Johnson: Brutal cold calls for extraordinary acts of compassion

By Bill Johnson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 13, 2007 at midnight

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I saw her on the way into work, just lying there on the sidewalk beneath a thick blanket that covered everything but a portion of the orange watchman's cap from which her long hair flowed.

I'm guessing it was a woman because of the hair and that she was lying in front of the Denver Rescue Mission, which doesn't normally take women. And save for her, the sidewalk out front, which normally is clogged with men, was empty.

The temperature gauge inside my truck said it was 8 degrees outside. It felt like minus 30. And the thing is, I just drove on.

All of which is how I ended up at the Gathering Place, a daytime shelter for women temporarily housed at Montview Presbyterian Church in Park Hill. I have written of it before.

When I told the story of the sidewalk lady to Terrell Curtis, the shelter's spokeswoman, and Mary Ellen Arthur, its vice president, their eyes lit up and quickly turned into glares.

"Why didn't you stop?" Arthur asked.

I still do not have an answer.

"It is time for people to put aside these 'not-in-my-neighborhood' attitudes, Curtis said. "It's time to let go of our fears and judgments about the homeless and make sure our fellow citizens are not out there dying tonight."

It is exactly why I went to the shelter in the first place.

With daytime temperatures expected to remain in the single digits with snow and freezing drizzle until Tuesday - with nighttime wind-chill readings predicted to drop as low as minus 14 degrees - most people have concerns of their own. I wasn't sure that anyone would be worrying about the homeless.

Turns out, this isn't at all true.

Overnight shelters for men and women remained opened throughout the day Friday. The city also opened its emergency shelter and dispatched teams of workers to scour the river bottoms, overpasses and other spaces where the homeless gather, to bring them in from the cold.

"In 16 years of doing this, I have never seen the city so responsive," Arthur said.

It is a little before noon, absolutely freezing outside, and the shelter is lined with women, some of whom sit and read, others who sleep sprawled on the sofas and several who simply stare straight ahead.

"The women who are here are the ones who really need our services," Curtis said.

It is a light crowd compared with other days. Most of the regulars have already made their way to shelters downtown, reserving a space for the coming night.

Arthur is making rounds of calls, checking on the women she has not seen for days, making sure they will have a safe place out of the cold this weekend.

She knows some, a small number relatively, will attempt to ride out the cold overnight.

She has been at her job a long time.

"They are independent, freedom-lovers who believe they know how to survive in this weather," she says. "My guess is some are doubling up, huddling in places that are really not safe for them."

She wants to know again why I did not stop for the sidewalk lady.

I just didn't want to get involved. There, I said it. I thought the two women might pin me to the wall.

"You know," Curtis said, "this is one of those times when people have got to do the extraordinary."

OK, say I walk up to a guy or woman I think may be homeless, offer them help and it turns out he's not homeless, but just a slob easing his way to the grocery store.

"You don't have to say anything about being homeless," Arthur said. "You can just walk up and say 'You look a little lost. Do you need a little help? I live in the city.' "

I'm still unsure about the whole idea of trying to identify the homeless beyond, well, the obvious.

"I'll give you one," Curtis offers. "You see a woman pushing a baby in a stroller, maybe a little boy next to her, dragging a wheeled suitcase behind him.

"She's either between motel stays or one at a sister's or a cousin's. Homeless."

Call the police department, Arthur said, or direct them to the fire department. Call the city's Outreach program at 720-629-2077. They will get them the help they need, she said.

I'm now feeling even worse about the sidewalk lady. Arthur tries to buck me up.

"She was probably intoxicated and knew the mission's rule that you can't get in if you are. She was probably waiting for Denver Cares or Outreach workers to come pick her up and take her to a safe place.

"These are often very resilient people who know how to make the system work for them. She'll be fine. It's one of those things the upper and middle classes don't understand about the poverty class."

In other words, count your blessings.

Bill Johnson's column appears Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. johnsonw@RockyMountainNews.com.

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