Today, Florida’s new law, prohibiting the feeding of homeless people in public spaces, was overturned. Arnold Abbott, a 90-year-old World War II veteran, resolved to continue to feed the homeless (as he had for two decades) despite the new law. At one point, police approached him and told him to “Drop that plate right now!”

Because Abbott refused to follow this law, and even racked up citations for violating the feeding ban, today, it is no longer illegal to feed the homeless in Fort Lauderdale.

See https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/12/03/after-90-year-old-is-arrested-florida-judge-halts-law-that-restricts-feeding-the-homeless/ for the full story.

About me:

As a result of untreated schizophrenia, I was homeless for nearly four years. During that time, I survived by sleeping on the group and eating discarded food from the garbage. Today, I am fully recovered on medication, and have been for seven years. Upon my recovery, I graduated from college, returned to playing the violin, authored a memoir about my journey to full recovery, and presented my story for thousands of people. I live independently. But I still remember being homeless. I never begged or held up a sign, but I was also too mentally ill to ask for food, shelter, or any other kind of help. Instead, I lived in a churchyard.

In March of 2003, when I initially became homeless, I began to eat food that had been thrown away. At first, I was finding food in local libraries, sometimes searching for food around 2AM or 3AM.

During the course of a year, my illness turned me into a dirty stranger. I went from a normal college student with a bright future to a homeless, dirty young woman sitting on a part bench. I began searching for food during daylight hours. I found sandwiches that were almost untouched, soda pop, and paper cups from local coffee shops, half full of cappuccino.

In all of it, the root of my problem was not that I was making bad choices: my unacceptable behavior resulted from untreated schizophrenia. I had become so mentally ill that I was unaware of my surroundings. Eventually, I didn’t even care if others saw me searching for food. Years prior, I had won a scholarship to study biochemistry at a prominent university. Back then, I would never have dreamed of eating discarded food.

Today, I believe it is a major victory that this unjust Florida law has been struck down. I hope that many people in Florida will have more energy to get themselves back on their feet, so they can make a contribution to society.

But some problems remain. Going from a normal member of society to a homeless person does not happen overnight and is a slow process. Many of these people badly need medication. We need to continue the fight to get the mentally ill who are homeless quality care.