The monthly cycle

Now before you make any judgments about this title, let me explain.

Many of the people that we serve here at Andre House are on welfare or some other sort of government program that gets them money at the beginning of every month. We see this as a cycle. At the beginning of the month, there are less people that come for our services, especially dinner. In case you aren’t making the connection, we see less people because they have recently received their government checks and don’t have the need to come to us. In the same fashion, towards the end of the month, we get a lot more business as people start to run out of money. Our numbers for dinner regularly go over 600 and there are faces that you don’t see at any other part of the month. Now that I’m finishing my second month here, I’ve witnessed this monthly cycle twice.

The other day while driving home from something (what exactly I don’t remember), I had a bit of a revelation. Our Core Covenant states that we live life in ways that match that of our guests. This means eating the same meals we serve, dressing in simple clothing that is often taken from donations, and only receiving a small stipend every month (among other things). The revelation was that the way we spend our money is much the same as our guests. At the beginning of every month we are one hundred dollars richer- we go out to eat, have nice stuff at home, go to movies, etc. At the end of the month, like we find ourselves right now, we can’t find enough change to get a cup of coffee. This is just like our guests, only I suspect that we generally spend our money on different things.

So in an attempt to bring us closer to the lives of those we serve, we often come closer than we realize.

Today's reflection

I wasn’t feeling inspired by today’s readings, so I thought that I would talk about something a little bit unrelated.

Sunday afternoon I was awoken by someone calling on the phone at the house. It wasn’t a usual call in that the person wasn’t asking about a place to stay or how they could volunteer with us. The call I got was from someone having a religious argument with his girlfriend, and he wanted some help. He wanted to talk to one of the religious staff, but he settled for me when he found out I was the only one around.

The first question I got was if we as Catholics read from the Bible. I was expecting to get something a little harder than that. I said that of course we did. Even though during Mass we read from a book that is called the Lectionary, all the readings contained in it are taken directly from the Bible.

He then put the girlfriend on to talk to me. Since she was the antagonist, I was expecting a tough question. But all she asked me was if I believed in Jesus. I was so surprised all I said was, “yes.”

While this exchange was not as intellectually stimulating as I was hoping it would be, it reminded me of the obligation we have to defend our faith. Whether it is on the street or at home or with friends, we must be ready and willing to speak about our beliefs as Catholic Christians. Part of being ready is to arm ourselves with the knowledge that is at the very foundation of what we believe. And so we have to ask ourselves how exactly we go about that. Mass and daily reflections as a staff are a good start, but hearing someone else’s thoughts on the faith only can go so far. We must keep ourselves educated on matters of our faith and internalize the beliefs that are our keystone. Others can help in this endeavor, but we must make the effort.

Contained in what Jesus tells us today in the Gospel is a call to action. We are called to hear the word of God and then to put that word into deed. And so we must ask ourselves- do we open ourselves to hearing the word of God in everything we see and do? Do we take up the challenge of defending the faith when it is presented to us? When we do identify God in these things, are we stirred to action? If we desire the gift of heaven, then we must do these things.

"So do you miss the Point?"

This was the question that I got from one of our Wednesday night soupline volunteers this week- do miss West Point? Now that's a good question.

After I was finished laughing hysterically, I told him that I really didn't miss it one bit. After all, most of my worst memories have happened there.

But then I actually thought about it, and brought myself to realize that I do miss certain parts back at USMA. And their all just little things that made life tolerable. Stuff like Father Wood’s sermon on Sunday morning, my old CS teacher making fun of himself for being a massive geek, staring down plebes, etc.

So what are some things that I don’t miss? The mess hall food is a good start. I also don’t miss having classes, drill, company athletics, wearing a uniform, having to shave every day, dusting the smoke detector for a SAMI, and other such retarded West Point stuff.

If I had so say that one thing I truly missed, it would be some of the friends that I made there. I’m trying to stay in contact and on top of the gossip, but you just can’t do that from two thousand miles away. I miss hanging out on Thursday nights having a cigar with my roommate Brett. I also miss the feeling of leaving West Point, which is one of the most euphoric things I’ve ever experienced.

I say all of this in good fun and high spirits. At the end of the year, I’ll be ready to go back and finish up my sentence and join the Army for real. Until then, I’ll keep my mind in the here and now, serving God’s people.

Core Mission Statement

I wasn’t feeling creative today, so I’m just going to paste from a document that I got from Andre House. It’s pretty self-explanatory. The Core Community consists of nine staff members. We basically do everything together- live, work, play, etc. This is our mission (and I didn’t write it).

André House Core Community Mission Statement

André House is a ministry of hospitality, which combines the gifts of many people to pursue community in the body of Christ reflective of the Reign of God. We blend traditions of the Catholic Worker and the Congregation of Holy Cross. We are dedicated to serving poor persons by living and working among them. In serving and welcoming we strive to foster peace in an alienated world.

We believe in a philosophy of personalism, which values the gifts of every human being and calls everyone to a creative personal response to the world in which we live. André House provides opportunities for all our brothers and sisters to share their gifts through direct personal contact. This exchange engenders understanding, justice, and compassion, and together we honor the God who dwells in all.

André House intends to serve the poor through its capacities to provide food, shelter, clothing, companionship and other service, while recognizing other’s freedom to accept these. In serving the poor we seek to learn from them. We strive to say with our actions: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Many donors, volunteers, and neighbors cooperate to finance and operate André House. A Core Community of full-time André House volunteers resides together to live and work for a life of greater solidarity with the poor. This covenant expresses aspects of their communal life, which both challenges and brings joy, to give clarity to those members.

"The product of your services"

So if you told me that this morning I would be getting lectured by a Phoenix police officer, I might have laughed at you. But I also would have been wrong.

So I was outside in our parking lot as the morning "porter," and was happy to see that the Police were actually in the area. Not only were they here, but they were doing something. This was almost too much for me. Often times, we will call the police department because some dudes are beating the living crap out of each other on the street or someone is dealing drugs nearby. The last two times I've called or been with someone who called, it has taken at least 20 minutes to get a patrol car here. Once they do get here, the problem of course is no more, so their presence at that point is useless. If they do get here in a reasonable amount of time, they’re just pissed that they have to be here dealing with this particular group of people, so they don’t do much then either. You might be able to tell at this point how satisfied I am with the Phoenix Police Department.

So this morning they were working. One PD Sergeant, who seems to frequent the area, was supervising some volunteers to move out the shopping carts on the street. Some of the homeless keep carts with all their stuff in it, but a lot of the time the carts are for drug trafficking. So they collected most of the carts on the street and threw them out. This makes us happy and keeps the area looking good. It reduces the drug dealing a little bit and discourages people from “camping” out of their carts on the street. I went out to talk to this Sergeant, and he ended up giving me a lecture on how we need to be more involved in the upkeep of the streets (picking up garbage mostly). He said that all the garbage was only being encouraged by us ("the product of our services). Because we offer services to people, it is our fault that they stay on the street outside our building. If this sounds like it doesn’t make sense, that’s because it really doesn’t. The cleaning up the area part is all well and good, but we’ve been told several times that we have no right to be harassing people out on the street because it is not our property.

So I really didn’t appreciate this Policeman lecturing and talking down to me about how we are part of the problem here. I wanted to tell him that I thought the PD was doing such a great (terrible) job here, but I didn’t think that would help. Another person who works in the area and frequents Andre House told me that this Sergeant’s idea for cleaning up the area is closing us and the nearby liquor store down. Makes a lot of sense to me. Which brings me back to my original thought that the PD is worthless.

"So many lost souls"

As a staff member here, I was pseudo required to write an article for our newsletter that will be mailed out soon. This is what I wrote:

"Allow me to start by introducing myself. My name is Gilbert, you can call me Gib. I joined the new Core Community back in the beginning of August. I hail from Pennsylvania, so yes, I am having a hard time with the weather. Back then in my wonder years, I never dreamed that I would be working every day at a place like Andre House. So far, I have completed two years at the US Military Academy and I have had a good time with that. Even for the first year and a half of that experience, I never dreamed I would end up here. I like to do outdoors stuff- camping, hiking, shooting sports, fishing, whatever as long as it is outside. I love to have fun, so tell me a good, clean joke the next time we meet.

This past spring break, something changed in me. I spent my break in New Orleans working in a neighborhood called Lakeview. Lakeview was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. Much of it was under twelve or more feet of water, but Lakeview is a very wealthy area and has rebounded quickly compared to other areas of the city. I came to realize a few things. First, the work I did inspired me to want to do service work on a more permanent basis, not just for one week. Secondly, if I was going to take a substantial amount of time to serve, I was not going to spend that time helping a rich neighborhood plant trees and shrubs in their town. I wanted to serve the neediest of God’s people. The details of my search are irrelevant. What matters is that I found a place that I felt right about. That place was Andre House, a place that we all have come to find something special about.

I have tried to keep a steady correspondence with friends, teachers, relatives, mentors, and the like. Recently, I emailed an old teacher from high school (if he is reading this, I mean absolutely no offense by any of this). I did so to ask for something, but also filled him on what was new in my life. I gave him the standard rundown on how we operate and the people we serve. He congratulated me on my decision and then made a comment that really touched a nerve in me. To paraphrase, “it’s sad how many lost souls we have in this country.” I am making the assumption that he was in general referring to the guests that Andre House serves. I know I have only been here for a short time and still have a lot to learn, but I felt the need to respond to his observation. I would like to share with you my thoughts on this.

First of all, I think the term “lost souls” is loaded and needs to be avoided. Christianity teaches us that there really is no such thing, that there is always a chance of redemption and salvation for everyone. To think that the poor and homeless throughout the country, the drug addicts, the prostitutes, the criminals, many of whom we serve, are “lost” is absolutely absurd. This is I would have responded pre-Andre House and how I would like to think I would respond now. But now that I am here, I feel it easy to see things as such, that many of the people that spend every waking moment of their lives in the zone just might be lost. It is compounded when you see a respectable person dealing drugs outside our property, a decent fellow drunk beyond comprehension, or parents with their newborn baby on the street. It is easy to get caught up in those moments, to think “don’t these people care at all for their lives, for their health and wellbeing?”. I have learned that cynicism can set in quickly.

This is all a trap, though. It is one of the many challenges that face us as servants of God’s people. These “lost souls” are at the very center of Andre House’s existence. It would be naïve and sinful for us to begin to think that any one of our guests is “lost.” At the same time, it would also be naïve to think that we can “save” everyone in the area. Nevertheless, if we can, like the Good Shephard, bring just one lost sheep back to the flock, we should rejoice and be glad. Sure, we serve dinner to anyone who is not drunk, high, or violent, but knowing that a simple meal might give one out of 300 or more people the will to move on with life is enough to validate our work. If one person in one year can get a decent suit in order to secure a job and a better life, than we should all be able to sleep peacefully at night. And at the same time, there is no good reason why we should not continue to try to give everyone a better life. So for the foreseeable future, Andre House will continue to do just that- provide for God’s neediest people here in Phoenix.

And so I would like to issue you all a challenge. Do not ever become a cynic when you come to Andre House. Do not be discouraged when you see the same guy belligerently drunk in the street at dinner time. Do not get down on yourself when you see a guest taking advantage of our goodwill. Let that be your motivation! Reach out to those people. See them as God’s children, your brothers and sisters. Work as often and as hard as you can to bring back the flock’s lost sheep, whether it be at Andre House or elsewhere. And always go with God!

To close, I would like to leave you on this occasion and all of those to come on a more serious note: Go Army, Beat Navy!"

Showers

Every morning and afternoon (except for Fridays and Sundays), we offer showers to whomever wants them. We will do about 15 showers in the morning and about 25 in the afternoon. The guests can come into the building, which is much cooler, to wait. There are three individual showers and each guest that gets a number is allowed ten minutes to shower.

We provide them with everything here. We give them a towel to use, soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush, toothpaste, razors, lotion, q-tips, deodorant, hair gel, body powder, or whatever else we have and they might want. There are three individual shower rooms, including one able to accommodate handicapped people

As the staff person monitoring showers, there are a couple of things to do. We cycle the guests through, making sure they don’t go beyond their allowed ten minutes. We mop out the showers in between each use. We keep the toiletries stocked in the shower rooms and in the little office we operate out of. We make sure that no one is doing anything illegal or disturbing in the waiting room. We also offer all the said toiletries to anyone who comes and asks, regardless of whether they have a number to take s shower.This all sounds fairly simple, and most of the time it is. Sometimes it is interesting trying to convince someone that they have used their allotted time in the shower and they need to get out. Sometimes people leave amazing messes in the showers. Afterwards, the fun part is scrubbing and cleaning the shower rooms. You can’t wonder sometimes if one person can shed that much hair from their body in ten minutes!

A rough week

I finally had some not so pleasant days recently. I think that the initial feeling of being glad to be here has worn off, and now I'm more in tune to what actually goes on here. Life sucks for these people, and maybe even worse is that many of them are happy with their state of life.

It started on Monday night while I was “on the house.” One of our transitional guests, call him Dave, came home drunk. He apparently had a really bad day and felt the need to have a few drinks in order to unwind. While it might be easy to sympathize with him about this, it is strictly against our rules to drink at all while a guest in our house. The only possible consequence for his actions was dismissal. Every other day I’ve been on the house, it’s been really quiet. Now I found myself having to tell a drunk guy nearly three times my age why he was no longer allowed to stay with us. Talk about a challenge. After talking to him for more than half an hour about all this and getting help from another staff member, we asked him to pack his things and leave. I was happy he accepted this without getting out of hand. This really boils down to Dave not being ready to move on with his life.

The next morning I was asked to take a look at a sick guy in our parking lot. He was not in good shape, and I ended up calling the fire department to take him to the hospital (the FD out here operates the ambulances). In the afternoon, I looked after another sick guy and managed to piss off one of my fellow staff members (for something unrelated). Later at dinner, a local case worker called the fire department to pick up the second sick guy. I feel bad about not doing it sooner myself. He was drunk and probably just dehydrated, but what if that amount of time had health implications for him?

During dinner, there seemed to be more than the usual amount of people who reeked of alcohol. I had my first time of doubt as to the point in serving the people here. The biggest thing is just wondering if these people give a damn about their lives. Many of them do nothing to move up in life and are content living in poverty. I’ve been able to move past this for the moment, but I’m sure the doubts will come back from time to time. What I really needed was a day off, and that’s today. I’m going rock climbing with a Boy Scout troop tonight, so that should be just what I need.

Today's reflection

What I’d like to talk about today is what Jesus addresses in the Gospel reading. It concerns the Sabbath, a day in the week that we are to rest just as God did after creating the world. I remember that as a kid we would never do any unnecessary work at home because of this day of rest. It was a day to relax, go to Mass as a family, visit relatives, read the paper, and sometimes be just lazy. I think everyone probably has similar memories. Sunday is a day that belongs to God and we should honor that.

But then we came here to Andre House. And we work (with the exception of Bouf) here on Sunday, the Sabbath. I have not detected that anyone has serious reservations about working on Sunday, but it always helps to rationalize in our own minds just why we at Andre House must work on Sundays. I would like to suggest that since we have the ability to work on Sundays, it is our duty, our sacred obligation to work on Sundays.

First we can look at the scripture today, in particular the Gospel. Jesus is watched in a synagogue by the scribes and Pharisees. As we see quite often, they are looking for Jesus’ faults. They are jealous of him and will do anything to discredit him. As we also see quite often, Jesus does something controversial that they think condemns him. Jesus heals the hand of a man saying, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath – or evil? To preserve life – or destroy it?” Jesus doesn’t give a verbal answer to these questions, but he gives a powerful answer when he heals the man’s hand. In this way, he is telling us that it would be evil to not do good on the Sabbath, especially when given the opportunity to. If we can do good on Sundays, than we must do good on Sundays. And I think Jesus speaks directly to our mission when he asks if it is worse to work to preserve life or destroy it by inaction. This is a clear cut scriptural answer to why we work on Sundays.

We can also turn to the Catechism of the Catholic Church for more answers. Here is an interesting way to think about it. I quote, “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are to refrain from engaging in work or activities that hinder the worship owed to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, the performance of the works of mercy, and the appropriate relaxation of mind and body.” We are to remove all stops that prevent us from performing the works of mercy on the Sabbath, which are at the very center of what we do.

As I said, Sunday is a day that belongs to God, and I’m certain that what God wants of us is to continue to serve his people here. But there is one more aspect to this. We work on Sundays, and we should have no reservations about such. Nevertheless, it is just as important that we still honor God on that day. Yes, we honor God by doing his work here, but we must also remember to honor God by going to Mass and praying on Sundays. In the Gospel, Jesus does work a miracle on the Sabbath, but remember that he was at a synagogue to teach God’s word. Even though he was working, he was still honoring God. Let us pray that we can follow his holy example.

Transitional Housing (Men’s/Women’s house)

This is continuing the descriptions of what I do in each of my duties.

One of the more successful services we provide for the homeless is transitional housing. This program has very specific goals in mind. We take in people that, for any reason, are homeless and are looking to move out of their current state of life. We take in people that are seeking full time employment with the goal of saving for their own place to stay. We operate a men’s and a women’s house and each can hold several people.

The guests are expected to leave the house every morning at 0815 and must return by 1900. During the day they are expected to work or look for work. We give people without jobs up to 12 weeks to find a job before we will kick them out. We provide all meals for them- breakfast in the morning, fixings for lunch, and dinner in the evening. They have their own room or share with one other person. To sum everything up, we give our transitional guests everything they need so that they can save their money for an apartment. Some of them are able to move in, get a job, save enough money, and move out within a month or two. Others take longer for whatever reason. There is no set limit to how long a guest can stay at our house, but we generally cut people off at six months.

We choose our guests through an interview process. We do an interview every day, as long as someone signs up and there is a spot for them in the house. We ask them information concerning their physical and mental health. We find out if they use or abuse alcohol or drugs. A person must be clean and sober for at least one year before we will consider them. They must fit into our general criteria of wanting a place to stay in order to save money for their own place.

Whenever the houses are open for the guests, there is a staff member present. This is for several reasons. First, we are available to the guests to talk about whatever. Each guest has a staff contact person, who helps them set goals and periodically assess progress towards those goals. We really try to help these guest out. A staff member is also present to make sure that the house rules are followed. No drinking or drug use is allowed. The guests must respect their fellow guests and the staff. They must complete daily chores satisfactorily. They must leave every morning by 0815 and be back by 1900. There are a bunch of other rules, too. The point is to give them some regularity and certainty in their lives, which many of them are missing. Any violation of the rules and the guest will receive a strike. When a guest receives three strikes, they are asked to leave. Some violations, like drug or alcohol use, are grounds for immediate dismissal.

Sometimes all this can be a challenge. There is a wide cross section of people that come into our house, and all have different needs and concerns. There are a wide array of ages that we see. The oldest guest right now is 57 and the youngest is 20. Some of them need more involvement than others. Some of them need a staff member to hound them about not spending their money on stupid stuff that doesn’t get them closer to their goals. Some need a kick in the pants to get moving. Some need watched constantly because they’ll take any opportunity to break our rules. Some don’t need anything but three square meals and a bed to sleep in.I spend two different nights doing this: Monday in the men’s house and Friday in the women’s house. There is some work involved in being the staff member on duty, but we’re mainly there for emergencies. We stay overnight and lock up the house in the morning.

Q&A

Okay, so I've been getting a lot of questions from people and I thought I would devote this post to answering those questions.

Q: How's the weather? A: Terrible! Yesterday Phoenix set a new record for number of days in the year being over 110 degrees. “But it’s a dry heat!” I’ll punch the next person who tells me that.

Q: Well do you have air conditioning? A: Air what? No, someone came up with this great invention called a swamp cooler that pumps humidity into the air, cooling it down slightly. They must be more economical, because most people have them.

Q: Wow, all that sun and you must have a tan by now, right? A: Nope, I'm still a pale white kid. Most of my time is spent inside of our building working. When I am outside I avoid the sun like I avoid Andre House staff members after eating the beans we serve on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Q: How's the food? A: Well if you don't mind eating the same thing every week, the food is great. Sunday is chili, Monday is pasta salad, Tuesday is spaghetti, Wednesday is hot dogs, Thursday is burritos, and Saturday is goulash. Our meal cycle is as regular as, er, the moon's cycles.

Q: What have you done on your off days? A: So far nothing much. I have focused a lot of my time on preparing stuff to get back into West Point. Fortunately I should be able to finish all of that paperwork by Christmas, then I won’t have to do anything but worry about whether or not I’ll be reaccepted for the rest of my time here (there’s actually not much of a worry). I have been to three Diamondbacks games (the pro baseball team) and enjoy riding around the city.

Q: Have you been cutting your hair? A: I’m sure to everyone’s dismay, yes, I have been buzzing my head about every three weeks. It’s too darn hot to have any hair.

Q: Have you run into any hostile dogs lately? A: Friday when I was running through a nearby neighborhood, there was one dog that ran up to me. Fortunately he only wanted to attack me with some slobber and love, so that made me feel good inside. But I'm still not sure why everyone in this city needs a huge dog and then lets them run around.

Q: Have you been keeping your sense of humor. A: I’ll let you decide.

Q: Have people actually been asking you these questions? A: Nope, I made them all up. But I am happy to answer questions anyone has, just send them!