Reflecting on the Quarter

As we wrap up the quarter reflect on what you have learned in WRIT1133. Do you think your writing has advanced? How so? What is the most valuable thing you have learned? Do you believe that you will use the research techniques from this class in the future? As for our topic, do you view the homeless community differently? What did you learn about the homeless that you did not know before? Will you volunteer at PHC next spring?

service learning log #2

Project Homeless Connect 6

On May 1^st I was sitting in the Gottesfield room getting training for project homeless connect 6, I and all the other 200 volunteers were told that it was going to be awkward talking to these people, that it will take the whole day to get through the services the client wanted. That it would be crowded and that clients might also start getting desperate or would want to leave. Or that parents would feel nervous about leaving their children in the daycare provided. Many that were returning volunteers expressed how emotional it was and how difficult it is for them to make positive conversation with their clients. These comments sort made me a tad bit nervous, not because I was scared to talk to a client but because I was curious of what type of person I was going to be paired up with.

The day came sooner than I though and without even knowing I was paired up with a Caucasian male in about his mid 20’s or 30’s. We shook hands and introduced ourselves; his name was Myles, and he was very simpatico. Our first stop was the breakfast line. We both grabbed some fruit and pastries. Then we sat down and went through the first page just to get started. Here I learned that his full name is Myles Rubin Browning and was originally from Boston, Massachusetts. That he was indeed homeless and that he arrived from Boston to Denver in May of 2007, he also gave me the date he entered rehab for alcoholism. I also asked him about his thoughts on the Denver Road Home. When I asked this question, I wondered if he knew what it was, and to my surprise he did. He answered that it was a good plan but that he and everyone he knew thought that it would not remove homelessness completely. He also said that not only was PHC6 a start for this plan, but also that it looked good for the mayor to be doing this.

We then walked towards our first stop, the Birth Certificate/ID, where a small problem emerged. The problem was that apparently his mother changed his name when they moved to California. She had also changed hers which made it more difficult to know which name she used when getting his birth certificate. His first name before the change was completely different. Because of this, they took about 30 min trying to figure out how to get everything done. Then we went to employment section and also to Housing and last but not least the Haircut section. All through the day, we had great conversations.

Some of them were very interesting and very funny. This man named Myles was very hopeful of making his life a bit better with our services. He was very humorous as well; this was what struck to me the most since he would make jokes of just about anything. I wondered how after having to live such a rough life he can still laugh and make jokes. But this man Myles he was something else. He made me see how lucky I am, and how grateful I should feel for everything this life has given me. He made me see that everyone is a paycheck away from being homeless. Myles, a homeless person that has alcoholism disease makes jokes about it and tells them to other s as if nothing of what he said affected him in any way. He also said that alcohol is not bad that its good to forget problems and have fun for a little while but that people should not abuse it because than it will take over you. It amazed me that to him appearance was everything he stated that just because someone is homeless it did not mean he had to be dirty and unsanitary. He also gave me pretty good advise his last words were “stay in school don’t become homeless”

service learning log #1

Denver Rescue Mission

The week before my community service at the Denver Rescue Mission I was very excited for it. Through my whole life I have volunteered, I like helping my community to make it better. For me this is something that I like doing but also because of the sight of the smiling and the warm feeling that it brings to my heart. Yet this time it was very different. I did not volunteer myself, this way going to be part of my grade which took away the whole purpose. I like to volunteer to give back and to try to make a difference. This to me practically defeated the purpose of volunteering, because now I am getting something in return for my services.

When the day came I was somewhat nervous, not because I was volunteering at a homeless center. Though it was pretty different but because of the experiences from my peers that went before me. They said that their shift was basically prepping for dinner. They had to chop onions boxes of them and also peel potatoes, sacks of them. I was okay with everything I mean it couldn’t be that bad, I compared it with my job that I once had at Subway. There I would do practically the same thing prep for a day of sandwiches. Although it was very similar there is something that scared me. I was scared and nervous after the Monday’s class; this was when my peers that had all ready went through their service told us about their experiences. What made me nervous and somewhat scared was when they said that they had seen mice at the Denver Rescue Mission while they were doing their volunteering.

When the day came to do my part at the Denver Rescue Mission I felt awful. I felt this way because I did not want to go to this place because of my phobia to mice after sitting on the light rail for twenty minutes I realized that if it was not because of my class I would not think twice and simply avoid the situation completely. When my stop came and I got off the light rail and started walking I convinced myself that I would gain more than just a passing grade from this experience. Ten minutes later my colleague Jacquie and I arrived at our destination. The first thing we were told to do was to sign in at registration were everyone including everyone that needed their services. Then we went to the Kitchen where we were directed to the sink where we could wash our hands put some sanitary gloves on and were we could start cutting strawberries. These strawberries were apparently going to be used for toping on a cake. Later we chopped some radishes, we were to take the edges off and put them in a container. After we finished with this task the next one was to wrap sporks around a napkin as they do in restaurants, we were doing this with all of these tasks with other volunteers from the afternoon class and also with some boy scouts.

Later on while we were finishing up a very well dressed man sat with us and introduced himself. He said that he was asked by someone else to come and share what it was like to be homeless and what services they offered. His name was Joshua he seemed very nervous about sitting there with five girls explaining what life as homeless can be. Yet while we started talking and asking simple questions he would go deeply into his own life. In less than forty-five minutes he gave us the story of his life. This was more than I thought I would gain. I learned that I should not stereotype and or judge a book by its cover. Either because its cover might be nice or crappy not because of what it contains but by how good of a job the artist did. This means that it is that yes homeless people are the authors of their life but they are not the ones that portray themselves they do not paint themselves a certain way everyone sees differently. This man Joshua taught me to look at this world in a different way. It showed me how lucky I was to have a family that cares for me, and how lucky I am to have a roof over my head. His life story was amazing and so inspiring

Service Learning Log

My experience at PHC was an interesting one. I started the morning out by doing a ten second training (for the people who missed their real training session) and got my shirt and a clipboard with the survey questions on it. I got to the Ritchie center a little before 8 in the morning; however, it was almost 8:30 by the time everyone was lining up to be paired off with people. Buses arrived and homeless people began to exit them. I finally got to the front of the line and got paired with someone. Her name was Marie. She and two of her friends had come together. They all wanted to stick together for most of the time, so I was able to stay with one of my friends that got paired with one of them as well. Throughout the time at PHC, I didn’t do very much. Marie knew the things she wanted to do and went to do them. I just sat along for the ride for most of them time. There were occasions when I helped her find things or got information for her. But for the most part, she did everything. She wasn’t a very talkative person either. We talked only for a little bit here and there. For the most part she seemed to be getting things together in her life. Before coming to PHC, she had already begun to get housing, she had a job and she had gotten food stamps. She didn’t need all that much from the services that PHC provided.
Even though I did not learn all that much from Marie directly, the experience of being around so many homeless people changed my view nonetheless. What changed the most about me was my understanding of who homeless people are. Most of them at PHC were ordinary people like me. Things probably just didn’t work out quite the way that they wanted it to and became homeless. I came to realize that something like that could easily happen to me one day. Most homeless people are not mentally ill or lazy. I think now that for the most part, they are victims of circumstance and happenings.

Service Learning Log 2: PHC6

Project Homelessness Connect 6 was finally here. This was going to be a big test for me after my last experience with the homelessness downtown. I was standing in line waiting with everyone else for my client. It never struck me until I realized that I was in the front of the line waiting for the next bus to show up. My client would be the second person off the bus, Jeff’s would be the first. When he finally arrived, I was scared, intimidated, and hopeful that it would go better. I was to be Michael Grier’s partner for the day at hopefully assist him without breaking his hope as I had done before. Michael’s main goal was to get a job. He had been homeless in Colorado for six years after he moved here from New York. He had not had a job, he did not have any friends, and he had no income. Michael on paper seems as bad as it gets, but I think Michael is one break away from his whole life changing. We got him a resume, we got his records completely straightened out, he talked to a lady about a job interview, and then he saw a promising career in the job fair. He had sold insurance in New York so he knew a lot about money and finances, something that is desired by banks. TCF Banks was there conducting interviews for the homeless people. Michael talked to them, filled out an application, and was promised a second interview, if not a job within two weeks of the event. “Today is a good day.”, said Michael, “Today is a very good day.” Michael expressed to me the desire for a job that pays $27,000 a year, a place he can get health insurance from, and a place he can retire with. All of these things were discussed in his interview, which was very promising. Michael was very grateful to me and to everybody who helped at PHC6. I was very pleased to know that I had helped somebody find a job after nearly ten years without one.
This day was very educational and hopeful for me. Michael told me that he could just never get a second interview with any company and that because of his weak resume, there was nothing he could do. This helped me see that homelessness is not a choice, but rather something that can often times not be helped. This made me view homeless people in a different way than lazy bums because they were not lazy bums; they were people who found themselves in unfortunate circumstances with no way out. This is significant to me because it changes my outlook on a huge group of people all across the world. This makes it possible for me to look into the eyes of a homeless person and know that they are trying and working hard to better themselves.

Service Learning Log 1: Food Delivery to Homeless

Every year, multiple times a year, Eastern Hills Community Church packs hundreds of lunches and delivers them to the poor and homeless in Denver. On Saturday May 3rd, I took part in this activity for the fifth time. I did this with my mom, sister, our church pastor, and about 15 other members of the church. When I arrived there at 9 A.M. on Saturday morning, there were 300 brown bags, more loaves of bread than I could count, packs of turkey and cheese, bags of original Lays potato chips, cookies, cans of soda, napkins, and many sheets of paper with encouraging notes on each one. We made the sandwiches and packed the bags equally in a conveyor belt style of work, so we could do this tedious task as fast as possible. When this was done, we piled into the church’s bus with the lunches and headed downtown in a central location between homeless shelters. We opened up the bus, and it seemed that instantly there was a mob scene around the bus. Homeless people were shoving each other, each fighting for a position so that they could ensure themselves a lunch for the day. Eventually, the time came where we had to turn away the remaining people because we did not have any more food. This went from a mob to a near riot. “Why would you come here without enough!?” said one lady. “This isn’t fair, thanks for the false hope!” said another. Wow. What a feeling and lack of appreciation. Although we had helped 300, we could do nothing for the other 500. This made me feel good because of the hope, but I also felt like we should have done more so that everybody could have been helped. I felt like I wanted to solve homelessness in Denver by serving lunch one day out of a year.
Every time I have done this, I have found the experience humbling, moving, and uplifting. This time was different. I felt sad, inadequate, and I felt like a “hope wrecker”. Although it was just a word, it cut me deep. I was there to help them, and they looked to me as though I was only helping certain people. How did I know? I have the mindset that I never want to help the homeless again because what I had to offer was not enough to make them all happy, so why even try?
This helped me see and respect more about the public good and civic engagement because it not an easy thing at all. There are so many people looking to you for the answers, and I did not have them. Hopefully my time at Project Homeless Connect will render different results for me personally as well as the people I am going to help. Hope is a good thing to have but a horrible thing to lose.

Jeff's Service Learning Log 2

Service Learning Log 2—The Denver Rescue Mission

                  I volunteered at the Denver Rescue Mission in which I prepared and distributed food to homeless people. Preparing the food involved cutting up vegetables and deciding whether certain foods need to be thrown away because they were rotten. The first observation I noticed while I was preparing the food was the great amount of food that didn’t seem edible. Much of the food did not seem edible because it was rotten. I was surprised to see that there was lots of food donated to the Denver Rescue Mission that was rotten. I realized that even though some people or stores who donate the food may think the food is rotten but to other people it keeps them alive on a daily basis.

                   After preparing the food we helped distribute some of the food we prepared to the homeless people at the mission. I distributed food to many different types of people. One person I encountered helped me realize that homeless people are the same as non-homeless people in that they want rights and to be able to make decisions for themselves. When I served this person some of the vegetables that I had recently prepared, they got mad at me because it wasn’t food they wanted. I was taken aback at first that they would turn down free food offered to them but then I realized that even though they may be homeless of poor, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have a right to choose what they want. Another case similar to this was when I served a person food and they got mad at me for have two different types of food touching. This is another case that helped me realize that they want to have freedoms like other people.

                  Volunteering at the Denver Rescue Mission was an experience different than any other volunteer opportunity that I’ve had in the past. I was able to observe how different types of homeless people conduct themselves on a daily basis. The experience proved lots of stereotypes wrong and helped show me that homeless people are no different than people like you and I.

Jeff's Service Learning Log 1

Service Learning Log 1—Project Homeless Connect

                  At Project Homeless Connect I guided a homeless person around the Richie Center and Gates Fieldhouse so that they could receive certain services. I worked with a man by the name of Dwight Henson. He was about 5’11” tall with grayish brown hair. He was very kind and talkative because the entire day we worked together he talked with me about his life and the jobs he has had in the past. He explained to me that he had run for mayor of Denver in the last election a few years ago. It really surprised me because I did no expect to meet a homeless person that had run for mayor. He proved many stereotypes of homeless people wrong. He seemed very connected within the homeless community because many people recognized him because of running for mayor. He also explained to me that he will be running for mayor again the next time there is the election. That surprised me because it shows his dedication and commitment. I envy him with his ability to “go after” things that he wants. He proved to me that no matter the class or situation in life a person is in that they have the ability to follow their dreams and accomplish what they set their mind to.

                  The stations we visited at the event were the job station where we entered his information into the workforce computer system, got him a resume, and gave his resume to various businesses that were at the event. From developing a resume for him, I learned that he had been a caretaker and farm help person at various farms in Colorado and Michigan. Because we had the entire day together, I had the opportunity to get to know lots about him. While waiting in the lines at the job station he discussed the situation he lives in now where he is currently in transitional housing and looking for a job. Also I realized that he has been through a lot in his life because he is diabetic. This puts a burden on him because he explained that he wouldn’t get hired for certain jobs in the past because of being diabetic. I felt compassion for him because it seemed like it was very hard for him to get a job. I think I helped him a lot in guiding him through the many job stations such as getting him a resume.

                  When I took Dwight to the healthcare area within the Richie Center, he wanted to check his sugar level because of being diabetic. Throughout the entire day including when I filled out the paper work for him to get checked by a healthcare official, I recognized that he didn’t have the best writing and was slightly illiterate. I filled out much of his paperwork throughout the day and I think it made it easier on him. He even seemed a little guilty for being slightly illiterate. Once his sugar level was checked out by a healthcare official, they told him that his sugar level was extremely high and that he shouldn’t be alive. Dwight reacted very calmly, although I was very worried but did not show any emotion. We had recently just eaten lunch which he said would make his sugar level higher than normal but I was still worried. He told the doctor thank you and we left the station. This experience impacted me greatly because it seemed that Dwight worried about other, more important things in his life. It showed me where his priorities in life are and that possibly this has been a problem before. Meeting and spending the day with Dwight Henson was an experience I will never forget because he proved many stereotypes wrong and provided me with a greater understanding of homelessness.

Josh: Service-Learning Log 2--Denver Rescue Mission

Still exhilarated from my experience at Project Homeless Connect, I went to the Denver Rescue Mission several days after for my second service learning experience. With my expectations high from what I had seen at PHC, I would have to say that this experience left me with much different feelings about volunteering.

Arriving at the DRM it is impossible to miss the park full of homeless persons that seem to have taken over the few blocks that surround the building. Immediately, I am saddened to see that these people are not like ones I had seen for the most part at PHC. The volunteer supervisor, Nick explains to me that many of those who are in that park day-to-day are heavily addicted to drugs and that it is a stop for police up to 5 times a day.

My shift, a pre-dinner slot meant that I would be helping to prepare that night’s meal. My first job: salad. Most of the ingredients used in their cooking are donated and therefore are not of the highest quality. Nick tells me, "If you wouldn’t eat it, don’t use it." As I looked around the frankly filthy stock room at the piles of bread vegetables I thought to myself, "There are a lot of things here I wouldn’t eat." I was given a box lettuce a cutting board and I Knife. There was no instruction to wash the vegetables or my hands, both seemingly essential commands to give a group of volunteers who had not worked in food service before. I washed the lettuce and began to cut it finding that many of leaves were no loner green but had become more of a black, rotten slime; I threw away much of the first box of lettuce. After going through two boxes of lettuce I had prepared enough for the meal and began my next task: Spork wrapping. Our job was simply to wrap the sporks in paper napkins that would later be used by the homeless as they came to eat. Not much to explain here. With these two jobs complete the time was up and I headed back to campus this time far more disappointed than I had been leaving PHC6.

As I alluded to earlier, to general state of the mission was unsettling. The prep areas and kitchen were nowhere near the normal of standard required in the food service industry. The dirty floor in one corner was covered in bags of bread that had been apparently thrown into the area with enough force to rip open some of the bags which led to unwrapped dinner rolls all over the floor. The un-maintained yet large source of food contributed to what appeared to be a significant rodent problem as on my two hour shift, I saw several mice scurry across the floor.

Seeing these things upset me greatly. Yes this was a shelter. Yes those who used it got the food for free. But does that mean that the standard of hygiene should be as neglected as it was there? It angered me to see that none of the supervisors were really concerned with that state of the kitchen. I felt bad for the people who had no other choice but to eat this food in order to survive. I think that even a few small changes were made, and stricter care for kitchen area were taken then the quality of the services offered to those who use the shelter could be exponentially improved. For the first time in my life, I left this experience dissatisfied in my volunteer work. Feeling as if with the lack of care that existed there, my work meant almost nothing.

Josh: Service-Learning Log 1--Project Homeless Connect 6

Still half asleep at 8:30 in the morning, we were put in a line formation as the intense bright sun shone down on us. I remember feeling unusually nervous, anxious for what was about to happen. As the first bus arrived, a frenzy of people headed for us and I really could not tell how it was all going to be organized. Within a matter of seconds another volunteer motioned for me to step forward and I was paired up with to women. As I introduced myself Christine and Eunice, I was instantly struck by how happy and positive they were as they looked toward their experience that day. We sat down for breakfast and began going over the services that were being offered and which ones they might want to access. Eunice seemed to know exactly what she wanted, needing only to visit three areas at the maximum. Christine on the other hand was interested in just about everything, wanting to stop wherever she could. It was at this point that we decided to split the two up to better assist them and another volunteer arrived to help Eunice.

After stopping at several of the vendor tables in the long corridor that parallels Magness Arena, we made our way to Gates Fieldhouse where we quickly saw just how chaotic this experience might be. I was taken back by the overwhelming number of people and seemingly never ending lines. Christine on the other hand just advanced as if she was totally used to this and headed for the housing section to get a number in line.

With many numbers to go before our turn we had time to check out some other tables. We went to the DMV table to try to replace Christine’s suspended California license. We spoke to a lawyer about complications stemming from her Divorce. Christine registered for the Work Force and the completed an interview workshop in the hopes of gaining access to the job fair.

After only an hour, we had already been to many of the areas in the gym. What I began to notice however, was that we left each section not with concrete assistance, but a seemingly ever-growing stack of papers and forms, that would supposedly lead to Christine getting help in the future.

Housing was probably the clearest example of this as instead of receiving some kind of voucher or ticket to a transitional housing facility, we left with only a list of these developments and their phone numbers. Ambitious as she was, Christine and I managed to speak with someone from probably about 75% of the services offered that day. She had no problem cutting lines to get the front and seemed to be very skilled at this as well. Throughout she remained happy and positive, never visibly discouraged when she was not able to get the help she needed. I found this particularly remarkable.

By 2:00 pm having done what she came to do, Christine and I met back up with Eunice and they got on their bus which brought them back to their shelter, Samaritan House. I walked away and looked down at my clipboard and realized that I had been so involved in conversation with her the whole day that I had barely filled in any of my clipboard. I left the gym and walked to my dorm with many different emotions running through my head as I tried to reflect on the experience.

This experience was most definitely an eye-opening one for me. One big reason was that if I passed either Christine or Eunice on the street I don’t think I would have any idea that they were homeless. In talking with Christine throughout the day, I realized just how easy it could be to become homeless. A divorce coupled with unemployment and a slowing job market was enough to cause her to reach her current state. While I had realized before that many of the stereotypes were not accurate, it wasn’t until this experience that I realized just how wrong they were.

While I was excited to be a part of this project, I feel that there is much that could be done to improve it by offering more immediate on site assistance to the homeless, instead of just handing out paper. It is my hope that in the future as I continue my involvement I will see the implementation of these changes.

Service Learning Log 2

At the Denver Rescue Mission I wasn’t greeted warmly. For some reason two other girls and I were not on their most recent list, although we had gotten confirmation emails. I felt like I was going to be more of a burden than a help. It turned there was actually lots to do. I cut tomatoes and mixed up salads and cut deserts and put them on trays for later. After about half an hour the volunteers were invited to eat with some of the homeless men. While we were eating, Ray, the mean who seemed like he was in change came and sat with us. He filled us in on all sorts of facts about homelessness and what the mission does. We went back to work for a while, cutting more deserts and covering them in garbage bags so they’d stat fresh. It looks like Safeway and King Soopers are pretty generous and donate most of the prepackaged items that the shelter gets. Around 6 Ray called us up. The men who wanted beds for the night were beginning to file in and he wanted to give us a tour of the mission and see the clients. We saw that the night before 276 men slept there. To sleep there the men need to attend a church service. They have a separate service for Spanish speaking men. We saw the clinic and Ray explained his rehab program to us. It had begun to rain so he insisted on driving us to the light-rail station. He encouraged us to come back during the lunch shift so we can interact with the clients more.
I hate to admit this, but I didn’t take much more information about the homeless, than I already knew, away from my experience at the Mission. Ray tried to give us the best, fullest experience possible, but he too knew that making salads and preparing deserts wasn’t going to be very meaningful. To better understand the men who go to the Mission I think I would need to go back to volunteer during the lunch shift, which I want to do.
What was most impressed upon me was how dedicated Ray is to the men who come to the Mission. As he showed us around and interacted with the men it was clear how much he cares. I walked away, not thinking about the clients exactly, but about what they would do without people like Ray. Would someone else selflessly take over his post? There were many other helpers at the Mission but no one else greeted clients by name and joked around with them. So, although I didn’t learn about the homeless specifically, the experience wasn’t a waste because I came away with a greater appreciation for the Rays of the world.

Service Learning Log

I took my client, Juanita and her son Shawn, around at PHC6 . We started out kind of awkwardly. After we got some food in the breakfast line I started right out with the questions because I was at a loss at what else to talk about. She gave short prompt answers, and later I found out, lied about her phone number, which goes to show how little trust she has in strangers, and I don’t blame her.
We walked over to the housing section, which was the only service she wanted. As we waited in line we started to loosen up around each other. I think the presence of Shawn made it easy. He is a really happy little boy. He’ll be one in June but looked much bigger than his age. Juanita told me he’s going to be a football player, like his dad. With him constantly laughing and playing we also started laughing. I learned she moved back here recently from North Carolina, which she didn’t like. She’d been homeless there too, living with the relatives of her kid’s dad. I was really impressed by observing her parenting skills and what she told me about how she and her off and on boyfriend, the father of her two children, take care of their kids. I also learned she lives with her grandmother, she went to college for two years, and she grew up in Denver. She likes it here because her family is here.
When we were called up we ended up being referred to a community housing project, called something like the Joshua Project. The woman told us how it’s a faith-based community and began covering all the rules, and there were a lot of rules. A mandatory dinner once a week, a community service requirement, no drugs or alcohol. If someone is on the campus after 8 on a weeknight they need to be in their room and 10 on weekends. Part way through this lengthy explanation Juanita turned and told me she didn’t want to do this. I kind of felt awkward. This woman on the other side of this wanted to help so badly but Juanita didn’t want to live by those strict rules. I was torn. I wasn’t sure whether I’d gained Juanita’s trust enough for her to tell me she felt uncomfortable, or if she just didn’t want to let this hopeful woman down herself. I told the woman that I didn’t think it was going to work out. The disappointment showed on her face.
Juanita ended up getting a voucher for first month’s rent and took the survey to get a $25 King Soopers gift card. We checked out and I wished her luck, but I haven’t really stopped thinking about her. I hope she found a place to live, that she and her boyfriend work things out and continue to care for their kids together.
If I had any lingering stereotypes about the homeless they were gone after my experience at PHC6. It also reminded me of how much I used to volunteer in high school and I realized I miss that. I feel kind of selfish because I haven’t been donating as nearly as much of my time as I used to, so I am going to do more of that next year. Also, because I am in this class I think I viewed the whole experience differently than I would of in the past. I was looking at it with the eye of a qualitative researcher. I never thought that way in the past so I felt like I had really learned something in this class; how to be a better observer.

Service Learning Logs

Project Homeless Connect: Service Learning-Log

I arrived at Project Homeless Connect at around 9:30 am, and was immediately paired with someone who was hoping to make use of the services provided there. He introduced himself and said “Hi, I’m William and I’m here to get me a job”. William was a forty-seven year old black man from a town in Indiana, who moved to Colorado after high school. The first thing we did when we entered was grab a little bite to eat. While we were eating we did some of the demographic stuff like obtaining his social security number and writing down some information about him. William seemed really excited to make use of the employment services that they provided there as well as checking out the dental care they provided. In fact he was so concerned about getting started early, that he took his jelly filled croissant and put it in his back pack for later.
The first thing William wanted to do was get a haircut. This was one of the special services that were being provided at Project Homeless Connect. William was really excited to get a summer haircut. He had his entire head shaved off as well as his beard, but he decided to keep the mustache. It was amazing how a simple haircut can really clean someone up. I could tell that William felt really good after, or at least more presentable. He said he was excited to feel the wind on his head, and he started talking about how he and his girl were going to go out to a nice dinner and see a good movie.
After the haircut we stood in the employment line for over three hours. In this part of the process I felt really bad. At the first stop, they checked with William to see whether or not he was part of this one program or organization that helps with jobs. After that, we had to wait in another line to make a résumé. It wasn’t until this point that we realized William already had a resume, but they wanted to make him another one even though the one he had was perfectly fine. After this we went to an interview training session, which William passed with flying colors. Finally we went to the different businesses that offered applications. Here William filled out some applications and that was about it. I felt horrible. William had come here with one purpose which was to get a job, and I feel like he left with no more information than when he came.
When we walked back into the Ritchie center we stopped at the medical care services. By this time in the day, all the lines had died down, and William was able to be helped almost immediately. They took his vital signs, and then we waited for a dentist. For William, I thought it was very important see some dental care while he was at Project Homeless Connect. William was missing his two front teeth as well as some others on his upper gums. His gums were encrusted with tartar and other yellow pigmentation. When the dentist saw him, he said just that. He pointed out that he obviously had some bad teeth and William admitted to “a long time of neglect.” The dentist gave him some people he could contact, although I don’t see William being able to pay for the services, so this information may have been useless as well. Although, William did say he got the most out of the dental care during Project Homeless Connect.

By around 2 o’clock we ended up around the check-out table. Here William received a grab bag of necessities for hygiene which consisted of a back pack, socks, soap, toothbrush, flip flops, and a few other things. I had a chance to debrief with William at this point and ask him which services he thought he got the most out of. William responded that he didn’t feel like he got any help from the employment services because all he wanted was a job, and he was unable to obtain one from here. He said that the résumé portion of the employment services probably helped a lot of other homeless people, but since he already had a resume, it was pointless for him to do. He said he probably received the most help from dental simply because he left with more information then when he came. William also said he like the haircut because now he looks “fly for the summer.”


While we were waiting in lines, I learned a lot about William. William was currently living in a house with his friend and has a girlfriend. He met his girlfriend while they were working at Pizza Hut together. When asked the reason why he was homeless, he responded that he “simply just couldn’t find a stable enough job.” He felt like he was always doing odd jobs and random manual labor in order to get by. In fact he dug a few holes for the new Nagel building at DU. I also learned that a main cause of William’s homelessness was a marriage that he entered into coming out of high school. He ended up having a child and then a few years later divorced. Child support has made it very hard for him to make a living. He always has a job, but the child support seems to take most of his funds. He needed to find a job that was stable enough and that paid fairly, but has been unable to do so. During his free-time, William loves to watch TV and movies. He also said he wants to save up for a Nintendo Wii so he can play those “really neat” interactive games like tennis and bowling. William seemed like a he was a very normal man. He seemed somewhat paternalistic in the way he talked with me, simply because I think it has something to do with his age. William said he never got into drugs and has always made sure to stay out of trouble. He seems as if he has all the right motivations but no windows of opportunity seem to make themselves apparent for William.

From this experience, I learned that some people who are homeless don’t really have a crazy story to tell. I realized that even simple things like a divorce can bring someone into poverty and homelessness. This really related to the story of Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness in the way that things got difficult for him once his wife left. It seems to me that a divorce seems to be a huge factor of homelessness and can certainly affect someone emotionally and cause instability. I also realized that I was a little disappointed with the way the services were provided. I think that sometimes the people running the program need to be a little more aware that maybe these people have some of this information already and it would be more useful for them to just move on to the next step. From this, I learned how much more I would like to be able to help these people. Our economy is not the greatest right now and I can see how even when William has a job, that he needs something more substantial in order to progress. I know that PHC can’t simply give jobs out to everyone because there are too many people who are homeless and would like the services. I understand that there are limitations to what Project Homeless Connect can offer, but in this case I was hoping that it could offer a bit more to help William with getting a job. I now recognize how difficult it is right now for anyone to get a job and how this is even more of a problem for people who are homeless. From my experience with William, I have become aware of the hardships that many homeless people face in terms of just living. I didn’t really think about how hard it is for people who are homeless to obtain a stable job. But William also made a point that if you “don’t like the job, then you are probably not going to show up for it and then you end up getting fired after only having the job for two weeks.” Without having a profession or skills, people who are homeless get stuck with jobs working at your local McDonalds which is demeaning as well as a pain in the ass to work at. No one wants to work at some of these jobs and I can see how miserable life could be for someone who always has to work the jobs they hate. I personally think employment needs to be considered more closely in terms of homelessness and the types of jobs that are available to them.

Volunteering at the DRM

For a service project I volunteered in the kitchen of the Denver Rescue Mission (DRM). I went with Deven from our writing class and we both volunteered in the kitchen. When we first arrived at the DRM we met a man named “Nick”. Nick was one of the staff members who checked us in and got our aprons for the jobs we were about to do. After that, we met “Ray” and “David”. Ray was in charge of the kitchen for the DRM. David was another worker. Ray, Nick, and David all seemed hold some authority amongst the workers. Ray informed us that we would be preparing the food, as well as serving it to the people who were in the Rescue Mission as well as people from outside. The people that were in the DRM were recovering addicts trying to get sober.
Our first job in the DRM was cutting zucchinis. Because I have worked in a soup kitchen before, the state of the zucchinis wasn’t as alarming to me as it was to Deven. Many of the zucchinis had entirely rotted through and were inedible. These zucchinis we were supposed to throw out. We were supposed to pick out the “good ones” and chop them up. Deven seemed rather alarmed by this and I think it had something to do with the fact that all the moldy ones were next to and in the same box as the edible ones. Also, the zucchinis were never rinsed before they were cut or served. I think that that zucchinis should have been rinsed very thoroughly before we cut them. Pesticides as well as other bacteria could have been on the zucchinis which could also make anyone who is eating them sick.

Next, we began serving the food to all the people who came. I served the fruit salad and banana-pudding. The fruit salad looked more like a bucket of juice with a little bit of fruit in it. Banana-pudding seemed to be a hit this day, possibly because of the weather outside. Ray said that people who are homeless like chocolate on days with bad weather. While I was serving the food, I was limited to serving only one scoop per person. This was very difficult for me to do because I wanted to give them more if they asked. Some people would stay in front of me longer hoping that I would give them another scoop. After the desserts ran out, I moved to serving salad. While I was serving salad, I put the salad next to this man’s lasagna and he got very angry. He couldn’t believe I would mix the food or have the foods touching. I was very surprised by this outburst because I didn’t think that people who don’t have much of a choice would be so picky or particular.

When we finished serving, we bussed tables and cleaned up after the other people. While doing this, a homeless man stopped me and asked why I was the only female worker there and how I felt about it. To be honest I didn’t even notice that I was the only female until he said something. So I guess I felt comfortable around everyone, although I have never been hit on by so many middle-aged, balding men with little to no teeth in my life, but it made for an interesting experience.

This experience was eye opening. I was almost positive I would have seen more families come to the kitchen but was surprised to see that it the majority of them were middle-aged men. I usually picture women as volunteers because women are depicted as being the care givers in our culture. Also, previous volunteer experiences have led to an atmosphere filled with estrogen in that most of the volunteers were women. It gave me a better understanding of what this specific homeless community of Denver was like. Later it puzzled me that there weren’t any other female workers there. Although, this didn’t bother me at the time, I think that it is interesting that there weren’t other female volunteers or workers because of my previous experiences volunteering. I enjoyed working at the DRM because it was a very different experience for me. I usually don’t do too much volunteer work, but I can see how this could become someone’s lifestyle. Helping people is really satisfying, because you are helping someone out with no expectation of anything in return, when really you end up getting a whole lot in return in terms of a life experience. Ray, David, and Nick had all seemed to make a full time job out of helping people. I didn’t really know too much about all of their backgrounds and why they chose a job like this. There was one other volunteer there that I had a short conversation with. He told me that he was there because he had to do community service and had to be there due to some infraction. So I suppose some people volunteer because they have to due to some sort of infraction they’ve had with the law. I also learned from the experience with the man and his lasagna. Because people who are homeless don’t have many choices, it can be important for them to control the things they can. He may have seemed picky, simply because it is important for him to feel like he has a choice in certain things. I think this was the biggest lesson I learned. People who are homeless aren’t necessarily being picky for the hell of it but rather because it could be important for them to feel like they still have a choice in life. Much of their lives seem to be determined by things outside of themselves and so how their food is presented to them is one of the things that make them feel as if they have some choice and control over what happens to them. This was a very significant concept for me to understand, because I felt as if they were being ungrateful when really there was some larger understanding behind their behavior. Ray also was able to inform me of the main reasons for which people become homeless. Many people who are homeless are mentally ill and also in many cases people simply don’t have any form of identification and therefore cannot get a stable job and are stuck doing odd jobs which don’t allow them to make ends meet. From the experience, it also seemed as if the homeless population consisted mostly of men, but that may have only been the case for the DRM.

A very interesting and informative part of volunteering at the DRM was the stories that Ray told of the different men he encountered at the shelter. In one story he told of a man and his two children who were homeless. The father had broken into an old station wagon where he and his children slept at night while he also kept watch from the front seat. This man was unable to get a job because he didn’t have any form of identification. This man also made a game out of homelessness for his children by telling his son that they were going to act like the pioneers and sleep outside for the night. This part of the story reminded me of a scene in The Pursuit of Happyness where Chris Gardner tells his son that they are cavemen and have to find a cave for the night which ends up being the men’s bathroom of a subway station. From this story I also found that it contradicted the belief that people can get out of homelessness by obtaining a job. Many homeless people don’t have the documentation or identification which will allow them to even obtain a job. I didn’t really consider the problem of documentation in relation to homelessness at first and this experience enlightened me. I learned a lot from this experience and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Kelsey -- Service Learning Log 2

For Project Homeless Connect, there was a lot of anticipation building up to the event. The first announcement that I would be participating came at the beginning of the quarter in class. I really had no idea what to expect from the experience at that point. However, little-by-little different aspects of the project and informational sessions were provided to us in order to help us understand what we’d be doing. The last big step we had to complete before working the event was to attend a meeting for instructional purposes. We were handed a large folder with many pieces of paper and overwhelmed with what to do, how to do it, and what others had experienced. Each new piece of information helped me understand what I would be doing a little better, but nothing calmed my nerves.

The morning of, I arrived outside the Ritchie Center at 8 a.m. where I was met by a mass of others in orange-yellow volunteer shirts. I picked up a clip board with the client information sheet I was in charge of filling out by the end of my client’s visit and stood in line, waiting to be paired. A woman in a red shirt came to the line and announced that she needed someone who didn’t have a client yet. I volunteered and was led inside to the breakfast tables, where a classmate sat with two hispanic women who were eating muffins and fruit. I was introduced to the young woman who would be my client, Eunice, and started talking to her about what she needed. Eunice informed me that she wanted to make her visit quick, as she was supposed to be at school later to turn in an assignment. I asked here where she would like to visit and also started talking to her about what she was going to school for. First, she wanted to visit legal services and medical and informed me she wants to me a cook in a restaurant so she is in school now, very close to graduating. She also informed me she didn’t need to visit the housing area because she had just applied for housing and was expecting to hear back from them that very day and that she would not need to go to the ID area because she has all her documentation. We left her friend, who went with my classmate to get other services taken care of, and went over to the legal services desk where we only had to wait a minute to be seen. Eunice talked to the women there about a warrant she has for her because she was pulled over in a friends car that had no license and no insurance. She had lost the documentation informing her when her court date was, so she got a warrant for failure to appear. She got her affairs straightened out with legal services, and next we went get her hair cut. After getting her hair cut, we attempted to check her vision, but the medical area was a mess and we did not get anything accomplished there. We then went to child support where she talked about her six children with the woman providing services and who was taking care of them now and what she had to do to make sure child support knew where they were, since they had moved locations. We then went over to lunch, where the two friends met up and talked about how good the sandwiches were and how awful their living situation is now. Eunice told me about her children, her ex-boyfriend, and how she ended up homeless for the first time, pregnant and alone. We then went over and Eunice got a special massage for pregnant women, which she enjoyed a lot. After worrying about school all day, she finally decided to take the day to herself and get the most out of the services we had to offer. We next went over to drug and alcohol counseling where she talked to the man about signing up for classes for alcohol abuse to make sure she was doing everything right in order to get her children back. At the end of the day I walked Eunice and her friend to the bus stop, where they got on and traveled back to their shelter.

The experience, overall, was great. I had been so nervous for what the day would be like that I was pleasantly surprised when it all worked out well. Eunice was smart and hard working and really had everything put together well. If it had not been for her split from her boyfriend, she would not have lost her six children and would not be struggling alone in a shelter to make it back to the lifestyle she respects. She was happy and helpful and great to talk to and help out. Her and her friend were always smiling, joking, and laughing which was surprising and good to see. They helped me realize that if even people in their position could be so cheerful, what do I have to be anything by cheerful about? Everyone I met that day was helpful and really great to work with and made me realize that I had horrible misconceptions about how the homeless are, overall.

Justin's Service Learning Logs

Denver Rescue Mission

I have volunteered multiple times at the Denver Rescue Mission preparing food for their dinner shift, although I do not have the chance to interact with the homeless people that DRM serves I do have the chance to meet and talk to the other people who work at the Rescue Mission and other volunteers. Two of the people that I had a chance to work with were formerly homeless and both battled with drug and alcohol addictions.
Hearing ‘Mike’, a man who I guesses not be more than 30 talk about his experience of living in different shelters from the time he was 19 till he began working at the DRM made me think about the idea that the fact I have a place to call home is not a universal trait, although I never assumed it to be, hearing someone talk about the fact they have nowhere to turn when times get rough was certainly a jolt to my way of thinking.
Mike was also a former heroin addict and father of two children began working at the Denver Rescue Mission as part of their alcohol program, eventually he ‘graduated’ from the program and became a regular employee of the program, he now rents an apartment (at least he said he does) and is planning on going to a mechanical vocational school so he can become an auto mechanic. Still the courts do not allow him to see his two children on the basis of his former heroin addiction, the mother of his children will not talk to him so he has no way of negotiating any sort of visiting plan to allow him to see his children.
In all honesty I hated the fact that Mike had children, it was painfully obvious that he was incapable of caring for them and I cannot imagine that his former girlfriend is able to provide the children with the sort of care they require. To me his children seem to be the innocent victims in this case, they are paying dearly for their father’s drug addiction and both of their parents ill advised sexual encounters. Thinking of Mike’s kids made me realize that life truly isn’t fair, I have been given every opportunity possible, currently I am sitting in an airport returning from a weekend home so I could attend my girlfriend’s prom, a luxury that Mike’s children will never be able to dream of. In addition Mike’s children will not have the type of education opportunities which I have been blessed with, they may have to drop out of high school to support themselves because their parents are incapable of supporting them. This brings into focus what I believe to be one of the main reasons for the ‘cycle’ of homelessness, many homeless children of children whose parents struggle with homelessness, are forced to choose between their education and feeding themselves. I don’t believe that in a country as affluent as the United States American citizens should ever have to choose between basic education and putting food on the table for themselves or putting a roof over their heads.
Mike was born into a similar situation that his children were, his parents were separated and he rarely saw his father in fact he hasn’t seen his father since he was twelve. His mother tried to support him and herself by working two jobs, but she fell into a drug addiction when Mike was a sophomore in high school after which she was unable to support herself much less her son. Mike was forced to drop out of high school to support himself, he worked minimum wage job’s in fast food restaurants until he was about 18 when he decided to do manual labor because it paid better (somewhere around 8.50 an hour from what I gleaned). Only a few months into his first construction job he hurt his back (he still hadn’t sought medical attention but I figured it was something like a herniated disk) and was obviously unable to work construction, so he went back to fast food. Simply put Mike was unable to support himself on the meager minimum wage salary, sometime after hurting his back Mike fell into his heroin addiction and alcohol abuse. Mike didn’t offer any details about the beginning of his addiction, but I gathered that he was suffering from depression in addition to his back which apparently constantly plagued him with pain, these seemed to be the main reasons for his addictions.
I asked Mike how he delt with his back pain now that he was clean, he didn’t offer me a straight answer except for saying he used pain medication which led me to wonder if he had begun abusing pain medication.
Mike and children made me realize the hardships which many endure through no fault of their own and the unfair decisions that they are forced to make because the apparatuses which are supposed to help them (ie. the government and their parents) are unable to provide the essential elements to survive in modern society.

Project Homeless Connect

At first when PHC was described to me I didn’t feel any apprehension nor did I have any fears about what I was expected to do. The described task seemed easy enough, simply ‘babysit’ a patron for a few hours as they tried to receive public services, the fact that we were told that we would be waiting in line for extended periods of time irked me slightly as I hate standing in lines and I only assumed I would be far more impatient when I was waiting in line for someone else.
The task of developing an intelligent conversation with my ‘patron’ didn’t phase me at all, I consider myself to be a ‘people person’ and did not find the prospect of having a five hour long conversation with a stranger to be all that intimidating. I realized that I could get stuck with someone who had no interest in talking to me or divulging any information, I figured that if this was the case that it would be my challenge to open up my patron. I presumed (correctly) that I would be told some pretty disturbing and heartbreaking stories, so I mentally prepared myself not to appear shocked or judgmental to my patron. This proved to be a valuable preparation technique as I was shocked multiple times by the stories my patron divulged to me.
My confidence held up until the morning of the event, as I stood in line waiting to be paired with my homeless individual I couldn’t stop thinking that I was doomed to be paired with a heroin addict who would immediately hate me. Time would prove my fears completely false, I was paired with a 38 year old Hispanic woman named Veronica and a man who I assumed to be her boyfriend, who seemed genuinely grateful for the fact that I was there to lead her around. First we sat down as she and her friend at breakfast, as I began my interview, which she reminded me of. Firstly I was shocked to learn that she had been living on the streets, not in shelters, for the past two years, this would prove to be minor compared to what else she divulged. It became apparent that she did not work, I assumed this was because of some sort of disability, which she said it was. When I asked her what the disability was she became overtly secretive, making it apparent that she did not want the man sitting next to her, whom I assumed to be her boyfriend, to know what her disability was. I offered her a piece of paper and a pen so she could write it down, I had to keep my lower jaw clamped to the upper to prevent it from hitting the table when I read the note, AIDS/ HEP C.
I of course realize sexually transmitted diseases are by no means rare, the fact she had contracted these did not in fact surprise me all that much. It was the fact that she was obviously keeping knowledge of her condition from her boyfriend who I assume she had sexual relations with. I was tempted to ask her why she did not tell him, but I supposed if I did ask she would most likely feel so uncomfortable that she would leave. Instead I decided to not bring it up and concentrate on helping her in whatever way I could.
Veronica was currently receiving government money to pay for her AIDS cocktail, but had stopped receiving Social Security and food stamp benefits nearly a decade ago. The application for both of these services was complicated by the fact that she did not have a birth certificate, ID card or Social Security card. In fact without one of these it is impossible to apply for the others, Veronica was estranged from her immediate family (parents, sibilings) she had never been married and had no children, without any relatives to vouch essentially for her existence she could not receive and ID card or birth certificate. The bureaucracy with which the social services of Denver are run astounded me, as did the amount of paperwork required for the simplest requests, I would not bet against the fact Veronica completed a comparable amount of paperwork that I did when applying to college.
Overall I felt like I made a difference at PHC, I felt like Veronica left the Ritche Center better equipped to deal with the world than when she entered, and I felt like I was at least a small part of that.

Joe's service learning logs

Denver Rescue Mission

Two days ago Josh and I went down to the Denver Rescue Mission to volunteer at the 4:30pm to 6pm shift. This is the shift right before dinner so we were there to help prepare food. First we were set to work preparing salad, by chopping up lettuce, olives and tomatoes. This was a pretty easy job and the food looked pretty decent. We only had to throw out a bit of lettuce that was old. After preparing the salad, our boss for the night, Nick, had me help out by taking donated hotdog buns out of bags and place them in a giant container. These were not in as good of shape. The bread as I learned from Nick, is donated by grocery stores to the Denver Rescue Mission just before they would throw it out themselves. This means the shelter has only a couple days to use the bread before it goes bad. I definitely had to throw away my fair share of hotdog buns before I was done and most of the ones I put in the bin were pretty hard already, but did not quite have mold yet. If I were given one of these hotdog buns I would probably try and find a fresher one, they were definitely not ideal.
After cooking and unpacking food for the first half of the shift Josh and I went on to the extremely difficult task of rolling sporks for the rest of our time there. That is no lie, for the next 45 minutes we took paper napkins and rolled them up with a spork inside. This was definitely a very helpful thing to do so the people who actually work there do not have to waste their time with the simple task and can help out the homeless people at the shelter better. However, after years of volunteering in many different places in my life, I am not sure I have ever done anything in my life that made time go by more slowly than sitting there rolling sporks for 45 minutes. By the end of that I was just about ready to die.
In the end I think it was definitely a very good thing to do going down to the shelter and helping out. They definitely rely on volunteers for the majority of the labor there and it definitely helps the homeless people in the area immensely. The facilities and food were definitely not of the top grade, but they did not seem nearly as bad as I had anticipated from the accounts of other students in our class who went before me. Unfortunately, this event did not have anywhere near the emotional impact that PHC6 did on me. While what I was doing was helpful, I did not have any interaction with homeless individuals while I was working there. The only real impact it had on me was that simple monotonous tasks can in fact be very helpful even though they do not feel like it at the time.

Project Homeless Connect

Going into PHC6 I really had no idea what to expect. “How helpful are the services going to be?” and “What will my homeless person/s be like?” were the main questions running through my head. The man I got to lead around was named Richard. He is currently 50 years old and has been out of work for about a year now, but not for drugs, alcohol or a mental disability. Richard was hard-working and had a good job, but has Parkinson’s disease that forced him to quit working. He is currently waiting on social security to start sending him checks, which should be around $2000 a month, easily enough to live on with his wife. However, for now he is living on $238 a month, not an easy task.
Going in I thought the services would be far more helpful than they were. The homeless people could not get housing or a job, just paperwork. Nor could they get real medical attention, just referrals. Richard knew it would be like this thankfully, so when he was not able to get medication or a real dental exam, he was not too disappointed. All they did was tell him where he needs to go to get the attention, which he already knew. We then went and talked to housing, but with his current income he cannot get anything more than a studio apartment, but once his social security checks start coming he will be fine to get a little bigger apartment. They tried to have us talk to people who run other shelters, but Richard said he was content with the one he stays at and just needs his own place. Other than that all we could really do was eat and talk, which was fine for him. He wished there had been a better breakfast, perhaps bacon, eggs, or pancakes, but he was very happy with the sandwiches for lunch. This was probably because they are much fresher than the ones at the shelter. I had not volunteered at Denver Rescue mission at this point, but after seeing the state of the bread down there, the sandwiches at PHC6 were definitely of better quality.
After lunch I left Richard with a couple of his friends and he was very thankful that he was able to get simple things like food, toothpaste, shampoo and a couple of t-shirts, which was extremely relieving to me because we were not able to get him any medical or housing help that morning.
For me personally the event made me realize even more how lucky I am. I have always thought that I do not take anything I have for granted and realize how blessed I am to have a good family around me. After spending the morning with Richard, I was in shock. The amount of depressing stories he has from his life, the ones I cannot even share, are so sad they may have made some people cry.
I do not know if it is possible, but my biggest criticism of PHC6 is that all the people working there can really do is give out paperwork. I heard a lot of stories about people who had a homeless person looking for a job and all they could get were a couple of applications. The same thing went for medical and housing, all that could be done was give out paperwork. If it is possible, it would drastically improve PHC if they could make things happen here on that day.

Kelsey: Service Learning Log 1

Volunteering at the Denver Rescue Mission, I worked the dinner shift where I was able to help with household-type work as well as serving and cleaning up after the people who used the services provided to them by the Denver Rescue Mission. When I first arrived, I locked my purse away in a closet in the “day room” where the food seemed to be pre-prepared. I was then instructed by one of the men in charge, also in the recovering alcoholics program, that I should not give out any personal information such as my last name, where I go to school, or even give the people visiting the Denver Rescue Mission any money. As he was telling me this, we walked upstairs to dump bins of garbage into the dumpster. He and I were helped by a boy my age who was also volunteering. We emptied two large bins of trash -- old food, boxes, socks-- into the dumpster, but remains of spoiled food and broken crackers stayed caked at the bottom. We then went downstairs to retrieve more trash, where the man who was working there informed me that someone had used the laundry bin as a trash, so we then had to fish trash out of the bin (along with some dirty socks) and then dumped the remaining trash onto to the floor of the laundry room for someone to sweep up later. The two men then went to finish unloading the trash, while I went to wash my hands. In the kitchen, where the hand-washing sink is located, I met a young man who works in the kitchen and started a conversation with him. He talked to me about school and how he is trying to become a police officer and then opened up and told me outright that he started doing hard drugs when he was twelve-years-old and is recovering from his experience with those. He was wearing a cross and was very nice to me, informing me that if anyone at all bothered me to tell him.

Next, I went back into the day room to retrieve an apron, which all the volunteers wore, and took my place in the conveyor-belt of helpful volunteers waiting for the masses to arrive so we could provide them with steaming trays of food for their meals. Five in at a time, we were told. One volunteer, the mother of the boy I emptied the trash with, stood at the door with a clicker to count the number of people who came in for dinner. The line started at the door to the dinning area and went all the way up the stairs. The trays we handed them were silver and crooked, partially filled with chicken wings, squash or green beans, and french fries. Behind me, there were volunteers dishing salad and one mug with either water or tea for each person. We were told to look out for people coming back for seconds and that we should not let them get any more than one serving. People of all different types came through the door-- some wore suits, others were wearing multiple layers that were ragged and dirty-- and most were carrying many bags with them. One man was carrying so much and was so nervous to set his things down and leave them for a minute to get food that I had to carry his tray for him through the line and to a table because he could not carry it himself while holding so much. Some people while eating minded their own business, never looking up or talking to anyone. Others socialized, met people sitting at their table, or talked to friends they seemed to know well.

My next job was to bus tables. I was instructed to wait before taking a tray to make sure the patron hadn’t gotten up to get water. If they were sitting with an empty tray for too long, I was also instructed to ask them if they were finished and to take their tray. I carried around a dirty rag with me that had been soaking in blue water to use to wipe the tables after the diners had finished eating. At first I was timid, but soon I learned to look for those who had finished so I could take their trays. However, there were many people assigned to bus tables, so work was pretty scarce. While I stood waiting, I talked with other volunteers or listened to conversations that the patrons were having. Some of the men talked to me, asking me how I was or saying thank you after I picked up their trays. One started asking me personal questions, such as where I went to school and whether or not I was in high school. Some of the patrons were not as nice as others-- they almost seemed indignant when we offered to help them. Others were very opinionated, using only chop sticks to eat their meal and asking for so much extra salad that the women volunteering brought over a baby-crib-sized tub of lettuce and piled his tray a half a foot high with salad.

When the last patrons had come in, around 9, we began stacking chairs and cleaning tables. Volunteers that hadn’t spoken started talking to one another. There was one other girl from DU volunteering so we talked about Project Homeless Connect, our majors, and the overall experience we had that night. She had done different work, sweeping and mopping in the day room, before coming into the dining hall to help serve food. Some other women were middle aged and talked to us about school and the weather. Everyone was cheerful and I could tell they felt good about what they had just done. We all walked out together to our cars smiling and saying goodbye at the end of the night.

My overall feelings during this experience were a bit up-and-down. First, I was very scared to go downtown by myself to a place I had never been to before. I tried to schedule different times when classmates would be going, as well, but it proved impossible to do so. Driving downtown to the Denver Rescue Mission, I saw lines of homeless people across the corner from the location of the Denver Rescue Mission and wondered if they would be our patrons later on. I was timid about being alone and also didn’t want to seem pretentious to anyone since I drive a nice car and had a purse with me and was wearing jewelry. Walking in, I wasn’t sure what I’d be doing, and when I started emptying the trash I wondered if I would be interacting with anyone coming in to eat. When the man instructing us on how to empty the trash told me not to give out any of my information and when I locked my purse in the day room, I felt very anxious about what would happened when I did, in fact, come into contact with those visiting for dinner. However, when they started coming in to eat, I didn’t feel so nervous about their actions as much as my own. I was very self conscious the whole time, wondering if I was acting in a way that might offend them or make them. When the one man started asking me about what school I went to, I found myself fumbling to a circumvent the truth. I told him I wasn’t in school but waiting to see if I’d go to college. I felt awful having to lie, but I was not going to ignore the advice given to me by the people who work with these patrons night-after-night.

Overall, the experience was fulfilling and relieving. I was so nervous to volunteer there, but most I was nervous for Project Homeless Connect. This community service was much shorter, so it provided me with a small introduction to who I would be working with the next day. It served to calm my nerves and made me feel like I not only helped these people have a nice meal in doors and provide them with a good environment to meet with friends, but I also felt happy to have gotten over my fears and my ignorant presupposed opinions about what kind of people the homeless are. It was a great addition to my experience with service learning, and I am very happy I got to volunteer. My time spent volunteering at the Denver Rescue Mission also helped me academically because it added another dimension to schools besides classroom learning. The experience that night really brought together this writing class for me. We spent the whole quarter preparing to actually interact with the homeless by talking about the homeless, reading about them, and finally using what we had learned and our newly formed opinions to actually go meet some of the homeless to wrap up everything we had learned. It was a great way to prepare for Project Homeless Connect, to tie together things we had learned in the class, to make us more well-rounded and beneficial to the community, and to help us with our own qualitative research for our papers. The most valuable thing I will take from this class is my experience with these people, how it made me feel, and how it affirmed my positive opinions about the homeless.

Kristin Service Learning Logs

Denver Rescue Mission:
When I first entered the Denver Rescue Mission, I was greeted by two men that were in charge. I arrived with three other boys that weren’t affiliated with DU. When they started to explain what needed to be done, they handed out the labor tasks to the boys, who were to be moving boxes, and the cooking and chopping tasks to me. Before we began the work, one of the men in charge went through the goals of the Denver Rescue Mission, because I hadn’t worked there before. The men were joking around with each other and the other volunteers that had come in because they all had a similar tie to Mullen High School. I began preparing salad and then the other girls from DU came in and they were assigned to help me as well. The men in charge also joked with the other volunteers and us about being in college and such. The atmosphere was a very friendly one and a lot of people were very open with their stories. One came in and explained that they were all in a program and it depends on how far along you’ve come as to what position you take at the Mission. We also learned a lot about one of the cooks there, not exactly as to why he ended up there but the rest of his story. He actually studied at DU in the HRTM program and owned his own restaurant for some time. He insisted that we get a drink and even went out of his way to get cups with ice for us. The other girls I worked with are in the10-12 class, and one other girl and I actually found out that we have a mutual friend that she went to elementary school with and I went to high school with, so we had heard about each other but never met. We talked about school and what we had planned for the weekend and anything else about what we were doing. We also all worked on the same projects so that we could finish quicker, and we got a system going. One of us would cut the dessert and then the other two of us would arrange it on a tray and take them to the tray rack when they were full. We got work done a lot faster this way and ended rolling sporks in napkins.
This experience taught me a lot about the Denver Rescue Mission itself. I never knew that it was a program for people who were trying to get back on their feet. I thought that that was really interesting because it might inspire those that they serve to do the same, to try and get back on their feet. This experience definitely opened my eyes to the kind of help that is really out there, and that not all people that have fallen into a bad rut will stay there and they can get out of it if they seek help. On my way walking there from the light rail station I was confronted by a man looking for St. Francis, and I had no idea where it was, and then when he told me what it was, (a place that helps you when you first get out of prison) I have to admit I watched my back a lot more until I reached the DRM and walked a little faster. After having that experience at the DRM it made me think that that man might have been trying to do the same thing that many of the staff was trying to do there, get a fresh start, and that I shouldn’t always judge people by their experiences. Even though this also may not have been true about the man I encountered on the street, I learned that I should at least get to know a person fully before I judge them by their experiences.
Project Homeless Connect 6:
My experience with Charlene, my client, began as we both made our way up the steps of the Ritchie center and realized that we were paired with each other. We introduced ourselves and the client in front of her also introduced herself, (she was paired with one of my friends) she was my client’s sister. She informed me that Charlene could be hard to understand sometimes because of a stroke she had had, but I learned that it was one she had quite a few years back, but it was still affecting her. As we spoke further I asked her where she might like to go, and they both immediately said housing. After asking about the $500 requirement, she said that was fine, and really she just needed help paying her current rent because she was about to be evicted. After discovering these details, we kept moving up in the breakfast line slowly, and she talked about how she used to work as a cook at colleges in Kansas and Nebraska, one time in a sorority house. After stating that she asked me whether or not we were having “dead week” soon, which she explained meant finals week. She was also interested in my schooling. She went on to explain that she had four children that were all grown and ten grandchildren. Most of them were scattered in Kansas, but two sons were here in Colorado. She also had a step-granddaughter through her husband that had been deceased for about a year. She explained that she was living with them until her husband died and then the husband’s sister took her away, but she still got to see her every once in a while. All of this I learned over breakfast, and then by the time we finished we headed over to housing. We split apart there from her sister and agreed to meet again at 12:30 because Charlene was going to get a tooth pulled. When she explained about that, she said that she had found a dentist that would do it for cheaper than one she had already visited if she could be there that day. When we got to housing we received a number and then went over to food stamps while we waited. We actually ended up cutting in line because the man calling out names was falling behind and the woman who seemed to be in charge told us to just come up. We filled out the paperwork and Charlene learned that she could be getting a lot more money from Social Security and Veteran’s benefits than she actually was. She had to convince them that even though she and her husband weren’t married for ten consecutive years, they had been together since 1975. Even though we didn’t have time to visit SS and the veteran’s table while we were there, Charlene still found out this valuable information that she could look into later. After finishing successfully applying for food stamps, we went back over to housing because they had actually called our number quite a long time ago. We were immediately taken over to a table where the man who filled out Charlene’s information was actually very rude, and then taken over to the seating. When the table we needed was empty, we went over there where the other man was also not very friendly and told us to go over to get emergency assistance. We did this without having to wait because Charlene just had to get a brochure and then go down to the center herself later. We were finished then, and waited for her sister to finish. After going through the check-out station and lunch they were both very pleased to receive so many free things and were very happy with what they had accomplished that day. Charlene kept exclaiming that “Today was a good day!” and was very happy. Charlene’s sister wasn’t as able to get so much help, but was still happy that she came and that her sister figured out what she needed to. My friend and I parted from Charlene and her sister with hugs and then went home because there weren’t any more clients when we finally finished.
This experience taught me that anyone can get into hard situations. After Charlene’s husband died, she had to rely on Social Security and her children to make rent because she couldn’t work due to her stroke. I also realized that people don’t know about all of the help that is out there for them. Charlene wasn’t aware of the additional help that she could have been receiving all of this time. It also appeared to me that the system really wasn’t all that friendly. The food stamp lady that we had was so warm and friendly but everyone we encountered in the housing wasn’t really even willing to listen to Charlene’s story fully to understand what she really needed and they prescribed her condition. They didn’t listen to the fact that she was being evicted initially and decided that she needed first month’s rent. None of this really discourage Charlene, because I think that she hadn’t had to deal with it all that much in the past but it made me think of people that deal with it on a day to day basis and how they don’t get upset with the system. Overall I was also very happy that I was able to get so much help for Charlene.

Service Learning Logs

Denver Rescue Mission:
When I first entered the Denver Rescue Mission, I was greeted by two men that were in charge. I arrived with three other boys that weren’t affiliated with DU. When they started to explain what needed to be done, they handed out the labor tasks to the boys, who were to be moving boxes, and the cooking and chopping tasks to me. Before we began the work, one of the men in charge went through the goals of the Denver Rescue Mission, because I hadn’t worked there before. The men were joking around with each other and the other volunteers that had come in because they all had a similar tie to Mullen High School. I began preparing salad and then the other girls from DU came in and they were assigned to help me as well. The men in charge also joked with the other volunteers and us about being in college and such. The atmosphere was a very friendly one and a lot of people were very open with their stories. One came in and explained that they were all in a program and it depends on how far along you’ve come as to what position you take at the Mission. We also learned a lot about one of the cooks there, not exactly as to why he ended up there but the rest of his story. He actually studied at DU in the HRTM program and owned his own restaurant for some time. He insisted that we get a drink and even went out of his way to get cups with ice for us. The other girls I worked with are in the10-12 class, and one other girl and I actually found out that we have a mutual friend that she went to elementary school with and I went to high school with, so we had heard about each other but never met. We talked about school and what we had planned for the weekend and anything else about what we were doing. We also all worked on the same projects so that we could finish quicker, and we got a system going. One of us would cut the dessert and then the other two of us would arrange it on a tray and take them to the tray rack when they were full. We got work done a lot faster this way and ended rolling sporks in napkins.
This experience taught me a lot about the Denver Rescue Mission itself. I never knew that it was a program for people who were trying to get back on their feet. I thought that that was really interesting because it might inspire those that they serve to do the same, to try and get back on their feet. This experience definitely opened my eyes to the kind of help that is really out there, and that not all people that have fallen into a bad rut will stay there and they can get out of it if they seek help. On my way walking there from the light rail station I was confronted by a man looking for St. Francis, and I had no idea where it was, and then when he told me what it was, (a place that helps you when you first get out of prison) I have to admit I watched my back a lot more until I reached the DRM and walked a little faster. After having that experience at the DRM it made me think that that man might have been trying to do the same thing that many of the staff was trying to do there, get a fresh start, and that I shouldn’t always judge people by their experiences. Even though this also may not have been true about the man I encountered on the street, I learned that I should at least get to know a person fully before I judge them by their experiences.
Project Homeless Connect 6:
My experience with Charlene, my client, began as we both made our way up the steps of the Ritchie center and realized that we were paired with each other. We introduced ourselves and the client in front of her also introduced herself, (she was paired with one of my friends) she was my client’s sister. She informed me that Charlene could be hard to understand sometimes because of a stroke she had had, but I learned that it was one she had quite a few years back, but it was still affecting her. As we spoke further I asked her where she might like to go, and they both immediately said housing. After asking about the $500 requirement, she said that was fine, and really she just needed help paying her current rent because she was about to be evicted. After discovering these details, we kept moving up in the breakfast line slowly, and she talked about how she used to work as a cook at colleges in Kansas and Nebraska, one time in a sorority house. After stating that she asked me whether or not we were having “dead week” soon, which she explained meant finals week. She was also interested in my schooling. She went on to explain that she had four children that were all grown and ten grandchildren. Most of them were scattered in Kansas, but two sons were here in Colorado. She also had a step-granddaughter through her husband that had been deceased for about a year. She explained that she was living with them until her husband died and then the husband’s sister took her away, but she still got to see her every once in a while. All of this I learned over breakfast, and then by the time we finished we headed over to housing. We split apart there from her sister and agreed to meet again at 12:30 because Charlene was going to get a tooth pulled. When she explained about that, she said that she had found a dentist that would do it for cheaper than one she had already visited if she could be there that day. When we got to housing we received a number and then went over to food stamps while we waited. We actually ended up cutting in line because the man calling out names was falling behind and the woman who seemed to be in charge told us to just come up. We filled out the paperwork and Charlene learned that she could be getting a lot more money from Social Security and Veteran’s benefits than she actually was. She had to convince them that even though she and her husband weren’t married for ten consecutive years, they had been together since 1975. Even though we didn’t have time to visit SS and the veteran’s table while we were there, Charlene still found out this valuable information that she could look into later. After finishing successfully applying for food stamps, we went back over to housing because they had actually called our number quite a long time ago. We were immediately taken over to a table where the man who filled out Charlene’s information was actually very rude, and then taken over to the seating. When the table we needed was empty, we went over there where the other man was also not very friendly and told us to go over to get emergency assistance. We did this without having to wait because Charlene just had to get a brochure and then go down to the center herself later. We were finished then, and waited for her sister to finish. After going through the check-out station and lunch they were both very pleased to receive so many free things and were very happy with what they had accomplished that day. Charlene kept exclaiming that “Today was a good day!” and was very happy. Charlene’s sister wasn’t as able to get so much help, but was still happy that she came and that her sister figured out what she needed to. My friend and I parted from Charlene and her sister with hugs and then went home because there weren’t any more clients when we finally finished.
This experience taught me that anyone can get into hard situations. After Charlene’s husband died, she had to rely on Social Security and her children to make rent because she couldn’t work due to her stroke. I also realized that people don’t know about all of the help that is out there for them. Charlene wasn’t aware of the additional help that she could have been receiving all of this time. It also appeared to me that the system really wasn’t all that friendly. The food stamp lady that we had was so warm and friendly but everyone we encountered in the housing wasn’t really even willing to listen to Charlene’s story fully to understand what she really needed and they prescribed her condition. They didn’t listen to the fact that she was being evicted initially and decided that she needed first month’s rent. None of this really discourage Charlene, because I think that she hadn’t had to deal with it all that much in the past but it made me think of people that deal with it on a day to day basis and how they don’t get upset with the system. Overall I was also very happy that I was able to get so much help for Charlene.

Deven's Observational Log 2

Project Homeless Connect, also referred to as PHC6, was an event on the University of Denver campus that facilitated workshops and services to aid the people without homes. From 8:00a to 3:00p, medical, employment, housing, food stamps, child support, identifications, dental and even hair cuts were given to people without homes to better their situations. It was a helpful event where hundreds of students, faculty members, and devoted citizens took time out of their busy schedules to escort clients around. A number of people were helped and there was a great turnout.
I remember waiting in the long line on the west side of the Ritchie Center in great anticipation. Thoughts of my client’s gender, race, attitude, socioeconomic status, appearance and so forth, bombarded my mind. As I slowly climbed the stairs, I calculated who my person would be by how many volunteers and clients there were ahead of me. He was a middle aged, African American man who was physically not what I had expected. I expected a ragged looking guy who wore torn, dirty clothes. However, he was the exact opposite of what I thought. He was well dressed, clean, and was nicely shaved as a person without a home, which violated the stereotypes of homeless people that I had had for so many years. I would never have guessed that he was homeless if I had seen him walking on the streets or in a store.
After we made our final step to the top of the stairs and were appointed to each other, we shook hands and became acquainted. With a smile, he introduced himself as Edward, and we moved forward in the line to check in his bags and grab refreshments. “So how are you,” I asked. “I’m doin alright for the most part. How about you,” he replied. I said that I was doing alright and that I was looking forward to getting to know him and his needs. With a smile of appreciation and gratefulness, he said “likewise.” The conversation then progressed to talking about the ride over to the Ritchie Center, where we were from and our current statuses in life.
After he eagerly grabbed fruit and orange juice, we sat at a table by ourselves where we could get to know each other better. I began asking questions about his life. Edward didn’t give me any friction. He willingly answered my questions and was a great conversationalist. He told me about the jobs in which he used to have. Edward said, “I used to work for the circus. I would set up the rides and other events in the morning and would take them down at night. It required a lot of hard work, and became tedious and frustrating at times too. The people were just horrible. People would become angry when they didn’t meet the height requirements. My boss also gave me shit sometimes…but other than that, things were good.”
“Were you without a home at the time,” I said.
“No. I was making a decent living. I was on the road so much that I was able to save a lot. We went to New York, where I almost stayed because I loved it so much. We went to Houston, Texas, out to California, to Florida, and a lot of other states. Although it was a lot of sight seeing and interesting places, I did not enjoy the lifestyle of waking up early, setting up sights, taking it down at night, and relocating to a different state by the next morning. I just couldn’t do it anymore.”
“How long did you work for the circus before you gave up,” I said.
“I was there for about 3 years,” he replied. “Three long, dreadful years. However, I didn’t really start to dread life until after I quit the job and became dependent on aid and shelters.”
“What do you mean by dependent,” I said. “Do you mean that you were just reliant on the system in order to get by?”
He looked at me shamefully and said, “By dependent, I mean that I took advantage of the system and became dependent on the handouts and services in which were given unto me. I could stay in day and night shelters and eat for free, so why not take advantage of it? They were handing it to me so I was taking it. I know it’s sad to say but a lot of people do it. If the government wants to take care of us, then let them, you know?”
But I didn’t know. I had no clue why anyone would want to use the system like that. There are honest people out there who want the services and a shelter to stay in but can not. In my mind, he was taking up space for someone who didn’t want to be in that situation but had no control over it. He was purposefully using the system to get by. He became comfortable with living for free. I did not understand why anyone would even want to live that lifestyle. Shelters are not my ideal place to lay my head at night. The soup kitchens are not my ideal choice of home-cooked meals. I did not understand him, and was a bit infuriated by his choices. It also occurred to me that he probably isn’t the only one with this mentality. To know that taxpayers pay hundreds and thousands of dollars to support people who choose to be there, is aggravating. There is way too much time, energy and effort being put into shelters and supporting people without homes for them to be using and taking advantage of the system. Perhaps Edward was taking advantage of the system of government because of the bureaucracy and run around that he receives. Maybe it was a way to get back at the government.
I soon changed the subject to talk about his family life. He did not have a child or a wife. He did, however, say that he had family who all resided in Denver. I was curious to know how they were, as far as financially and socially. Edward said, “My family is doing well. I am very proud of everyone. I don’t keep in touch with them as much as I should, but it’s alright. They are doing well for themselves.” I wanted to ask why they hadn’t taken him in if they were doing so well. I could not imagine being successful and knowing that I have a homeless relative on the streets. I am very family oriented, and I can not picture my family not being there for me through tough situations, and vice versa. Maybe there were some family issues between them that discouraged them from helping him. I am not sure as to whether or not Edward gave me the entire story. I did not ask, and he did not tell. Whether it was trust issues, family issues, or whatever else, I have no idea why his family is not helping him to better himself.
We cleared the table with his trash, and made our way to the Gates Field House where I would help him with various services that he was in need of. On the way there, he waved and spoke to several people. I was surprised by how social he was. I thought that people without homes were secluded and extroverted, yet he was very outspoken and social. Upon entering the Gates Field House, we made our way to employment, Edward’s main concern.
We quickly added into the increasing line, where we were handed a form to complete and turn it. This form contained Edward’s information that would be placed in a system that would enable him to get employment. Looking at the form, Edward was happy to have completed it the week before. He explained to the lady that his form was already completed. She looked it up in the system using his Social Security number, saw that he had completed the form, but requested that he fill the form out again. “I just filled out and turned in one of these forms last week. Is there a way that you can pull up my information,” said my client.
“Sure,” replied the lady. “I certainly can!” She was able to identify his information and verify that he had indeed completed the form. However, she asked him to fill it out again, just so that they could have the proof in paper form as well.
Through a bit of anger, my client said “What do you mean I have to fill it out again? If I filled it out once, then what sense would it make to fill it out again? You already have all of the information right in front of you.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” stated the lady. “But it wouldn’t hurt to do it again.” He smiled, took the paper, and sat down. Although it was a bureaucratic moment which only added more work for him, he remained calm. He then talked about how he gets that all of the time. “Being homeless is a part of experiencing everyday bureaucratic systems. You learn to get used to them. It’s like second hand nature…bureaucracy is like my first cousin,” he said.
From there, we met with a guy who had obviously been acquainted with Edward in the past. He took Edward’s resume, asked him a few questions, and gave him a job interview for Monday, May 12th. I could see the excitement in his eyes. His main concern was employment. He was positive that the only thing that kept him oppressed in his situation was his lack of income. Edward was sure that with a job, he could make ends meet and maintain a home. After the job lead, we went to housing where he received three possible transitional housing leads, and a form that paid for first month’s rent and deposit. I could definitely make out the exceeding joy that gleamed across his face. He looked as though life was looking up for him, and he could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Satisfied with his services, he said “I sure didn’t think that I would receive this much help. It’s almost as if it isn’t true. Let’s hurry up and leave before they try to take it all back.” We both laughed at his humor. It did seem like a fairy tale, though. Edward had just received an ample of help and services that could permanently change his devastating circumstances. Edward now wanted to make his last stop in the medical area. He had been having aches and pains in his right leg, and desperately wanted to get it checked out.
On our way to the medical area, we began to see a lot of people with Life Waters. Edward was eager to find out where they were coming from. “Oh wait. Let’s find where these waters are coming from,” said Edward. “I’m mighty thirsty and they sho’ is looking good,” he said. We followed the trail of Life Waters, but to our surprise, they were all out. So we departed back to medical, where the line was short and the people were very friendly.
“May I help whose next,” said the nurse.
“That would be me,” said Edward. As he walked in and closed the curtain behind him, I could see the nurse giving him socks, soups, and other healthy hygiene products that he was lacking. She checked out his pulse, his blood pressure, temperature, and other performed other procedures before she came out and told me that he had the health of an 18 year old. “Well I sure in the hell don’t feel like one,” replied Edward. We were referred to physical therapy from there. The nurse believed that he had an early onset of arthritis.
After waiting for about a half an hour for physical therapy, Edward was finally called back. I could hear moans and groans through the curtains. I figured that the therapist was working the kinks out of his leg. The therapist came in and out with different things such as insoles for his shoes, towels and pillows. When Edward was released, he had a look of contentment on his face. He exclaimed how his leg felt much better. “Oh doc bent me like a pretzel, but it worked,” he said. With housing and job leads, as well as medical assistance, Edward was glad of his services. He was happy that he came to PHC6, and ecstatic that we had the opportunity to meet.
I escorted him back to his 1:15pm bus. I asked of any services that he wished he could have had but didn’t. He wanted unemployment services, just in case his job interview did not go to well, but other than that, he was happy. His needs had been fulfilled. I was able to watch him get on the bus with a sense of success. I felt successful for helping him to receive the services that he needed. I also felt successful for him because I knew that he would follow up with his services. I saw the desire to overcome, and was glad that I was a part of the process.
All in all, today was a day where my preconceptions were cleared. I was able to see the bureaucracy with the people without homes, which substituted for my notion of laziness. People without homes have received the run around when trying to better themselves, something in which I had never thought of. Also, I was able to see the dependence on shelters and government assistance. Sometimes people rely on these services. Whether it is to live a free life, or to get back at the system of government, some people without homes take advantage of the shelters and food. I was also able to see the calm and happy spirit of people without homes that are accepting and used to being misled and taken around the world when trying to prosper. This service learning experience was great!