Interesting article. I'm curious what people think about the story, this type of journalism, the giveaway, etc. As always Enquirer commenters have plenty to say.

 

Reporter joins needy in Freestore line

Curnutte describes 2 1/2 hours in another man's shoes

By Mark Curnutte • [email protected] • November 24, 2009

 

Wearing a blue stocking cap and a frayed gray sweat shirt to blend in, I stood in line for two and a half hours Monday, waiting for free Thanksgiving food at the Freestore Foodbank in Over-the-Rhine.

 

I was one of "them."

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20091124/NEWS01/911250336/

I really liked it.

Didn't Jerry Springer try something like that back when he was a Cincy news anchor?

Didn't Jerry Springer try something like that back when he was a Cincy news anchor?

 

i think he had a fake beard

I think he actually lived as a homeless guy for a few days.

 

  Jerry Springer went all out and played the part of a homeless man for about a week, even living on the streets in filthy clothes. He had a photographer with a hidden camera follow him around and take grainy pictures of Jerry trying to engage in conversations with homeless people, which were broadcast on the evening news.

 

 

This was ridiculously predictable.  He wanted to sit down after standing for two hours?  I was on my feet 19 hours today, 17 on Tuesday, and 19 on Monday. 

This was ridiculously predictable. He wanted to sit down after standing for two hours?

 

lol

At WNBC in the later '80s, Pat Harper, one of the principal anchors, spent a few days on the strrets of Manhattan as a "bag" lady.  She won an EMMY for the piece. 

I'm not terribly impressed by this reporters story, but hopefully it might steer the minds of those with cold hearts to the plight of others.

Last December I wrote a series of articles on funding cutbacks at some large ecumenical hunger centers in Cleveland. While I didn't spend time pretending to be homeless, I was given a great deal of access to the store rooms, back offices, assembly areas and loading docks at two centers.

 

I learned a very hard lesson:  if you want to keep dry eyes, don't go to a hunger center in a poor part of town in the middle of a recession. The place was simply overwhelmed with people, families, elderly couples and every race, ethnicity and age group you can think of. But the number of volunteer workers, plus their energy and hustle, was equally as moving.

 

It was sad but wonderful at the same time. I saw the true meaning of Christmas that day.