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.