It was a pretty nice place to volunteer. The Fr. Ned Coughlin SJ Shelter houses 13 people a night. They are from the Oliveri Drop-In Center that apparently fills shelters with candidates. It's actually a men's shelter, which is rarer in the city; there are, understandably, less services for homeless men than women and child.
We spent an hour and a half cleaning the kitchen, sleeping area, bathrooms, and den. It was actually a nice place though the solid scrub down/mopping really helped, especially in the corners of the kitchen that had accumulated a lot of dust and garbage.
They had some books and computers for entertainment; someone was even reading H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine that I saw on a nightstand.
I had some major flood damage in my apartment recently and I’m still dealing with the fallout. I remember the exact instant I walked into my apartment, water pooling on the floor and all my furniture pushed to the side [the super had been notified and tried their best for a few hours before, but I hadn’t been called about it.] It was heart breaking. It caused me anger and headache and annoyance.
Now, yes, in this context it’s hardly a problem, compared to the issues facing people who would use the Shelter’s services. But what it gave me was more empathy to how extremely challenging it must be to not have a place to your own. The flood disrupted everything, it affected the security I had in my own home.
To not have a private space is not an enviable position. And to have that security completely nonexistent must be so difficult. I’m glad to have given a little time to try to ease that burden for others in much worse positions than I.
Anyway, that’s 1 for 1, next month lets go for 2 for 2. I’ll try to take pictures next time.