|
Test your mindset: Who gets help first? |
|
Written by John
|
|
Sunday, 02 March 2008 |
 Thursday morning fire broke out in the Victoria Park Apartments, going through twenty two residents. Within fortyeight hours thirty three residents were put out by fire at the Plantation Apartment complex. One fire from charcoal left in on a barbecue unattended, another a kitchen fire. Both in Jacksonville's Southside area.
More than one hundred new faces and lives entering into a world they probably never saw before. Or maybe not.
Maybe they'll be able to be placed in hotels until more suitable arrangements are made while they rebuild their lives.
Someone once asked me who do you help first...someone who's been in a homeless shelter working at getting out or a fresh family impacted by tragedy and immediate loss of home. For me that's a no brainer.
The family being put out by fair takes precedence, and it's more simpler of a decision than you think, if you don't personalize on it.
Two families. Look at the demonstrated abilities. Look at the assets, employment, and ability to transition into a new home successfully and thrive without returning to the homeless cycle within a year.
The family just put out by fire wins hands down every time, and if you were to ask me or other similar parents I came to know while homeless you'd hear the same conclusion from us all then and now.
We heard these arguments during Katrina. It's human nature. It's also human nature for people to filter in within the ranks and try to take advantage of a situation, as many times was found out when hundreds of people making claims for relief were committing fraud.
Helping someone in dire need shouldn't be minimized by someone else's circumstances. The recent fire victim doesn't affect the homeless person working his way up and out, and neither will the other. For those that would try to do so and say 'first in, first out', grow up and smell the scent of embers in the wind this morning.
There's your priority. |
