Help Make This Happen Now! Actually a moot point. No one was interested in helping. It is now in process of changing.

I am only one person,  when I tell people about my goals to build communities for the homeless,  some look at me with wonder, am I crazy,  just weird, or is it possible I am just naive and mean well?  They believe that I  just do not realize what it takes to build communities.  So let me answer those questions.  I guess knowing me you might say I am a little different, I have heard statements like

“She is really up there in the clouds.”  “As long as I have known her she had these impossible projects.  The really weird thing is she does them.”

I admit it is true,  I have always been a dreamer.  To tell you the truth I like dreaming about the supposed impossible.   I like doing the things people only dream about.  However, I need help with this one.  This one I cannot do alone, I really need your assistance and I am not the kind of person that asks for help.

I enjoy doing it alone, I always have, in my own little personal way.  I have taken homeless in since I was first on my own.  I have volunteered to feed them, I have given them clothes and accessories in the parks and streets of Washington DC,  Florida,  California and New York.  With their permission I took pictures to make the point that they need more help.  That we are capable of giving them what they need to live life securely, and in a giving back way for them, as well as us..

All alone in cold subway

These communities would be set up in such a way they themselves would eventually run them.  Each community would have a cafeteria where they could serve, and cook,  a Clinic with volunteering medical specialists, with doctors, dentists, nurses and more.  There would be a Vocational center for learning and retraining for those capable.  Showers, beds and benches would be available.  Schizophrenics and other disabled homeless individuals can train to run the workings of a community.   In NAMI the national Alliance for Mentally ill,  a president  of NAMI was schizophrenic.

We just need to build them.  They will come.  They can take over, with little supervision, eventually.   Please help me accomplish this and celebrate with me the very first community here in Palm Beach Florida at our first real Gala Opening.

Not going to happen.  So sorry to report there was no interest.

The Miracle Of Mr Wood

Did you ever meet some one that changed your life, so positively, you never forgot him?    That was Mr Wood.

I grew up in a poor neighborhood where we all struggled just to survive. In that neighborhood I met Mr Woods. There were very few people owning the places they lived in, he was one of them.

At the time I was in my twenties and somewhat immature, Mr Wood was in his nineties and had wisdom, like you would not believe. In fact, I was going out with Jorge, a young man I had known since I was thirteen years old. This young man just happened to be Mr woods grandson.

The few times, up to then, I had talked with Mr Wood, I remember being impressed. I know I always looked forward to seeing him and loving our, always interesting, conversations.

One day he came up to me with a book he felt I had to read. I do not know about you as a young adult, but me, I was impulsive and immature.  There was much I took for granted, including those I loved, and I thought I knew it all. So when Mr Wood gave me the book that would later influence the rest of my life I gave it back a week later without reading it. The book was a positive Spiritual consciousness book, written by an artist in the nineteen thirties. Though I always loved God I did not believe reading a spiritual book, at that time, would be interesting.  The following week I noticed he had given that same book to his grandson, my boyfriend, Jorge.

At the time Jorge was going through some rough times in his life. Having always been interested in reading and a regular church goer, two weeks after he had read the book, his life became much better, all his problems cleared up completely.

I asked to have the book again and read it that day.

Not only did Mr Wood have miracles, books and ideas he shared with those he cared for, he was a miracle himself. He could not see, was almost blind, and had to wear heavy prescription glasses. Every morning, weather permitting, this incredibly bright man walked to the nearest library to research his favorite topics and read. There were times he fell against a post, in the snow, but he got right up, bruised, in pain and continued to the library.

One day I asked him what had happened, when I saw he had a black and blue mark on his face. He explained he had a slip on the ice on his way to read at the library. I asked why he had gone to the library when it was so cold, the ground covered with ice and snow. He explained it was what he loved to do, no matter the weather.

“If it is at all possible for me to get there I attempt it.”

He said.   This wonderful gentleman also had a family very much like himself. His daughter Nina, also a scholar when it came to reading and learning was very interesting, I loved the conversations we had, as friends, before I dated her son Jorge. His other daughters Mavis and Carole were bright and full of life. Johnny his son was dashing and a favorite with many of the girls in the neighborhood, one named Sandy, the prettiest friend I had, at the time.

I was grateful I knew Mr Wood and his family and visited often. I was so proud Jorge cared for me as much as I did him. I dreamed of having been born to a family like this one and often daydreamed about it. I believe Mr Wood knew how I felt, I know Mavis did, she once told me how happy she was I was interested in her nephew. I think it was to make me feel at home and accepted.

Years went by, Mr Wood passed away and the days became just a bit darker. But when looking at the clouds I sometimes saw Mr Wood face looking back. In the fall the shadow in the snow seemed to be outlining his footprints to the library.

I missed Mr Woods, I felt like the planet was not as light as it once had been, and as time went by it became a little easier to handle.  I thought of our conversations and how wonderful they were and I laughed, how great it was to have had a friend like Mr Wood.

It is because of the precious giving individuals like Mr Wood and those writing the books he loved to read that the world can reveal to us, if we choose to see, as he did, miraculous opportunities, ideas, dreams, hopes and wonders, only limited by our imagination.

I have written, up to date, many articles, eight books and two comedy/drama, one drama, true life, movie treatments. I dedicate all I write to God and Mr Wood.

Is there a Mr or Mrs. Wood in your life, an enchanting, kind soul willing to share his or her wisdom with those around them? I hope so. I have met a few individuals I can honestly say, that has left their imprint and mentored me along my way, several that were homeless, but few ever matched the wisdom and friendship I shared with Mr Wood.

For additional information or books similar to article go to http://www.alchemypublishers.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lorraine_Blum

Letter to the courts, Mental illness vs criminality

To whom it may concern in the departments of the court above,
I hope you are reading this letter in good health. I am sorry to bother you, I know you are all busy, and I know also that you take your jobs seriously and try your best, but I feel there is a definite need to discuss this, somewhat out of control, subject. That is the topic of mental illness treatment verses criminal acts and punishment.

In the field myself, of Social Work and Psychotherapy, I am familiar with the need for much more care and service in the area of mental health in South Florida and the lack of facilities offering the kind of help, the courts could use.
I understand you are limited by availability of assistance and the mentally handicap persons limited understanding and difficulty in cooperating.It is not an easy situation, it is an ongoing dilemma for the ill individuals, families, Court system, Lawyers and Judges.However, the seemingly automatic criminal judgements handed down to these helpless people putting them in even more stressful, possibly future dangerous situations, is not the answer.

In my case, that of Robert Blum, my son, soon to be 33 years old, ill since diagnosed with Schizophrenia and Clinical Depression at the age of fifteen,given several felonies.
This is an individual that lost his entire family, except for his mother, myself, his home and all his friends and future dreams. Shortly before his father ran away with everything we had, he did not know where his father was for eight months and blamed himself. He located him to ask why he left and what it was he had done to make him leave. My x, his father, a real criminal, slammed the door in Robert’s face, not at all interested, other than getting away with what he had done and continues to do, never having given alimony or child support. (Except for several $50.00 payments when found by children’s support collection agency.) I tell all this to make you see this is a real person that is hurting who is an innocent ill individual. After I go, no one in the world will he have. With felonies and a brain that does not work how will he survive?
This is not the way this scenario should go. All ill people, no matter their crime, should be treated for their illness, especially if they are to improve or learn from their actions. Of course there may be some, so severe, they need to be in a state hospital, indefinitely, criminally insane separated from those of lessor crimes. For those like my son a treatment center, centers should be in place to heal them, not put them in remission for a season with poisonous medicines that encourage greed from the pharmaceutical industry. In Canada Orthomolecular approaches have cured Schizophrenia for over twenty five years. If money was not an issue these homeless mentally ill young people, otherwise mostly intelligent, would be off the street in treatment of that kind, as they are in Canada.  Later able to go on with their lives in a fruitful manner, adding to society instead of being a burden.

I realize you have limitations as to what you can and cannot do and you cannot provide this system of care so needed.  However, you could take these situations into account and treat them, not as criminals, but as those that need treatment, not in jail, but in treatment of some kind.
With my son who is not cooperative when off meds, a Psychiatrist and counselor he must see for a period of time, (Hopefully that will be able to assist his care and meds until the orthomolecular program is in place.) in leu of a jail sentence and felony.

Perhaps discussion can begin on some level of government about more access to treatment, or a look past the harmful pharmaceuticals to Orthomolecular for America as well . That may be too political for the courts of our time and location to handle, but the issues certainly can be looked at closely by the Lawyers, Prosecutors and Judges in cases such as this.
Please have the Public Defender who admits she may not have explained everything to his understanding rewrite a motion that is appropriate. Please have the prosecutor assist in any way she can. God bless all of you. I pray those that need help get it. The courts need to deal harshly with criminals, not mental patients. I cannot thank you enough for your time. Thank you so much.