Keeping Score

A perspective donor told me recently that " ...If you provide services for the homeless you will attract more homeless..." and it gave me pause. This week Stan an unsheltered gentleman, came early to help us stock and sort items at our food pantry.  It happens a lot. Neighbors that are homeless, jobless, underemployed, sick, and others experiencing catastrophic life changes often volunteer to help us help others. It is humbling to see people that some might consider as having so little, feeling that they have enough to give back. Still, I understand the donor’s concern and know that it has deep roots in fear that someday there won't be enough services, resources, or community to ensure that their lives won't change catastrophically, too.

The truth is, the population that people are worried about is already here - this IS their home. They just no longer have shelter in it. Most homeless people remain in the areas where their condition began, not only because they lack the resources to leave, but because they want to be close to family, friends, and places that are familiar. They want to be home.

Having access to basic needs like food, shelter, and safety helps us to feel human, and that gives us the freedom to be humane.  That sentiment is what inspires Stan and our other impacted volunteers every time we are open.

We have more than enough food, empty dwellings, and opportunities to give out of the abundance that many of us experience, to share with others. Most of the time we can do it without ever feeling the loss. Our challenge is we have been conditioned to default to a scoring system that orders who we believe deserves help, and breaking that mindset takes an intentionality about social intelligence and caste that is not for the faint of heart.

It is easier to dismiss a nameless, faceless category of people like "the homeless," than it is to assess that they are "people, who are experiencing homelessness."  It is much more palatable to regard suffering from a distance than to look into the eyes of Robin, Casey, or Lee and say which one is eligible for kindness and care, and which one is not.

I know that addressing challenges like housing, food (and other supports that many of us with access take for granted) are not easily solved, but solutions must be consistently sought if we are to be the benevolent people that we think we are. When we commit ourselves to the uplift of others without judgment, we will ensure that there will always be enough for everyone, including ourselves.

'Until every shelf is full,

Adrienne