I have recently begun volunteering at a homeless shelter. I am fascinated every time I'm there by what I see. I have always had an interest in sociology and being in the inner city, in a homeless shelter is like having a front and center view of the other side of society. These are the people that society has forgotten. There is a somewhat large scale of people and their different situations. One thing is true about all of them, they are lucky to have the opportunity to be there.
It seems like what I see the most is families. Mostly single moms with 3-5 kids. That's right, 3-5 kids. I'm assuming they haven't been able to work due to lack of child care, so they obviously cant afford an apartment. They are incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to have a roof over their heads. Few things are more terrifying than the thought of children sleeping on the streets. It makes you wonder why they didn't stop having children before the number reached 5. Also, most of these women are pregnant again. Part of the job of the staff is to go around the dorm every now and then and make sure the children are in school. Sometimes they find children in the TV room watching cartoons instead of being in school. Last time I was there, the staff found one family who had all four of the school aged children hanging out in the dorm. How can this happen? Does she not think school is necessary for her children? Is she too lazy to get up and take them? Has she just given up on life and fallen into depression? This happens often enough, and it does nothing in the way of progress for her situation or her children's. But does she know that? Where are the fathers? Some are in jail, some on the streets, but very few are helping out in any way.
Some of the people there are visibly scarred from a life of homelessness and trauma. Some people have taken drugs for decades, and their faces show the signs. These signs can't be hidden with make up. Large sores and blemishes don't just go away with concealer. Some are very thin and have terrible posture from years of drug use. Even if they manage to articulate well, their appearance is very off-putting to employers who need this person to present themselves as best as possible to their customer base. Most people have dental issues. Missing and decaying teeth is common among most of the residents there. One young woman has a very big smile which reveals three teeth. She may be older than I'm thinking, but she looks 20 years old, and doesn't speak much English. She also has 3 kids.
Obviously, some people have fallen on hard times. There is a woman who looks like the typical soccer mom. Her clothes are high end (she has a jack from The North Face, which isn't cheap). She has highlights in her hair, and tends to make lots of requests at lunch as if she expects the be waited on. My guess is that her husband either passed away or disappeared and she has not been able to get a job and get on her feet. She stands out quite a bit. She is very articulate, one of few people there. The education level seems to have stopped for them somewhere in elementary school. The speech pattern of the majority of the people there is similar to that of the children I used to work with. Sentences are broken and barely decipherable sometimes. There is much mental illness.
Some people take their situation more seriously than others. Since I have started volunteering, there have been several people who got kicked out. There are many reasons for someone to be kicked out since there are rules that need to be followed. But so far, these are the reasons I have seen: failing a drug test, not showing up for a drug test, not returning for curfew (which is 10:00pm), not returning overnight, starting a fight with another resident, refusing to do chores, refusing to show up to meetings with case workers, and a few others. Most residents aren't thrown out after one offense, it usually takes five offenses before they are terminated from the program. I know how overwhelming and difficult life can be, even when you don't have much responsibility. But there set these things in place to help people, and they make it easy for the rules to be followed. So why would someone choose not to follow these rules? Do they not care if they get kicked out? Are they too lazy? Have they never understood how an adult is responsible for their own actions? If no one has ever taught them, how would they understand?
None of these people have family that can help them. They are all in here, because their families are either unable or unwilling to help. They are alone in this. Who will help them? The staff helps as much as they can, but they can't do everything for these people. There are too many residents and too few staff members. The situation is painful any way you look at it. The children grow up like this, and they think it's normal. So they grow up and instead of finishing school, they have 3 kids. They work minimum wage jobs since that's all they can get. Then they have 2 more kids and end up losing everything. Then they are back in the shelter. Their children repeat this.
So how do we feel about this? If we don't have enough money or time to donate, does society take on the belief that it should be every man for himself? Ask yourself, how do you feel about it?
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