Just occasionally my habitual bouts of insomnia throw up a decent programme I would have missed had not thirst driven me downstairs to make a cup of tea. This happened last night when some feature of BBC news mentioned and reported on an American self help project in the near destitute Detroit. I know I thought it was going to be him
as well but, alas it was something else.
However, from the bit I watched I thought it was quite a good idea. Detroit Soup was started as a way of trying to help the thousands that found themselves unemployed or even homeless due to the major decline in the automotive industry in the city.
A couple of ideas that I thought were particularly good were the padded coat that converted to a sleeping bag for the homeless overnight. Originally produced with the prize money, they now plan to sell it commercially in camping stores and continue distributing free to the needy.
The second was simply called ‘Sit On it’ : a scheme to provide benches for the bus stop with the growing numbers in the city turning to public transport after selling their cars. They have now taken it a step further putting a selection of unwanted books on selves at the back of the benches and reported an instance of a student finding a course book she was saving for that would have cost at least $100. More useful to the people making the benches was that a restaurant owner had seen them and gave them an order to make some tables for his restaurant.
For once I think the American cousins have done something good to fight off their growing economic dilemma.