The Alley Newspaper

I’ve had a horrible time coming up with an idea for this month’s column. I suppose that if that’s the worst thing to happen to me I must be having a good week, but it’s still frustrating. As I’ve watched the Coronavirus pandemic unfold, I’ve been struck by how much hard it is for us […]

Back in May, when people had settled into the Covid-19 lockdown, a survey by OnePoll asked Americans how their sense of time was being affected by spending day after day in their homes. The results included: The average American got confused about what day it was five times every week 59% of respondents didn’t even

In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, I’ve heard a lot about systemic racism. As far as I can tell, though, no one is saying anything new. I first heard of systemic racism in university over 25 years ago, and I’ve heard it discussed consistently since then, and now I’m hearing it discussed more loudly.

I decided that this month I wouldn’t mention Coronavirus (it didn’t take long for me to fail on that count, did it?) because it has dominated so much of the news that I wanted to give you a break from thinking about it. I hadn’t fully grasped how pervasive Covid has become until I tried

I recently attended an all-day seminar put on by a couple of colleagues from North Dakota. Their organization, Ministry on the Margins, has a similar mission to Peace House Community, although their activities are more diverse than ours. Among other things, hey provide toys to children. Sister Kathleen Atkinson, who runs the agency, shared many

After over 20 years of working with social services agencies that serve the homeless, I have seen many different responses to ending homelessness. Some have been more successful than others, while some have benefitted from having good salespeople promoting them as the next big thing. Recently, I have been encouraged by the work of the

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” -Edmund Burke I first encountered that quotation when I read Bob Geldof’s autobiography Is That It? Geldof had reached the part of his story where his band The Boomtown Rats couldn’t get any of their songs on the

“The Homeless”, a title that should only describe a person’s living situation, but often describes so much more. On the one hand, being part of the homeless population automatically means sleep deprivation, instability, the daily challenge of finding what you need and so much more. Unfortunately, that is only the objective side of homelessness, the

When Sister Rose founded Peace House Community, it quickly became known as “the living room on Franklin Avenue”. Sister Rose wanted anyone who walked through the door to feel like they were going to a friend’s house where there was acceptance without invasive questions. People could share what they wanted or not share as they