Located in slams of Seattle under the bridge on 77 South Washington Street, (206) 357-3100, this old ugly bulding is a horrible place for the homelees people according to my own experience.The first thing you see on their webpage are huge words : "DONATE NOW!
(in any way possible, all is made convinient for your donation!)
(in any way possible, all is made convinient for your donation!)
Donate Funds!
Donate Stock!
Planned Giving!
DONATE FUNDS!
DONATE ONLINE NOW
Make an online donation quickly and easily through Network for Good. "
Hmm..... Network for Good? Did those donations really help me to become a better person?
Well, let me tell you about this network for good and my own horrible experience with it. Just so you know what it means to be homeless and live in that place.
I came to Seattle as a refugee. After sleeping on the streets of the city for several months, in 2009 I finally ended up in the Compass Center, where I was reffered by the homelesss shelter called the First Church. While I was in the shelter First Church, I often heard terifying stories about Compass center in seattle. Any homeless person whow as there, told me that it was a bad place to be at, that there is no freedom and homeless people are not treated with respect and dignity. On the contrary, they are constantly disrespected, are expected to do their chores in time, and also PAY 1/3 of their income to the shelter for the services. SO IT IS NOT A FREE PLACE, DONT BE FOOLED! If a homelees person got a job, (and he is forced to do something which is ok ) he is not able to save mpney for his own place, because he has to pay for the shelter. SO THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU DONATE THEM.
Anyways, I didnt believe to what people said and I thought that those are just lazy homeless people who dont want to work, study or otherwise improve their lives. Hmm. not necesserely as it turned out later...
Trying to get on my feet, I started going to school. I had a chore to vaccum clean the whole second floor and it did take my time to do my homework. Homeless people in the Compas Center dont have their own rooms, instead they sleep on the bunks separated from each other by tiny walls of 5 feet high, WITH NO DOORS! YEp, there are no doors, and you live like a pig in a zoo, where anybody passing by can see you and so there is no privacy. It is also very annoying when people working and living there go back and forth and are looking what are you doing. Sometimes they bring groups of students and other people as an excursion to show them the place and then anyone can see you living there. I remeber there was a guy from Africa, who was a student, so he always freaked out that someday students from his University will come and see him there, so he even didnt eat in the kitchen to avoid the shame. But it is his problem. Perhaps Compass Center gratiously gifted him with agoraphobia.
At nights you can't sleep because other people are snoring so loud. Then, when you finally wake up, you realize that you ddint have enought sleep and you cant really work or study. Although, most of the day shift are nice guys, at night shift there was working some Shrek sized african american dude who would always give you that nasty look to make you feel inferior. Thanks for that too. You made a part of your job well done.
At nights again... BED BUGS, BED BUGS, BED BUGS. They wont let you sleep. They will suck your blood and you will have to go to school or work with those huge red spots on your arms and rest of the body and people think that there is something wrong with you. And there really is. But you cant really explain it.
In the Union gospel Mission it is way worse. Once I managed to get there a place in April after sleeping on the cold asphalt, I woke up because something was crawling upon my face. When I sat, 3 bedbugs fell on the floor and started running away to diferent directions. It was so disguisting that I and the other guy from mexico who saw that got up and went to sleep back on the street. It was safer to sleep on the street in cold April rather than it was in that shithole Union gospel mission. They also FORCE everybody to hear their "Christian" gospels before they give you food and permission to stay over night. Early in the morning, at 5-6 am, they again herd everybody to the chapel room and make you listen to some guy yelling at the top of his longs about mercy of god. Reminded me 16th century inquisition.
Back to the Compass Center. In Compass Center they at least don't force you to hear religious lectures, but they do force you to attend weekly meetings. If you miss 3 of them, - u r out! You are out for many things. Even if there is no fault of yours or if you just dont have control over it. However, Christy- the pastor, is a very nice lady and she provides some interesting sermons.
In my sorry case, although I did all my chores and behaved myself I got kicked out of that shelter by decision of the short little skinny bearded man working there as a manager by name Steve. I was a student, going to school, and they kicked me out right in the middle of the Winter quarter, right in the the coldest time. They kicked me out after I was assaulted in that shelter FOR THE SECOND time by some African-American homeless man. Although I didnt fight, and accoring to their rules went staright to the office and made a written and verbal complaint, the very next day I got kicked out back on ther streets right after I came from school. They didnt listen to the witnesses saying that I was the one who was assaulted when i was doing my homework. They also didnt care that the other guy was very loud and didnt let anybody sleep after 10.00 pm. They didnt listen to my arguments neither and put all my belongings together in a huge black garbage bag. College algebra books, notebooks, pens, clothes, shaving staff, everything in one big garbage bag and took it outside for me. Well, so it was, I hit the streets in the winter time again and the manager Steve went home to his warm bed and hot meal. When they kicked me out they didnt give me even a pice of bread. Moreover, the part of the rent payment that I didnt used up since they kicked me out, the money they owed me, they didnt give it back to me at the same day. In fact, it took me about 2 weeks to get them back. They kicked me out with no food, no referrals to other shelters, not even a bus pass, and on the top they didnt refund me my money immideatly. Those money, my money, could be helpful during that week that i slept on the street while going to school and looking for a room at the same time. Good thing I had my foodstamps from the wellfare office, so I wasnt starving. This is how they express their enourmous Christian LOVE!
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Luckily, I had some 350 dollars and managed to find roomates in a week time. It was really lucky for me. Otherwise i would have missed the quarter, live on the streets, and owe money to the financial aid for not completing the quarter and thus put on administartive probation. People working in the Compass Center didnt care about my education and future. It seems they instead prefer you to be homeless forever and depened on them, so that they dont stay out of jobs and keep getting their donations. They dont care that the tax payer and the government will eventually have to pay more in foodstamps if the person is homeless and doesnt work. I am glad I have 2 houses in my homecountry and this is only temporary. What about poor Americans who due to unfavorable circumstances dont have anything here or outside the country? They will have to spend the rest of their lives in the shelters, being humiliated and put up with abuse from the society if the latter wont give them any chance to improve their lives. While being homeless in America for the past 2 years I have seen all kind of corruption going on, where families with children slept on the streets while huge facilities of the local churches were empty 24/7. How come the servants of god don't house those families? Sure, they will tell you the same thing over and over- we donate to the shelters. Go there. But the question is - is there a space for you? According to my experiences with shelters, it is extremely unlikely that you get a space after you spent several hours waiting in the line on the sidewalk. And when you finally get in, you quite often have to put up with the crap and abuse from the part of the personal of the shelter, prove me wrong. What can you do if the shelter stuff will yell at you? Nothing. It is their way or highway. Grievance forms might exist, but would they help you? Not according to my experience. It will only make your situation worse, because first, all people working in the shelters knwo each other and are kinda friends, and second, they cant really fire the person because not many people would want to work there. So it is easier to kick you out. You will manage, you have experience being homeless, it is ok.
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THE CURRENT EXECUTIVE IS
Rick Friedhoff
206-357-3102
HERE IS ANOTHER FUN ARTICLE I FOUND ON THE WEB.
Compass Center
"Rick Friedhoff was standing in his Compass Center when the building began to groan. Dust and plaster fell from the walls. He fled, (FLED? RIGHT!) not realizing it would be 4 ½ years before he'd return". (FOR WHAT? AH PERHAPS INCREASE IN DONATIONS TOOK OVER THE FEAR BEFORE THE EARTHQAKE).
"The five-story brick building, on South Washington Street in Pioneer Square, was built in 1941 as a haven for the homeless". (HEAVEN?)
"After it was closed, FEMA gave $1.6 million and the city $2 million; the community raised the rest of the $16 million to rehabilitate it. It reopened last June with a new hygiene center. " (THE ONLY FREE THING IS TO TAKE A SHOWER IN THE BASEMENT. THEY WILL NEVER GIVE YOU FOOD IF YOU ARE HUNGRY, IN FACT THEY WANT TO SHOW YOUR CARD IN THE KITCHEN TO MAKE SURE ONLY PEOPLE LIVING THERE AND PAYING 1/3 OG THEIR INCOME CAN HAVE FOOD).
Friedhoff never dreamed there would be such an outpouring of support. "When you ask the people in this community for money for a specific purpose, they are very generous," he said. "We certainly did not expect we could do this." (WELL, NOW AFTER YOU GOT THE MONEY, YOU CAN START KICKING HOMELESS PEOPLE BACK ON THE STREETS.)
Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com
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Now, I have my own place, and everytime I remeber that ugly hole, I am happy that I am not like them and that I am not part of them. Since then, I event try not to go close to that place. The whole militant atmosphere in that place is absorbed with intimidation of the homeless people, where the latter are constantly afraid to end up on the streets for anything. Dont forget that it is not for free to stay there, you gotta pay 1/3 of your income. Perhaps the only good thing they do is provide free post box, so that homeless people could receive their mail. It is actually pretty secure and they hold your mail for 1 month.
I also wrote to the mayor Nickels a complaint and he asked director of human services to provide investigation. The director of the human services however didnt do it at once. His first letter didnt suggest me anything but to be prepared for a long term homelessness before i will get my own place. When I wrote to Mr. Nickels for the second time and told him what answer I got, only then director of human services responded me and said that Mr. Nickels personally asked him to provide an investigation in Compass Center. Yes, Mayor Nickels was a real Man, who would answer letters even to the homeless people, and I will miss him so much.
To the Compass Center, and particularly to Steve-Thank you very much guys for a great lesson. I know that I am not the only person whose life you made worse than it was. How many guys are there who like me tried to get up on their feet and you put them right on the ground.
Oh yes, guys, just to avoid any misunderstandings, just to make sure nobody else takes your credits, I am talklig about the place located right here on this map:
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