This story may sound a bit like the Grinch at first. Paul Tucker lives at Good Samaritan Haven. Today though he has to pack his bags and vamoose. He was kicked out because of looking for a job he has been helping out the Salvation Army.
See this is the part of the story you may go what a great guy at. He’s helping out others, he should be commended. Read on…….
Tucker received a notice from veteran case worker Norma Fleury at the homeless shelter that he lives at.
“Dear Paul,” it states. “Good Samaritan Haven will no longer support individuals volunteering for the Salvation Army. We provide housing for those trying to get their lives in order. You have until Dec. 1st, to find alternative housing.”
The average stay at Good Samaritan Haven is 29 days. That amount of time generally helps the men they serve to get a hand up and be able to find their own place. They are open from 6pm to 7am daily. They offer welcome, good meals, a clean house, beds, showers, washing facilities, some free clothing, and staff assigned to work out temporary or long-range goals. Individual needs are noted and followed up on by staff in a confidential interview. Information and referrals are offered for job openings, apartment listings, and other needs. This place works hard to serve their clients. They have the impressive number of 141 of the 232 people just this year of moving on and finding housing according to Paul Mascitti, the shelter’s executive director.
Paul Tucker has lived there since May. He knows they provide a nice hot meal. He also should know the rules. Clients are expected to be out there looking for a job. Tucker’s work history includes time spent as a small farmer, a self-employed painter, and, most recently, a maintenance man at the McDonald’s restaurants in Randolph and Burlington. He claims he can’t find work though. He did find a volunteer position with the Salvation Army ringing a bell for 10 hours a day. He receives a $20 stipend for that work. Tucker has been notified that his stay is up on Saturday.
Mascitti said he isn’t running a “free winter hotel” on North Seminary Street.
It may read like the Good Samaritan Haven is cold hearted. After all it’s 10 degrees today in Barrie. But consider that fact in when homelessness is a huge problem. That men are turned away when the beds have been filled. In the Barre area there are a total of four shelters. That’s not a lot when many are down and out. It’s not a lot when the people in them aren’t looking for a real job while they are panhandling money for the Salvation Army.
It doesn’t make sense to me,” he said, quickly conceding that he may have overstayed his welcome.
“In the period of time that I’ve been there I should have been able to move on,” he said, describing his future in central Vermont as “iffy” and a bus trip to Vergennes as “likely.”
“I need to go somewhere,” he said with a shrug. “That’s what she (Fleury) said.”
Tucker’s cases is a sad one. It’s hard to be jobless, homeless and without shelter during the holiday season. It’s also hard to make ends meet when you’re running a shelter. Those who use the shelter as a hand up get one. Those who use the shelter as a free bed get notice that there isn’t any more room at the inn.
“He’s not working toward a permanent solution,” Mascitti said, explaining that Tucker would have received a similar notice if he had taken a low-wage part-time job at a fast-food restaurant, or pursued an unreliable stream of income associated with finding “leads” for a local company that sells vacuum cleaners.
Mascitti thinks that a man willing to stand in the cold for 10 hours ringing a bell should have little trouble obtaining a job. It makes sense.
I can’t justify someone earning $20 a day and costing the (Good Samaritan) Haven $30 a night,” he said, adding: “While that person is taking up a bunk, someone else, who is willing to work toward a permanent solution, can’t be in that bunk … That’s just not right.”
In the end I can’t help but agree with Mascitti. Although at this time of year it seems cold and heartless to throw a man out into the night there are so many more needing his spot. It’s noble for Tucker to want to help those who are down and out. The fact that he’s one of those people though means he has to help himself first before he can give the time to the others.
Regardless Paul Tucker is without a home today.
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