Homeless People

Howard County's cold-weather shelters housed 20 children over the course of the winter — double the number of children who received the housing service in any of its eight years of existence. The program is run at 16 churches from late November to late March, and provides shelter, food, rides and laundry services for up to two dozen homeless people each night. The Grassroots Crisis Intervention center, which administers the eight-year-old service, released last season's data this week.

His fellow homeless never knew his last name, but they were fairly certain he was a combat veteran. They called him "One-Eyed Rick. " Sue Bull, Baltimore County's homeless coordinator, met him during the annual count of the homeless in January. "He just invited me into his tent and offered me a crate to sit on," Bull said. "We had a friendly conversation. " Rick died on a train track in Essex, one of 16 homeless people in the county who lost their lives in 2010. He had been drinking and was listening to music on earphones.

A 45-year old homeless man is facing first-degree murder charges in the beating death of another homeless man who was found in woods near Laurel Race Track on Thursday, according to Anne Arundel County police. Adalberto Rodriquez-Tolledo was found walking along the 8800 block of Gorman Road in North Laurel on Friday afternoon at about 5:30 p.m., police said. He was arrested on an unrelated warrant, but under questioning, police said he implicated himself in the beating death of Flavio Garcia, 55, of San Pedro, Jicayan Oaxaca, Mexico.

Homeless people in Howard County feeling the sting of winter's cold can, for the eighth consecutive year, seek a nighttime refuge in the county's church-based cold-weather shelter, which begins services Monday night. This year, 16 churches have volunteered to work with the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center, the county's main homeless shelter on Freetown Road, and county workers to operate the shelter for 18 weeks, through the end of March. People who need shelter at night should call Grassroots' crisis line at 410-531-6677 and make a reservation for the shelter.

A two-story vacant home caught fire about 4:30 p.m. Sunday in the 2900 block of Springhill Ave., and the flames spread to at least one other house before Baltimore firefighters were able to stop the blaze. The Fire Department had yet to determine a cause for the two-alarm fire in the Park Circle neighborhood. Witnesses told investigators that the house where the fire started is often used by homeless people. Capt. Anthony Czepik of the department's fire investigation bureau said no one was in the buildings at the time of the fire.

For more than five years, Henry Bell spent most nights on a West Pratt Street bench. But he has spent the past 18 months inside his own home, a few blocks from Druid Hill Park, and he hasn't forgotten the five years he was on the streets. "It was like a turnstile," he said about cycling in and out of housing, battling addiction after separating from his wife. As a reminder of the struggle that Bell and other have faced in finding stable housing, the Health Care for the Homeless organization has erected a large mural on the south wall of its headquarters at 421 Fallsway.

Two homeless people were taken to the hospital after a vacant building downtown caught fire Tuesday night, officials said. The two adults suffered from smoke inhalation but had left the brick row home in the 300 block of St. Paul Place before fire crews arrived at the scene, said Captain Roman Clark, a fire department spokesman. He said the victims were believed to be squatters. The fire was contained to two vacant brick buildings across from Mercy Medical Center, said Chief Charles Browning, the fire official on the scene.

Valentin Del Cid lived and died in the cold woods of Rockville's Aspen Hill Park. He was drinking one night a year ago when he slipped on a patch of ice, hit his head hard and froze to death overnight. "I was one of the ones who found him," said Carlos Fernandez, a pastor who has brought food and read Scripture to the homeless Latino day laborers in ragged camps like the one where Del Cid, 40, died. Now Fernandez is proposing to help the men by converting an abandoned house to a rehabilitation center and residence for the laborers, many of whom are alcoholics.

Inside the Doughy Dog truck, workers are preparing more than hot dogs, breakfast sandwiches and mini-doughnuts. They're preparing themselves for more stable lives, working toward increased self-sufficiency one chubby hot dog at a time. This is food with a social mission: The big red Doughy Dog truck is a business venture of the Arundel House of Hope, a 17-year-old nonprofit organization in Glen Burnie that helps homeless people. The organization's clients get paid job experience and growing self-confidence.

On the longest night of the year, with temperatures expected to dip into the teens and the remnants of a weekend snowstorm on the ground, dozens will gather in sympathy for those who daily bear the brunt of harsh weather without shelter. Baltimore County's second annual Homeless Persons Memorial Service will begin at 5 p.m. today at Calvary Baptist Church in Towson. Participants, several of whom are living in county shelters, will pray, listen to Scripture, poetry and songs from church choirs, and socialize during a simple meal.