The Official Dancing Deer Baking Co. Blog

We encourage you to read this blog entry by John Moore of Chilmark Research entitled Ride with Meaning: Bringing Awareness to Homelessness. It is rich with John's insights and statistics on family homelessness and what the Ride is doing to bring attention to this issue. As important is the comment to this entry by Sherry Reynolds discussing the correlation between escalating health care costs and family homelessness.

If you read nothing else today, please read this.

Writing this one on my Blackberry standing waiting for path train back to Jersey city where we left our RV. It's about 9 PM. We spent the evening at the Jackson Family Residence Shelter, housing app. 90 families, in the Bronx. This was an unscheduled addition to our trip. We meant to be halfway to Hartford this evening for our last shelter visit tomorrow night.

But my meeting with Robert Hess, Commissioner of New York City's Department of Homeless Services (DHS) this morning resulted in our adding in one more event tonight in NYC. DHS is a $1 Billion agency with reputedly the most advanced and comprehensive programs in the nation. I was delighted to learn that one of their new programs is a scholars initiative with St. John's University based on the One Family Scholars Program Dancing Deer has been supporting for years. There is much to tell about what I learned and saw in NYC. But it's late and a long way to Hartford in the AM. At this point we hope to shut down our computers and be in bed by 11:30. So I'll circle back around on all of that later and just make a note about my conversation with the Commissioner.

He's been in this field in one way or another throughout his career and had knew many of the programs and people we have met. He financed the HELP USA project we were so impressed with in Philadelphia, knew Donnis Honeycut and shared our enthusiasm for him. We were in agreement that what we're talking about is poverty. Homelessness can be solved. But poverty is on the rise. While the city has been dramatically successful in reducing the number of individuals living on the streets, the applications for families are also dramatically escalating. In New York, everyone is guaranteed shelter. It's the law.

We turned ourselves inside out to add the shelter and it was a bit of a fire drill. But the decision to do it was an outgrowth of a conversation about the difference between effecting critical structural changes in society and effecting a change in our value system. I explained that these gingerbread events aren't about the structural stuff, they are philanthropy at a very personal level. We, as a society, use financial metrics to define our worth as human beings. When one spends the evening decorating gingerbread houses with a bunch of homeless families, those metrics melt away and we meet each other on a level playing field.

Further note: We enjoyed the Commissioner's company this evening and he jumped right in with the activities. The NY media wasn't interested and we'd hoped they would be so that we'd get some lift on our scholarship fundraising goals. But their absence was totally forgotten the moment we walked in the door and met the kids.

So we still aren't hitting the numbers, but we have given and received something joyous and special at each of these places.

I was first introduced to Beth Wald and Trish Karter about 2 months ago on a very busy Saturday at Belmont Wheelworks. I was already helping customers when someone came up to me and said that there was a couple of gals waiting for me that need some help going over there new GPS. I had no idea of the Mother's Day Ride and had never heard of Dancing Deer.

I figured that the best place to go over the little bicycle mount GPS was to go into our shoe area and have each of the women sit on ether side of me to see the little screen. That's when I first heard of this incredible idea and what they were about to find themselves doing. I had the feeling that after our little session in the shoe area that the only thing they got from the tutorial was how to turn it on and off. I told them if they ever had any problem to please call me, anytime. What I got was a since of two wonderful people with a wonderful idea.

My name is Scott Chamberlain. I'm what Clint at Wheelworks refers to me as his "Front Line Quarterback"

I have been at Wheelworks for 10 seasons, International Bicycle for 11 seasons and before The Bicycle Exchange in Harvard Square for 10. I have lived cycling for over the past 40+ years as a dally love and have owned over 175 bicycles. I was involved with off road riding back in the early 70's and now Recumbent's. I ride a Tandem about 75 miles a week and have ridden across France and Spain off road. I sometimes ride as many as 3 different bicycle a day and have a huge collection. Dealing with bicycle customers dally, ( yes, I take calls on my day's off, ask Trish,,, ) I have never heard of such a Beautiful ride idea. When I talked to the girls the other night, they just thought I was joking and trying to make them feel good after another very wet and trying day.

Think about it: Ride your bicycle, alone, up the East Coast of the US, riding into major city's on City Streets and guess what? Meet people with a cause to make there life's better!

Rides I have helped and heard of over the past years have always avoided the citys.They always finished with a good dinner and a good nights sleep. Trish "shuts down" around 12:30 am and wakes in the middle of the night planning the logistics of the next day. That's Trish. All for the good of someone she has never met. Think about that one and compare it to what you have heard about bicycle tours and benefit rides in the past.

When Trish asked me after we had ridden together over 300 miles before the start of the first day if I thought she was ready for the ride and if I thought she would be OK, I hesitated too long for her comfort. Her eyes opened really wide and stared into mine with this intense Trish Karter style and said , "Too long of a wait to answer!" I told her that the only thing I was worrying about was the drivers, not her and her physical strength or determination to pull it off. She knew what I was talking about and asked me to just say "YES YOU'RE READY!!" next time she asked.

I got a ride home in a car that night and talked to my good friend Rob Delisle about Team Dancing Deer. I said to Rob about how the weather will be wet and by the time Trish gets back to Boston, everything will be Spring, I figured wet snow and lots of wind like we have seen before at the end of April, first of May. It was what was to be expected.

Trish has been riding in the rain for the past 6 days.

Tomorrow morning I will be riding down to Old Lyme, Ct in the rain to see my new friend back home. We will be leaving Old Lyme at 5:00 am to be in Boston by 2:30. Anyone wanting to join along are welcomed to come along. We will be crossing into Massachusetts around 10:00 and stop in Douglas Center for food around 10:20. We will be passing Newton City Hall around 2:00 and will meet with anyone who would like to see Trish on the final 8 miles to the finish.

We will be on Boston Common hopefully by 2:30.

Any Questions, Call me at 617-489-3577 today from 12-8, Or email me at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Good Luck Trish and see you Wednesday Morning for what looks like a beautiful day!

YES!

We just reviewed this video of the optimistic morning start – still chuckling. The Shirelles “Mama Said there’d be days like this” is playing in my head. Wet and treacherous, full of setbacks. I only rode a total of about 50 miles toward NYC when we finally got to a bridge that was out. No kidding. We decided it was a sign from the gods and surrendered.

In this decade, New York City has reached its highest levels of homelessness since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

In November 2008, 36,000 homeless people were sleeping in NYC shelters. Of this total, 15,800 were children, 14,100 adult family members, and 6,700 single adults.

Last year, more than 109,000 homeless children and adults relied on NYC shelters.

In the past decade, the NYC homeless shelter population has risen by almost 2/3.

10 months: the average stay for homeless families in the municipal shelter system.

It actually costs less per year to provide permanent housing for homeless families than to shelter them:
$36,000 per year: The cost to shelter a homeless family in the NYC Shelter System
$12,500 per year: The cost to provide a supportive housing apartment to a homeless family

Source for all facts

Do you have a story that extends beyond these statistics that you would like to share with Trish? Ride with her or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

The first time I crossed the rain-slicked trolley tracks they caught me completely off guard and I went down really hard. Lay on the road for a minute thinking about whether my hip might be broken – in an odd state of unconcern about traffic. It seemed that it had stopped around me. Several people were there and couldn’t have been nicer. After an exchange about my condition with one gentleman and my profuse thanks to him, he had said, “There are still good people around you know” Yes. Once I collected myself and was upright I asked if I could record what he’d said and whipped out my flip cam.

So I approached the crossing of the next set of trolley tracks with caution and thought I’d be fine. Bam. Down again but on the right side so now I was at least balanced out. Third try (yes I was sure I had the wet trolley track technique by the third try) I approached them perfectly perpendicular and with caution, bam, down again. Can’t remember where I hit.

So I caught up with the support van and decided that I’d just stop on the next crossing and walk it over and we’d try to find a route that gets us away from the tracks out of Philadelphia.

Then I rode safely and relatively slowly for a mile or two searching for the left turn that would get us away from the tracks and finally saw it. Was I too tired or my brain too scrambled or was there too much camouflage on the road or my glasses too full of rain drops to see that last set of tracks? Don’t know. But that last fall was hard to get up from. Support van was in sight this time and pulled up before I’d assembled myself. Nice policeman, also passersby. I climbed in with an agreement that I’d take a ride to the outskirts of town. Hoping for better roads. Giving me time to ice my knee which, happily, was hit in an entirely new way and so didn’t reinjure any of the things I’d already been icing.

I am sure that this is all just background for what will be a particularly bright point of light some time soon. Rembrandt’s best stuff is all atmosphere and darkness and it sits there quietly in the background and allows the moment of light to reveal something beautiful, the light effect. I am always looking for the light effect and building toward it when I’m painting. Just realized I’m doing that on this ride as well.