Woman’s Fast Seeks Help for Homeless

Jane Imler has been fighting for years to improve the lives of homeless street people--first in the alleys and avenues of Los Angeles, now among the campgrounds and parks along the Pacific Ocean in Santa Cruz County.

Shortly before Thanksgiving, she decided she had seen enough. Soliciting donations and cajoling politicians were not enough, so she decided to dramatize the plight of the homeless with the only weapon left, a personal fast.

Imler, 48, is into her fourth week without solid food, and said she will not eat again until at least 50 additional beds are provided, probably by Christmas, for the homeless of nearby Santa Cruz.

“It was just so appalling, what was going on,” she said this week at her home. “Other forms of civil disobedience just weren’t enough. Even city councilmen do civil disobedience these days. But I decided I had to do something because so many people just don’t seem to care.”

Helped in L.A.

Imler, who moved here to finish her studies for an undergraduate degree at the University of California at Santa Cruz, is familiar with dramatizing the problems of the homeless. Last year at this time she helped organize the Tent City demonstration near Los Angeles City Hall.

“I am wed to the idea that people have an inalienable right to shelter,” she said. “I’m not into winning or losing for myself. I just want to keep people from freezing.”

Imler publicly announced her fast Nov. 19 at a joint meeting of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and the Santa Cruz City Council. Her decision came after extended board and council debate about the plight of the homeless--there are an estimated 1,000 homeless people in this county--failed to result in additional shelter, even if only during the unusually cold winter.

On the night before that meeting, Imler shared a bowl of creamed potato soup, cheese and crackers with her husband. In the 23 days since, she has consumed only a small daily ration of water, lemon or orange juice, vitamins and an occasional dash of maple syrup.

Hospitalized Once

The fast has already sent her to the hospital, when she experienced pain in her chest. Her family is concerned because Imler lost a kidney several years ago; they wonder if the fast’s stress will overtax her remaining kidney.

Since Imler began her demonstration, city and county officials have approved a temporary, 25-bed shelter to open at the St. Francis Kitchen, a small soup kitchen operated by volunteer lay Catholics in an industrial section of Santa Cruz.