• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice
  • Arts
  • Education
  • Environment
  • History
  • Nature
  • Politics
  • Wit
  • About

Valley Heat Batters Homeless People

June 27, 2022 By Eric Caine 4 Comments

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 and was going home when he saw her talking to a passing motorist. The driver of the car had stopped after seeing her tottering alongside the road in a south Modesto neighborhood consisting of junkyards and trailer parks.

“It’s too hot,” she said. “I’m going swimming in the river.”

Carrying a blue life preserver over her right shoulder, Little Sherry was trying to reach the Tuolumne River, one wobbly step at a time.

Dirty, dehydrated and disoriented, Sherry had to be persuaded to drink some water. She accepted the cool liquid when it was poured slowly over her head, but didn’t seem to understand how dangerous extreme heat can be.

Frank Ploof on south 7th Street Modesto 26 June 2022
Frank Ploof, Modesto, 26 June, 2022

Ploof knew she had been staying at the same camp where he had just dropped off several cases of water. He also knew that Little Sherry is developmentally disabled; she’s at even higher risk than most among the homeless.

He’d been especially concerned about how the blistering heat was affecting Sherry’s group. Most of the members had been forced off the narrow freeway strip they had occupied by a Caltrans sweep just days ago. Having nowhere else to go, they relocated a mere 30 or 40 yards away. They were woefully short of food, water, and cooling shade.

One of the newest members of the group was a woman who had lost her trailer in a recent fire. She had nowhere else to go.

Another woman, physically disabled and in a sit-down walker, had been homeless on and off since the condemnation of studio apartments at 624 9th Street in Modesto, when she was forced to move out of the only place she could afford with her disability income.

Sherry Lopez 7th Street Modesto 26 June 2022
Little Sherry Lopez, 100+ degrees, Modesto, 26 June, 2022

Sherry is a special concern because of her limited comprehension. Though she has a county caseworker and a small income from disability, Sherry often wanders. Caseworkers lose track of her. She then becomes vulnerable to the kind of “friends” who prey on anyone with income.

“The bank took my money, the bank took my money,” she said over and over.

Like the passing motorist, Ploof’s first thought was to get Sherry checked out at a hospital, but she kept repeating that she wouldn’t go. The best he could do was make sure she got cooled off by a full blast of air conditioning, followed by a safe return to her home camp, where the over-stressed residents watch out for her the best they can.

There are times when Frank Ploof can’t help thinking how much easier it was to help Sherry and others like her when they were camping in Beard Brook Park rather than scattered among dozens of locations throughout the city and county.

He can’t dwell on such thoughts too long, however, because he’s got so much to do. There’s always another camp and more water to deliver, at least until the heat breaks.

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Frank Ploof, Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in California, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley, Little Sherry Lopez

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jerri Matoza says

    June 27, 2022 at 5:05 pm

    Thanks for the never ending efforts to help the homeless by my friend Frank Ploof. I miss the days we worked at MOES and Beardbrook Village together.
    Thanks for all you do.

    Reply
  2. June Medeiros says

    June 27, 2022 at 10:45 pm

    This breaks my heart

    Reply
  3. Richard Anderson says

    June 28, 2022 at 1:54 pm

    I think Little Sherry has a good idea.
    I hope the Tuolumne Regional Park includes a place that people, yes even those of us without a home, can go and swim in the Tuolumne River.
    Of course, there may be restrictive Rules about this … fears of hepatitis A … possibly restrictive laws when the water flow is too low … worth checking out.

    Reply
  4. Allyson Best says

    June 28, 2022 at 5:00 pm

    Mr. Ploof,
    Where can I bring water to you Thursday afternoon?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Note: Some comments may be held for moderation.

Primary Sidebar

Off The Wire

California faces catastrophic flood dangers ? and a need to invest billions in protection
California faces catastrophic flood dangers and a need to invest billions in protection
A new state plan for the Central Valley calls for spending as much as $30 billion over 30 years to prepare for the dangers.
www.latimes.com
Oakland will get millions for the ?inhumane? crisis at one huge homeless encampment. Officials say it?s not enough
Oakland will get millions for the “inhumane” crisis at one huge homeless encampment. Officials say it’s not enough
Gavin Newsom’s administration has awarded Oakland a $4.7 million grant to come up with…
www.sfchronicle.com
Alaska?s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
Alaska’s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
Mary Peltola won her election by campaigning on a platform to save the state’s prized fisheries. A powerful fishing lobby is standing in her way.
www.politico.com
Jimmy Carter's final foe: A parasitic worm that preyed on millions in Africa and Asia
Jimmy Carter’s final foe: A parasitic worm that preyed on millions in Africa and Asia
One of former President Carter’s biggest hopes is wiping out an infectious parasitic disease that’s plagued humans for millennia. How close is he?
www.latimes.com
Climate Extremes Threaten California?s Central Valley Songbirds - Eos
Climate Extremes Threaten California’s Central Valley Songbirds – Eos
A “nestbox highway” in California’s Central Valley is guiding songbirds to safe nesting sites and giving scientists a peek at fledgling success in a changing climate.
eos.org
Alaska Republican touts benefits of children being abused to death
Alaska Republican touts benefits of children being abused to death
Republican David Eastman suggested the death of child abuse victims could be a “cost savings” to wider society.
www.newsweek.com
Editorial: Newsom's drought order amid wet winter threatens iconic California species
Editorial: Newsom’s drought order amid wet winter threatens iconic California species
Gov. Gavin Newsom has effectively ended environmental regulations protecting California rivers and migratory fish by extending drought-year waivers.
www.latimes.com
Two-thirds of McPherson Square homeless remain on street, D.C. says
Two-thirds of McPherson Square homeless remain on street, D.C. says
As of Thursday, just two of the more than 70 residents of McPherson Square had been placed in permanent D.C. housing.
www.washingtonpost.com
More Building Won?t Make Housing Affordable
More Building Won’t Make Housing Affordable
America’s housing crisis has reached unfathomable proportions. But new construction isn’t enough to solve it.
newrepublic.com
Why YIMBYs are about to sue the daylights out of cities across the Bay Area
Why YIMBYs are about to sue the daylights out of cities across the Bay Area
Housing advocates are about to deliver a message to the Bay Area: Comply with state…
www.sfchronicle.com
At the heart of Colorado River crisis, the mighty 'Law of the River' holds sway
At the heart of Colorado River crisis, the mighty ‘Law of the River’ holds sway
At the heart of tensions over water allotments from the Colorado River is a complex set of agreements and decrees known as the ‘Law of the River.’
www.latimes.com
Biden restores roadless protection to the Tongass, North America's largest rainforest
Biden restores roadless protection to the Tongass, North America’s largest rainforest
The Tongass National Forest in Alaska, a focus of political battles over old-growth logging and road-building in forests for decades, has received new protection from the Biden administration.
theconversation.com

Find us on Facebook

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Footer

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Subscribe for Free

* indicates required

Search

• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 The Valley Citizen

Dedicated to the memory of John Michael Flint. Contact us at thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Editor and publisher: Eric Caine

Website customization and maintenance by Susan Henley Design