Alec and I met at Everything for Everybody, an organization that was a shelter for homeless people in New York City as well as a ‘soup line’ and much more. We then moved to Mississippi and founded a similar organization in our home. Most of the people who needed shelter from us were battered women and their children.
We didn’t have a lot of support from the community at large in Mississippi. We even had police sometimes tell husbands where they might find their wives. We were not a secret location for battered women only ~ we were an open shelter and we lived there with our kids too. We did get some harassing phone calls and one man whose wife and baby were staying with us slit our tires a few times.
Eventually we realized we were burned out and closed the shelter. Then we had people like a women’s group that came to us and ask us ~ beg us ~ to start again. We told them if they saw it as important then they should do it. We were too tired. Eventually we moved to Olympia.
I was really glad to see this article in The Olympian yesterday. I want to thank Selena Kilmoyer of Bread and Roses, and Rosalinda Noriega and Chandra Lindeman of Partners in Prevention. The work they are doing is so important.
“We need to begin focusing on the issues of violence in our community in order to get to the roots. Racism, oppression, homophobia, transphobia, agism, abelism. These are all core pieces of the fight against violence and homelessness. These are all results of the oppressive system we live in, tools used to reinforce that system. Really beginning to understand these core causes and working to change those.” ~ Chandra Lindeman
Click here to read the May 17, 2006 article in The Olympian:
Capitol Chat Transcript: Bread & Roses, Partners in Prevention Education