Lady Who Owns Shopping Carts

[TheJunction]

Does anyone know where (Mary? Marie?) is currently located? She is the women who is seen around town with multiple shopping carts, usually reading. She has her carts by Sleepers in Seattle and we would like to reunite her with her belongings or have someone offer to take them to her.

Last time we heard, she was in the Admiral District.

Thanks,
Lora
WSJA

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[sbre]

Lora,
I saw two of her carts (has many umbrellas on them) near Alki Bike & Board around noon today, sorry nothing more recent than that.

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[KBear]

Lora, thank you for trying to handle this in a compassionate way. It makes me feel good about shopping in the Junction. And if her carts are still there and I don’t see her, I’ll just hope that she’s OK.

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[Gina]

Today MT was freshening up inside Holy Rosary church and had a loaded Metropolitan Market cart with her.

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[birdrescuer]

I’m glad she is ok. I was concerned too.

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[rghaggart]

She was having a bite to eat and one of her usual Diet Cokes at the 42nd & Alaska QFC yesterday and appears well. Thanks to all for keeping an eye out for her.

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[mark47n]

It’s always so interesting to me that everyone is so interested in helping this one woman but I never see any mention of wanting to help our other local homeless characters.

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[rghaggart]

In that case it looks like you missed a golden opportunity to remedy the situation.

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[Gina]

It is my understanding that MT passed away. I don’t know anything else about how, when or where.

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[WSB]

Two people have asked us about this, but unfortunately without even knowing her surname, we have no way to verify it or get details.

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[Conjunction Junction]

WHAT?! Maybe Sleepers or Cupcake Royale, or other businesses might know. I saw her at those businesses over the winter.

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[mark47n]

I’ll say it again, I see an awful lot of concern for Marie but has anyone here seen Roy lately? Do you know who Roy is? The answer is probably not. Roy isn’t a kindly looking older white woman, he’s a mentally ill African American that pushes around a shopping cart or the like (depends what he can get his hands on). I know there are a lot more but, strangely I don’t see anyone whispering even a word of concern.

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[Gina]

Mark, could you start a new thread topic for Roy? Give a bit of a backstory? Individuals are easier to follow than when all are lumped together.

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[2 Much Whine]

Hey mark47n, just because people aren’t asking about others doesn’t mean they don’t care. Marie has been visible in the neighborhood a long time and a lot of people have seen her from the Morgan Junction to Admiral. She’s been the topic of several forum posts as well. I have no idea who Roy is and he’s not on my radar – I can’t recall ever seeing him. Doesn’t mean I don’t care about him. If you want to start a thread about Roy go ahead. I do recall a person years ago that dressed as a woman and wore a wig and rode his (her?) bike around town – haven’t seen him for ages and have wondered about his fate as well. But this thread is about Marie. Perhaps when Roy becomes the “lady who owns shopping carts” then this thread will apply to him. I think your intentions are from a good place (to raise awareness about all vulnerable people in our neighborhood) but this might not be the best method or place to do so. I could be wrong but it might explain why you are getting frustrated by a lack of responses. This is a caring and considerate community and I think your apparent attempt to turn it into a race issue might be off target.

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[mark47n]

2 Much Whine: My observation is more about how thin the concern seems to be. The race issue wasn’t the angle that I was aiming for so much as the fact that one woman looks like your grandmother while the other certainly doesn’t so one is easy to personalize. The description of Roy being African-American was strictly to aid in identification and not to imply any sort of race issue. I feel pretty comfortable saying that you’ve probably seen him as he’s been a regular in the area for some years.

I don’t care, really, about a lack of responses to my posts. I’ve had plenty of angry responses to other threads, here and elsewhere and I gain no real emotional charge from it. Emotional responses from others is easy to garner.

I do recall the man who wandered around wearing a wig, a wonder woman outfit, purple fedora and a “golden lasso”.

I am more curios about how everyone was more interested that Marie had what they though she needed to move her mountain of possessions, such as luggage, rather than seeing to her other more pressing needs. Nope, luggage. Perhaps it’s not just this thread. It was about the pressing need to make sure she had luggage and it went on for a few pages. That is the root of my frustration for this topic. Not race, not gender, luggage.

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[anonymous123]

Actually I’m sure a lot of people know who Roy is, I thought my parents told me his name was Leroy, but maybe I heard them wrong. I’ve been out of town for a few weeks but I’ve seen him on Delridge near the library a lot these past few months. Every once in a while I’ll see him on 35th ave, but it seems like he moves around on Delridge mostly. From what I’m aware of, most people who grew up in West Seattle know Roy and knew his mother.

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[AJP]

Roy/Leroy: if that’s the same man who I’ve seen on Delridge a lot lately, then yes I’ve seen him several times a week, by Findlay and the convenience store. Regarding Marie and her pressing needs…I didn’t read the thread you’re referring to, but we have to be careful not to decide what someone’s pressing needs are for them. It’s possible she was asked what she needed, and that’s what she asked for. Luggage. It’s possible she had been offered services and other things that someone else thought she needed, and she turned it down. I remember overhearing a conversation in a Y locker room over a decade ago. A woman was telling her friend why she chose to sleep outside rather than go to a shelter.She’d had things stolen at shelters, she’d contracted scabies, she couldn’t sleep because people would fight late at night. I remember thinking, man I would rather sleep outside like I’m camping than deal with all that too. Anyway my point is–we can give people the help they ask for, which might not be what we think they need.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by AJP.

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[aa]

Speaking for myself, there are some things that tug at my heart more than others. Like when I started seeing the nice cashier from the 7-11 at Avalon & 35th sitting on a sidewalk in the junction begging for money. The woman with the carts, when I see her I always wonder what led to this situation. The man who pushes the shopping cart and often hangs out at that same 7-11. He seems to be disabled as well as homeless. It would be my preference that we all help in whatever way we can. I’ve read several ‘threads’ about the woman with the carts and I think, just my opinion, that she is often discussed because many people have changed their thoughts to accept her choices rather than what we think she needs. It can be a powerful moment when you have your perspective changed. If we all picked just one person to help we could change the whole situation dramatically.

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[JoB]

the thing about Marie is that we haven’t seen her for a while..

but.. Mark47n is right. there are several homeless people in our community who disappear for a while only to reappear.. or not.. later.. probably more than he knows.

He isn’t right to assume that simply because this one woman has been missed that others haven’t.
i have worried about her myself. i used to stop when i saw her.

and no Mark.. she isn’t the only homeless person in West Seattle that i make a point to stop and talk to when i see them.

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[Lisa]

Gina, I’m very interested to know what leads you to believe she passed away. Is this just because you haven’t seen her lately or do you have some other information?
Thank you in advance for anything you are able to share.

Lisa

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[Gina]

A person that knows the majority of lone people living outdoors in West Seattle mentioned MT’s passing. I wanted to mention it in case anyone was worried about not seeing her. She is at peace now.
Further details are not known.

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