We set up the Veterans Field Service Center at the entrance to the main street here, Pacific Ave. The city has a modest but very nice veterans' memorial, an obelisk surmounted with an eagle, and the Vet Center is just across the street.
I was able to do some outreach and pass out some literature, a couple homeless vets stopped by, as well as a retired Army vet who was enjoying a walk with his son.
The Veterans Bldg has been closed for 3 years and is set to reopen December 4th, but we will not be covering that event because we will be further south by then.
I was hasty in blasting the city for having this vacant space unused while dozens of homeless vets make their camps by the river, and suffer all the usual crap at the hands of the police and daily apathy of the civilians. We found out too late about the opening on D4.
Last night I was able to climb to the roof of the building and hoist our flag. I got some crappy phone photos of that bit o' fun. A couple days ago, when we first arrived we handed out some excess food, and reconned the environs, finding a good spot to camp out, and a place to spange for daily sustenance.
At times we find it difficult to divide the labor, as we both have functions, and some times people begin to feel as if they are working "harder" than others, and then resentment boils up, and if folks are not used to working very closely on a mutual project such as this, things get misinterpreted and in the case of last night, I was insensitive to James' need to feel respected and appreciated. Perhaps some of this is coming from the subject themselves. For the classic illustration of this, I point to "what you are hearing is not what I am saying".
We appear to have smoothed things out, and I understand his frustrations, and I am sure he understands the difficulty of pulling this mission together on the fly, and the stresses that I feel having initiated the journey.
And having to keep pressing on, despite the severity of our condition