How is the City of Amarillo Working on Our Homeless Problem?

If you take a drive around Amarillo there is no surprise that we face a problem with homelessness. We see so many people on the street corners asking for money. If you drive Downtown Amarillo it seems to be even worse.

What is the City of Amarillo doing to clean up this problem? One program will not only help to train some of our homeless population to get and keep a job. They will also literally be cleaning up our city.

Training, a Job and Cleanliness, Oh My

This is one of those programs that can definitely be a win win for our city. PREP Academy is coming to our city and is a big step in the right direction for our city on so many levels. This first round of the program kicks off today.

What is PREP Academy?

The PREP Academy is a program that takes a group of homeless individuals that are part of the Coming Home Program and give them more to do. They will get training. Then they will be put to work. The work will involve cleaning up our city parks.

These individuals will receive six weeks of pay and their uniforms will be provided. Each worker will also get a savings account and training on how to manage money. All of these are great steps.

All of this will help for future employment for these workers. This is a big help. They will have training and some work history. They will also have some skill. Our city parks will get some much needed work to them.

I see this as being a step in the right direction. The more homeless people who seek this help and go through the program, the more we can get back to work.

The Weird Things You Find All Over Amarillo if You Take a Walk

Why do we leave so many things behind? I really don't know.

The Abandoned St. Anthony's Hospital on Amarillo Boulevard

The 119-year-old abandoned hospital is a fascinating place for any who are lucky enough to be granted the chance to explore.

The sprawling building saw thousands of Amarillo's citizens inside its halls daily, all the the way until it was shuttered in 2001. But there are still incredible artifacts of the all-too-recent past tucked away in the nooks and crannies of the old St. Anthony.

The explorer who took these photographs gave the following information:

"Many rooms were left untouched, we found patient files, old prescriptions, a blood transfusion machine from the 60s, and microscopic slides of breast cancer from the 70s and 80s. I put one picture in here of some heart scans so you can see the dates and diagnosis of the patient, but marked out the patient’s names of course. During a time when mental illness was not understood, 76 exorcisms were documented to have been performed between 1909 and 1931."

Take a look inside the halls of the legendary abandoned St. Anthony's hospital