Comments on: On the Streets: The Station

By: nancy

nancy — Mon, 03 May 2010 01:39:56 +0000

great article really gets the reality out in the open the other side of homeless is shelter life wish i knew of someone that would like to do a story on a shelter

By: Maya Laurent

Maya Laurent — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:06:59 +0000

I just got a chance to sit down and read all your NYC posts. I came to this one and I’m still in shock. For as many times as Pat and I have taken in the buses to Penn Station, we had no clue the nights looked like this there. It’s amazing how we could have walked through those places over and over and never known this. We continue to be amazed at what God is doing with WND and opening eyes in new ways.

By: Michele

Michele — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:13:39 +0000

Barry,
I have read your entries each day of your journey in NYC. While I read your journal entries, I am sitting in the comfort of my home, with the option to shower if I choose, make a warm cup of coffee if I choose, drive to the store if I choose and basically live my life in suburbia as if the world you are experiencing doesn’t exist. You opened my eyes to the loneliness of the homeless….the desparation of the loneliness…I will ALWAYS look a peddler in the eye now, even if I say no. If that is one lesson I have learned from you, then I would say your journey has been successful! Just like the homeless, no one likes to be ignored. No one likes to shunned in any situation and who would have thought that the homeless had the same exact feelings. I certainly am not too proud to admit that I never thought of the homeless having those types of feelings. I will say this, most homeless are already mentally ill in some sort of capacity. Not all, but most. Most choose to remain homeless as it is easier to deal with than to have to have the responsibilities of a job, bills, etc. I think the experiences that the homeless encounter on a daily basis only adds to their unstable mental capacity. I look forward to your posts and read them immediately when they land in my inbox. You are truly an amazing person who I believe was chosen by God to spread the word of the voiceless. This may feel like a lot of pressure but you handle your God given talent with Grace, dignity, respect and most importantly love. God bless you Barry. YOU make me want to be a better person.

By: Courtney Spear

Courtney Spear — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:08:04 +0000

So proud of you Barry! You are amazing!!! My husband and I have been working w/ the homeless downtown Indy for 3 years, with a ministry called Outreach, Inc. Homelessness is a different world!!! Poverty intrigues me! And makes me sad. I love reading your blog! Keep posting! My family and I are praying for you. Can’t wait to learn more from you.

By: Bea

Bea — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:38:13 +0000

That was an interesting story I am glad you chose to find out. I am from a family that has slept on the streets, in shelters and other peoples floors. I know what it’s like to go to check the dumpster @ McDonalds when it hits lunch time just to have a meal. I now work for a homeless shelter and I will not turn away from someone because how they look or smell. I am one of them. When I hear people I know expressing how bad homeless people are for whatever reason it takes me back to when was a little girl and how people would treat me and my family alot of my friends don’t even know today that I lived as homeless most of my life. Thank You for taking out the time I hope the best for you.

By: Jane VanOsdol

Jane VanOsdol — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:28:45 +0000

How hard it must be to break this cycle of homelessness. I can see how quickly the downward slide into depression, exhaustion, hoplessness, sickness, etc. must be when every night you are awakened countless times. Never your own place to lie down, never any privacy, never any dignity. How do you break this cycle once it starts?

By: Steve H.

Steve H. — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:10:26 +0000

Walking back from a concert downtown Indy late last night… your story made me keenly aware of the “hidden homeless” (especially as I walked past the closed doors of Wheeler)

By: Juan Galloway

Juan Galloway — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:14:38 +0000

Thanks for sleeping in Penn Station and going through anxiety, discomfort and sleeplessness so the rest of us can get a closeup view of the unseen world of the homeless, disabled and invisible. Jesus lives in Penn Station. Wow.

http://www.reliefbus.org
http://www.facebook.com/thereliefbus
http://www.twitter.com/thereliefbus

By: M. C. Krise

M. C. Krise — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:58:50 +0000

Thanks Barry for reminding us of the conditions in our cities. We live in a large city and through mission agencies we help by giving and praying. As we have gotten older (retired) we have made a life of prayer for the needy. May our Lord Jesus bless you as you continue helping the needy.

By: jayme

jayme — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:43:11 +0000

I just read in the paper here in Fort Wayne, In that more and more men and women coming back from the war and left jobless and end up on the streets. This has happened in the past but the numbers are rising. Our local Va is doing the best they can but our shelters are full. It breaks my heart to know a war veteran may come home to sleep on the street.