Man asks Topekans to learn from homeless: 'All of us ain't out here because we chose to be'
Larry White, who is homeless, says he thinks Topekans have "a really bad, bad, bad grudge" against homeless people.
"I could just be walking down the street and I get bottles thrown at me," White told reporters Thursday. "I mean, I've had 27 stitches put into my head from a bottle being thrown at me from a passing car."
If he had the chance, White said, he would ask residents who are angry at Topeka's homeless people: "Why don't you stop and just talk to us? Learn from us. All of us ain't out here because we chose to be. There's things in our lives that probably happened."
White's own life went downhill after his first wife died of breast cancer, he said late Thursday morning while standing in the rain amid 37-degree temperatures.
"She was everything to me," he said.
What is the Point in Time Homeless Count?
White was among unhoused people who shared information Thursday with volunteers who filled out questionnaires as part of Topeka's annual Point in Time Homeless Count.
It wasn't immediately clear how many homeless people were counted.
The count takes place annually as part of a requirement by the federal government that communities — in order to receive funding for homelessness-related programs — complete an annual point-in-time count of residents who are homeless.
Last year's count showed Topeka had 412 homeless people, with 157 being unsheltered, meaning they didn't live in an emergency shelter or transitional housing.
This year's count comes at a time of increased attention to homelessness here. A group put together by Topeka's city government has worked since September with a consultant to help find answers to problems the community faces regarding homelessness.
Not all homeless people end up getting counted
Some residents were counted Thursday by volunteers and employees of Topeka's city government and other agencies involved after they came to shower and receive services from the Mobile Access Partnership at the Topeka headquarters of the Salvation Army.
Not all homeless people who are interviewed end up getting counted, said Sondra Knox, an employee of Valeo Behavioral Health Care.
If a person refuses to answer any of the questions posed as part of the survey, that person is not counted, Knox said.
The most common question unhoused residents choose not to answer involves whether they have a substance use disorder, she said.
Homeless camp includes snowman melting in the rain
Other homeless count workers and volunteers fanned out over the community to find and count homeless people while also gathering information for the survey.
They brought along items that included socks and bottled water to hand out as incentives for unhoused people to answer their questions.
White said people with the Mobile Access Partnership are very helpful during the regular visits they make to the campsite where he lives with his second wife, two other family members and a friend.
"If it wasn't for these people, there'd be a lot of times I wouldn't have socks," White said. "I wouldn't have food. I wouldn't have a lot of things in my life."
White said he's been in Topeka the past 24 years, been homeless the past eight and lived at his current campsite about four months.
White recalled how, rather than going to a warming center and leaving his possessions unattended, he rode out this month's cold spell at his campsite south of Walmart, 1301 S.W. 37th.
White ended up suffering frostbite, he said.
Then flooding ruined some of his possessions Wednesday night, White said.
"We had a whole bunch of water come down into our area and it washed our tent down," he said. "It soaked everything that we have."
Fourteen grocery carts stood in the campsite Thursday containing various items of property.
The camp site's residents are fun people, White said, noting that one built a snowman that continued to stand Thursday in the camp, melting in the rain.
'They eat better than I do'
While there are a few "bad apples" among Topeka's homeless, "We're not all bad," White said.
Most homeless residents here are good people who are doing whatever they can to survive, he said.
"A couple" of those who live at the homeless camp where White lives have jobs, he noted.
White has applied for jobs without success, he said, adding that people seem unwilling "to put a former drug addict to work."
White added that he keeps three pet dogs and goes out of his way to make sure they have everything they need.
"They eat better than I do," he said.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Annual Point in Time count tallies Topeka's homeless population
