Tim Hortons in trouble yet AGAIN

[ferkel]

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/429178

No good deed involving doughnuts, it appears, goes unpunished.

Two weeks after an employee at a Tim Hortons in London was fired, then rehired, after she gave a child a free Timbit, Toronto investment manager Teresa Lee bought breakfast Wednesday for a pregnant homeless woman at a Tim Hortons downtown – then was scolded by a restaurant employee unhappy that the homeless woman stayed in the restaurant to eat.

The employee, Lee said, told her the Tim Hortons at King and Victoria Sts. does not let homeless people eat inside, even if they are eating Tim Hortons food, because they "make a mess."

"I said, `She purchased the goods, there's no reason she shouldn't be able to eat in the store,'" said Lee. "He said, `No, she didn't purchase it, you purchased it.' I said, `They were purchased. There's no reason she doesn't have the right to eat it in the store.' He said, `No, she's going to make a mess, who's going to clean up that mess? Are you going to clean up that mess?'"

[kurtblak]

Creating rules to keep the riffraff out has been going on for ages; the liquor stores in BC recently changed the rules limiting the number of empties you can return to 24 because the homeless people would bring in 100s at a time and making it "uncomfortable" for the ruling classes shopping for their pinot noirs.

heck, even a priest in the fraser valley was crapped on for feeding the poor...

Pastor refuses to stop feeding homeless
Allison Cross, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, May 16, 2008

ABBOTSFORD - A pastor is refusing a request by city officials to stop serving food to homeless people in a downtown park.

As he has for the past six weeks, Pastor Christopher Reiners and a handful of volunteers on Thursday morning served coffee and cereal to about two dozen homeless and downtrodden in Jubilee Park.

He was asked to move his food program to his church or stop it all together at a meeting last week with Abbotsford's Downtown Business Association president Bob Bos and city councillors John Smith, Bruce Beck and Lynne Harris.

They claimed his philanthropy attracts aggressive drug dealers and encourages people to leave their garbage and human waste in the downtown core.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=d3a4e086-656d-498a-8794-633d3b952228

[danns]

i hate tim hortons

[kurtblak]

i hate tim hortons

their coffee makes me pee for days.

[AMDr]

their coffee makes me pee for days.

Me too... I drank one of their coffees a few months ago and I've had to pee everyday since :mad:

[whampoa]

their coffee makes me pee for days.

That's it, then you haven't try their X-Large triple triple.

You'll peeing for a whole week.

[George W. Bush]

Yep, more proof - da mighty dular at work!

No money, no funny!

What a pathetic company, and what pathetic people working at Tim's (with the exception of the person who gave a 50 cents timbit to the homeless)...

Wow... sad...

[alkaseltzer01]

He said, `No, she's going to make a mess, who's going to clean up that mess? Are you going to clean up that mess?'"


You are going to clean up the mess! It's your f*ing job! Minimum wage is too high for you if you can't clean up the mess.

[d182]

here we go again!
this is the timmy's i go to during work.
boycott anyone? :D

[gizmo8]

come on people,there is over 1500 Tim Hortons operated by individual owners,there is going to be a few issues,you cant say Timmies is a bad operation because of a few franchises.You can bet the head quarters will be on the ass of the owner of that location or any other locations that creates bad press.Tim Hortons gives millions to charities and created a icon for Canadians to proud about.To say Timmies is a bad company is a mistake.

[alkaseltzer01]

here we go again!
this is the timmy's i go to during work.
boycott anyone? :D

No boycott. Everyone should go dressed up and make a mess.

[3weddings]

Am I ever glad I gave up coffee four weeks ago. No More of my money is going to them!

[rilhouse]

Creating rules to keep the riffraff out has been going on for ages; the liquor stores in BC recently changed the rules limiting the number of empties you can return to 24 because the homeless people would bring in 100s at a time and making it "uncomfortable" for the ruling classes shopping for their pinot noirs.


that rule makes sense, they are holding up the line.

*takes a sip of pinot noirs*

about this tim's, i wonder if this is management policy or just a single employee going out of his/her way to be mean? looks like ghetto hortins strikes again!

[abu_sme]

I am boycotting Tim Hortons...not for any political or ethical reasons, it's simply because they have mediocre food, in mediocre restaurants, with mediocre service. Mcdonalds makes better coffee than they do.

[rilhouse]

No boycott. Everyone should go dressed up and make a mess.

wear a suit & tie and start throwing double-doubles & tim-bits everywhere? that would be awesome! :D

[cOmAtOaSt]

Creating rules to keep the riffraff out has been going on for ages; the liquor stores in BC recently changed the rules limiting the number of empties you can return to 24 because the homeless people would bring in 100s at a time and making it "uncomfortable" for the ruling classes shopping for their pinot noirs.:D

I'm right in the middle of those two classes because I drink pinot noir, but I drink it out of a paper bag in the park.

[Dragon120]

Me too... I drank one of their coffees a few months ago and I've had to pee everyday since :mad:

So in other words, you don't pee everyday had you not drink their coffee?


I applaud Lee (the good samaritan) for not going off on the Tim Horton employee when confronted...I don't think I could hold it in.

[Mulder and Scully]

wear a suit & tie and start throwing double-doubles & tim-bits everywhere? that would be awesome! :D

and take a dump in the washroom sinks.

[pupazzo]

Lol the employee is my hero. Who the hell wants to enjoy the smell of stale piss because someone bought a hobo a double double.

[boyoflondon]

Lol the employee is my hero. Who the hell wants to enjoy the smell of stale piss because someone bought a hobo a double double.


Thank God the world is not full of judgmental people like you!

[Siefer999]

Me too... I drank one of their coffees a few months ago and I've had to pee everyday since :mad:

omg, i thought i was the only one. i can smell the hint coffee as it comes out of me. it smells very close to the actual thing

[Alvito]

Ask UP how he feels about this. He makes sandwiches for these guys. If they were to come INTO your house UP, and eat... would you be okay with that?

[Nikita]

I don't get the connection between being homeless and making a bigger mess when eating.

[danns]

I don't get the connection between being homeless and making a bigger mess when eating.

Thats probably because your not a Tim Hortons Employee

[ricoboxing]

The real story should be, WHAT THE HELL IS A HOMELESS PERSON DOING PREGNANT?

[NDman]

Another part of the story, from the same article:


The homeless woman, Tim Hortons spokesperson Rachel Douglas wrote in an email yesterday, had been "disruptive to customers and staff" on "several" occasions in the past. But Douglas did not say the woman had caused any problems Wednesday morning, and she apologized later to Lee — though Lee was unsatisfied with what Douglas said.

...

Douglas said the homeless woman, who could not be located later for comment, had been asked to leave the restaurant on several previous occasions. Tim Hortons, she said, does not have a policy on the treatment of the homeless; it is up to franchises to "make delicate judgment decisions when dealing with any disruptive customers to ensure the store is pleasant, comfortable and safe."


She's known to the store, and had previous "records". I don't blame that Tim Hortons for barring her (stores had banned people for way less). The way the staff handle the situation is something to be desired, however.

[kurtblak]

The real story should be, WHAT THE HELL IS A HOMELESS PERSON DOING PREGNANT?

time on their hands combined with an enjoyment of sex i would assume...

[champlinD]

The real story should be, WHAT THE HELL IS A HOMELESS PERSON DOING PREGNANT?

time on their hands combined with an enjoyment of sex i would assume...

Such comments unwarranted.
It can be in exchange for food, rape, protection, drug addiction...we really don't know and its immaterial.

Now gentelman, if you can ask your mom who is your daddy and we will know who has time on their hand.:D

[rfdrfd]

I think I know this Teresa L !!

[rosebud]

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/429178
"He said, `No, she didn't purchase it, you purchased it.' I said, `They were purchased. There's no reason she doesn't have the right to eat it in the store.' He said, `No, she's going to make a mess, who's going to clean up that mess? Are you going to clean up that mess?'"

I like that employee. Good attitude. Kudos.

[dhamilton]

Another part of the story, from the same article:



She's known to the store, and had previous "records". I don't blame that Tim Hortons for barring her (stores had banned people for way less). The way the staff handle the situation is something to be desired, however.

Exactly, there's always two sides of the story. The media just blows things out of proportion. This happens everyday folks, get off your high horses.

[ndrew029]

Now gentelman, if you can ask your mom who is your daddy and we will know who has time on their hand.:D

haha...wtf?

[Nemodigital]

Another part of the story, from the same article:



She's known to the store, and had previous "records". I don't blame that Tim Hortons for barring her (stores had banned people for way less). The way the staff handle the situation is something to be desired, however.

Exactly if Tim Hortons decides to bar her from the store then so be it, they are running a business and not a charity.

[rabblerouser]

Me too... I drank one of their coffees a few months ago and I've had to pee everyday since :mad:

Now that you mention it... me too! woah

[rosebud]

Exactly if Tim Hortons decides to bar her from the store then so be it, they are running a business and not a charity.

+2

[sixer]

Tim Horton's is waaay too expensive for what you get and their full of themselves

:)

[LeonPhelps]

Exactly if Tim Hortons decides to bar her from the store then so be it, they are running a business and not a charity.

+3

I bet the homeless person was a begger, I hate beggers.

Does anyone ever take into consideration what good Tims does for the community? They sponser my sons soccer team.


http://www.timhortons.com/en/goodwill/local-programs.html#6

And its not just canadian communities its also in other countries.

http://www.timhortons.com/en/goodwill/1521.html

So all you people who are bashing, go to starbucks and support George Bush and his war.

[rosebud]

+3

I bet the homeless person was a begger, I hate beggers.

Does anyone ever take into consideration what good Tims does for the community? They sponser my sons soccer team.


http://www.timhortons.com/en/goodwill/local-programs.html#6

And its not just canadian communities its also in other countries.

http://www.timhortons.com/en/goodwill/1521.html

So all you people who are bashing, go to starbucks and support George Bush and his war.

+4

[d_jedi]

I fully support the Tim Hortons employee here. The person was disruptive on previous visits to the store (I can totally picture this - as I unfortunately witnessed this type of behaviour first hand a few times at College&Spadina when I went to school downtown..)

[chrza]

You are going to clean up the mess! It's your f*ing job! Minimum wage is too high for you if you can't clean up the mess.

Actually, you should clean up after yourself. That's what the bins are for. I find it disgusting when people just leave their trays and junk on the table. Many "regular" customers are probably just as much pigs as these (accused) homeless people are.

[nano]

way to go TIMMIES :mad:

[najibs]

their coffee makes me pee for days.

you're not into golden showers?

[boyoflondon]

+3

I bet the homeless person was a begger, I hate beggers.

Does anyone ever take into consideration what good Tims does for the community? They sponser my sons soccer team.


http://www.timhortons.com/en/goodwill/local-programs.html#6

And its not just canadian communities its also in other countries.

http://www.timhortons.com/en/goodwill/1521.html

So all you people who are bashing, go to starbucks and support George Bush and his war.


bla bla bla bla ...


Welcome to the corporate world!!

Sponsorships = tax write offs + publicity

Had they really been "nice" and "caring", they'd walk down the street in the winter and give a cup of coffee/tea to the homeless!

[7Stryder7]

all this talk is making me want to work at TIMMIES!

[second2none]

No boycott. Everyone should go dressed up and make a mess.

Don't you mean "dress down"? ;)

[gman]

I fully support the Tim Hortons employee here. The person was disruptive on previous visits to the store (I can totally picture this - as I unfortunately witnessed this type of behaviour first hand a few times at College&Spadina when I went to school downtown..)

I partially support the Tim Hortons employee here. Based what I read, that homeless lady made trouble in that store before. Hence, banning her is okay for me. However, based on what Lee said, how that employee presented the case to Lee is just wrong. IMO, it is okay to ban trouble makers. However, it is not okay to disallow a person just because he/she is homeless.

Actually, you should clean up after yourself. That's what the bins are for. I find it disgusting when people just leave their trays and junk on the table. Many "regular" customers are probably just as much pigs as these (accused) homeless people are.

I agree. I always think in the place like McDonalds, Burger King, etc, you are supposed to move your junk to the garbage bin. No, you don't need to wipe the table. It is just common courtesy to the next customers. However, these days, I saw many young kids just lack of that.

[trilinearmipmap]

Enough pc ******** blaming Tim Horton's.

The misguided woman who paid for the food should think twice. If she really cared about the well-being of homeless people, she would spend her money supporting substance abuse treatment programs or similar causes.

Handouts to people who already leach off my tax money is a feel-good, achieve nothing strategy.

There is a class of people who live off the generosity of naive good-hearted souls. This sort of person deserves a good, firm kick in the butt.

[Hunter316]

Enough pc ******** blaming Tim Horton's.

The misguided woman who paid for the food should think twice. If she really cared about the well-being of homeless people, she would spend her money supporting substance abuse treatment programs or similar causes.

Handouts to people who already leach off my tax money is a feel-good, achieve nothing strategy.

There is a class of people who live off the generosity of naive good-hearted souls. This sort of person deserves a good, firm kick in the butt.

Wow you are right out of a Charles Dickens story. I pay taxes too but if I choose to buy someone a hot drink on a cold night to try to make an individual feel a little better then that’s up to me isn't it. I disagree with giving money to homeless people since you have no idea whether it will be spent on something productive or not but food is a different matter.

[sheepdogexpress]

Enough pc ******** blaming Tim Horton's.

The misguided woman who paid for the food should think twice. If she really cared about the well-being of homeless people, she would spend her money supporting substance abuse treatment programs or similar causes.

Handouts to people who already leach off my tax money is a feel-good, achieve nothing strategy.

There is a class of people who live off the generosity of naive good-hearted souls. This sort of person deserves a good, firm kick in the butt.

Seriously, not all homeless people have the same situations. Alot of them are homeless because of lack of jobs, physical and mental disabilities, etc.

Your type of thinking is the evil capitalist way of thinking.

I seen alot of homeless people and honestly from the description of this person, I don't think its as clear cut a situation as you think. Some homeless people I saw when volunteering at a shelter, are not mentally stable and create a disruptive environment where ever they work or are. (they just don't get along with others) They can't hold a job and basically become homeless. From the banning of this person, it might be one of those people(or tim hortons making a cover up story).

Any sane person would be happier I think if they had purpose(a job) and didn't have to beg for food.

What makes you sure they are living off your hefty tax handouts. This person might be living purely off the foodbank.

From your solution, it almost sounds like we should beat the homeless into submission, torture them until they either die or straighten out. They live a hard life, I don't think beating them is going to make the situation any better. While we are at it, we should let africa starve to death(no more donations), as it is their fault over not evolving technologically and overharvesting their land.

I agree with above poster that their is little harm in giving food to these people.

[T-Man]

Enough pc ******** blaming Tim Horton's.

The misguided woman who paid for the food should think twice. If she really cared about the well-being of homeless people, she would spend her money supporting substance abuse treatment programs or similar causes.

Handouts to people who already leach off my tax money is a feel-good, achieve nothing strategy.

There is a class of people who live off the generosity of naive good-hearted souls. This sort of person deserves a good, firm kick in the butt.

I hope this changes your general assumption.

Working but homeless in Mississauga

Say "homeless person" and most Canadians picture a scruffy-looking man on a street corner in the downtown core of a big, bustling city.

That's not necessarily the reality. Mississauga – a satellite city west of Toronto that projects an image of homogeneous, suburban prosperity – and the surrounding region of Peel are home to a million people. Ten-and-a-half thousand of them used housing shelters last year. Three thousand of those were children.

Alfred is a 61-year-old sufferer from Parkinson's disease who fits the stereotype. It makes him seem drunk when you encounter him on the street. He was also the victim of a bad gambling habit that cost him his job, family and former life.

He slept in a park for eight months before officials found him a home in Millbrook Place, the region's first new affordable housing project in 10 years.

But the new, and fast-growing, profile of homelessness is of an immigrant mother with children. People like Joyce Appiah from Ghana, who had to quit her job to look after her children when she lost the place she'd been sharing with relatives. Now she and her daughters, aged five and two, are crammed into a small room in a former hotel turned emergency shelter.

And there's Anab Ali, who came here from Somalia several years ago, and has moved from community to community in search of a home she can afford. Right now she shares a single room in an emergency shelter with her three children, the smallest a nursing baby.

The shelter is the only option for women like these. Yet as Mississauga Councillor Patricia Mullin points out, the city's goal is to get rid of shelters. Mississauga – like every other fast-growing city – needs a Canadian housing strategy, she says. Not shelters, not public housing projects where generation after generation remain stuck in substandard housing – but a government strategy for building affordable homes.

It's a measure of how far out of reach affordable housing has become that in one Mississauga shelter four of every 10 people are working poor. "Not bums on the street," says Mullin. "They go to work every day. They just don't have a place to live!"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/municipalities/citystates_homeless.html


Homeless, but not Hopeless

It seems as if Mary can't stop kissing her daughter. She clearly loves six-month old Alexes, and says all the kisses "Are to make up for the time when I'm away from her at work." Despite her obvious affection for her daughter, it looked like she might lose custody for a while because doctors were concerned about the baby's safety. Caseworkers from the Missouri Division of Family Services (DFS) were ready to place Alexes into foster care, and would have if not for reStart, a homeless shelter funded partially through two HUD contracts. The contracts assist reStart in providing families and their children with transitional living accommodations that include facilities to prepare meals and do laundry.

Mary had been living in a low-budget hotel, after moving out of her midtown apartment because the place had mold on the ceiling and no electricity. She remembers, "It wasn't a healthy place for someone who was pregnant and certainly not for a newborn baby." But without a permanent address, Mary and Alexes were homeless.

The hospital staff followed state law by notifying DFS, but they really didn't want to see Mary and Alexes separated. A DFS caseworker started looking for options, eventually finding space for the single mom and her newborn baby in the emergency family shelter at reStart.

Mary was familiar with reStart's homelessness program. She'd been in their shelter a couple of times over the past eight years. Life has been an ongoing struggle for Mary. She was born with a mild form of cerebral palsy, requiring annual trips to the Shriner's Hospital in St. Louis. She prefers not to talk about her childhood and home life, except to say "It wasn't good." She didn't graduate from high school and at the age of 18, checked herself into a mental hospital.

She eventually joined the Job Corps, earning her GED and learning practical skills that help her cope with everyday life. Even with her GED and newfound confidence, Mary still had trouble finding a decent job. She's been forced to turn to a number of social service agencies over the years, for everything from mental health counseling to medical care, food, clothing and even shelter.

The past three years, she's been working as a women's room attendant. She works from 7 p.m. until closing four days a week. Her job includes keeping the bathrooms clean and providing towels, perfume, and hairspray for customers. Even with tips, she only makes $500 or $600 per month, but she loves her job anyway. She relies on the bus or taxis to get back and forth from work. Mary is fortunate to have a good friend who watches Alexes as a favor while she's at work.

As a new mother, Mary is determined to lead a more stable life, for the sake of her daughter. For now, she pays $94 a month to stay in the Family Transitional Living Shelter at reStart that is supported through a HUD contract. Her rent, which includes all utilities, food and case management, is based on her income and she may stay for a maximum of 24 months. During this time, Alexes is receiving free medical care through the Children's Clinic at Children's Mercy Hospital and counselors from the Children's Place are coming a couple times a week to give Mary parenting tips and teach her new ways to better interact with her daughter. Mary also participates in reStart's employment training and parenting classes.

Without reStart, it's doubtful that Mary and Alexes would be together today. If they weren't, we'd have a broken-hearted mother, another child in state foster care and worst of all, a missed opportunity to build that special bond between mother and daughter that can be so important later in life.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/03/21/news/top_stories/3_20_0422_56_52.txt

continued...

[T-Man]

Number of working homeless said to be rising

NORTH COUNTY ---- On a sunny late-winter afternoon, Ernestine Watson paced through the parking lot of North County Solutions for Change in Vista to catch the first of three buses to her job as a caregiver in Carlsbad.

After stepping out of the clean, slightly cramped cubby where she and her two school-age daughters sleep in bunk beds, Watson, 49, counted out the coins for her $1.75 fare to wait at the bus stop in front of the shelter she calls home.

The fact she has no place to call her own does not concern her.

"I'm not ashamed," said Watson, crossing her arms and shaking her head. Her boss and the elderly woman she cares for know about her housing circumstances.

"I have pride, but sometimes I put my pride aside for my girls," she said in a tender, almost raspy voice.

After leaving what she said was an abusive relationship with her girls' father six years ago, Watson has moved through several occupations, from packing fish to taking care of the elderly. In that time, she has also slipped into the growing ranks of the region's working homeless.

Some 42 percent of homeless people in the United States are employed, according to estimates from the National Coalition for the Homeless. North County shelter administrators and the county's Regional Task Force on the Homeless estimate that the region's own working homeless problem mirrors that ratio.

Of the 1,322 homeless cases tracked in the task force's information system between October 2001 and December 2002, approximately 28 percent were employed at the time they entered one of the county's homeless shelters.

John Thelen, the task force's executive director, said the number of working homeless appears to be on the rise based on anecdotal information he has collected from the region's winter shelters.

"The economy has changed (since 2002) and you probably are seeing more cases of people working and seeking shelter," Thelen said. "There's no reason to expect we wouldn't meet the national average."

Likewise, directors of several regional shelters said they had seen a significant increase in the number of working homeless knocking on their doors this past season.

"Definitely, this year we've seen an increase in clients who are really the working poor, who have jobs, who have an education," said Catie Riddle, a case manager at Community Resource Center in Encinitas. The center places clients in Interfaith Shelter Network's winter shelter, which rotates every two weeks among several dozen churches throughout the region.

It's a living

One of the people who showed up at Riddle's office this winter was "Patty," a well-spoken 34-year-old with a bachelor's degree in psychology and most of her belongings stuffed into an oversized purse hanging at her side.

Four years after following her family out from the Midwest, Patty ---- who preferred not to use her real name for this article ---- found herself bouncing from part-time job to part-time job, working promotions at marketing events or signing up credit card applicants. She offset her low wages with money she had saved up from the business she started back home. At the same time, she was moving around, sharing three-bedroom apartments that rented for as much as $1,800 with friends and trying to find a living situation that didn't break her bank.

"It was always doable, but I was always living hand to mouth," she said.

This past winter, as the work and her savings started drying up, Patty found herself unable to afford her rent, or even get her car out the impound yard after Oceanside police towed it for a parking violation. Her friends kicked her out of the apartment and Patty wound up at the door of the Community Resource Center on Dec. 29 looking for a place to stay.

Riddle immediately placed Patty at the shelter at St. Peter's in Del Mar, the first of five churches where she would spend the next eight weeks.

Relying on her easygoing personality and the voice mail number the center provided her, the smartly dressed woman with the dangling earrings and rose-tinted sunglasses to match her red pants said she quickly landed a job waiting tables at a posh North County restaurant.

Each day she headed to the bus stop alongside the secretaries, cooks and grocers who were staying at the shelter and also on their way to work. By the end of the eight-week program, Patty had saved enough money to rent a room in a two-story house in a tidy Encinitas neighborhood.

"It's not all that important what your job is, as long as you're out there every morning and making money to go where you want to go," said Patty. "I became aware of that quickly."

The fact that Patty wasn't working in her chosen field is not unusual, said Riddle.

"Generally, there's a difference between what jobs they hold and what their training is," said Riddle. Since the shelter opened for this winter in November, she has seen architects and lawyers working in telemarketing and other unskilled positions.

Of the 12 beds available at Interfaith Shelter Networks, 10 are occupied by people who were working when they showed up looking for a place to stay, Riddle said.

Digging out of a sinking hole

For Watson, the caregiver, the obstacle was the uphill battle of working to pay the rent for the bedroom she rented for her and her daughters in a shared two-bedroom apartment in Vista while trying to save enough money for the security deposit on her own place.

Watson said she already has been approved for a federal housing voucher, but the $9 an hour she makes as a caregiver and a pair of evictions the father of her girls left on her credit record have prevented her from getting a place. Since the last eviction in the mid-1990s, Watson left the girls' father, who she said has moved out-of-state and refuses to pay any child support.

As part of North County Solutions' program, she is required to save 30 percent of her earnings toward permanent housing.

Watson's situation represents a growing problem for low-wage workers in the region, shelter administrators said.

"Rents are so high that people working in very low-paying jobs can't afford to live on their own," said Laurin Pause, the executive director of the Community Resource Center. "Single apartments are more than people working minimum wage or lower levels can afford."

On average, a two-bedroom apartment in San Diego County rents for $1,175, while a one-bedroom apartment goes for $939, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a Washington-based public advocacy group. At those rates, the organization estimates, a person would have to earn between $18 and $23 an hour to afford an apartment in the region without spending more than 30 percent of income on rent, the threshold for the federal definition of affordable housing.

Chris Megison, the executive director of North County Solutions for Change, said a typical history for the approximately 65 families the shelter serves each year is a single mom earning $20,000 a year working one or several jobs and paying rent that has gone up from $600 just a couple of years ago to as much as $900 today.

"What you see when you do the math is you're putting out 60 percent or more of your income in housing," Megison said.

Extending horizons

Watson plans to move out of the shelter and into a simple two-bedroom place with her daughters this year. But she is convinced that dreams beyond working as a caregiver and renting an apartment are out of reach. A security deposit is one thing, she said, a down payment and a mortgage are another.

"Winning the lotto," she said of owning her own place. "That's the only way I see it happening."

To extend her horizons, however, Watson need look no further than to her employer, Zina Harris, who also found herself homeless in 1999 after having stayed at motels following her divorce.

Slowly, Harris said, she worked her way back up, staying with friends and sharing apartments with roommates until she started Cherished Moments Care three years ago.

That experience has focused her attention on helping women such as Watson who are facing similar trials in their lives.

"I had to climb out of that hole," said Harris, 38. "People make mistakes, they go through things."

In the end, living in a homeless shelter will only strengthen Watson and help her get where she wants to be, she said.

"Where she lives doesn't reflect the person she is," Harris said.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/03/21/news/top_stories/3_20_0422_56_52.txt

So please trilinearmipmap, not everything is black or white, there are lots of circumstances that can happened. I hope you took the time to read these articles especially the last one where I highlighted and bold...

[neilson]

No boycott. Everyone should go dressed up and make a mess.

You suggesting ppl go into Tim's and take a crap on the floor of the restaurant? That would get them a Fail health rating REAL quick.

[Takami]

This reminds me of a time when I was a few years old in the late 80's. I was in Hong Kong at a fast food restaurant called Cafe de Coral which operates only in Hong Kong at that time.

http://www.cafedecoral.com/web/show/show.jsp?ppid=10

Anyways, this fast food place was pretty crowded, and sharing of tables is a very common thing. There was this bum, dressed in "bum clothes" (dirty raggy clothes) and he had just purchased a full meal and was looking for a table (I dunno where he could have got the $, but food there was pretty cheap back then). He walked up to a mid-age man dressed in a full suit + tie, and asked him if the seat next to him was taken. This well dressed man said okay, and the bum sat down next to him. The man did not move away or anything and continued eating. The bum didn't bother anyone either and was busy eating too.

Just a strange story that I wanted to share.

[Rometiklan]

Enough pc ******** blaming Tim Horton's.

The misguided woman who paid for the food should think twice. If she really cared about the well-being of homeless people, she would spend her money supporting substance abuse treatment programs or similar causes.

Handouts to people who already leach off my tax money is a feel-good, achieve nothing strategy.

There is a class of people who live off the generosity of naive good-hearted souls. This sort of person deserves a good, firm kick in the butt.

You should be down on your knees thanking whichever god you worship that you are not a homeless person. With a snobby, elitist attitude that you have towards the homeless, just pray that you never become one because you couldn't possibly expect some misguided person to help you out with a lousy stinking donut or a handout because you'd be leaching off other people's tax dollars. Just stay in your sheltered little world where you don't have to deal with the poor and leave the humanitarism to the people who have a heart.

[billymadison]

come on people,there is over 1500 Tim Hortons operated by individual owners,there is going to be a few issues,you cant say Timmies is a bad operation because of a few franchises.You can bet the head quarters will be on the ass of the owner of that location or any other locations that creates bad press.Tim Hortons gives millions to charities and created a icon for Canadians to proud about.To say Timmies is a bad company is a mistake.

Tim Horton's is a bad company if you ask me. Have you ever SEEN the calorie content of their food? It's astonishing! They better be paying some kind of health-tax because all the uninformed consumers wolfing down "non-fat muffins" are going to be a drain on the health-care system when they're recovering from a stroke :o

[billymadison]

You should be down on your knees thanking whichever god you worship that you are not a homeless person. With a snobby, elitist attitude that you have towards the homeless, just pray that you never become one because you couldn't possibly expect some misguided person to help you out with a lousy stinking donut or a handout because you'd be leaching off other people's tax dollars. Just stay in your sheltered little world where you don't have to deal with the poor and leave the humanitarism to the people who have a heart.

+1

Good job man. I have purchased meals for homeless people countless times. Sometimes you gotta help someone in need. Everyone has the right to a full stomach.

[tet8suo]

You should be down on your knees thanking whichever god you worship that you are not a homeless person. With a snobby, elitist attitude that you have towards the homeless, just pray that you never become one because you couldn't possibly expect some misguided person to help you out with a lousy stinking donut or a handout because you'd be leaching off other people's tax dollars. Just stay in your sheltered little world where you don't have to deal with the poor and leave the humanitarism to the people who have a heart.
+2

[neilson]

You should be down on your knees thanking whichever god you worship that you are not a homeless person. With a snobby, elitist attitude that you have towards the homeless, just pray that you never become one because you couldn't possibly expect some misguided person to help you out with a lousy stinking donut or a handout because you'd be leaching off other people's tax dollars. Just stay in your sheltered little world where you don't have to deal with the poor and leave the humanitarism to the people who have a heart.

Well we're NOT homeless and if Sharon Stone is right about the earthquake in China, then I pray to God that karma isn't real either.