4/17/2024
Let’s talk adventures in Detroit!
We had the ultimate mother-load of food to take out this week. It was beautiful!
Our first stop of the night, we pulled over and sat for about an hour. Little swarms of mostly women and a few men approached the van eager for food. I love it when the weather breaks into the warm season. We can stand outside and talk to people more.
One couple who was treated had the necrosis terrible in them. The young man had a hole in his arm that looked like it had been scaped out with a burning ice cream scooper. It was kind of heart shaped. I spoke with his girlfriend for a bit while he was receiving medical attention.
You could not have met a gentler soul than this girl. She couldn’t have weighed more than 80 pounds. My dog weighs heavier than her. She has the softest, sweetest little voice. She talked to us about her addiction and how hard she was trying to be free. She was working with the medical team to put herself in a position to succeed. The housing resource specialist found her an apartment. She can’t wait to be somewhere safe. She want to be in a home where the bad things aren’t always coming after her.
I saw the open flesh wound on her hand. The skin rotted off all the way up her arms, but she couldn’t move her sleeves. The necrosis has spread into her hands, and her fingers are permanently bent. The knuckles are swollen, and her fingers don’t move anymore. Traci remembered struggling to put gloves on her hands last winter. They had to find her some mittens. She said she’s been like that since last April. It’s very painful all the time.
Xylazine. It’s what drug dealers mix with fentanyl to make to make the high more intense. It’s also an animal tranquilizer that over time causes necrosis, aka, the flesh rot.
We had a small crowd of people by the two vehicles. Some of the women were known sex-workers. A couple of cars parked around the corner from us. They were staring at our girls like they were waiting for something.
Tuesday nights are special for our people. It’s the one time of the entire week that they can get their survival needs met safely. It is a coveted, sacred time.
Nick was out with us again. I love this dude. He noticed the other guys staring at our girls. Nick got out of the van and just walked around and stood between the girls and the other men. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. Traci and I took care of our ladies, and the other guys drove away. We laughed!
Two ladies parked their vehicles in front of ours. Then they got out of their cars and started walking around the perimeter of the empty lot we were all parked in front of. They were praying. They walked around and around the edge of the lot praying for a while.
Next thing I know, Traci is best friends with these two ladies, and she invites me over to meet them. They are from a local church. They set up tables and offer meals to people in that little lot every week. I think it would be fantastic to work with their little group sometime. Don’t you?
We drove to a few more places on the southwest side. A couple of them were places where we knew people lived. A few people we just met randomly walking.
We saw Show-Time, but he looked really confused. He was standing in an empty parking lot with some of his belongings scattered around him in a circle. By the time I gave him food, hygiene and a hug, the medic team said that we were being video recorded. Time to go. Now.
A saw a kitty walking alone outside, but the caravan wouldn’t turn around so that I could feed him. Sigh.
The old man who camped behind the ice cream shop remembered me. Everyone was elated with the amazing, generous food donations. Marley (Felix) and Lilli worker hard preparing chicken salad and putting it on croissants and yummy bread. We had plenty of cookies and muffins to keep people munching on something until next week.
Fed a kitty!
“Can I get some of those hot dogs?”
Apparently, there is a group that drives around serving people hot dogs. Sometimes we get mixed up with them. They haven’t been around in a while though.
I saw Darla! Our favorite homeless 3-legged pit bull! I had food for her, and she had a bunch of licky- lovey kisses for me. She still uses the leash I gave her last year. Her person loves that she gets loved on by us.
He is a nice man.
Last stop of the night, I saw my Widow Who Sits! She came dancing across the mud parking lot to give me a hug. The van was towed away. Now she lives in an abandoned pick-up truck with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend who, by the way, is still free and clean after a week of living out there! He still has his job and finds a way to get to work every day. He looks healthy. He really appreciated the clean socks. After a long day of breaking up concrete, clean feet are a good feeling.
Because, you know, he can’t take shower.
But he can eat real food for breakfast this morning. And he can see what he’s doing because we gave them a flashlight, and a glow stick. He has a clean jacket and socks for work today. He has baby wipes, and toothpaste to clean up. He has the essentials to continue being a grown man. That he can do. We do what we can, and that’s all we can do.
Because that’s how we do it in Detroit.
Amen.