One of Our Own has Passed

Finally-with mixed emotions we are sad to report that Annette (the one who could talk in front of herself) has succumbed to her life of years of severe addiction to drugs. She is at peace.

Even in her death people were still confusing the two Annettes. One woman wanted to know when the house at Crawford Avenue will be for rent now that Annette has died.

I am sorry-but I had to LAUGH out loud on that one!

It may take years for people to realize it-but now there really is only one Annette living in Harrisburg.

Only Our Peeps (People)

So we send one of our peeps (people) let's call him E-yes we bought a vowel-We sent him off to buy 50 hotdogs with fifty buns. He spent over $130! He bought 50 packs of hotdogs!!

It was so stupid we just had to laugh.

If you want to know why these peeps are homeless...

Our Mottos

--The moon is always full over Mercy Ministries, Inc.  (See photo from earlier post)

--You don’t have to be crazy to work here-we’ll train you.

--Ask yourself-Who do you see? What do you have? Jesus said, “The poor will be with you always.” 

--Fran commenting on a “volunteer” and his numerous problems, “I hope there is a pill for that.” She said.

My personal favorite:

--Lord give me patience AND an untraceable handgun.

On that note-Working Girls

My church partnered with a Harrisburg church to do a Women’s Expo which was a health clinic for women. We were giving free manicures, goody bags and prayer-if they wanted us to pray for them. My non-denominational church hung a HUGE banner on the side of Mercy Ministries advertising the Expo. The church where the women's expo will be held was two blocks away from the Center.

Susie receives a call on her personal cell phone from a drunk woman complaining about women being exposed. The drunk woman said, “It’s illegal to expo women in North Carolina.”

Susie tried explaining to her it was about women’s health.

The woman replied, “I was expoed and my health was greatly affected.”

We could only LAUGH at this point.

So I did a prank call on Susie’s phone asking to be involved in the women’s expose and swore I was NOT from North Carolina. 

How did that lady get Susie's cell phone number? The banner had the Day Center number on it.

Another Working Girl Story

Fran receives a mysterious phone call about a clinic wanting to do a health check-up on all the prostitutes in Harrisburg. She calls me and asks what television channel is sponsoring this. I make several phones calls to the local affiliate stations. I discover that the local network CBS station had an agreement with Christ Community Clinic. They wanted to do a health check of our “working girls.”

So when the time came for the clinic-it was too late-Fran told all our working girls it was a hoax and they left the Mercy Ministries Fenwick Street Center before the clinic started.  That was a good thing because about four to five Richmond County police cruisers showed up outside Mercy Ministries. A really mean officer was carding the women walking through our door. It turns out the television news reporter asked the police there to-get this-help her identify the PROSTITUTES for her story!

I swear-you do NOT need any brain cells to work for TV. How many interviews will you get from a WORKING GIRL with police presence a shoulder’s length away….Hmmmmm.

We felt bad because the clinic personnel had no women-so we pulled FORMER working girls from Mercy Manor and had a local pseudo women’s shelter bring their gals out.

I decided (privately to myself) that this event should be called the HOE-DOWN. Unfortunately I voiced that thought aloud to Fran.

To my horror Fran told our pastor what I wanted to call it. We at least all had a good laugh over it-including our pastor.

No offense to the working girls. We know they are trying to survive on the streets and we gladly feed and clothe them. If they want to get out of that life we would not hesitate to assist them.

Just Say No

Here is a story that begs you to say NO to drugs. Almost a year later…May 2010-Annette (the one who could talk in front of herself) had suffered a stroke. She had a black eye and her face kind of sagged to one side because she had fallen to floor while having a seizure. It was amazing she could still walk and talk a few days after the stroke.

I had what I thought was a reality check with her. I told her she was lucky she could still walk and function. I also said there where no 60 year-old crack heads (Annette was 48) and that CRACK will kill her.

Annette proceeded to set the record straight and tell me she didn’t smoke crack the day she had a stroke. She was doing METH. It was her first time ever for THAT drug.

Well excuse me! Like one drug is “better” over another. 

I was incredulous by her response.

P.S. Doing drugs DOES make one stupid!

Working Girls

I had heard stories about Annette-working girl and crack addict. I saw her from a distance-long blonde stringy hair and a super-thin woman. We could not be mistaken-I was sure. I was in the office on a Saturday with her and Susie. She started to whisper to Susie and ask for money for toiletries and Susie said, “It’s all right-you can talk in front of Annette.”

Miss Annette looked up and asked, “I can talk in front of myself?”

Susie, exasperated stresses, “No. That Annette.” As she points to me.

Annette turns around and was confused. She asked me if my name was Annette. She looked very surprised.

I was trying desperately NOT to laugh.

So the joke around the office was that she the Annette that could talk in front of herself and I was the Annette that could talk behind her back.

So whenever Annette (the one who can talk in front of herself) sees me, she says, “Hey Annette.”

I reply, “Hey Annette.”

She says, “I feel like I’m talking to myself.”

I explain to her that she IS talking in front of herself and I am talking behind my back.

Why People Are Homeless Part 3

Here is another example of the people we have to deal with on a daily basis...

The guys in the Center were told to take out the trash to the dumpster. They carried the barrels to the dumpster and there they sat next to it. We have two large, blue, 55 gallon plastic barrels full of rotting food and other stinky trash next to a large dumpster and they would stay there until they were FINALLY emptied into the trash. In utter frustration Fran instructed the guys to carry the barrels to the dumpster and put them in the trash. Fran said, “Annette, do you know what these people did?”

I answered, “They threw the blue barrels INTO the dumpster.”

It was the most illogical plan of action but to them-the most literal.

She emphatically replied, “Yes! The barrels were IN the dumpster.”

So Fran was in a training class with people from a partnership grant Mercy Ministries received. She explained the trash problem in a group setting. Fran told me what one of the responses was from an out-of-touch participant. He told her she needed to explain in great detail how to take out the trash step-by-step and then, send the volunteers a follow-up email. I laughed myself off the couch when I heard this “fix.”

Most of these folks don’t own a computer let alone have email. Some may even be illiterate. I asked, “That answer was not in our zip code?”

Fran corrected me, “That answer was not in our reality.”

If People Want to Know Why Some People Stay Homeless Part 2

Here is one example of “our” people:  A sign was posted inside the front door to Fran's office-it read, “All volunteers must sign-in” Fran complained to me that they had to take the sign down because people were signing in-ON THE SIGN!  I wished they had kept it-that would have made a funny picture.

If people want to know WHY some people stay homeless…

Addictions-what is the difference between...

What is the difference between a crack addict and an alcoholic?  An alcoholic, when they steal your money, they just shrug their shoulders when confronted. "Oh, well, too bad," they say. A crack addict when they steal your money-they will help you look for it. 

Another difference:

A crack addict has a driver’s license and no automobile and an alcoholic has a car and no driver’s license. The druggie sells their car for drugs and the drunk is too stupid and drinks and drives and gets 1 too many DUI’s.

How we got Mercy Manor

This story is from the Augusta Chronicle from May 2012. We were given Mercy Manor from the bank in Waynesboro, Ga. in 2009.  Our address is 644, 646, 648, 650 Crawford Avenue. The 4 doors in the previous post have a different address. We do not pay taxes on this piece of property because it is used for non-profit purposes. The people who rent from us pay $300 a month which includes all utilities. They can eat next door at the Mercy Ministries Day Center and use our laundry room for no charge.

 

 

Former Augusta Commission candidate Robert DeMello sentenced to 58 months in federal prison for bank fraud

By Susan McCord

Staff Writer

Former Augusta Commission candidate Robert DeMello was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to 58 months in federal prison.

FILE/STAFF

Robert DeMello, a former candidate for Augusta Commission and Georgia Senate, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 58 months confinement for bank fraud.

DeMello, a real estate broker who in 2005 lost a bid for the commission District 1 post to Betty Beard, was indicted two years ago along with property manager Raymond Turner and appraiser William Raulerson on three counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
The indictment said that between 2003 and 2010 DeMello recruited and paid several individuals to serve as straw buyers to purchase Augusta properties – located at 644 Crawford Ave., 1211 and 916 Greene St., and 2570 Lumpkin Road – at inflated values used to obtain mortgage loans from a Waynesboro, Ga., bank.
DeMello and Turner, who according to the indictment obtained fraudulent appraisals of the properties from Raulerson and filed the mortgage applications, were ordered together to pay the bank restitution of $451,656. Turner was sentenced last year to 62 months in federal prison.
According to minutes from his sentencing, DeMello accepted a plea agreement and was sentenced on Count 2 of the indictment, bank fraud. He requested a federal facility and agreed to turn himself in by Saturday.

Mercy Manor

This was the old Ward School. Our building is over 150 years old. I am showing 3 photos-before, during and after the construction.

If People Want to know WHY some people stay homeless PART 1

We have a boarding named that we lovingly call Mercy Manor. It houses about 20 people who would otherwise be homeless. We were given the property. (More about that in the next post) So here is a short story to illustrate who our people are...

A Mercy Manor resident named Carol was upset. She walks into the front office next door (Mercy Ministries Day Center) and complains to Susie (office manager) that she has over a $200 cable television bill.

“I am NOT paying this bill,” Carol firmly states as she stamps her feet.

Susie asks her why.

Carol said, “Well, I don’t have a TV-so I don’t need to pay for the bill.”

Susie starts to laugh and says-“Carol-why did you order cable in the first place?”

Carol did NOT think it was funny but she was so proud of having paid all her bills for the month and NOT buying any illegal drugs in the process.

If people want to know WHY some people stay homeless…

As a side note "Carol" not her real name-was asked to leave because she keep sneaking her boyfriend in every night and she kept failing drug tests.  She was gone in the next 3 months.

Let's get started...

I have finally decided to actually write SOMETHING. I wanted to call this blog numerous things, ie: The Moon Is Always Full over Mercy Ministries; You Don't Have to be Crazy to Work Here; Welcome to the 5-ring circus-Mercy Ministries.

                                            Here is our desktop photo for our office machines.
So this blog started out as a book-but the situations are short-to the point, ridiculous, sad, insane and numerous other adjectives.
Welcome to the world of non-profits in Augusta, Ga. Glad you can come along for the ride. Fasten your seat belts honey-you're gonna need it!

Mercy Mary