Christine Hochkeppel

Picture Stories: Camp Runamuck

This picture story is about a community of homeless and mostly jobless men and women who moved from their previous site underneath the South Water Street Route 195 ramp in Providence. The DOT issued the camp a deadline to vacant the area because the ramp was scheduled to be demolished in early August of 2009. The group of about 30 decided to move underneath the Washington Bridge in East Providence.

While under the bridge the camp became divided when their leader, John Freitas, was arrested for not registering as a sex offender. After two weeks at the new site, the state filed a complaint against the camp for trespassing on state property. After a series of court hearings, both parties came to an agreement to move from the property by Labor Day weekend. When the camp was faced with this deadline, two separate groups with different new sites emerged, Camp Runamuck (the original name) and Camp Provitents. Both groups relocated to different spots in Providence.

Camp Runamuck moved to a wooded site near Roger Williams Hospital in the Elmhurst neighborhood, but after a couple weeks there they were forced to disband by police citing a no overnight camping in city parks law. Camp Provitents was able to secure permission to reside at an empty lot on private property in the West End, but because the property was commercially zoned they were also forced to leave the site by November. No other tent cities have formed in Providence since then, but as the weather warms up there might be a new round of tent pitching.

Barbara Kalil started growing some tomato seedlings outside her and her fiance, John Freitas's, tent.
   
Barbara Kalil, 50, settles into her new space underneath the Washington Bridge in East Providence. "I try to make things homey. Home is where ever you are." Kalil said while placing pink flamingo yard decorations outside the entrance to her tent.
   
John Freitas, 55, the elected chief of Camp Runamuck, says the tent city is like any other community and wants to cooperate with the city. "Don't tell us where we can't go. Tell us where we can go. Rhode Island was founded on the principle that the unwanted people of the colonies could find a place to live." Freitas is currently incarcerated for failing to register as a level three sex offender. A handful of the camp's long-standing members have taken on some of his leadership roles in his absence.
     
  
Ralph Esposito III, who shares a tent with his father, cleans out the bedding in an effort to prevent rodent and pest infestation. He and his father were particularly upset about Freitas's latest arrest and said that the camp has lost donors over the controversy. "We don't condone sex offenders." Esposito said.
   
Camp Runamuck's row boat, Leaky Lena II, was used to transport some items from their former camp site at South Water Street in Providence to their new home under Washington Bridge in East Providence.
  
Rachell Shaw (left), 22, and Sandy Peterson, 23, hang out on the back of a donor's pickup truck while an East Providence police officer surveys the scene.
     
  
Ed Therrien, 52, the cook for Camp Runamuck, organizes the kitchen area on Thursday, July 30, 2009.
   
Camp Runamuck resident Mike MacEwen, 35, fishes the stretch of the Seekonk River that passes under the Washington Bridge. A recent donation to the tent city of a tackle box and fishing rods has more members of the community dropping in lines.
   
Officers from the R.I. Sheriff's Department deliver hearing notices to Camp Runamuck residents Timothy Webb (far left) and Norman Trank (far right) on Thursday afternoon. Webb and Trank have been partners for 7 years. Webb is a cosmetologist and Trank is a master chef, both are now unemployed. "This is only temporary." Webb said of the situation.
     
  
Rachell Shaw, 22, sits in a chair outside her tent under the Washington Bridge. She became homeless after she broke her hand and couldn't work her waitressing job anymore. "I don't expect nothing from nobody. I'm the only one who can get myself out of my situation."
  
During Camp Runamuck's highest volume of inhabitants under the Washington Bridge, there were about 12 tents scattered throughout the area.
  
Barbara Kalil, 50, the fiance of the camp's elected chief, speaks with Peter G. DeSimone, their pro bono attorney from the R.I. Coalition for the Homeless legal clinic, during a recess.
     
  
Camp Runamuck supporters and residents reflect on the ruling that will force the group to vacate the site underneath the Washington Bridge on the steps of the superior and supreme court building on Friday afternoon. The camp had not even settled at the spot for a month before they were forced to pack up and move again.
   
Luke Michaú'd, 19, folds a pair of pants from a pile of his belongings that he dumped out his tent the night before when he and his crew decided to start moving to their new site on Westminster Street earlier than planned.
  
Ed Therrien, one of the founding members of Camp Runamuck, packs up his tent on Saturday afternoon.
     
  
Bruce Yeoman and Norman Trank talk to another camper from inside a tent on Saturday. Both had trouble deciding which new campsite to settle on and drank most of the day while others packed up.
   
Barbara Kalil, 50, looks at photos of a fellow Camp Runamuck resident's children who he just been allowed to see for the first time in over a year. His wife had a restraining order against him that he believed was unwarranted.
  
Christopher D'Ambra packs up his private food stash on Saturday afternoon.
     
  
Mike MacEwen helps his buddy fold his sheets over thier Labor Day weekend move from the Washington Bridge site.
  
Norman Trank sleeps in his tent. After his partner was incarcerated for assaulting him, Trank had a hard time adapting to life at Camp Runamuck without him.