Norwich homeless brace for winter
By JESSICA DURKIN
Norwich Bulletin

Originally published November 13, 2005

 

NORWICH-- Bruce Fontaine has a roof over his head, but since last year, it's been his car's roof.

Fontaine calls a 1994 Ford Taurus station wagon home. The car, parked outside a local soup kitchen, has a flat tire, a dead battery and no gas.

When the cold becomes too unbearable -- he said the coldness is most extreme between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. -- he'll go to a shelter and hope there is space available for him. Otherwise, he wraps himself in blankets in his backseat and draws his hands and feet close to his chest.

"Your hands, your feet are cold. I don't care if you have five pair of socks on, because it doesn't help," the 46-year-old ex-machinist said during a lunch hour at St. Vincent de Paul Place soup kitchen. "I can already tell it's going to be a cold winter."

As temperatures begin to dip into the 30s and 20s this week, the Connecticut winters are a test of survival for many of the Norwich-area's estimated 1,700 homeless.

Many in the local homeless community are still reeling from the sting of a demolished settlement last week after a local man known as Backpack Jim was found dead of natural causes at his longtime makeshift shelter along the city's riverbank. The encampment removal, and subsequent dislocation of a handful of residents at the tent village, has become a symbol of struggle for Norwich homeless.

As the winter sets in, homeless shelters begin filling up. Last year, there were 18 beds available at a local homeless shelter for 29 people seeking overnight accommodation, said William Johnson, who works with Norwich Care team, a social services agency associated with Reliance House and the Hospitality Center.

Johnson helps hand out blankets and warm clothes to those who seek them. Williams said a warm place to stay is asked for most.

"It's like food, it's one of the necessities of life," Johnson said. "No matter how much (homeless) people want to stay away from society, people still need a place out of the cold."

 

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Bruce Fontaine of Norwich has been living in his car for more than a year. He has only a jacket, a blanket and two pillows to keep warm at night. Saturday he demonstrates how he sleeps in the backseat.

Jim Pires of Norwich looks for homeless people underneath the Norwich Viaduct Saturday to see if anyone needs food or a place to go. A mattress and blankets rest against a concrete wall in the background and, according to Pires, will likely be someone's bed once night falls. Pires, who has been homeless in the past, checks up on the city's homeless daily and offers shelter at his apartment when he has the room.

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