Logan Patmon

Beverly Cobb enjoys a meal at the Isabella County Soup Kitchen[/caption]

Sitting at a table eating cornbread, fish and potatoes, Beverly Cobb chews slowly and carefully, partially smiling after every bite.

Cobb is wearing a multi-colored hoodie and a long dark green scarf that she has wrapped over her neck cautiously as if to make sure nothing gets spilled on it. She leisurely drinks her glass of milk before she starts to speak.

“Don’t get food this great very often, so when I do I have to savor the flavor,” Cobb says, chuckling.

Cobb was once one of the many homeless and impoverished people in mid-Michigan who visited the Isabella County Soup Kitchen to get a good meal. She has come today with Dennis Robinson, a homeless man, to show him where he can get a nice meal.  She said she worked for years until she hurt her back and was on Workers Compensation, but eventually ended up losing her job; shortly, after she became homeless with her two daughters.

The father of her daughters disappeared years ago, but owes over $40,000 in unpaid child support, Cobb said.

“There’s a lot of homeless people in this area, she said. “They’re just hidden in the minds of a lot of people because they aren’t seen standing on corners holding signs.”

Homelessness in Isabella County

In Isabella County, there are 151 known homeless people, according to data from Central Michigan University’s sociology, anthropology and social work professor J. Douglas Penn.

The cause of homelessness varies, but poverty and a lack of affordable housing are often cited as two key factors.

There are also other trigger factors that can lead to homelessness such as: eviction, domestic violence, death of a loved one, loss of a job, or divorce.

The U.S. government doesn’t only classify people who live on the streets as homeless. Anyone who doesn’t have a place of consistent residence is considered homeless.

Cobb recently moved out of Isabella County to neighboring Gratiot County because she felt that people and charities there treat her better.

“A lot of charities here [Mt. Pleasant] are horrible to the people that need them. I wanted to crawl under a table and disappear because of how I was treated at the Salvation Army.  They once made me wait five hours to not give me anything, and all I wanted was a little food to eat,” she said. “These are the stories that the Salvation Army doesn’t want people to know. The majority of the time the people who are mistreated are too poor to really make their mistreatment known.” 

Robinson lived with his mother for his entire life until she died at the age of 87. He was unemployed and quickly became homeless after her death.

“The Salvation Army has been horrible to me also, but there are a few great charities, this soup kitchen is one, Listening Ear is, too, and a program called Human Services,” Robinson said “People look at me sometimes like I want to live this type of life. They don’t know how many people in Mt. Pleasant are actually struggling”.

 According to the U.S. Census Bureau almost 45 percent of people living in Mt. Pleasant live below the poverty line, more than twice Michigan’s state average of almost 16 percent of people who live below the poverty line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The U.S. government sets the poverty threshold for single people as those making less than $11,945 a year and for couples making less than $15,374 per year. The numbers vary based on the number of people in a household.

“I’ve been living under the poverty line for a lot of my life. From my birth in Louisiana to right now,” Cobb said. “My worst living situation was when I had to live in my car. I did it for about five years in Mt. Pleasant with my two daughters. We ate meals at the soup kitchen, got clothes from places like the Salvation Army and washed up in the Chip River. It made me really question a lot about my country and myself. If we’re all Americans why do some people have so much and others have so little.”

Shelter

Those who are homeless in Mt. Pleasant and Isabella County often have to “fin for themselves” when it comes to finding housing.

“There is no emergency housing for anyone in this town,” said Corey Hilliard, housing assistant at the Mount Pleasant Housing Commission.

The Mt. Pleasant Planning Commission has repeatedly denied proposed homeless shelters. One of the most recent proposals was for a men’s homeless shelter that would have provided temporary housing for up to 30 days. Many residents did not want the shelter to be built because of its proposed location in downtown Mt. Pleasant and because they were concerned about the types of people who would live there.

“Some of the homeless population survives by couch surfing, staying with family or friends or sleeping in vehicles,” said Irene Little, emergency services program manger for the Central Michigan chapter of the American Red Cross.

Cobb who currently resides in Gratiot County is no longer homeless. She now lives in a trailer in Riverdale, Mich.

“I ended up qualifying for disability, so now I get a decent-sized check form the government,” Cobb said. “I probably could have got it sooner, but I didn’t really know a lot amount it or how to apply or anything.”

As Cobb finished her meal she began to quickly button up her hoodie and pile up her empty bowls. Before she got up she said, “Everything happens for a reason I believe. One of my daughters is in college now and she is studying to be a social worker. I know she will be the best one because she knows what it feels like to be homeless and hungry”.