A moment with the "Cougar"

For the last two years, Cherry Street Mission Ministries has been one of the driving supporters of the Homeless Awareness Project called Tent City. Tent City is held the first full weekend in November, beginning Friday and ending on Sunday.

Doni Miller who is the host of the weekly Bridges show on TV channel 13 asked Ken Leslie, Richard Langford and myself, as we were being interviewed in preparation for the event; "What are you hoping to fix with Tent City?" The short answer is 'Nothing'. For those of us who serve the community in need throughout the year, we know that a weekend of awareness won't solve or fix any problems the least, last and lost experience each day.

There is a problem though that can be fixed with such an awareness project - AWARENESS. In Toledo the problems of incarceration and poverty causing homelessness are mostly ignored by the key members of government and the media. There are far too many 'drive by conversations' about the systemic causing problems that are plaguing real people and fostering a generation of disenfranchised and disconnected citizenry.

So - the once a year Tent City is designed to put both the problem and the solution visibly in the public eye. We desire for all people to slow down for a moment and realize that with just a little more effort, we can actually change as a city. We can change from being 'sad' about the problems people are facing and actually join in on the solution.

With a few (hundred) phone calls, mostly driven by Ken Leslie, John 'Cougar' Mellencamp who was in town on Friday for a concert, took a moment before the concert and came down to Tent City with his wife and son. I was happily tagged as the one who would chauffeur them to and from Tent City. Upon arriving at Tent City John and his family spent several minutes of private time talking with a few folks who have been homeless and have been restored. He then accepted the key of the City from Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, made a few remarks to all who were in attendance and then to the surprise and delight of the crowd, invited them all to the concert as his guest.

Knowing I would maybe have a total of 15 - 20 minutes 'car' time with John Mellencamp, we talked openly about his own addictions earlier in life and how he overcame them. We talked about the systemic issues of incarceration, poverty and homelessness and how his own problems started very early in his life - it was a great conversation.

By understanding the deep rooted (systemic) dynamics of our community, we can plot a different course than we've been on as a community. I know a lot of people talk this way - especially today, because it's election day here in Toledo. HOWEVER, let's not relegate our responsibility to the politicians and levies.

We've had several decades of this approach and it's not working. Rather, let's rise up as citizens, as volunteers and convene our own meetings and think tanks and produce our own solutions that will solve these problems once and for all - for all!

What do you think?

Dan Rogers