Friday, February 27, 2009

Inspiration Cafe:::Want to read about A Project that helps Homeless and is really working......Inspiration Cafe

Inspiration Cafe, a Project that is helping Homeless in Chicago and should be implemented in many parts of the Country, and would help the Recession Refugees.

Lisa Nigro is the founder of Inspiration Cafe, and other restaurants that serve the Chicago homeless population with dignity and respect, as well as Inspiration Corporation which provides job training, housing and fellowship to its customers.
The :60 film was directed by Oscar winner Helen Hunt and aired during the 2009 Academy Awards. Here is more about it, and also more is linked to the title.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I really want to work on a project like this here in Cleveland....there is a need. When I lived downtown I used to make sandwichs and freeze water bottles and got take them around....but the Radio Flyer idea is amazing....and the idea of a resturante, or even a soup place for coffee and tea and soup would really warm some souls...I would also like to make up packets of toiletries...there are so many empty buildings here...on the Bus Routes...If I get the job at the Free Clinic....I am going to work on this project.....We need to think of a way to take Lisa Nigro's idea nationwide....it's needed...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

5 comments:

vanishing point said...

Hey thanks for sharing about this project, I do a community service project with a non-profit, we can always use some new ideas. The big problem now is that the non-profits that do make a lot of contributions toward community service have had serious budget problems, while the amount of people who need to be served increases every day.
Thanks E for posting this, plus I see you are trying to get a job, I hope you get it. Good luck with it.
I forget, who is the photograhper of the depression stories on the side bar, he is one of my favorites, didn't he do photographs of people on the subways in New York, too? I can't think of his name.

enigma4ever said...

Hi Kathy...
The photographers of the depression were Margaret Bourke White , Dorthea Lange, and Edward Weston....They took photos for LIFE ( link below) and also for the 1930's Works Programs.

Migrant Mother was a photo taken by Dorothea Lange, when she worked on the Farm Project- a Works Program project that photographed and documented the Depression, the rural aspects of it, the migrants and the poverty created by the Dust Bowl ( but she took many photos of the the people, and workers and soup kitchens,etc. The Migrant Mother photo was taken in California, outside a Pea farm, where Pickers had been hired, the mother is Florence Thompson, and she had 6 children, and she was trying to care for them and pick vegetables, but there was never enough to eat, the other photos reveal by the time of this photo, she had traded the tires for her car and her tent, and most belongings for food. The children would kill birds in the field for food. Her Name was not known until later. It is a very moving sympbolic photo.

I have been posting more of the depression photos because people's faces and eyes are showing their angst....it is familiar ...again...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Most programs are short and hurting now that is so true...I work partime jobs right now, but I am also trying to volunteer at a Free Clinic...( I am also a nurse)....I don't know if my son and I will stay here for the duration or what we will do- there is not much work here.....time will tell..

I do want to work with Homeless and Un-Insured...that is where my heart is....and it is what I see everyday...

thank you again...for caring...and for having compassion ...

vanishing point said...

Thanks for the info on the photographer, I was thinking of Walker Evans, the work seems similar.
I am surprised that there isn't much work for you as a nurse, I thought nursing was a good field, with lots of work. I am hoping for ya, you have a good heart.

Fran said...

This is a great program. I could see you fitting in that kind of situation very well.

I feel like a broken record-- but damn. why do we have money for wars & not these needed programs???

Huh???

D.K. Raed said...

That really was inspirational. I especially liked the founder saying they provide the homeless a sense that someone will miss them & worry if they don't show up, that someone knows who they are & cares. So many times homeless people say they think no one cares if they live or die. Then they become so isolated it is hard to reach them.

I hope you get to work on something similar. Seems like a good fit.