Connecting people and services...

Today was a good, yet heartbreaking, day.

It started out with riding the bus to the convention center. Then there was a lot of walking around the convention center to get my bearings.

Then, upon entering Hall B and seeing the sea of chairs setup to do "guest" intake, the despair and overwhelm hit. This sea of chairs wasn't for a company meeting type of event. The guests weren't home and garden show or car show attendees. This sea of chairs was for Project Homeless Connect. These guests are homeless or on the verge of homelessness.

Project Homeless Connect is a one-stop shop to connect people to a variety of services: medical, eye care, dental, chiropractic, foot care, hair cuts, legal services, employment, housing, education, driver's licenses and Social Security. The event is held twice a year. As a volunteer, my main job was to provide hospitality. A guest comes in and sits down with a volunteer. A short questionnaire is completed so the services needed can be prioritized.

That despair and overwhelm feeling I mentioned earlier was soon replaced by hope. Hope because even though the number of people without a home is huge, there are people working to solve the problem. And today, I saw 1200 volunteers give a day of their time to help. How could the problem not be solved when you've got that many people who care and make themselves available for a whole day? It's not just going to place to pack food or sort furniture for an hour or two in the evening or weekend. It was a whole weekday. That's a commitment.

Back to my guest of the day...Mr. T. He is a very nice man in his early 50s. He spent last night in an emergency shelter and has been using emergency shelters for the last few years. He wanted a hair cut (thanks Aveda!!), an eye exam, a doctor visit, and a dental visit. We got the hair cut and doctor visit done on-site and the others scheduled for later in the week. A hot meal provided a break from the services we were visiting. Foot care was also done thanks to Soul Care for Souls. The guest's faces after getting their foot care were a delight to see. Relief was evident on every smiling face.

It was a heartbreaking day, but it was also a good day. I don't want to forget the smiles on Mr. T's face as we went through the day. Please pray for him and the other people experiencing homelessness in our communities. And don't forget homeless teens. Visit CEAP or Brooklyn Mosaic for more information about a Youth No-Barriers Food Shelf in the Twin Cities' northwest suburbs. More on this food shelf later.

Sarah

Note: The next Project Homeless Connect Event is May 14, 2012. I'll be there. Will you?