local church food pantry and some borrowed monies and a good Samaritan offered a bit of assistance. I ate a lot of rice; spaghetti; and beans for about 6 more months and things started to turn around. Paid back the borrowings and the good Sammer just said Pay it forward when I wanted to pay them back!!!
Sometimes I run into thw same situation and the person has just to much pride to let any one help. Once you offer it is up to them whether they accept or not!
Terry and Jo said
06:44 PM Jun 4, 2014
I'm sure that this would be a situation that one would have to get the "feel" of with regards to someone like that. In other words, even an anonymous donation might upset the mother.
I remember growing up in the '50's and '60's in the Panhandle of Oklahoma. A lot of folks there were poor. Shoot, one woman even won a brand new car in a monthly drawing in the county but had to decline taking the car. She didn't have the money to pay the taxes on the "win."
I also remember from that time that one might come home to find fresh vegetables on the front step. One usually never knew who it was that left them there. Nowadays, one might leave a few cans of food in a sack near their campsite, if one could do it without being seen. Those items might need to be something that one could just open and eat right out of the can like fruit.
So, we have officially been houseless but not homeless (to quote one of our RV Dreams Family members) for just under a year. This weekend we returned to the area where we used to live, with a goal to complete 3 art shows for Dale's business, visit family and friends and shrink the storage room.
This is the first time since FT'ing that we know of that we've been camping in a state park with the homeless. We're between Seattle and Tacoma in WA state and the family 2 sites over from us has been homeless for about a week. They are tent camping in the state park while trying to figure out their next step. My heart breaks for the kids, we donated our beach ball that we had from our grandkid visit to give them another toy. The mom rebuffed all other offers of help while the grandma tried to explain. However, with a little conversation I've discovered that there are at least 4 other sites occupied by tent campers that are also among the homeless. June, in Western WA with the rain, cool temps and clouds, is not a great time to be tent camping in forests with grassy (aka muddy, cold) sites.
The folks in this situation that we've talked to thus far seem to be nice people, just down on their luck, out of jobs due to downsizing, out of money due to extended circumstances and trying to make by the best they can.
So, for those of you who have been at this a lot longer, how have you handled this kind of experience? The compassionate side of me wants to do something to help, the cautious side of me doesn't want to reveal that we have all our worldly possessions (except the sentimental stuff and things we didn't have time to get rid of in storage) in this huge 5th wheel camped amongst a few homeless, tent campers.
-- Edited by NWescapee on Wednesday 4th of June 2014 09:29:25 AM
Barb
some times I just help...like giving a little work for cash other times I feel it out , if they spend there whole nite drinking and smoking their way into there demise I back off.
I met a couple once I gambled on and put the money up for an older class C and helped them with a fleamarket business........I was amazed a few months later when I met them on the road and they paid me back and promised to pay it forward , I Know they will/have.
Been in those shoes and had a complete stranger help me out.......I will always remember him and always pay it forward!
Cant help them all but you always can help one ..and make a big difference in many as it unfolds
In memory of:
Barney & Harriette Atherton
Fulltimers that helped one at a time ,Thanks and you will always be missed!!!!
OK Rick and Janice, corrected my post, silly mistake.
So, we talk to the kids, the youngest is fascinated with the slides, how do they work, how does the awning just "magically" come out? The Grandma is very friendly but Mom is very standoffish and has rebuffed any offers to help. We did give them one of our firestarters when they were having trouble lighting a fire and she didn't even like that. So, we'll go back to being friendly to the kids and laughing at their amazement that our kitty walks on a leash, she does a good job of entertaining them when we take her outside.
The request for help is now up to them.
you can live in a 250k coach and hit hard times.......and you would still be in the same campground or drydocking in walmart......
there are ex-millionaires sleeping under bridges.....all it takes is one crucial medical emergency.....loss in investments.....simple lay-off and one can start from scratch all-over......(ask me how I know)
We are houseless, but never are we homeless. Staying in a park does not mean that is all we can afford, it means that this is what we want to do at this point in our lives. We have met a lot of people who are in construction - fulltiming is a way of keeping the family together where the work is. Same for oil field workers, etc. Yes, some are in a park because that is all they can afford, but that certainly isn't true for everyone.
Barb
Over the weekend I found out my niece and nephew were able to both secure minimum wage jobs but were told they would only have the jobs for X months. The reason Affordable Care Act regulations & employer costs.
I'm seeing more and more homeless in our city along with stealth Van/RV dwellers. Most of the cities in the area have added parking restrictions to street parking and parking lots aimed at reducing homeless squatting. Unfortunately these regulations affect those of us who want to park our RVs on the street for more than a few hours.
It's amazing how much costs have gone up just in the past 5 years. Even fast food costs are rising, let alone a meal at a sit down restaurant. Fuel costs have levelled off but have taken a huge bite out of our budget.
You keep hearing the economy is getting better but I'm not seeing it. My costs are nearly 20% higher than they were 5 years ago. Even our RV storage lot has raised prices from $250 to $311 per month during the last 3 years.
I've been reading several different RV Forums and Blogs for over 10 years. About 7 years ago I noticed a new trend on the forums aimed at or with fulltiming categories. There were a new type of person posting on these fulltiming forums. In the past the folks asking about fulltiming were primarily retirees, soon to retire or wanted to work and travel. 7 years ago you began to see more and more questions from folks who were looking to reduce their housing costs and considering the fulltime lifestyle.
Most of them had the need to reduce costs due to a job change... either downsizing or salary reduction or company closing.
RV parks (I'm guessing) use the profits from the permanent residents to offset the lack of tenants during the off season. Again like others have said many cities, counties and states have restricted the length of time RVers can stay in some RV Parks.
This homeless RV Park trend could be just the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully, things will change and these folks will have good luck in getting back on their feet.
We are on a road trip/visit to see the grandson's highschool graduation in TX. We are tent camping and stopped at TT's Cherokee Landing just outside of Memphis. It was mostly empty (probably due to it being a Sunday afternoon) but for all the world we could have been one of those "homeless". We were not looked down upon or given our space. The hosts were friendly, and so were the few residents that did wander by. My take, we are part of a different kind of fraternity than the so called rat race majority. Friendly people, that to me is the way it "should be". That'll be the way I associate with the "new" neighbors once we start FTing as it is now in a S&B.
I like Mike's pay it forward anecdote. Reminds me of the time I ran out of gas (bad planning) returning to NAS Meridian MS for duty and a kindly older gent stopped and gave me the gas he'd just bought for his mower and told me the same thing, "pay it forward". Wouldn't give his name.
On the homeless, I am reminded of something that was once told to me by a wise individual... we are all only 3 days from being in the same boat. It takes just that long to ruin somebody's life from status quo to destitute(sometimes less than that). We are not so different when looking at others in that light.
It would challenge our hearts to see kids and their folks homeless like that. I can't stand it. We haven't run across that yet but there was one state park in Kentucky where I wondered. It was raining the whole time so we didn't get out much.
It's hard when the mom refuses all help. Think you've done all you can in this case.
Reminds me about when we were workamping last summer when one of the permanent's 6 year olds came into the office towing the most adorable 2.5 year old and announcing her grandpa was taking care of her because the mother didn't have a bit of food in their house for the little one and her baby. I was in the process do emptying our pantry when Grandpa told me he was babysitting while mom went to the grocery store. Talk about misunderstandings!
We can all hope for chances to pass it on. Today we came out of the VA hospital in Manchester, NH and Jesse helped a precious WWII Vet load his new wheel chair into the trunk of his car after seeing this little bent over man trying to load it himself. Vet had a "RVLiving" bumper sticker on his car. Sweet guy.
Sherry
The big hit was the heart attack the end of March 2012 that caused me to quit in July 2012. The finances ran out in Dec. Had to swallow my pride and used the local church food pantry and some borrowed monies and a good Samaritan offered a bit of assistance. I ate a lot of rice; spaghetti; and beans for about 6 more months and things started to turn around. Paid back the borrowings and the good Sammer just said Pay it forward when I wanted to pay them back!!!
Sometimes I run into thw same situation and the person has just to much pride to let any one help. Once you offer it is up to them whether they accept or not!
I'm sure that this would be a situation that one would have to get the "feel" of with regards to someone like that. In other words, even an anonymous donation might upset the mother.
I remember growing up in the '50's and '60's in the Panhandle of Oklahoma. A lot of folks there were poor. Shoot, one woman even won a brand new car in a monthly drawing in the county but had to decline taking the car. She didn't have the money to pay the taxes on the "win."
I also remember from that time that one might come home to find fresh vegetables on the front step. One usually never knew who it was that left them there. Nowadays, one might leave a few cans of food in a sack near their campsite, if one could do it without being seen. Those items might need to be something that one could just open and eat right out of the can like fruit.
Terry