Can you imagine have a job, or maybe even two, and still not being able to support yourself? Can you imagine being by yourself, trying to raise a family, and moving from shelter to shelter? Well, many people do. Many people who suffer from homelessness get to this point from working at a low-wage job. Many of these jobs require extremely hard work, yet barely pay their employees. Also, after being put in these situations, they tend to lose important documents that they will need. After volunteering at Project Homeless Connect, I was able to see so many people who had jobs, but were still homeless or almost there.
When I arrived at Project Homeless Connect (PHC) I signed in and received my clip board and name tag and then walked to get into a long line of other volunteers. The line seemed never ending with people who were in it for the second time. I was nervously waiting, and when I heard buses stopped coming at 10 I thought that I would never get a client. People were slowly walking up and I was finally in the front of the line at 10:30. As I saw a woman walking up, I was excited to finally get out of the line and help a client. She looked really nice and knew exactly what she wanted. She was in need of getting a new job, and since she had no ID that was one of her main priorities. She was not hungry since she had just eaten with her boyfriend who had to go to work. She came alone even though others that she knew did not think she would actually go. Since she did not want anything to eat or drink at the moment, we stopped walking and filled out the paper work. She read through it faster than I could read it to her aloud, and said the answers and spelt out words that she knew would help. She was very open about filling out the paper work, but once we were inside waiting for the ID she was very quiet. After reading through how other people’s days were, one person reminded me of mine. Bandy Gomar said, “We sat in a table and began filling all the paperwork. My client was more than willing to tell me her life story right then and there, which I found to be very impressive and surprising.” This was also very surprising to me. I thought that the clients would not be as open to giving their information. Trying to start a conversation I asked her about her family. She did not say much about her personal life, or her family so it was a quiet line. We ended up talking to many people around us and she would talk to friends as she saw them pass by.
After waiting in the ID line for over 2 hours, she was finally able to receive an ID. She was so thankful of this. She was excited. She looked like a little kid in a candy store and couldn’t be any more thankful than she was. She was then able to go get a birth certificate, since that was the only other thing that she wanted. Seeing how thankful she was made me think of all the little things that we find easy to receive. By just receiving two little things that most everyday people have, was a huge deal for them. Without an ID a person cannot find a job which can then lead to homelessness.
After talking to different people in the lines and reading what other people said about the day, many people who were receiving help had a job. The issue that I found very important throughout this day was that many homeless people have a job, but yet cannot support themselves. My client did not have a job at the moment because she needed to get an ID, but her boyfriend had a job and tried supporting both of them. He was still unable to afford a place to stay with his job. Also, other clients had jobs and worked full time to be able to try to make something out of them and were still suffering from homelessness. With Avery Denney’s client, “Homeless four times, twice in the past year, Juan is living in a shelter and working seven days a week in order to try and make ends meet.” With her client, he worked all the time just to be able to get food and everything he needs while staying in a shelter. Almost all people who do not suffer with homelessness do not work 7 days a week, instead they usually work 5 days or 40 hours. If homeless people were able to work for a wage that they could live with and have a place to stay, almost all homeless people would not be in this situation.
A moment from this day that stood out to me the most was after my client received her ID. She was so happy and to see how much something so little can do for someone, is something that I will always remember. After my client received all the help that she wanted, she was very happy. The look on her face was priceless. Seeing her looking like a kid in a candy store, showed me how much these little things do mean to some people. Most of the time people don’t realize how much you can help someone with something so small that we don’t really notice. Many of the different things people could do there were usually something so small that most people would not ever think of how much it could really affect someone that is struggling. Seeing my client so happy after two services that you don’t normally think that would help someone tremendously, was a moment that I will never forget.
After doing many readings for a class, one book that helped me the most was Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. Before coming to this class, I always thought of homeless people as lazy and people with substance abuse problems. At home, whenever I saw a homeless person I saw them either drinking alcohol or doing drugs. Also, many signs that they made said that’s what they really want to use the money for. After reading this book, I learned that many homeless people have jobs, but with minimum wage and this economy it is too hard to afford all the necessary everyday things. This book showed different life stories along with the authors. The author went and tried to support herself with low-wage jobs. During this time she was able to work with others in that position and see how it is to live that way. Without seeing homelessness from this point of view, I would have never thought that some people actually suffer homelessness because of their jobs. This really opened my eyes to not judge homeless people because of what I have seen in the past.
At the end of the day at PHC, my client left and was ready to go out and try to better her life. She got an ID so that she could finally get a job. I felt like I was able to help and that it was a successful day. Also, other people thought this day was successful because they were able to get help for their clients. One person who also felt this way was Georgia Wettlaufer. She stated, “Today I walked way with a sense of accomplishment for helping a man move closer to living a more stable life.” After getting my client all the help that she wanted, I felt like it was a successful day and I will always remember it. Many people have never talked to or worked with a homeless person before. “Most of the students have never before have been face-to-face with a homeless person for more than a few seconds” (Ostrow, James 2). If more people were aware of the reasons homeless people suffer, I think that people would be more willing to support them and try to get better wages for lower end jobs. With all the help homeless people can get from others and help with increased wages, homelessness would decrease.
After all this, I believe that if wages were higher, especially for how hard they work, homelessness would slowly go away. It is unfair to pay people so little for putting in so much work to support themselves. If it wasn’t for low-wages, homeless people would be able to afford a place to stay and to support themselves. Throughout this quarter, I have learned a lot about homelessness and it has definitely changed the way I look at the people that suffer with this problem. When we work, we expect to make enough to support ourselves fully, but many people can’t. Going through homelessness it is easy to lose important documents that you need to find a job which also makes it harder for them. This experience opened up my eyes to really appreciate all that I have and I think it’s only fair that they are able to feel the same with what they have. I believe that fixing the job problem, many homeless people would be able to support themselves.
Work Cited
Denney, Avery. Civic Engagement Blog: Field Notes For Project Homeless Connect. 25 April 2009. 27 April 2009.
Gomar, Bandy. Civic Engagement Blog: Field Notes For Project Homeless Connect. 26 April 2009. 27 April 2009. http://writ113301spring2009.blog spot.com
Ostrow, James M. “Self-Consciousness and Social Position: On College Students Changing their Minds about the Homeless.” Qualitative Sociology 18.3 (1995).
Wettlaufer, Georgia. Civic Engagement Blog: Field Notes For Project Homeless Connect. 24 April 2009. 27 April 2009.
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