Residents of Washington Shelter Demand Reagan Keep Promise to Renovate Facility : 200 Demonstrate in Washington for Renovated Shelter
WASHINGTON — About 200 residents and operators of a squalid shelter for the homeless marched to the White House Thursday, calling on President Reagan to keep his word and turn their building into a model shelter for the nation.
Behind a large banner that read, “Mr. President, You Promised,” the protesters marched 14 blocks from the shelter to the White House where they chanted: “Do what you said you would.”
President Reagan promised two days before his reelection last November that the government would turn the shelter into a model facility. The pledge followed a 51-day protest fast by Mitch Snyder, head of the Community for Creative Nonviolence.
But federal officials and Snyder could not agree on how to create the model shelter. The government now plans to close the 800-bed facility July 10 and relocate its residents. Snyder’s center is suing to block the closure.
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