A Child's Haven - 6. Chapter 6

I woke up at 6 in the morning. When I walked into the dining hall, Jeff was sitting there. “You’re up early Jeff, didn’t you sleep well?”

“Why are you doing this? This costs money, and how are you going to keep Child Services from interfering.”

“The answer to your first question, I’m doing it because it hurts me to see the depravity of young children living on the street. Selling their bodies to eat or to find a place to sleep. It isn’t right, and so I’ve decided to do something about it.”

“What about Child Services”

“You needn’t worry about Child Services, but we do need someone to provide help in the form of counseling. I’m not a counselor; at best, I’m just a humanitarian. Jeff, would you like to take on some additional responsibility?”

“What do you want me to do? I’ll help if I can.”

“If I give you some money, could you go to the store and buy some breakfast meals. We can use the microwave to heat them. Also, see if you can find me a cup of black coffee.”

I gave Jeff 100 dollars and told him to spend it all on breakfast. He saw one of the boys coming into the dining hall, “Come with me. I’m going to get breakfast.”

Jeff returned with several shopping bags filled with cereals that came in their bowl, egg and sausage sandwiches, and frozen waffles. He had a large cup of coffee for me. I looked over my first group, and I was happy, but I also recognized that we’d need a kitchen. There was an old shack at the back of the building. I took several of the older boys with me, “I’d like to clean this shack out and then turn it into a kitchen. Pizza is ok, once in a while, but it doesn’t provide a balanced meal. Would you all like to help?”

In 4 hours, the shack was cleaned. Even the cobwebs were gone. I called in a carpenter who lived in the area, showed him the shack, and told him what I wanted to do. “I may need some help. Do you have someone to help?”

“Just let me know when you want to start, and I’ll have a work crew for you.”

A week later, Mr. Fortson called and said the lumber and roofing material would be delivered this afternoon, and I’d have to pay for it. That was fine with me, “Boys, the wood for the shack will be here this afternoon. Volunteers will be needed.”

I asked Jeff to ask the older boys if they wanted to help Mr. Fortson remodel the shack into a kitchen. In just a few minutes, Mr. Fortson had five boys to help him with the remodeling.

The carpenters continue to work on the modifications to the second floor. Abe called and said he found a manufacturer of cubicles in Japan who would build the units to our specifications and ship them to the States. I was delighted to hear that and authorized Abe to go ahead and order 126 cubicles.

The carpenters had built the shoeboxes for the cocoons and reinforced the cocoon support for the second layer. As soon as the cocoons were installed, the kids would have a place to sleep. Pat was excited when I told him that I had ordered the cocoons. Beth asked why I called them cocoons. I told her that they were like butterflies that needed a cocoon to mature into beautiful people. She thought the idea was beautiful.

Floor 2B was finished, and I told Abe to order 126 more cubicles. I contacted a plumbing firm and had showers, toilets, and hand sinks installed on the front left side of 2A. We were able to install seven small bathrooms. I also had the carpenters build a double-wide cabinet for clean sheets and pillowcases. When I knew exactly when the first 126 cubicles were to arrive, I’d order the dorm mattresses and hospital pillows. Hospital pillows had a plastic cover that could be cleaned and sanitized as necessary.

Pat made sure everything was in working order, and I think he had already selected his cocoon. At first, I was going to provide a separate cocoon area for the girls. Recognizing that the cocoon was a secured sleeping place, I’d let the girls decide. I could always put them in a separate row and even on a different floor.

The ventilation system was installed, and all that needed to be done was to tie in the ductwork for each cocoon.

By this time, the kitchen shack was almost done, and the number of kids was beginning to grow. Mom took the responsibility of getting the clothes, and my friend at the discount shoe store kept me supplied with shoes. The pizzeria was sending over pizzas that got cold, or they couldn’t sell at the end of the evening, or orders that got mixed up. These were delivered until the pizzeria closed at 10. Pat would sit up and wait until 10 to make sure no pizza went to waste.

The day the first cocoons arrived was a happy day. Pat and Jeff took the responsibility of assigning cocoons to those who wanted to stay the night. The numbering system was simple. The units were numbered one through eight. Each row would be identified by a letter. There would be seven rows of 8 units, so for example, the first row would be row A, the first cocoon at the bottom would be identified as A11, A is the row, 1 in the bottom, and 1 is the first cocoon.

When I laid out the plan, I left a space at the rear of 2A for the kids to relax. Eventually, I’ll install some games and a small library. But for now, the room is empty. In front of the cocoons, as you enter the room, there were the bathrooms on the left, and on the right, there were linen cabinets and a chute for dirty clothes and bed linens. The chute went directly to the basement.

When the kids were in the dining hall ready to eat, “The cubicles will be ready in the next two days; I’ll need your help in placing the mattresses in the cocoons, making up the beds, and distributing the blankets. I’m not sure how clean the cocoons will be, but we shall see when they arrive. If we need to clean them, then I’ll need your help as well.”

You could see the smiles on each of their faces. Each day more and more kids joined Sanctuary. It was one of those days when the kids were out looking for street kids to encourage them to come to Sanctuary. A kid came in, and looking at him, he wasn’t a street kid. he had on clean clothes and didn’t have that lost look. “Hello, how may we help you, and what’s your name?”

“Folks call me Bubba.”

“Well Bubba, how may I help you? Do you want anything to eat or drink?”

“No, I just wanted to know what was going on here. I see all these kids come in here and thought it might be a kids club.”

Indicating for him to sit down at one of the tables with me, “Well Bubba, it is a kids club, but it’s different in a way. The kids who come here don’t have a family. They have lived on the street, and now I provide a safe place here for them to eat and sleep. I’d guess you have a family.”

“Yep, me and my mom, we live a few streets over. Can I come here, I’m not a street kid, but I have no one my age, and I’m not into drugs or gangs?”

“Sure, you can come here whenever you wish. And if you see any kid on the street that doesn’t have a place to sleep or food to eat, send them here.”

He gave me the thumbs up and left. I wondered how many more kids who live in this neighborhood are lonely.

When the first set of cubicles were installed, I invited my mom and dad to take the tour. Mom couldn’t believe the amount of room each cocoon contained. “In Japan, I guess space is a limited resource. This system is used by business people who spend time working or going out. Many probably live too far from work, and so this concept provides a cheap means to stay close to work. Some of the pictures I saw showed common rooms and lockers for clothing; there’re quite a few cubicle hotels in Japan.”

“How did the kids react to these cocoons?”

“Well, if you think about it, sleeping on the street in a doorway, this is like hitting the lottery.”

Later that evening, as the pizza arrived, I knew I had to do something about getting the kitchen shack up and running. I think someone is looking over my shoulder. Bubba came back, only this time he brought an older woman with him that could’ve been his mother. “Sir, this is my mother.”

“I’m glad to meet you. My name is Brad Williams.”

Smiling, “I’m Bubba’s mother, Ann Jenkins. Bubba said, this is a boy’s club.”

“Well, in a way, Bubba’s right. This is Sanctuary, which provides a safe place for kids who have been living on the street. I provide food for them and a place to shower and sleep. The only thing I require, no drugs, no liquor, no smoking, and no stealing. So far, it has worked out very well. Would you like a tour?”

Bubba was quick to nod his head; yes, “Yes, I’d like a tour. This old place has been empty for twenty years, it was a warehouse for one of the area’s manufacturers, but they’ve gone out of business.”

“Let’s start at the bottom.” Leading them down the stairs, I showed them the shower area, the commercial washers and dryers, as well as the commercial pressing equipment.

“Who maintains all of this? It looks very clean.”

“The kids maintain this. They appreciate the opportunity to be able to shower and have clean clothes.”

“Do you pay them?”

“No, it’s strictly volunteer. If they don’t want to do it, I let peer pressure work. There hasn’t been any problem getting the kids to pitch in.”

Finishing the shower area, we walked to floor 2A. “This is the sleeping floor as well as the two floors above, 2B and 2C.” Walking into the area, I showed them the bathroom area and the laundry chute to the basement. I watched Bubba out of the corner of my eye as he kept looking at the cocoons.

“This is where the kids sleep. Each cocoon is equipped with fresh air, a shelf, and hooks to hang clothes. Shoes are placed in the drawer under each cocoon.”

“Sir, may I try one.”

“Sure crawl in that one, but take your shoes off first.”

Bubba just smiled, “Cool”

“How can you feed all these kids?”

“That’s a problem; so far, all these kids have been eating, except for breakfast, has been pizza. We just finished renovating a building outside for a kitchen. Hopefully, I can find someone who can cook, and then we’ll be in a position to provide healthy meals.”

“Mom, you could be the cook. My mom is a great cook.”

“Well, Bubba, I think Mr. Williams would prefer a professional cook.”

“You’re wrong, Mrs. Jenkins. I’m not looking for fancy food. I want someone who cooks good old fashion family-type meals.”

“See, Mom, you’re just what he’s looking for, and you do need a job.”

“Well, Mrs. Jenkins, if you’d like the job, I’d be glad to hire you based on the unbiased opinion of Bubba.”

Bubba was all smiles, “Now I have an excuse to come every day.”