First Helping

It was the winter time in 2007.

This writer, an outreach specialist at the time was working the breakfast truck and writing referrals for First Helping. Trying to make sure everyone that morning was fed and warm.

There was a nervous new face in the crowd. She came and went.

This new face came through a few more times. Eventually, little by little she shared her situation with the writer.

A chronic crack user. Homeless. No income. Estranged from her family. No desire to make any change.

Time ticked on.

There were moments where this writer saw her strung out. In withdrawal. Lying. Surviving.

On one occasion this writer remembers a week where she called all over Virginia for a Detox center, that to this day it isn’t clear whether it exists or not. She was trying to work with this new face to build trust. It was the best that she could do.

This writer has her own memories of this new face’s experiences over the last few years, her words tell it best.

Over the next few days her story will told through her words and this writer’s memories.

Recently I found a great blogger, Christine Schanes, from Santa Monica, California who writes about her work with homeless individuals. She often writes for Huffington Post. She posted the above video by a friend in her most recent blog, Homelessness Myth #4, regarding bad weather and the homeless.

What do you think?

As the holidays approach I (like many people) listen to familiar holiday music and songs, look forward to gatherings with families and friends as well as consider how my time and money will be spent.

This year I thought about the words to a very old and popular song entitled Do You Hear What I Hear. In this song, the questions (Do you hear what I hear as well as well as do you see what I see?) are asked of the listener as he or she (the writer) tries to describe the scene that they are witnessing as best they can. There is clearly a sense of urgency implied in this song.

I would like to ask community a question – Do you hear what I hear?

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Giving at the holiday time is nothing new and something that non-profits bank on.  But how do you make sure your donation is doing the most good for the most people?  Who are those people?  What is the most good?  And what should you donate?  Time?  Money?  Items?

As the Manager of First Helping part of my responsibility is to figure out how to appreciate the efforts of our supporters, best utilize items so that it compliments our mission and meets the needs of our clients.

Here are the Top 10 Things to Think About/Do When Deciding How to Donate to your favorite program this holiday season.

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I had a great conversation with one of our clients the other day about the condition of city shelters. It went something like this:

The Shelters in DC are pieces of s***. I’m not staying in them!

And that was that.

While I continue to pursue other angels this conversation seemed to be closed.

Shockingly, this reaction is not new. In fact, it’s actually par for the course.

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In my first year here at First helping Outreach has been great.

One story that really touch my heart is a young lady that was on drugs for almost twenty years.  People never saw the potential that she had in her because of her substance abuse.

Despite her cursing, even through her refusing service I never looked at the outer.  I could see a hurting women.  A hurting woman who so many people had given up on.

Now she is one of us working as a volunteer at the Kitchen. So I want everyone to remember that what you see on the outside is not the real person in their heart.

So never give up.

Thanksgiving is perhaps the most wonderful part of being a DCCK family member.

Tradition has it that I spend the day out in the field with the extended DCCK family, our clients.  Holidays as my friends would tell you are no days to work, but I always protest because they don’t get to walk into the place that I do.

Thank you Gary, Jerald, Carolyn, Freddie, Steve H., Steve R., Greg J., Gregg M., Bo, Mike M., Jeff, Gary, Anthony, Willie, and Harry for making coming to work on the holiday so fulfilling.  The hugs, hellos and well wishes filled me up like nothing I can describe.

That was the first ten minutes.

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Most employers have a 90 day review of all employees during which time the employees are evaluated to determine if the fit is a good one for employer and employee.

While I can’t speak for my employer (although I think she likes me here) I can say that during my first 90 days I have done my own review and have been reminded of the following:

•    The homeless community is just that – a community.

•   People are people.

•    Stereotypes are for small minded people.

I would like to close on the thought…

Each of these tidbits cut both ways. In order for there to be meaningful dialog or any real attempt at change, both the giver and the receivers of goods, service, or benefits should come to the table having done their own 90 day review.

I found an interesting report on homelessness out of Vancouver the other day that I wanted to share. It was slightly outdated, 2006, but it provided great, higher level insight for needs that homeless individuals might have and the barriers that hold an individual back from getting help.

I thought this was important to share because too often as an outreach worker you can get wrapped up in any combination of these when trying to assess what someone needs and planning an appropriate response. This gives a nice break down-

Needs

things that could be identified as immediate and critical to the individual’s well being outside of homelessness.

• medical care
• dental care
• clothing
• footwear
• clean water
• personal hygiene products
• resource information
• empathy and encouragement
• access to resources

Barriers

beliefs and conditions which contributed to and impaired an individual’s ability to find suitable residency.

• substance abuse
• mental illness
• no financial resources
• familial abuse
• concurrent disorders
• arrest warrants
• urban myth

I began to boil this down a bit and then it hit me: While in the field, your purpose can become quite simplified. Do good.

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After our interns left the blog took a back seat and we here at First Helping apologize.

So what have we been doing?

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