Frank Ploof didn’t know it at the time, but while he was offloading cases of water at a homeless camp in triple digit heat, Little Sherry Lopez was half a mile away, slowly growing more disoriented as she tried to escape the battering rays of the sun. Ploof, who’s known Sherry since she began camping in Beard Brook Park almost four years ago, had finished distributing cases of bottled water […]
Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley
Stanislaus County: Where Government Fails the People
When incumbent Stanislaus County Supervisor Terry Withrow brags about his leadership, he likes to compare the county to the City of Modesto. That’s what he did during an interview with the Modesto Bee when he said, “Look at how the city is doing and ask if you want that kind of leadership for the county.” Withrow is running for office against Tony Madrigal, a current Modesto City Councilmember. Withrow was […]
Mike Hammond: A Good Cop Makes Good
“A police officer will arrest people when they don’t need to be arrested,” said a homeless man living near a park on Modesto’s troubled West Side, “but a cop only arrests people when they should be arrested. Mike Hammond is a cop and he’s a good cop.” Hammond’s name comes up a lot among homeless people and he’s something of a legend on the West Side, where he once received […]
Homeless: The Cruel Realities of People in Need
When Steve Finch and Frank Ploof founded Stanislaus Homeless Advocacy and Resource Enterprise* (SHARE) early last year, Ploof had already had almost ten years’ experience working to help people experiencing homelessness. Finch was new to the task, but thought his experience with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), an organization that assists abused and needy children, would provide a model he and Ploof could apply to needy homeless people. The CASA […]
Homeless: When False Narratives Fail
For decades, there were a few stock responses to homelessness: “They don’t want help — it’s the drugs — they’re bums” were among the most popular. “They made bad choices” wasn’t far behind. Though none of these explanations holds up to thoughtful reflection, they comprised the largest part of the conventional wisdom about homeless precisely for that reason — they enabled most of us to avoid thinking about a problem […]
Randy Limburg: Warrior for the Poor and Afflicted
Randy Limburg has passed. The gentle giant who once raged along Modesto’s mean streets on a bicycle with steers’ horns strapped to the handlebars and then found his way back from the hard ground of homelessness died on February 2 after a long bout with Covid. Randy’s bright smile shone a light wherever he went, but it was especially welcome among the shadows of homeless camps and by people abandoned […]
Homeless: The Accountability Papers No. 1
Early last year, Stanislaus County officials added accountability to their list of tactics for managing rising numbers of people with nowhere to go. Puzzled by the new standard, volunteer and homeless advocate Frank Ploof asked county management and staff members repeatedly, “Accountable for what?” None ever offered an answer that made sense to people with no means to be accountable. Despite repetitious memes about people “choosing” homelessness and the widespread […]
City Needs Money? Tax the Poor!
According the United Way’s Real Cost Measure, 31% of Stanislaus County families struggle to meet costs for food, rent, and clothing. Like most households throughout the state, the cost of housing is the primary factor in their inability to make ends meet. Research by the United Way reveals that, “Struggling households in California use over half of their income on housing, more than twice as high a share as households […]
Homeless: Your (Regressive) Tax Dollars at Work
The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but cannot do, at all, or cannot, so well do, for themselves in their separate, and individual capacities. Abraham Lincoln As homeless numbers continue to rise along the West Coast, more and more voters are beginning to realize that the failure of political leaders is among the chief reasons the problem is […]
Homeless: The (almost) Unbearable Burden of Shelters
“Almost all emergency shelters of today are over their heads,” said Major Harold Laubach at Modesto’s Salvation Army Shelter on November 19. “But for people with mental health issues, we are probably the best alternative. Forty percent of our residents deal with mental health challenges and another 40 percent deal with substance abuse challenges.” Laubach was responding to a growing litany of complaints from residents of Stanislaus County’s low barrier shelter that rules […]