Today’s lesson consisted of a follow up from the last week’s talk on the Housing Authority and lesson on health care reform. The problem--as I discovered--with health care reform is that nobody really has any clue as to what is going on with it, the issue is almost impossible to understand as of this moment in time. What we could relay however was the debate that is raging in congress, some recent proposals, some passed bills, and the current standings of health care. When we were discussing what to do for this week’s lesson we decided on this topic because of how pertinent it is to many homeless people--often being the cause or a contributing factor to their homeless state. The lesson turned out fairly well, and was something that most residents had a very vested interest in so they asked questions and participated in discussions about what should be done. What surprised me was that one of the residents thought that if we were to address one group in need at a time for gaining public health coverage, she thought that inner city children, at-risk mothers and some other groups should be covered before people such as herself--a middle aged person in need of surgery for both her and her children. It was just overall a very interesting class because I though more of the residents would have a strong bias and hate against the health care issue, but all were very open minded and saw both sides of the issue very clearly.

This week at the homeless shelter, we had a discussion of the various services offered to the shelter residents by the Adams County Housing Authority, where I am currently working through my work-study program. I was very apprehensive going into the lesson that night, partially because I wanted to give the most thorough and helpful information possible without being boring, and I wasn’t sure how to present the information. Also, I knew that in general, many people who are homeless have difficulties navigating the services available to them, and several people at the shelter had already mentioned their unpleasant experiences with the Housing Authority. When I started talking, there didn’t seem to be much interest in the topic, but as more people showed up who were interested in the services and wanted to ask questions, I found that I was able to share useful information. My perspective—as someone who understands the programs the Housing Authority offers but isn’t actually responsible for making the programs—put me in a good position to offer information. I was able to honestly tell them that the HCV program has a waiting list that it takes years to get through, and that we don’t really know how long it will take to get on housing choice voucher. I could also mention openings in the Turning Point Program, which is designed to help specifically homeless people. Since I know eligibility requirements for the different programs, I was able to tell several interested people which programs they were eligible for, and give people advice about how to apply for different programs. Hopefully, some of this information will be helpful to the people that were there tonight, and in the future if people have questions, they will know to ask me. I felt like tonight was a success, and I only wished that I had been able to offer people more certainties about getting aid. However, although I could only talk about options and possibilities, I think that what we did tonight was definitely positive. It makes me wonder how helpful it would be to have concerned and committed students who could work one on one with people at the shelter. I know that it basically sounds like having untrained people working as caseworkers, but from some conversations we have had about benefits and programs, I think some of the residents may have needs that would normally be solved by a caseworker that aren’t being addressed right away. Having students willing to find answers to the residents’ questions and helping then navigate the social service agencies could be beneficial. My main reasoning for this is that most Gettysburg students could probably navigate social aid systems fairly well; filling out an application, finding local service agencies, and getting information online or over the phone are all things that college students could probably do successfully. With a few tips, like the agency database on York County’s United Way website, and contact information for the housing authority and other local services, a concerned student could work one-on-one with a shelter resident and help them find and access services that they qualify for. Even having someone that has the time and energy to search for information about services could help the residents, many of whom work hard during the day and are too tired at the end of the day to look for services. I’m not sure exactly how successful such an endeavor would be, but I think the class tonight has raised some possibilities.

In the Senior Center, every senior has a key to enter the house. But visitors like me need to ring the bell by the door and someone inside will let us in. Today, Bob opened the door for me. I mentioned before, Bob is the guy who has stroke so he needs to walk very slowly, even so, his walking is not that coordinated. But anyway, he opened the door for me. It¡¯s so moving when I saw him walking to the door slowly but full of energy and he gave me a big smile from the moment when he saw me at the door. When I entered in the house, many seniors could not wait to greet me. I still remember all the smiley faces and waving hands now.

 

When people grow old, they can still have the same creative imagination, the same positive attitude towards life and the same spirit if they want to, but one thing they can never prevent: that is: growing old. When people grow old, they become less agile and need to pay special attention to every movement that may cause unexpected injury. Today, I noticed that Serena, a lovely old woman, had some injury on her face. I didn¡¯t dare to ask her what happened but later she said herself that it was because she felt off in the morning. ¡°One thing to remember, never grow old.¡± She told us half joking. But we cannot stop it, I said to myself. That¡¯s the one thing we can do nothing about it. But what we can do is trying to equip ourselves on the road. We should not be like the song sings,¡±Now I¡¯m sitting here, doing nothing but aging.¡± We should do everything our ability allows us to do and when we look back, aging is just a tiny part of our whole colorful life.

Last week, Lisett was not there for tutoring, so I worked one on one with Jasmine. She informed me that last week she had pneumonia and was out of school for the entire week. As a result, Jasmine fell slightly behind on her work last week and we had a lot of catching up to do. I felt like while I was working with Jasmine one on one she had a better work ethic because I was giving her my full attention. Jasmine and I have never gotten all of her work done in the hour before, but this time, even though we had extra, we ended up finishing after about 40 minutes. So, for the last 20 minutes or so we read books that Jasmine actually wanted to read instead of just school books. She'd picked these out at the book fair that they had at the school. One of them was about lions and tigers and other members of the cat family. She was so excited to be reading and learning about science from the book; it really made me proud of her. Sometimes I feel like Jasmine doesn't want to learn quite as much as Lisett because she often "forgets" her books or doesn't focus as well on her homework, but I think that is all a result of proper attention not being paid to her. After working with her alone, I definitely think Jasmine has a drive to learn.

Today we celebrated another birthday at the Senior’s Center. This particular woman was turning 75 years old. First of all, you would never guess that she is now 75, and second, I can’t even imagine living for 75 years. That seems like such a foreign number to me. I’m having enough trouble making it to the 20th birthday next year. Anyway, this woman was telling us about the things she has done and seen in her life and all I can say is ‘wow’. I hope that my life is half as exciting and full as hers. She’s had a husband, kids, grandkids; she’s traveled, worked and experienced so many great things. The best part about listening to her was that she seems genuinely happy. Yes, she had good times and bad times, but she was resilient enough to learn from them all and is a fantastic person for wanting to improve herself every step of the way. We cheered for her after we all sang ‘Happy Birthday’ but she certainly does deserve a round of applause. She is one amazing woman and has many good years left in her. After the birthday celebration, we returned to our usual pastime: gin rummy. I’m actually getting quite good at the card game, but what makes it even more fun is that the women and I are becoming good friends now. They look forward to seeing me each week and always ask if I will be back next week. We know enough about each other that the camaraderie is building and we can have normal conversations about nothing in particular rather than trying to make small talk. We kid each other about cheating if someone is doing well and congratulate one another on good turns. I’ve said this before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but I thoroughly enjoy spending time with them all. Yes, I go “hang out with the ‘old people’”, but it is a great change of pace from campus and 20-somethings. It’s a new perspective on the “outside world” that doesn’t need to worry about papers and midterms. These folks have lived sometimes more than one lifetime of living already, and their stories are unforgettable. I’m already looking forward to next week for a fun game of cards and a great education on life and love ahead of me.

For today’s shelter visit we planned on having Christiana speak about the Adam’s County Housing Authority: the current site of her work study and an establishment which is conveniently related to the residents at the homeless shelter. We knew that she would have a lot of information that could potentially be boring so as a back up I created a Halloween Bingo game that could break up long, information filled speeches. As we began the lesson, everyone attending--of which there were only three-- was openly cynical about the Housing Authority--and rightly so seeing how many have had many far from positive experiences trying to get housing in the area. As someone who knew little about the subject, I simply sat back and listened as Christiana began to speak. Since many of the resident seemed hesitent or too fed-up to ask questions I asked some of my own in an attempt to get things going. The whole talk was a huge success! Christiana did an absolutely fantastic job of sharing all the information about the programs at the Housing Authority and she was able to come across as a “good guy” who was clearly out to help these people. She answered questions, thoroughly described the Authority’s many programs--especially that of Turning point as it is a family oriented program that currently has a couple of openings, and patiently repeated information that different people wanted to hear over and over again. It was nice to see her making herself available with the resources that she could offer in order to help the residents acquire housing while at the same time not hiding the truth that there were huge waiting lists for many of the programs. In the end, we had absolutely no need of my wonderful Bingo boards because all of us were getting questions--that we answered willingly but not as well as Christiana--and discussing plans with the residents. I was struck as she was talking about how bone weary all of the women at the shelter looked this week. Many of them are mothers who maintain jobs during the day and they simply looked so through with all the world had to offer them that day. It was amazing to see the weariness and cynicism at the world and at the Housing Authority turn into maybe a little ray of hope, that they might be able to escape the shelter and go live in an apartment with their families one day soon. I hope that in our continued visits we will be able to help them in any way we can and that we maybe will be able to help facilitate that leaving process to the best of our very limited abilities.

For today’s shelter visit we planned on having Christiana speak about the Adam’s County Housing Authority: the current site of her work study and an establishment which is conveniently related to the residents at the homeless shelter. We knew that she would have a lot of information that could potentially be boring so as a back up I created a Halloween Bingo game that could break up long, information filled speeches. As we began the lesson, everyone attending--of which there were only three-- was openly cynical about the Housing Authority--and rightly so seeing how many have had many far from positive experiences trying to get housing in the area. As someone who knew little about the subject, I simply sat back and listened as Christiana began to speak. Since many of the resident seemed hesitent or too fed-up to ask questions I asked some of my own in an attempt to get things going. The whole talk was a huge success! Christiana did an absolutely fantastic job of sharing all the information about the programs at the Housing Authority and she was able to come across as a “good guy” who was clearly out to help these people. She answered questions, thoroughly described the Authority’s many programs--especially that of Turning point as it is a family oriented program that currently has a couple of openings, and patiently repeated information that different people wanted to hear over and over again. It was nice to see her making herself available with the resources that she could offer in order to help the residents acquire housing while at the same time not hiding the truth that there were huge waiting lists for many of the programs. In the end, we had absolutely no need of my wonderful Bingo boards because all of us were getting questions--that we answered willingly but not as well as Christiana--and discussing plans with the residents. I was struck as she was talking about how bone weary all of the women at the shelter looked this week. Many of them are mothers who maintain jobs during the day and they simply looked so through with all the world had to offer them that day. It was amazing to see the weariness and cynicism at the world and at the Housing Authority turn into maybe a little ray of hope, that they might be able to escape the shelter and go live in an apartment with their families one day soon. I hope that in our continued visits we will be able to help them in any way we can and that we maybe will be able to help facilitate that leaving process to the best of our very limited abilities.

The experience we had over reading days was very important to me. Before going, I wasn’t too excited, but it ending up being a very meaningful and powerful experience. I was expecting to work around people who were or had experienced homeless people, and not directly with them. I think two of my favorite experiences were the DC Outfitters walk, and the Faces Panel. It was interesting to really hear the stories of the people who were (or had been) living on the streets. Also, just to be a part of the DCCK program for a little while was fun. To think that our group helped feed so many people, considering how many salads, and string beans we made. Some things I got out of the experience were the benefit of helping people who are normally left behind or pushed out of mind, and also getting to know their stories. I have been to DC many times before, but this trip made me pay attention in ways I never had before. Not only did I notice more homeless people, I noticed characteristics about them, and I tried (I think we all did) to say hello or smile at every person we saw. That was one thing that really hit me, the fact that many of the people on the Faces Panel said that a smile or a hello could mean so much to them. The trip really helped open my eyes to things I may have considered before, but never really discussed before.

This week at the soup kitchen was pretty normal. There weren’t quite as many people there for lunch, but it as still full in the dining area. First, two bigger guys came in; one I had seen before and one I hadn’t. They used the elevator, which means they came in through the church. This made Dot a little upset because they obviously could walk fine. I noticed right away where they sat, since they had somehow gotten in a few minutes before everyone else. They sat in the seats there a few of the younger people usually sit, I was nervous for this man sitting in the seat normally used by big strong guy. When the rest came down, I watched to see if there would be any interaction between the two. The regular guy came down and looked at the other guy, he looked a little upset, but he didn’t say anything and then moved to a different table where his friends followed, leaving the two elevator guys with a table to themselves. We served the food and I was happy to say that everyone who wanted one got a nice piece of pie, something I’m sure they all deserve after long days.

This week at the soup kitchen went well. Once again I had to make copies and the practice I had before didn’t make it any easier. It still took ten minutes of sitting and staring at the machine and pressing every button before some man from the church happened to walk in. He pressed one button and the machine started (I am sure I pressed that button at least four times). This was the Friday after we got back from the DC trip, and at one point during the meal while serving, I had a mini-panic attack when I looked down and didn’t see my gloves! I though someone would have noticed and told me but no one had. After I remembered we weren’t required to wear gloves, I continued serving. I started noticing more things that were different between the soup kitchen and DC Central Kitchen. Also, while serving the people, I noticed how one lady kept acting like she could tell me what to do. I thought this was an interesting server/served relationship. Although I was serving her and trying to provide her with a good meal, I still found the way she was talking to me difficult. I wanted to help her, but I wanted her to appreciate what I was doing for her at the same time. The rest of the day went well.