The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 13, 1997, Garnet and Black, Page 14, Image 14
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John Albert Benjamin has been working as a jat
think this is a joke, but this aint no joke. I've see
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14 Garnet & Black, January, 13, 1997
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ii'/or <stf the mission for five years. "There's not much diffe
n too many people go down that never thought they'd be ,
The Oliver Gospel Mil
dirty brown brick buildin
Columbia's homeless, anc
other place. These photog
SB a* reaMy g?es on tht
pi p a difference?"
Shelter of Last Res
Gloria Cook speaks in a slow, eve
and uncaring, but the voice of a worn
all, who is unafraid.
Cook is the executive director of
Mission and has spent the last ten ye
vide shelter and food for Columbia's
tion. She sees, every day, the affects c
abuse, mental illness and AIDS. SI
lence and poverty and hopelessness, ;
ing that everyone, no matter wh;
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uv-ov. i v \~o iv vv i iv ipvu.
"Would you let someone back into
beat you over the head with a basebc
dying in a pool of blood with your hi
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I The answer seems obvious, but at
Mission answers are rarely simple,
question is not fiction.
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:re arm to usk Ltaz qutsiLuri,
.OTf "We do," says (
under the doctrir
:n voice. Not cold matter what their
ian who has seen it "They can walk
she says. "They c;
the Oliver Gospel just lay them dow
ars helping to pro- "We're called tl
; homeless popula- Cook graduatt
)f drug and alcohol Carolina, at 38, v
re deals with vio- resumes to churc
ill rhp rimp hplipv- irl m; ;ct-rofnr r\r
it their situation, was extended to h
thought - mayhe 1
your home if they been here almost
ill bat and left you Cook estimates
rains spilling out?" help from the Mis
cent have alcoho
the Oliver Gospel percent have All
Her hypothetical overlap, making a
"If a person is d
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rence between a homeless person am
in this place," said Benjamin.
jsion stands at the corner o
\g that few people look at ti
I a source of hope for many
raphs and stories are desig
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i anyone else. People ride by and
j Assembly and lay lor, a
vice. It is a shelter for
who can find hope in no
ned to give a closer look
"Are they really making
l!ook, after a brief pause. "We operate
\e that everyone deserves shelter, no
behavior."
in here so drunk they can't stand up,"
an urinate all over the floor. And we'll
n and cover them with a blanket."
l _ _i_ _ i_ ^ ?
ne sneiier or lasr resort,
id from the University of South
vith a degree in accounting. She sent
hes, expecting to work as a church
accountant. But when only one offer
ier, from the Oliver Gospel Mission, "I
:he lord wants me here. And now I've
eleven years."
that 65 percent of the people getting
sion suffer from mental illness. 75 per1
or crack addictions, and another 50
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iny kind of treatment difficult,
lual diagnosed, they really don't qual