Connect – 8 Ways to Help the Homeless
“Homeless is not a category of people. It’s just a situation that happens. It can happen to anyone.” – Salvador Altamirano-Segura
The homeless have problems just like you and me:
employment
health issues
disabilities
domestic violence
veterans
THEY JUST DON’T HAVE A ROOF OVER THEIR HEADS.
Homeless people, families enter food pantries very quietly. They’ve lost their voices. The goal is to melt into the background, get food, and disappear.
There is an exception to the voicelessness when the person communicates with beings unknown to the rest of us in tongues we don’t understand. One shopper I know has been in another world since before I began working in the pantry in 2005.
We can all help the homeless in some way. Each of us has talents and skills which can be useful.
1. DONATE. Homeless people carry their kitchens in their pockets so a lot of food which we take for granted and use is just not helpful. Important in the homeless diet is:
peanut butter and crackers
cereal in small packages
fruits and vegetables which can be eaten raw
milk in small containers.
Give throughout the year by regularly donating to a food pantry in your area which is most homeless friendly.
2. VOLUNTEER. Pantries everywhere need an extra set of hands to:
Answer mail
Drive a truck
Serve food
Clean up at closing time
Send press releases
Hold food drives
Straighten shelves
Deliver food to the home bound
3. CLEAN OUT YOUR CLOSETS. Donate clothing, bedding, books, in good condition to places where the homeless will have access to your gently used items.
4. SHARE. Do you or does someone you know have a garden? Donate the excess to a homeless friendly pantry or soup kitchen in your area. When your garden tomatoes get to be too plentiful, there are those in your area who need the food. Donate, don’t dump.
5. PUSH THE ENVELOPE. Contact elected officials about homeless issues in your area. Encourage them to make ending homelessness important in your community.
6. EDUCATE YOURSELF. Returning veterans have special needs. For one thing, they often begin their separation from the military homeless.
7. FIND A JOB. Encourage your church or community to hire a homeless person. Many homeless want to work, have skills, but have trouble finding regular employment.
8. TEACH. Do you have a skill to share? Contact a local shelter and offer to give classes.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
The stories are true. The people are real.
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Artwork for this article was donated by Jennette Nearhood
Thurman Greco
My Story and the 9 Truths I Discovered
I began my life changing journey fighting hunger on a cool autumn Thursday in Woodstock, New York in 2005 where I volunteered for the first time at the local food pantry.
I was assigned a shift with Marie Duane. I drove over to the Woodstock Reformed Church, parked my car behind the buildling and cautiously walked in. I had never been to the pantry before.
I entered the empty hallway and found the pantry on the right. I walked into the room and there it was: a small space, actually, about 12′ by 16′. Each wall supported a set of metal shelving units. Each unit stood about 6′ high and 3′ deep with 4 shelves. Most of the shelves were empty. A few shelves had some food:
cereal
tuna
soup
peanut butter.
There was a little handwritten note in front of each display:
person: 1 item, family: 1 item.
There may have been other items on shelves but I don’t remember them.
A small table stood in the center of the room. A metal folding chair was placed in front of each window.
We sat in the chairs, Marie and I, and chatted as people trickled in. We discussed the usual: weather, gardening, knitting, decorating the alter at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church.
“Hi. How are you? Will you please sign your name here?” Each shopper signed in and noted the number of adults, seniors, and children in the household. After signing in, the person walked around the room selecting from the cereal, peanut butter, tuna, and soup. The selected food was placed on the table and bagged to take home, wherever or whatever that was.
On this morning, not blessed with any psychic knowledge, I was totally unaware of experiences waiting for me in the pantry. Never in my wildest thoughts did I envision the hall filled with hungry people, the tiny room packed with fresh produce and jammed with shoppers.
Nor did I for 1 moment ponder the push back I would experience as the number of hungry seeking food grew. Within a few short years, this 2 dozen single homeless men – mostly Woodstock’s colorful characters – had swelled (due to a tanking economy) to over 300 people weekly. This number finally approached 500 people weekly before it was all over.
Now, in the autumn of 2015, our stock market experiences numerous “corrections”. I realize I learned some things over the years which, for me, are ground truths about the pantry.
Feeding the hungry with dignity is the most important thing.
Single homeless men are now far outnumbered by members of the Struggling Class, households of working people holding down 2 and 3 jobs just to pay the rent and buy the gas to get to work.
The 3 most hot button words in the English language are food, sex, and money. These 3 words are concerned with a person’s core beliefs, emotions, and spiritual attitudes. Food and money, or the lack thereof, loom large in pantries.
The sidewalks in our communities and cities have become wards of untreated mentally ill people. In our great nation we don’t hospitalize or otherwise treat many of our mentally ill. Instead, they they are incarcerated.
Some of these untreated mentally ill happen to be homeless. Homeless is not a category of people. It’s just a situation that happens. It can happen to anyone.
The 50+ senior population has many who lack enough $$$ for food and are largely a silent group. The bottom line is this: When our grandparents don’t get enough to eat, they often get sick.
I’m seeing a whole generation of children who have never been inside a grocery store.
Shoppers at our pantry can get a 3-day supply of food weekly. Their job is to make it last 7 days. Many share this food with a pet. Often, the only thing a person has left from a prosperous past is the dog.
The most difficult thing I see in the pantry is a Korean War vet getting food. Something I just can’t understand is how a person who served in a very brutal war, and subsequently spent an adult life working and paying taxes should have to be in a food pantry line in his old age.
Much of the food available to the hungry in food pantries is diverted from its trip to the landfill.
There is absolutely no excuse for anyone in our great nation to go hungry.
Thank you for reading this blog. The story is true. The people are real.
Please refer this article to your preferred social media network. Share this story with friends or relatives who might be interested.
Don’t forget to join the email list.
Thurman Greco
