In 2006 my financial situation allowed me to try and do something for homeless people. It was my intention to provide (some of) them with references about work ethic, reliability, etc. for possible future employment applications. ADVERTISING In 2006 my
In 2006 my financial situation allowed me to try and do something for homeless people. It was my intention to provide (some of) them with references about work ethic, reliability, etc. for possible future employment applications.
At OSM at St. Michael’s I found some willing to pick coffee on my farm; I paid slightly above the going rate and fed breakfast, lunch and coffee time snacks. (I could provide shelter for only one.) While I was also stolen from, and while at least one of them cheated on the pickings, and one took all his pain pills at once, I am happy to say that during and after the coffee season we got three of them (one woman, two men) into paid job positions.
I am not writing this to grow a halo, but to show that most of us here in this rural environment could help out a homeless person by offering shelter and/or food for work. Many farmers have extra room to house a helper; all of us could use extra help; and most of us would be fair enough to expect only so much help from a person unfamiliar with farm work.
The problem I was cautioned about during my above action is the sue-happiness in this society. Had any of my pickers been hurt on my farm, would I have been sued and had to pay? Would my action be allowed on lease land? Are there tax matters involved; is this a barter trade? What if they brought drugs to my place?
If there was a way to protect the citizen who wants to help, there would be many more volunteers to do like I tried. One way might be to register as willing to help (with what institution? As they get EBT? With DLIR?), and then register the homeless person one takes in, make it “official.” And homeless people could be asked if they wanted to participate in this; thereby separating the needy willing from the lazy freeloaders; real illnesses must be considered (I was always tempted to ask the sign holder if “will work for food” was real?!).
It must not look like “cheap labor” for the helping person, but he/she must be protected from harm through (frivolous) legal action. As anyone can sue anyone at any time, I can feel the hopelessness of this endeavor. If anyone (legally knowledgeable person) has an idea how to make it work, I would volunteer to help. Could the program “working on organic farms” be used as a blueprint?
Torsten Andresen
Kailua-Kona
