My heart breaks thinking of the many persons, including youth, who are without a home and have to find a place on the corners of buildings adjacent to streets to sleep.
I agree with just about everything the recent letter writer said. Remember that those 5,000-plus people sleeping in the streets are not in tent encampments or shelters. Many of them are struggling with severe mental illness and are left on the street.
Presently, there are about 50 persons who live in Tent City 4 at Temple B’Nai Torah in Bellevue. This is only a temporary arrangement due to the city’s permit limitations.
The tent encampments do some good, however they are not a real solution to the problem of homelessness. A real solution would prevent people from losing their housing in the first place. Tent encampments are just one part of a safety net, and that net fails to break the fall many of our neediest neighbors.
Almost all of our ethical traditions, religious and non-religious, urge us to care for people in need. Let us support the existing organizations like Eastside Interfaith Social Concerns, Sophia’s Way, Friends of Youth and Congregation for the Homeless so that we can find the will to come together and work toward a world where all people have the homes they deserve.
Members of Eastside Interfaith Social Concerns Council represent dozens of Eastside congregations and meet monthly on the second Tuesdays at noon at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, 4228 Factoria Boulevard SE, Bellevue.
They provide a forum to educate, advocate, initiate, coordinate and support through task forces and other means, to work for the common good, and to address human needs and improve the quality of life of the citizens living in the Eastside communities of Bellevue, Kirkland, Issaquah, Renton and Redmond.
EISCC board member Steve Baber represents the Eastside faith community on the board of Eastside Human Services Forum.
EISCC sponsors two sub-agencies – Congregations for Kids and Backpack Meals, which provide school supplies and supplemental nutrition for children in Bellevue schools. Prior EISCC sub-agencies now operating independently are Congregations for the Homeless, and The Sophia way, supporting homeless men, women and children on the Eastside, and which also operate the Eastside Winter Shelters for men, and for women and children.
On an uplifting note, I have witnessed some beautiful things happen at Tent City. One of the most inspiring to me is the way that people including youth have come forward to help the residents. Just this summer, groups from 24 congregations have stepped up to serve dinner at the camp. These congregations are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and Unitarian. And the Christian congregations represent a wide range of traditions, from Mormon to Congregationalist and everything in between. In a time when we’re hearing so much divisive rhetoric, we are coming together. We refuse to demonize each other.
Our various faith traditions all share an ethic of compassion and service to people in need.
Farida Hakim
Bellevue
