Zinnias, butterflies, wheelchairs, wanderers

A man calls who is in a wheelchair and needs an electrical breathing apparatus at night.  He's moved into an apartment but can't get the electricity turned on because someone has fraudulently used his name at a residence where he's never lived.  Doesn't look like he can get this resolved until Monday at least.

A woman comes in looking for an efficiency apartment.  She'd been staying at a church-run "home" but was kicked out because she went to a relative's funeral instead of a house meeting.  We'll meet again Monday; we might have a few leads for her.  After she leaves, our senior aide says she knows two other people abruptly kicked out of the same facility, after turning over most of their money.

A woman emails me who has gradually become disabled and is now in a wheelchair.  She's single, has been bouncing from friend to friend, is on every waiting list for a handicapped apartment but is being told she's years away from getting one.  I don't know if there's any w3ay we can speed up the process.

Another woman calls-- her brother is incarcerated, is sick, in fear of his life, and is being transferred to a maximum security prison even though he only has a year of his short sentence left to serve..  Ellen talks to her; Ellen has already tried to reach advocates in eastern Mass on her behalf without success.

A man comes in who wants to know why he received an eviction notice even though he's paid his rent.  (This was an easy one.)

Ruth from Mass Law Reform Institute,  Liz and I get on the phone to plan our strategies around the homeless families being turned away from shelter.  We have some ideas. I start designing a flyer in my head that we can pass out at Welfare.  This is a war against the poor, well underway, while we're still rallying the troops.  (Too bad there's no way to "draft" the people who are supposed to care but are too busy to help.)  The good news is, we totally understand the battle strategies of the enemy: empty the shelters, and bar most everyone else from entering.  They count on the apathy of the people, and we have to find a way to prove them wrong.

Our semi-office cat comes in from the heat.  John stops over and takes a photo of a butterfly which has landed on the zinnias we've planted at our back door.  All in all, we've had worse days.