Good Morning! :)
We are about to depart from our dark and crowded little home in Dupont Circle and everyone is busy cleaning and packing. A couple of us took the left over lunches we had and went on a walk to find people who could use the food. Holly and Mayra cleaned the girls bathroom while Lisa and Bre'Elle are cleaning the kitchen. Aidan, the sick little casualty, is cleaning the boys bathroom like a trooper. We had our last reflection this morning and it was really nice to hear what this experience has meant to everyone. We didn't really have the energy to think about and reflect on the things we were doing and experiencing because we have been so busy but it was really refreshing to slow down and take the time to talk and reflect on the time we spent here and the different things it meant to each and everyone of us. I didn't have time to think about the different impacts things we were doing had on everyone and it was really nice to hear about them. I am very thankful for what everyone shared. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Love,
Veronika
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Closings.
So here we are.
Packing our bags, ready to fly back home and resume our old lives in Minnesota.
How, exactly, do we take this experience with us?
This experience has been a lot of things. It has meant different things to each of us.
We have heard stories. We have given meals and clothing. We have seen smiles. Worn faces. Bundled shapes on the street corner. We have sold papers on the street and received the cold shoulder. We have sorted food and groceries going out to people in need.
We have met people - just like us. People that could be our sisters, our brothers, our aunts and uncles, parents and grandparents. We have met people that could easily be us.
Because homelessness can touch each one of us. No one is immune.
That person - that person who is cold and hungry - that person is a human being.
That is something we all need to remember.
And we need to take care of each other.
Because if we don't take care of each other, this planet, this society, this world - is headed for disaster.
If that were you - wouldn't you crave a helping hand?
Be that helping hand.
That is my personal mission for when I head back to Minnesota. We all need to remember our experiences here and bring them back to Minnesota.
Homelessness is something that CAN be solved.
Homelessness is something that shouldn't be ignored any longer.
Don't let your sister/brother/parent suffer.
Be that helping hand.
Be that advocate.
Be that human being.
-B.E.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Am I Homeless?
Today, our group got up bright and early, rode the metro across town, and reached the Church of the Brethren... only to be turned away. They simply said they didn't need the help, but were appreciative that we had taken the time to even go in the first place. Earlier this week, we were told that this church would be closing their services soon, so I feel this had a lot to do with the fact that we were not able to stay.
Since we couldn't help out there, we had a couple of extra hours to explore the DC area (which is AMAZING!). A friend and I went out to the American Indian Museum, while others in our group had a chance to explore the capital and the Library of Congress. It's so crazy to see the differences between all of the different areas; we could literally go through the rich, the middle class, and the poor all within a few minutes of walking.
After doing some good tourism, we all met back at the Pilgrimage to start off our next activity: Bread for the Journey. Each of us packed up three bagged lunches, formed into groups of two or three, and spread out around the DC area to try to find homeless people who wanted and needed the food. This was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I went with a group of two other girls, and after having no luck walking near the area of SOME (the organization we helped out with earlier this week), we decided to go to Thrive DC's neighborhood. We had absolutely no luck there, either! The reason we even decided to come to this area was because the day we helped, we saw a lot of homeless people everywhere! We all thought it would be a good idea to go inside the facility and ask them what place would be good to go to.
As soon as we walked in, one of the staff members walked up to me and the two other girls I was with and immediately offered us food. I was very surprised that he thought we were there for their services, rather than to help. After taking a moment to think about this, it really hit me that for all anyone knows, I possibly could be homeless. Any person we see walking down the street, going to our school, working at our jobs; they could all potentially be in that situation. Although this was something I had already thought about in the past, the fact that the staff member confused us for being homeless really set that in stone for me.
This entire situation brought me back home. Because homelessness is not an issue we see or hear about on a daily basis in the Twin Cities, many people truly believe it simply does not exist. However, here in DC it is the complete opposite: because people see this issue going on every single day, everywhere they go, they tend to block it out. I think what we truly need to do is educate and advocate. Yes, we have a ton of shelters and other services both in DC and in the Twin Cities, but what good are they doing if nobody knows about them? You can't have JUST service, or JUST advocacy; they work off of each other. I feel as if everyone who is on this trip should truly see this trip as an advantage, and take everything they learned with them back to Minnesota. Our trip may end this Saturday, but homelessness will continue to be an issue. We shouldn't let everything we have seen and learned about here go to waste.
-Yvette D.
Since we couldn't help out there, we had a couple of extra hours to explore the DC area (which is AMAZING!). A friend and I went out to the American Indian Museum, while others in our group had a chance to explore the capital and the Library of Congress. It's so crazy to see the differences between all of the different areas; we could literally go through the rich, the middle class, and the poor all within a few minutes of walking.
After doing some good tourism, we all met back at the Pilgrimage to start off our next activity: Bread for the Journey. Each of us packed up three bagged lunches, formed into groups of two or three, and spread out around the DC area to try to find homeless people who wanted and needed the food. This was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I went with a group of two other girls, and after having no luck walking near the area of SOME (the organization we helped out with earlier this week), we decided to go to Thrive DC's neighborhood. We had absolutely no luck there, either! The reason we even decided to come to this area was because the day we helped, we saw a lot of homeless people everywhere! We all thought it would be a good idea to go inside the facility and ask them what place would be good to go to.
As soon as we walked in, one of the staff members walked up to me and the two other girls I was with and immediately offered us food. I was very surprised that he thought we were there for their services, rather than to help. After taking a moment to think about this, it really hit me that for all anyone knows, I possibly could be homeless. Any person we see walking down the street, going to our school, working at our jobs; they could all potentially be in that situation. Although this was something I had already thought about in the past, the fact that the staff member confused us for being homeless really set that in stone for me.
This entire situation brought me back home. Because homelessness is not an issue we see or hear about on a daily basis in the Twin Cities, many people truly believe it simply does not exist. However, here in DC it is the complete opposite: because people see this issue going on every single day, everywhere they go, they tend to block it out. I think what we truly need to do is educate and advocate. Yes, we have a ton of shelters and other services both in DC and in the Twin Cities, but what good are they doing if nobody knows about them? You can't have JUST service, or JUST advocacy; they work off of each other. I feel as if everyone who is on this trip should truly see this trip as an advantage, and take everything they learned with them back to Minnesota. Our trip may end this Saturday, but homelessness will continue to be an issue. We shouldn't let everything we have seen and learned about here go to waste.
-Yvette D.
SOME-So Others Might Eat
Since I went to college, I have been doing different things to help disadvantaged groups. The trip to DC is definitely the highlight of all the things I have done. It might have a huge influence on my future career choice.
I remember the things I saw at SOME, So Others Might Eat. It is a place where homeless people can get fresh food, take a shower and get new outfits. I was surprised at the way how homeless people are treated there. 'Respect','Dignity' were always brought up by the staff there when he was talking about SOME's way to its customers. They have two dining rooms with service information around the wall, one is for males and the other is specially open for females and children. Both of them are comfortable and clean. They even have a piano in the main dining room. By just looking at the pictures I took there, it's really hard to tell that it's a place for homeless people. In addition, they charge 30% of the homeless person's monthly income as the rent of his/her apartment. Since people have different jobs with various income, it's impossible to make them pay the same rent. By using this way, it makes homeless people to work and provide them with affordable housing at the same time.
I found that because there are so many NPOs here in the U.S, government's burden of dealing with homeless issue becomes lighter. I really want to bring this kind of orgs back to China. There are homeless people everywhere in China, but government has little influence on solving their problems. Eventually, we need some local orgs to give them supports. I want to work with private donors and do some advocacy jobs in order to make people aware with this issue.
I will continue to be a volunteer in the places that need me. I feel good when I do something for others since I have already got too many privileges from our society.
--Angela Zhou
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Thrive DC!
This morning, the majority of our group woke up at the early hour of 5:00 AM in order to make it on time to Charley's Place, a local food shelf within walking distance from the Pilgrimage where we are staying. I, however, was lucky enough to go to Thrive DC. This place was about forty minutes away, and offered a couple different services including breakfast, lunch and dinner, shower, laundry, and even time to rest and watch some movies for a while.
When we first arrived, we were greeted by two staff members who gave us immediate directions of what we could do to help. After learning that I speak Spanish fluently, I was asked to be in charge of shower registration. I had to give each person any personal hygiene product they asked for, as well as sign people up for showers and/or laundry, if they had any. This was actually a very cool experience because for the first time, I was actually able to sit down and have a talk with a couple of homeless people. What surprised me the most was how friendly they all were; despite all of the trouble they have to go through each and every day, every single one of them walked up to me with a smile on their face and a very enthusiastic greeting of, "Hey, Miss, how ya' doing?", or "Hello beautiful, so glad to see you here!" Although I was completely nervous at first, the way I was treated definitely helped me loosen up.
After about one hour of me doing shower registration, I was asked to help serve food. All I had to do was pour syrup on their french toast, and give them either an orange or a banana. Again, it was such a great feeling to see how happy and welcoming they all were. However, this is when things really began to hit me.
There was one young man, probably about 18 years old or so, who walked up and asked for some syrup. As I started pouring it, he stopped me right away and said, "That's enough. I can't have too much sugar like that." He said all of this without even looking at me, both of his eyes directly to the ground, and a completely serious expression on his face. It was then that a thought came to mind: what if he was sick? What if he had diabetes, or some other life-threatening disease? He couldn't eat sugar, he was very pale, he didn't look like he was in the most healthy of conditions; it really made me wonder. As I looked down the line, I realized that there were SO many other young men, probably around 18 years old, as well. It amazed me to think of how they are making it in the streets! They were all so young, and they all have so much life ahead of them. I tried to put myself in that situation, and I still try to imagine it, but it's so difficult to even think about. I'm most likely about the same age as them, maybe even older, and I can honestly say I have NO IDEA what I would do if I was ever put in that situation. To top it off, just thinking about how this young man, and many others as well I'm sure, are not only homeless, but also dealing with illnesses that could potentially kill them if they are not careful; it's so unbelievably heart-breaking to me. I tried to push those thoughts aside for a while, though, and continue to serve with a smile on my face (which was not difficult to do with all the nice greetings and comments I was getting!).
This experience has definitely been the best experience I've had so far. The people I met and the stories I heard were all so eye-opening. The look on the young man's face; hearing Tim's story, a veteran who is now homeless; getting to know Erick, and how his article made it big in the Washington Press, then later taking pictures with him because he never wanted to forget me: these are all things that I KNOW, I will NEVER forget. The feeling I get just thinking back to it is indescribable. I can not wait to continue helping this week!!
-Yvette D.
When we first arrived, we were greeted by two staff members who gave us immediate directions of what we could do to help. After learning that I speak Spanish fluently, I was asked to be in charge of shower registration. I had to give each person any personal hygiene product they asked for, as well as sign people up for showers and/or laundry, if they had any. This was actually a very cool experience because for the first time, I was actually able to sit down and have a talk with a couple of homeless people. What surprised me the most was how friendly they all were; despite all of the trouble they have to go through each and every day, every single one of them walked up to me with a smile on their face and a very enthusiastic greeting of, "Hey, Miss, how ya' doing?", or "Hello beautiful, so glad to see you here!" Although I was completely nervous at first, the way I was treated definitely helped me loosen up.
After about one hour of me doing shower registration, I was asked to help serve food. All I had to do was pour syrup on their french toast, and give them either an orange or a banana. Again, it was such a great feeling to see how happy and welcoming they all were. However, this is when things really began to hit me.
There was one young man, probably about 18 years old or so, who walked up and asked for some syrup. As I started pouring it, he stopped me right away and said, "That's enough. I can't have too much sugar like that." He said all of this without even looking at me, both of his eyes directly to the ground, and a completely serious expression on his face. It was then that a thought came to mind: what if he was sick? What if he had diabetes, or some other life-threatening disease? He couldn't eat sugar, he was very pale, he didn't look like he was in the most healthy of conditions; it really made me wonder. As I looked down the line, I realized that there were SO many other young men, probably around 18 years old, as well. It amazed me to think of how they are making it in the streets! They were all so young, and they all have so much life ahead of them. I tried to put myself in that situation, and I still try to imagine it, but it's so difficult to even think about. I'm most likely about the same age as them, maybe even older, and I can honestly say I have NO IDEA what I would do if I was ever put in that situation. To top it off, just thinking about how this young man, and many others as well I'm sure, are not only homeless, but also dealing with illnesses that could potentially kill them if they are not careful; it's so unbelievably heart-breaking to me. I tried to push those thoughts aside for a while, though, and continue to serve with a smile on my face (which was not difficult to do with all the nice greetings and comments I was getting!).
This experience has definitely been the best experience I've had so far. The people I met and the stories I heard were all so eye-opening. The look on the young man's face; hearing Tim's story, a veteran who is now homeless; getting to know Erick, and how his article made it big in the Washington Press, then later taking pictures with him because he never wanted to forget me: these are all things that I KNOW, I will NEVER forget. The feeling I get just thinking back to it is indescribable. I can not wait to continue helping this week!!
-Yvette D.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
To be or not to be...volunteers
So our volunteer opportunity did not work out as planned today. However, as I noticed my urgency to serve and my frustration when that didn't happen, I had to stop, take a step back, and ask myself, as a volunteer, what am I here to do? Who am I here to be?
I was anxious to serve because I wanted to feel that gratification that comes from service when you know you've worked as hard as you could to try and make the biggest impact. This "impact" is quite measurable at the dining hall we would have volunteered at this morning: they feed 400 people for breakfast each morning which means a lot of work dishing up food and washing dishes and cleaning tables. When we found out that we were too late to help (due to a metro and scheduling mishap) I felt unfulfilled. I also felt ashamed as we walked through the kitchen past some guests finishing their breakfasts and many volunteers who had worked hard to complete the breakfast shift.
After watching an informational video about the facility, shown to all volunteers, Angela and I went in search of the volunteer coordinator Dirk to see if there was anything at all we could help with. As we entered the kitchen to find him, we found ourselves in the way and asking other volunteers to take time away from what they were doing to help us find something to do. Later on, Dirk still invited us to eat with the other volunteers and my morals of fairness made me really hesitant to accept his invitation. Again, making him work harder and almost beg to convince us stay even though we felt like we didn't deserve the meal was getting in the way of the volunteering itself.
I realized this: the point of us volunteering was NOT for us to do work and be busy, but to serve with the people/organizations in need and to learn more about homelessness and the many factors which cause it. Even though we didn't serve as expected, we did learn from the video and Dirk's thorough tour of the facility. We had some take aways. Sometimes to be a volunteer means just to listen and do what is asked, even if it feels too easy or that it is not making a difference. While this is NOT to say that any service-learning we do should not be questioned, it is valuable to recognize the importance of humility as a volunteer.
Love,
Lisa
I was anxious to serve because I wanted to feel that gratification that comes from service when you know you've worked as hard as you could to try and make the biggest impact. This "impact" is quite measurable at the dining hall we would have volunteered at this morning: they feed 400 people for breakfast each morning which means a lot of work dishing up food and washing dishes and cleaning tables. When we found out that we were too late to help (due to a metro and scheduling mishap) I felt unfulfilled. I also felt ashamed as we walked through the kitchen past some guests finishing their breakfasts and many volunteers who had worked hard to complete the breakfast shift.
After watching an informational video about the facility, shown to all volunteers, Angela and I went in search of the volunteer coordinator Dirk to see if there was anything at all we could help with. As we entered the kitchen to find him, we found ourselves in the way and asking other volunteers to take time away from what they were doing to help us find something to do. Later on, Dirk still invited us to eat with the other volunteers and my morals of fairness made me really hesitant to accept his invitation. Again, making him work harder and almost beg to convince us stay even though we felt like we didn't deserve the meal was getting in the way of the volunteering itself.
I realized this: the point of us volunteering was NOT for us to do work and be busy, but to serve with the people/organizations in need and to learn more about homelessness and the many factors which cause it. Even though we didn't serve as expected, we did learn from the video and Dirk's thorough tour of the facility. We had some take aways. Sometimes to be a volunteer means just to listen and do what is asked, even if it feels too easy or that it is not making a difference. While this is NOT to say that any service-learning we do should not be questioned, it is valuable to recognize the importance of humility as a volunteer.
Love,
Lisa
An Interesting Revelation...
We arrived in sunny Washington D.C in the early afternoon on Saturday, March 19. We arrived at our new "home" for the week and we unpacked. After, we went to dinner and then had a panel of formally homeless men come in and talk to us about their experiences. Everyone on the trip was more understanding of the plight of a homeless person, and many were ready to wake up the next morning, bright and early and volunteer at SOME.
If you're keeping up with the blog, you know that unfortunately we did not get to serve at SOME, however, the group did learn many things.
After the disappointment of not being able to serve, the group split up and headed out to D.C to sightsee. I noticed as I was walking around the several homeless people that we just walked right by, no acknowledgement, no dignity, no respect. It was like the several individuals were not even there. This occurrence, made me wonder. Are all of the acts we do for the homeless out of the goodness of our hearts, or an act for society?
When a group goes to a shelter to feed the residents, or hand out blankets, or sell newspapers we are happy to do it. We interact with several individuals and have conversations that allow us to know who they are and what their situation is that led them to us meeting. However, have you ever followed that group outside? Walked behind them for a couple of blocks? Did they walk right by the homeless woman sitting on the steps of a building? I have.
It seems that when groups come out of the shelter and into the "real world", the hospitality, the exuberance for helping the greater good and really seeing who people are, fades away as we think about our next destination, our next meal, or heading back to the hostel for a long nap.
It will be interesting to see if this group dynamic changes as the week progresses. To see if we start noticing people who go unnoticed by the majority of citizens. To walk down the street and actively think about what we have done that day, and how we as individuals can continue the learning...outside of shelter walls.
If you're keeping up with the blog, you know that unfortunately we did not get to serve at SOME, however, the group did learn many things.
After the disappointment of not being able to serve, the group split up and headed out to D.C to sightsee. I noticed as I was walking around the several homeless people that we just walked right by, no acknowledgement, no dignity, no respect. It was like the several individuals were not even there. This occurrence, made me wonder. Are all of the acts we do for the homeless out of the goodness of our hearts, or an act for society?
When a group goes to a shelter to feed the residents, or hand out blankets, or sell newspapers we are happy to do it. We interact with several individuals and have conversations that allow us to know who they are and what their situation is that led them to us meeting. However, have you ever followed that group outside? Walked behind them for a couple of blocks? Did they walk right by the homeless woman sitting on the steps of a building? I have.
It seems that when groups come out of the shelter and into the "real world", the hospitality, the exuberance for helping the greater good and really seeing who people are, fades away as we think about our next destination, our next meal, or heading back to the hostel for a long nap.
It will be interesting to see if this group dynamic changes as the week progresses. To see if we start noticing people who go unnoticed by the majority of citizens. To walk down the street and actively think about what we have done that day, and how we as individuals can continue the learning...outside of shelter walls.
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