Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Nov. 3, 1987, edition 1 / Page 7
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Modern-day good Samaritan is working to help the homeless The Daily Tar Heel Tuesday, November 3, 19877 By KATHY WILSON Staff Writer A man with gray strands in his scruffy beard shuffles to the hatchback of Bob Jasinkie wicz's car. Jasinkiewicz, a 43-year-old man with curly brown hair and wire-rimmed glasses, reaches into a white, plastic grocery bag and hands him a pack of his own Saratoga 120's. The bearded man mumbles a thanks and slaps Jasinkiewicz on the back. For the past year, 24 hours a day, Jasinkiewicz has given everything he has to people who need it the most: Chapel Hill's "street people," or what he calls "broken people." He has what could be termed a mobile ministry, carrying items in his car and traveling to the needy. "I was a broken person," he says. "I see people around me that are broken. I try to put them together again." Jasinkiewicz is a secular Francis can monk. He doesn't wear robes, but has vowed to follow the teach ings of St. Francis of Assisi, a 13th century monk who gave up all his worldly possessions to serve the poor. In fact, Jasinkiewicz has done almost the same. Jasinkiewicz's home is a clean, mustard-colored Toyota Corolla sta tion wagon. His closet is a few plas tic bags thrown in the back, contain ing all of his personal belongings. A sign reading "St. Francis's House" sits on the dashboard of the car. Jasinkiewicz depends on dona tions from people to his mission for the poor to help pay for gas and some living expenses. His father helps out by financing the mainte nance on his car. Jasinkiewicz says he is content to park and sleep in a public parking lot on the corner of Rosemary and Columbia streets. If he stays in the same spot every night, he says, peo pie in need of help know how to find him. A typical day for Jasinkiewicz begins early, around 6:30 a.m. when the parking lot attendants start arriving for duty. Even a good Samaritan can't get free parking in Chapel Hill, it seems. He heads toward the Inter-Faith Council's Soup Kitchen in Carrboro to serve breakfast to those who are there for the first meal of the day. Then he strikes out on his own mission work. As he drives the streets of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, people who know him wave along the way. Later, he might give one of them a lift to the soup kitchen. During the day and night, he is involved in what he calls crisis inter vention, such as helping a reeling alcoholic keep calm when a police officer speaks to him. He says he has even helped several University students, giving them a ride home at night when they don't have a ride or can't make it home themselves. He says he asks for nothing in return, but people give what they can, which keeps his mobile mission rolling. Though Jasinkiewicz's mission stems from his love of God and man, Jasinkiewicz doesn't push his religion on the people he helps. He says it never even comes up. The most important thing to him is to give people immediate attention to their needs. "I have my God; everybody else has their own. The whole idea is we're people together," he says. "Everybody's a brother and sister. That's an old phrase, but everybody seems to forget it." Jasinkiewicz says he takes people as they are and doesn't try to change them. And he feels he's paid his dues. Down on his luck because of a LV yJ -V " ' 'f I.I1.L.3-. 1 V- Y v- I- f - XjC ' i xh $fri--. -- - vs' -? ' - ' v - H : Bob Jasinkiewicz and his ministry-on-wheels DTHMatt Plyler Lab Theatre presents exciting whodunit Though it started off not with a literal bang but with a gun, the Lab Theatre's current production, "Over My Dead Body," is a suspenseful and well-acted murder mystery. In Aga tha Christie style, the play begins in typical murder mystery fashion the secluded mansion setting, a hated character and all those with reason to hate him. Act One. Enter Dora Bates, the maid (Rhetta Wiley). She fusses, she fiddles. Something is up. Opening the desk drawer, she pulls out ... the gun. Enter Ann Montrose (Larissa Biggers), the nervous and alcoholic mistress of the estate. She is not pleased about the sleeping arrange ments her husband Cyril, a play director, has planned for the work weekend he has scheduled at the mansion. She too opens the drawer. She too pulls out the gun. Julie Olson Theatre Enter Margot Tremayne (Kristine Watt). She is not only the choreo grapher of Cyril Montrose's play; she is also his ex-wife. Talking with Ann, she confides that she never could have stayed married to him. She would rather have . . . killed him. And as the rest of the characters gradually enter the play, it becomes quickly evident that just about everyone would love to kill Cyril (Patrick Lawler). Even the audience. And just about everyone knows about the gun. With a murder in Act Two, the suspense heats up. Fingers jltc pointed at everyone and by everyone. The bumbling inspector (Bobby Dabal) offers little help in solving the mystery, and the task is left in the capable hands of one of Cyril's weekend guests, ex-gossip columnist Beryl Cross (Terri Atkins). As a murder mystery, "Over My Dead Body," written by Mark Nielsen, has an intriguing plot and, of course, the original and bizarre explanation of the murder. But the play is much more than just a whodunit; it is an excellent study of the personalities of the different characters involved. The nervous wife, the contemptu ous play director, the voluptuous starlet, and the busybody ex-gossip columnist all act and react in their particular modes of expression. The almost trite generalizations of the characters do not detract from the play but rather add to its overall humorous attitude. The good acting by all those involved serves to make "Over My Dead Body" a very enter taining and just plain fun mystery. divorce, with two charges of driving while impaired and a drinking prob lem, Jasinkiewicz suffered from severe depression. For about a year he lived on the streets of Chapel Hill. A University graduate and former journalist for a local news paper, he slept anywhere he could find a spot, such as a bench, the street or a park. He ate meals at IFC's Soup Kitchen. "I sort of saw the flip side of life," he says of that period in his life. His life started to change when he became involved in helping out in the same soup kitchen where he ate. He came in from the streets to live in IFC's shelter for the homeless, doing repair work for the home. He stayed there for two years, until he got his license reissued after the DWI charges. With all his hard luck, Jasinkiewicz vowed to be there for others when their fortunes took a nose dive. "IVe been to the bottom. I want to be there when they come down," he says. Chris Moran, consultant to the community service division of IFC, is thankful for Jasinkiewicz. Moran says that agencies can't answer all the problems of the homeless, no matter how badly they want to. He says the purpose of the agencies is to get people concerned about other human beings. "If there's anything to be learned by this, it's that we all have responsi bilities as individuals toward oth ers," Moran says. Jasinkiewicz's father says he was a little stunned when he learned of his son's decision to give up many of his possessions, but is proud of him now. "That's what he wanted to do. I didn't object to it," he says. Jasinkiewicz says that his way of life makes him happier than he has ever been, and he won't quit his mis sion for a more ordinary way of life. He says he hopes one day to run a donated house for homeless people the shelter can't take in, such as those who drink on the premises or who don't make it to the shelter by curfew. "I took the road less traveled by and that's made all the difference," he says, echoing a well-known quote. "I think IVe done something nobody else has ever done before. YouH be surprised what youH meet on that road wonderful, wonder ful things." Two minutes is too long tor Calabash Even second counts when you're cookin' Calabash. When the color's perfect you're done, and that's always less than two minutes. That's w hy Calabash seafood has so much taste and tenderness, heaped up high on your plate! w Lwplrmnits SEAFOOD RESTAURANT where the cookms limed m seconds Dinner: v9. davs a week Lunch: 11:30-2. Mondav-Fridav 493-80 "-822" Major credit cards Hwv S4 East at I-hO (T) American Hoart JJ Association WERE FIGHTING FOR OURUFE o o o PYEWACKET MONDAY Blues WEDNESDAY Jazz THl'RSDAY Contemporary and Traditional THE COURTYARD 929-0297 CHAPEL HILL 8 3H Satlij Gtar g needing: flues, Wu 3 1215 PW in tibe EjOT ftke o o o o o o 'How To Make A Sales Call' o JMI Majors VJclcome LYLE KESSLER IRIPMAIXIS JLU OCTOBER 28-NOVEMBER IS Everybody needs a father. . . even if it kills them. Paul Green Theatre UNC Chapel Hill Box Office: 962-1121 PlayMakers REPERTORY COMPANY This KTewspaper I! HAIRLINES 108 Henderson Street Chapel Hill, N.G. 968-4327 967-1621 Walk in or call for appt. WOLFF TANNING SYSTEM irsirmnflflcB ToDwcBirs "The Place to be at UNC" NXWeLLj X'J like o play, Jut iwe qort -t-o irvd some .. I .1 f lace o eat acj 4-hen CacJ twv bus back. home. Don't spend your college days living on fast food, nor watch them pass by through the windows of a bus. Our location and food service make us the best choice for student housing in Chapel Hill. At Granville Towers, the name of the game is convenience! Now offering guaranteed single rooms at reasonable prices. Behind Mil I LJ Granville Towers University Square 929-7143 1-000-332-3113 (riC only) TM n Y J
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 3, 1987, edition 1
7
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75