5 a.m.  It’s Tuesday.  @NoShelterDog and his Person sit in front of Brother Benno’s Center.  The center opens its doors at 6:30. @NoShelterDog’s Person readies a canvas knapsack: toothpaste, toothbrush, a bottle of body wash, towels, deodorant, shower shoes, and fresh clothing for the day.  Oh, and a couple of plastic grocery bags to carry away a little food in.

Next, @NoShelterDog.  He leaps out ready to go potty.  He’s got a lot of energy and not a lot of self control, but not in a bad way.  After a brisk 15 minute walk around a section of the isolated industrial park where the center is located, he’s scrubbed down with what looks like Epsom salts and vigorously brushed.  He gets his ears and nose fold cleaned with a 50/50 vinegar and water solution, then kibble is scooped into his bowl.

@NoShelterDog ignores the food dish, preferring instead to lap up water.  After folding the blankets and sorta tidying up a bit, his quiet, yet affable Person settles in the driver’s seat of the ten-year-old Ford Expedition and quietly begins reading the newspaper.  After a time, @NoShelterDog settles down to talk with me, continuing a conversation begun last Friday.  It’s 5:57 am.

“I can tell you this, That…”  he says. “We’re homeless.  We’re not starving.”

Paved Paradise Or CVS Parking Lot

@NoShelterDog is a white English bulldog,  just like me only taller and heavier.  He doesn’t know how old he is.  My guess is he’s maybe three.  I met @NoShelterDog in the parking lot of CVS early one morning as his Person was scrubbing him down just outside the rear double doors of their SUV.  It was early and I wasn’t sure the store was even open.  That’s how I learned the parking lot here is where @NoShelterDog and his owner camp in their vehicle most nights.  I was curious:  How did this happen, and how long has this been going on?  I wanted to get to the story.

The location is fortuitous.  There’s easy access to “facilities.”  The restrooms are locked at this particular CVS store with a pass code entry lock. Customers are escorted to the bathrooms and then the store employee will enter the pass code into the keypad. The young store manager here has a girlfriend who, as fortune would have it, owns a bulldog.

This sliver of shared experience was apparently enough to impel the store manager to trust @NoShelterDog’s Person with the pass code. Now his Person can discreetly pass through the store to the restroom.  This was a practical and much appreciated act of kindness.

Brother Benno’s

@NoShelterDog begins to show me a few pictures he’s taken of the bread piled high on tables inside the center.  Brother Benno’s Center is not a homeless shelter.  It’s a non-profit, all-volunteer organization that has been committed to serving the poor and homeless in San Diego since 1983.

The majority served by this center are working poor families, the disabled and low-income senior citizens; a  small percentage of the clients served here are homeless.

This center is only one in a network of ten facilities.  In addition to the main Center,  Brother Benno’s operates eight residences that provide housing for men and women in recovery from drug and alcohol abuse,  for homeless women and women with children, and for the  ”Servants of the Poor,” all of whom are volunteers.  Even the Executive Director earns a mere $1.00 per year.

Administrative costs are covered by proceeds from the Thrift Store the organization operates and furniture sales from their enormous and well stocked used furniture warehouse.

@NoShelterDog and his Person are here just about every weekday sometimes for the breakfast which is served from 6:30am to 8:00am together with the sack lunches dispensed;  but always for the shower.  The center is closed on Sundays and opens later on Saturdays at 10:00am.

The center provides a laundry service which is offered in exchange for two hours of reciprocal volunteer service.  This reciprocal service serves a pragmatic purpose as it discourages loitering or any other unproductive activity while the patron waits for their clothing to be washed.

Man Must Live Not On Bread Alone

“Everywhere you go people wanna give you food,” @NoShelterDog continues.

“Lack of food is not the problem for the majority of these people here.  I think the majority of  the people who come here have some sort of side business.  They take away cart loads – I mean cart loads of food, especially bread!”

“It’s like a syndicate.  There may be four, maybe five or six so called ‘family’ members who take a large portion of the bread and food the center gives away in these boxes the people are free to help themselves from.  They take the stuff they get here for free and sell it elsewhere.  Even after all that, you can see there’s still plenty left over.”

The photos of the bread on the table were taken by @NoShelterDog after the center had closed the kitchen for the day and all the patrons were gone.

“A Person can actually gain weight being homeless. BOL!  An unrelenting diet of sandwiches and cookies every day seems to have that effect on People.”  BOL!

I kinda felt a spike’a gratitude he was able to chuckle a bit over this observation.

Tell ‘Em It Ain’t So Tragic

“We’re homeless, not hungry.  I would like a place to live again.  I would prefer something like our old life back, I guess.”  The statements are uttered with a dollop of reflective longing and just a smattering of melancholy.

“But make sure you tell ‘em..”  he begins as his Person slams the door and takes a place at the end of the line now forming outside.  It’s 6:15 a.m.  With a curious gleam in his smiling brown eyes, he says “Tell ‘em it ain’t so tragic!  BOL!”

I hung out with @NoShelterDog a full month.  What my interviews with @NoShelterDog reveal about him, his Person, and their situation may surprise you.

Coming soon in The Anipal Times:  @NoShelterDog’s not-so-typical day.

Tagged as: @noshelterdog, Brother Benno's Center, food centers for the poor, homeless dogs, homelessness, joblessness, Unemployed