What does Tent City mean to us?

"Main Street" in Tent City 4, Saint Jude's Catholic Church, Redmond

UPDATED: Early last week, I decided to bike over to Tent City (TC4) for a final good-bye. It was gone! Stakes pulled. No blue tents or honey pots, no litter, and that pervasive smell of stale sweat, finally lost to the breeze. Living four blocks away, we never noticed they had left.

They had departed as quietly as they arrived. Nomadic wanderers. How different this TC-4 is from two years ago. No hoop-tee-doos, or three ring circuses, no dog and pony shows, or City court. They came from Woodinville, they went, that's it. Have you heard different?

Tent City-4 left Redmond on August 1. They've moved to Holy Spirit Lutheran in Kirkland (Juanita) for the next three months. According to Father Rogerson of St. Judes Church, TC-4 averaged around 90 residents with a peak of 100. Business at TC-4 'was good' this year as foreclosures 'hit home'.

Community support came out in mass. Student volunteers, scouts, businesses, church groups, non profits, sports teams, neighbors all showed up to pitch in. Father Rogerson said Parishioners are already asking when St. Jude will host again. His understanding with the city is that "we would do this no more often than once a year. So it will be that long at least."

I'm glad our community can support the homeless, even if it is near our schools and in the middle of our neighborhoods; and is political. It was hard at first, but it seems they do no harm, and we learn from the experience and a little bit more about ourselves. After my visits, I feel melancholic. Others feel differently. The place is mostly a harbor for the lonely and forsaken; a few use it to their end. Rick, my younger brother, probably could have benefited from living from a shelter. He died alone and isolated in a Florida apartment, weakened from a co-morbidity no fault of his own. Rick's isolation was probably what killed him in the end.

Father Rogerson quotes two Gospel verses in St. Jude's consideration to host Tent City-4: Matthew 5:3 and Matthew 25.40. FAQ