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Featured Article |
 | | Advocate Launch Party |
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COME TO THE ADVOCATE LAUNCH PARTY AT CARITAS VILLAGE ON FEBRUARY 17th
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!
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Greetings!
Welcome to "The Advocate: A Voice of Experience." The articles in the Advocate are written by members of the Door of Hope Writing Group. Thanks to Christy Martine Bacon-Cooper, Ellen Morris Prewitt, Tekisha Fowler, and Jennifer Sudbury for their work producing The Advocate. If you like what you read, forward it to a friend. And join us at our free Advocate Launch Party at Caritas Village on February 17th where we'll have a public reading. We are able to pay our writers thanks to a grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission.
June Averyt, Executive Director, Door of Hope
p.s. We only want to send you The Advocate if you want to receive it. Unsubscribe below if you wish to be removed from our list or if you're receiving duplicates. Thanks so much for your support.
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A Blessing
by Nelwyn Owens
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 A Blessing
May the Lord God bless everyone in the city of Memphis with love and compassion for their fellow man. May the Lord also bless everyone this year with a good job and a nice house. May the Lord bless the city to care as much about homeless people as they do about homeless animals. May the Lord bless everyone to have a peaceful New Year, as well as a healthy New Year. May the Lord bless everyone at the Door of Hope financially also. May the Lord bless everyone that is expecting a financial blessing to get it this year. May the Lord bless my children with abilities to achieve their goals. May the Lord bless the homeless with homes this year. May the Lord bless the hungry everywhere with food. May the Lord bless the naked with clothes. May the Lord bless everyone to be thankful and grateful for each blessing he gives.
Nelwyn Owens
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Advice for the Homeless
by William L. Hogan, Jr.
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If homeless people think of the welfare place and the welfare of their self they would get up and go to a place of help. Stop going to the eating place for a while and get to some place where they would take you in and talk to you about your homelessness. Find out of a home to go to. When I was homeless, I was going to some eating places and work a little and the churches. I got to know Miss June Averyt and paid her rent and am now in a home. So look for opportunity and you check into the things that would get you a home and check into you a home.
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A Responsibility I have Taken On
by Michael Rawlings
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 The responsibility that I have taken is my apartment. A responsibility that is a very good responsibility for me. Why I have taken this responsibility, because it is the right thing for a person of my age to do. It is a responsibility I need to do for my age. I needed to get out of the streets. I am too old for them now. I needed a place of my own. |
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To Advocate Towards Homelessness
by Cheryl Coday
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 I recall the first time I was homeless. I am a female and I was afraid of being raped during the day when I didn't have shelter in the late afternoon. I prayed a lot for protection and stayed at the bus station quite a bit.
I believe there should be more housing for single women without children as well as more housing for single women with children. There are so many drug dealers and pimps that prey on women that are in this type of vulnerable place in their life. These people aren't out to care about these women but to use them to make money. The women are caught in a trap and the children's lives are hurt deeply from the bad influences.
When these women find a safe haven to start over with a staff that will be there for them a change is made in their lives.
These women and children need stability, not aimlessness - wandering on the streets, living in shelters wondering where their lives are going. With a permanent home, they can begin afresh, start looking for a job and know the reality of being safe.
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The Ups and Downs of Crime in the City
by Robert Hence, Jr.
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The only "ups" about crime in the city are for the people and the entities that are making money hand over heel. They are the cash cows falling in line with misconceptions of crime. In truth, there are no "ups" in crime, there is only false happiness or gains that are mostly short-term or outweigh the consequences. There are better solutions to most of the main part of crime and why crime is so high and dangerous, which seems to only be getting worse. I myself feel (my feeling is almost a fact that I know) we will make the best and biggest progress with tackling the social part of the interaction with the inner city, as well as with the outer parts of the city. We as a whole should take part in this new change, in order for it to really work.
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Patriotic Family
by Mack Trent |
Patriotism has been a common trait in my family. Although my sons have never served in the U.S. Armed Forces, my father, brother and me are all veterans of a war or conflict.
My father served in the Army during World War Il during the '40s and early '50s. He was a PFC. upon his discharge at Ft. Monmouth, N.J. He was given an honorable discharge with medical conditions. He lost hearing in one of his ears due to the loud guns in his artillery unit.
My brother served in the Army during the Vietnam War from 1969 to 1971. His MDS was a cook. Although he saw no combat, he went to Europe (Germany). After his active duty, he spent twenty-five years in the Army Reserve. He retired in 2000.
I served in the Air Force during the Vietnam Era. My job was a Rescueman on a HH-43 helicopter. I spent 1 1/2 tours of duty in Vietnam, and flew 20 combat missions. The VA has granted me 50% disability on my injuries. I love my country and would defend it on any occasion.
Mack C. Trent |
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Veterans
by Jockluss Thomas Payne
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 My father, Eli Payne, Jr., was a World War II veteran. He had this big wooden box where he kept all his photographs and other papers. He had served in the Army Corp of Engineers, which were basically road builders and bridge builders. He had been in at least 7 or 8 different parts of the world. From Okinawa and Guam to France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. One of his most terrible memories was burying dead soldiers. Especially in Germany, where the ground was so cold they had to use jackhammers and bull dozers to make mass graves. They would gather dog tags then push all of the dead bodies, both Allies and Germans into deep pits. Then cover them up. He was a working soldier rather than a fighting soldier, but the Army needed his work to secure victories. I never became a veteran due to certain deferments. But I have nothing but praise for our veterans. My dad and mom are both buried in a National Cemetery. I usually place flowers on their graves every Veteran's Day. But I miss some Veterans Days. I remember him mostly as a dedicated father as well as a dedicated soldier. May they both continue to rest in peace. Jockluss Thomas Payne
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In My Childhood
by Shelley Ann Bollinger
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 In my room, I had a little red wagon and I had a little red tractor. I had a little gold doorknob with my name on it. Mrs. West is the next door neighbor and across the way or street was Patsy, Tina, Jimbo and they were from Memphis, Tennessee while I was living in my mother's asbestos house but had a picture of the original Blue Boy painting, a writing desk antique with needlepoint bench, and a marble coffee table with a floral arrangement that I had given her for her birthday present. My mom helped raise me but my grandmother was the one I stayed with while my Mother played bridge and would have square dancing, plus and she made handmade wedding dresses, "Bridal Boutique" was the name. You see she had a sewing machine and my grandmother had a one of a kind Singer sewing machine. Yours truly, Shelley Anne Wyatt
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Advocating for the Arts
by Tekisha Fowler
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 My name is Tekisha and I am writing in regards to funding for the arts because the arts are very fundamental to everyone, not just children. I believe that the arts provide everyone an outlet to express ourselves without turning to drastic measures, such as violence or drugs. I feel that expressing ourselves creatively through writing, song/dance, etc. allows us to be free and independent. That's why we support the arts.
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Promotion
by Christy Martine Bacon-Cooper
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 Attending writing classes at the Door of Hope was a revival for my writing skills. Because I had a small rest in my freelance career of a writer, my skills of a writer were refreshed and recognized by June Averyt, the Director of the Door of Hope, and Ellen Morris Prewitt who is editor of the Advocate. After writing on various topics, I was asked to go in more in-depth in my writing into Volunteer work for the Door of Hope Notecard project, that will surface to sale in a couple of months when designs are finished. I also was assigned to the Cooper-Young Festival project, that includes tent, Door of Hope literature, t-shirts, pens, and also will include this year, Door of Hope hats, and a new, recently designed Door of Hope tie-dyed t-shirt. After exerting a convincing effort in my volunteer duties and because of my persistence, I was chosen to become a Vista Volunteer. I was flown to Atlanta, GA for Vista Volunteer Pre-orientation Conference. After attending a variety of classes on poverty in America, and learning the value of process of being a Vista Volunteer, there were some very important views and theories that I had discovered. The most important was seeing clearly my plan to start my microenterpirse for the Door of Hope, all the way to a website on the internet to generate funds to aid the Door of Hope organization. With detailed advice from my Vista Volunteer Conference, I will accomplish my microenterprise internet website, the Door of Hope Store. I'm eager and very excited to have been chosen to become an Americorps Vista Volunteer. |
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LET US HEAR FROM YOU!
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We want to hear from you. Your feedback will be shared with the contributing writers. We will also use your comments to improve the effectiveness of The Advocate. Thanks for being part of this new writing venture. Click Here To Give Us Your Feedback
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ADVOCATE LAUNCH PARTY | |
DATE: FEBRUARY 17
TIME: 4:30-6:30
PLACE: CARITAS VILLAGE
2509 HARVARD
MEMPHIS
FREE, OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!
FEATURING READINGS BY THE DOOR OF HOPE WRITING GROUP, TAI CHI DEMONSTRATION BY PILGRIM'S REST, SIGNED NOTECARDS FOR SALE ALONG WITH CANDLES, T-SHIRTS AND OTHER ITEMS HAND-MADE BY DOOR OF HOPE GUESTS
COME, BRING A FRIEND - SEE YOU THERE!
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Third Annual CommunityWriters Retreat
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DATE: February 18
TIME: 9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
PLACE: Door of Hope Support Center
COST: $50 for 6 workshops
HOST: Door of Hope Writing Group
Writing instructional workshops co-led by Door of Hope Writing Group members along with Commercial Appeal columnist Wendi Thomas, novelist Dwight Fryer, memoirist Elaine Blanchard, word smith Floridia Jackson, spirtual writer the Very Rev. Andy Andrews, and poet Pat Crocker. Come and enjoy a day of writing in community.
(space is limited!)
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Thanks for reading. Thanks for helping us to end homelessness, one door at a time.
Read More About Our Mission
Sincerely,
June Averyt
Door of Hope |
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