Brooklyn Artists Helping (BAH)

I'm irregularly posting here these days, as the move from Brooklyn to Hollywood has brought about a change in how we go about serving the homeless populations. In New York, we purchased sleeping bags, which folks needed during the colder months, and backpacks, which were less widely available than shopping bags. Our service was in providing outdoor housing and accessories during the colder months, while participating in year-round services like riding in vans with the Homeless Coalition to provide food to people once a week.

Los Angeles has its own set of unique problems surrounding unhoused populations, which we've had to adjust to. For instance, many people here have tents, sleeping bags, and backpacks already. I'm not sure if there is a service providing these, but they're in abundance. The weather here is pretty nice year round, but tents help keep out the sun and rain, and though LA lacks shady trees, a big problem that's much-discussed, there is generally a lot of shaded areas that people camp in--parks, shaded sidewalks, abandoned complexes, hillsides, tunnels, and so on.

So what we've moved on to doing is actionable daily pursuits, namely, supplying food and drinks on a person-by-person basis. We've made feeding our homeless neighbors a habitual practice that goes something like this: whenever we go into a CVS, we buy a gatorade. When we grab street tacos, we buy a couple more. On the walk home, we're going to see a homeless person, because that's just the reality in Hollywood. And so we feed people. That's it, that's the daily ritual.

We walk a ton here, living in the Hollywood Dell, and Hollywood Blvd is full of homeless folks. They're in abundance, and they're our neighbors. Depending on the week, and the government's involvement at the time, you'll see tons of tents up or no tents, and in that case, watch people slip at night into unfinished condos and construction sites. A daily occurrence. In New York, I felt like I saw a lot of homeless folks because I was looking for them. In LA, I see homelessness everywhere. It's an undeniable fact of the landscape, a truth of the culture, that we lack the housing for people, and that we have no real clue how to accommodate them. I've had so many conversations about this topic and still haven't heard of any real viable solution for LA. It's frustrating beyond words.

In the meantime, we help out with some outdoor soup kitchens on Sundays when we can and the rest of the time are trying to take care of our less fortunate neighbors, the ones in our local community, while I try and figure out how to help along a broader spectrum. If you have any ideas, drop me a line, I'm happy to hear from you.

Okay...it would take too long to go into things, so here's the skinny:

We moved to LA in 2022. Yes, said goodbye to Brooklyn after nearly 20 yrs and drove out to Hollywood. Actual Hollywood. We live in the Hollywood Dell just south of the Hollywood Hills.

It's now January 2024 and OMG we're finally settling down enough to begin reporting on our efforts out West. The homeless situation here is pretty dire. Around the corner we have 10 people living in tents under the 101, about 6 people living in tents on Franklin, and homeless folks walking up and down the block each day. Downtown Hollywood is filled with folks sleeping on the streets, and it's like this almost everywhere (except Beverly Hills, for some reason). Today I dragged the garbage out for collection and two people stopped by to pick through things for bags and aluminum cans. I brought them a couple drinks and let them know they're welcome to come by each Thursday, and just asked if they wouldn't mind not leaving stuff in the road. They were kind and thankful. They're my neighbors.

Wendy and I try to feed people when we can, bringing back extra Gatorades and food from CVS on our walks, or if we make a big meal, like a turkey, we make doggy bags and drive around and hand them out.

We're also very lucky to have incredible neighbors like Al and Dianne across the street, who got us involved in building gingerbread houses for poor families, and wrapping gifts, for the holidays.

We now have a Sunday night gig of helping feed the homeless around this part of town, roughly 200 people last weekend, in an open-air soup kitchen by the 101 off Gower. We serve them an incredible amount of donated food (honestly, delicious warm food and fruits and drinks) and hand out socks and condoms, etc.

There's more to be done but we're back on a schedule, a rhythm, and one that will extend beyond the winter months.

Wendy is giving platelets too.

This is just an update, to say we're back to being able to continue our service, in a brand new community. I think we're going to keep the name Brooklyn Artists Helping for now, because we're still Brooklynites at heart, but maybe the 'B' will come to stand for something else in the future. But hey, we've also got a friend staying on in our home as she tries to make it out here as a director, and she's a former Brooklynite too, so right now we're just out here representin' and trying to figure out what life in La-La Land looks like.

Hope everyone is staying warm.

Went out last night to hand off backpacks to homeless folks. 18-24 degrees and people still on the streets. Backpacks have thick wool blanket, thick socks, toiletries and wipes, and COVID masks. Didn’t even make it to upper Manhattan before we gave them all out. Sad. Send money to homeless outreach centers in your hometown please.

We drove down to Wilmington, Delaware to celebrate Joe Biden’s Presidential win & found some homeless folks at the train station he took to work in Congress every day (now named after him). They were happy to have the blankets & the backpacks.

Dropped down to the mid-20s tonight so we took a nap & went out into the cold. It’s really hard to believe that people can survive on nights like tonight, especially when you’re bundled up real nice & still freezing on the way to the car. We brought along 10 bags & gave away all of them, but not until after 10:30, as we simply couldn’t find anyone until then. 

Here are Wendy’s notes on the evening: “One person on 10th ave b/t 37th and 38th sts, stuff laid out at the bus stop, he was very grateful and said god bless you very happily, two people at 40th street and 9th ave (one bearded older gentleman under a brown blanket said he was all set but pointed me towards a very small black woman curled up next to the planter who was hard to notice even when he pointed her out because she was so tightly balled up. She wasn’t interested in the backpack at first but wanted some pizza from across the street so I went across to grab her two slices and a coke for $2.99, the gentleman under the brown blanket said he was still set and didn’t need anything when I offered pizza. When I came back the woman had unpacked the wool blanket from the back pack and had it wrapped around her.). Two bags, woman and her husband, and a third that didn’t need the bag but thanked us all the same on the church steps on Central Park west between 65th and 66th, one on church steps at 92nd and amaterdam, one on 78th b/t Amsterdam and Columbus, polite and young black gentleman sitting up in his sleeping bag eating a bowl of noodles, a couple people on 71st b/t Columbus and Amsterdam, one guy up immediately under a single blanket, oh thank you thank you. A few at 63rd and broadway, older black woman who also wanted our boxes and I helped to tuck her in opening out the blanket and placing one box at her head with her pillow and one box at her feet, tucking in the blankets, very stylish Asian woman with a wonderful felt brown hat and pins, sitting up w/ big blanket around her. Didn’t want to take anything but pointed me towards others. Older gentleman w a leopard print hoodie, under a small thin pink quilt who was very very grateful and gave me a big smile (few missing teeth) and wave.”

It's 1 am on Sunday morning & we completed our first homeless run of 2020. Tonight we gave out 14 backpacks, each of which contained a wool blanket, heavy socks, and toiletries, including large scented wipes. People were always asking for backpacks so this year we decided to switch things up & give them what they wanted. People were throwing away the sleeping bags after a while; in this case, the backpacks are big enough to hold a lot of stuff, including a blanket, so we figure they’ll last longer on the streets. We bought 50 for the season.

Here’s Wendy’s notes for the night, detailing who all we gave the backpacks to & where we found them.

“One person on 14th, two outside St. Francis on 31st, one on 7th ave b/t 53rd and 54th, two outside the Times Square church on 51st, one woman on west end b/t 80th and 81st all curled up into a ball that hardly looked like a person, but there were shoes (high pitched, sweet voice), one on 2nd ave and 95th street, one at 76th and Lexington (god bless, very polite gentleman), one at 74th b/t 1st Ave and York (bright light of his phone), three each behind cardboard setups on st. James church at Madison and 71st, one at 53rd and 5th, behind cardboard on the church steps, on 40th b/t Madison and Park, behind cardboard no one there? No.“

This year we brought Brooklyn Arts Press & Augury Books out west to Portland, Oregon for the annual AWP writers conference, where we sold tons of books & spoke with thousands of writers & readers, some of whom were kind enough to pilfer toiletries from their hotels & AirBnBs to help recovering addicts, the homeless, & survivors of abuse through the necessary, generous work done at the Portland Rescue Mission. 

Below are images of those generous folks who agreed to have their photos taken, though some chose to remain anonymous. To all of you - thank you! Small works of service make daily changes to people’s lives!

It was cold. Like, -60 in St Paul, -50 in Chicago, & 10 degrees in NYC. Code Blue alert was going full strength & the cops were taking people into shelters. We found lots of belongings wrapped up at the usual church spots, left there by folks headed indoors (shelters, subways) for the night. We hoped to find no one; instead, we gave out 7 bags. One guy even said he preferred it this way: he could sleep without fear of “the crazies.” We made a decision to offer a bag to a person only after offering to have them taken to a shelter, in our opinion the much better option. One fella who refused both was pretty wasted, & wasn’t properly covered up: drunk people are the most likely to remain unprepared for this weather. I met another man with a mental disability sitting in a CVS doorway...I posted about him on Facebook, in an attempt to get people to help homeless people out, & will let you read about that encounter below.

(Also, so I can refer back to this myself, the street you’re always forgetting with lots of people is 71st between Columbus & Broadway, fyi.)

Okay. So today we’re going to do something a little different, we’re going to rely on Wendy’s texts to me & some images we shot on the route. I like this means documentation via note-taking & photography. Nobody here is identified & remain unidentifiable by the photos.

We have some HUGE sleeping bags this year, & the little smart car we rent can only handle 8 bags at a time (with bags on our laps) so the runs are going to be quick. This one lasted 3 hours, but only because traffic on a Saturday night in Manhattan is DANGEROUS & slow-going & SUDDENLY VERY VIOLENTLY FAST.

We brought some warm socks as well, & handed all those out. We handed out 2 bags on 14th st, two at St Francis of Assisi on 31st, & four at 30th.

It was a pretty cold night but not like earlier in the week. It’s supposed to be dipping down even more later. 

Two favorite things from tonight: 1) I love the action shot I got of Wendy running back to the car to grab a bag, 2) when she handed a bag off to one guy, he offered her his beer. Genuinely good people on these streets.

Dear Friends:

We believe that people—individually and united—can truly make a difference. If we support each other and get to work, we can change the world for the better.

For all of July and August, Brooklyn Arts Press and Augury Books will support those people contributing to necessary causes by giving them free books. Send us a screenshot of your donation receipt to a valuable social organization or a paragraph detailing your activist roles in your communities and we’ll send you an ebook or pdf copy of your book choice from our catalogs, free.

Feel free to share this post. Free books for do-gooders.

Click here to be taken to a page with more information and a select list of BAP and Augury authors whose books you can choose from: https://brooklynartspress.com/do-gooders.

Be sure to include the author name, title, and format choice when you email us.

WE WERE TOLD when visiting Brazil the high likelihood of our facing some tragedy or misfortune--robbery, murder, don't stop at red lights, etc--& definitely stay away from the homeless areas. Instead, we visited the homeless areas, including the Cathedral de Sé in São Paulo, where we found hundreds of homeless folks sleeping in the plaza. And we bought sandwiches & handed them out & fed around 55 people, & it all cost about $30. & they were thankful folks, people that caught a real bad break, which they'll keep fighting long after we're gone.

I never write this kind of post to pat myself on the back--I'll keep doing it regardless of how you feel about me, friends--I write it to remind readers that people are FUCKING SUFFERING around you & some days you have an extra $30 & you can be the charge in someone's day. It won't solve homelessness, but it will solve breakfast & lunch hunger pains. It's important to do well by the communities you visit.

Oh yeah, homeless folks tends to be EXTREMELY nice & courteous vs the rest of the population, in my experience, so fight any weird, creepy response shit you've been programmed with. Be generous and thoughtful, they will appreciate the help.

As some know, our sleeping bags arrived very late this year due to fulfillment error, but we were able to go out last night when the temp dipped below freezing in this chilly ass early NY spring. We made 2 runs using a Car2Go (!) smartcar & handed out 13 bags last night. Pretty awesome.

Bag drop-off locations:

1 person at 14th St & 3rd

2 people at Union Square East

1 person at 14th & 8th

1 person at 27th btwn 5/6th

1 person at 27th btw 6/7th, man on pizza boxes

1 person at 34th & 7th, Mike

1 person at 31st btw Mad/Lex

4 people at 31st btw 6/7th, outside St Francis of Assisi

1 person at Penn Station, gray sweatpants, sleeping directly on concrete

Here are some writers & readers who helped contribute toiletries for homeless pregnant women & mothers in Tampa.

Wendy & I attended the AWP Conference in Tampa this past week & encouraged folks to raid their hotel rooms for toiletries that we might donate to The Bonnie Center at Alpha House, which helps homeless pregnant women & women with children. The conference was smaller this year, but we managed to bag a bunch of soaps & shampoos & the like. Thanks to everyone who helped out!

We’re dealing with a cold winter snap following a few weeks of gorgeous 60 degree weather in February that’s also a little frightening. It was 25 degrees out tonight and is supposed to stay below freezing every night this week.

Thanks to Liz and Minos for the use of their van for this run tonight. We were joined by poet Martin Rock, who was in town to give readings at NYU and KGB bar. Because of the cold people weren’t as chatty as they sometimes are and we didn’t get as many names and photos, but below is a breakdown of each bag.

______________________

Man on a grate on 60th Street, used the bag as a pillow.

2 bags given at the church on 67th and Lexington.

34th, between 5th/6th; two people, one on each side of the street, man & woman.

Courtney and her man on 34th between Broadway & 7th; gave them one bag.

Man with a sign walking in front of us, Martin opened the door and handed him a bag.

On 7th Ave, near 33rd, Tony and his wife and their friend—3 bags. Chatted with him a bit. He’d lost his job. He lied when we first asked him if he had a place to stay and said he was heading to a shelter. Then when he realized we weren’t cops and had sleeping bags, he asked for one for him and one for his wife across the street. Then a nearby friend asked for one.

2 people on a subway grate—built a barrier with suitcases, had thin blankets—on 7th Ave and 40th. They were extremely grateful.

41st St, between 8th & 9th Ave, older man and woman on a subway grate. The woman just had her arms tucked into her blue hoodie and sweatshirt. They were very appreciative. 

Older gentleman on 30th St between 6th & 7th Ave, in a thin gray blanket. We pulled out the sleeping bag to help him in.

33rd & 6th—a woman, two men, and a dog. The older man asked for a sleeping bag for the dog, but it was a cold night and we wanted to get them to as many humans as possible, and suggested maybe they could bring the dog into one of their bags.

Right outside Madison Square Garden, a young man in his twenties.

Last bag to Interracial couple 6th ave and 14th st.

Home again.

On a single night--Sunday, January 29th--we handed out nineteen sleeping bags to homeless people in New York. It was by far the largest amount of bags we’ve ever handed out in a single night. We found people all over, unprepared, sleeping on grates for warmth, bundled in thin sheets and blankets. We handed out the first nine so quickly, we had to drive home to get more.

Instead of the usual play-by-play, I’m just including in this post the notes Wendy took while driving, which were just fast jottings, as we kept running into people, and then when we got home we went to bed without recounting everyone and every event as we usually do.

As usual: Care for others. Resist.

Joe

_____

Notes:

Melissa and Jeremy, 2 bags, Melissa is pregnant. Across the street, a young 20 something combat vet who decided he didn't want the bag because it would be too much to carry. On 34th b/t 5th and 6th. And 24 yr old girl, w/ cigarette in her mouth, said “Thank you honey.”

34th b/t 6th and 7th, Greg, Patch, and Sasha. They can't go to a shelter because of the dog and they are just borrowing/watching over their friends' Courtney and Sean's stuff and using their blankets for the night because Courtney and Sean got into a shelter for the night. Greg was extremely grateful because they weren't sure what they were going to do tomorrow night when it's going to be even colder and they might not have the blankets (expected to be 23 degrees.)

On 10th Ave b/t 40th and 39th, two people under a sheet, gave them a bag.

Gerald on 34th b/t 6th and 7th in front of three ppl laying down under blankets.

Woman on 34th b/t 7th and 8th, didn't want bag because it was too much to carry. Wanted thinner fleece blankets like the one she had.

Woman on 42nd, b/t 8th and 9th, sleeping on a subway grate, nothing covering her or under her. Warm air flowing up though from the grate.

Russell on 34th b/t 7th and 8th, behind cardboard boxes and under some blankets. “Thanks a lot. God bless you.”

Gerald, nicely dressed, approached us as we got out of the van. I asked if he was going to be out here for the night and wanted a sleeping bag. I also moved towards the people laying on the ground behind him, but Gerald blocked me saying that if I wanted to help them I could give to him and he'd give to them, that he was helping them. I said I just wanted to make sure they were okay and we're warm for the night and Gerald insisted again that I could give to him and he would take care of them. We ended up giving Gerald two sleeping bags and not trying to approach the people behind him; we didn't feel great about this, as we weren't sure what Gerald's relationship was with those sleeping on the ground behind him, but we also didn't want to escalate the situation. When we drove by a little later after giving bags to ppl across the street, we saw Gerald with what we realized was probably his family laying down behind him, as there was a kid now standing up with him. Gerald was laying out one of the bags we had given him.

Post-note: We also gave out one or two bags at the church at Lexington and 76th, and then most of our bags on our first run to folks on 71st Street, including two to Whitney and Scott whom we first met in 2015. Their dog is also still with them so it's hard for them to get into a shelter.  They've been homeless since at least 2011, We then came across four to six more people further down 71st across the street and we gave out the rest of the bags we had for our first run there.

Worth a note: a few days later, driving across 34th, we spotted Melissa and Jeremy again still using our bag.

Per usual, we always get permission from folks to photograph them as a way to document that these are struggles involving real people out here trying to survive, and with the hope it will inspire others to come help out and help. These folks are people of our community, please take the time to check in on them and help where you can.

More writers who helped us collect soaps and toiletries to hand off to the CCNV shelter in DC.