Every Monday, I am in the laundry room at the building. I give out numbers to ten people out in the line who want their laundry done. Those ten people then come inside the building with me. I give them each two numbered mesh laundry bags. They can stuff the bags full with their clothing and then give them back to me. I take the laundry out of the bags and into the washers, then to the dryers, then fold everything. The bags are numbered so I can keep track of what laundry belongs to who. The whole exercise takes between three and four hours, depending on how much laundry people give me.
I think anyone can see by the above description that Mondays aren’t a tough day for me. I have very little interaction with the guests, which is often the most challenging thing for me. I can just sit in the laundry by myself, turn on some music, and do my work. The alone time is always appreciated since I spend most of my waking hours with the members of our community and the guests. There’s nothing wrong with the time I do spend with them, I’m just more of a loner who enjoys some personal quiet time. And I know they’re going to give me a hard time about saying so. I also like to spend some of the spare time I get in the laundry room doing personal things. It's been a great time to work on my Congressional nomination packets and other West Point related work I have to get done.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
More Q&A
So this was so popular last time, I thought I would do it again.
Q: What’s your favorite color?
A: It’s blue, but what does that have to do with anything?
Q: I’ll ask the questions here. What has been hardest thing you’ve done so far?
A: I’ll give a serious answer and a not so serious answer to that one- I’ll let you decide which is which. I had a hard time making myself pay a cover charge at this crappy bar we went to one night. If the people we were supposed to meet weren’t already in there, I never would have gave them my money. I have also had a hard time not spending my stipend within the first two weeks of the month.
Q: Any bike troubles lately?
A: Why yes, yes I have had some bike issues. Saturday when I was riding to work, the dumb thing just stopped going forward. And anyone who has studied physics can guess that when the bike stopped suddenly, I kept going forward. It is then needless to say that I had a little rendezvous with the street. Fortunately there were no cars in that intersection at the time.
Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met?
A: This is a good one. There is a guest that hangs around our place named Gilbert. Gilbert is s huge alcoholic and always comes to dinner drunk out of his mind. I met him sober (just once) and he is a good guy, but that was the only time I’ve seem him not wasted. I think he is some sort of reminder to me to be careful with the choices I make in life, because it’s not a far fall to where the other Gilbert finds himself. And no, this isn’t my sly way of telling everyone that I’ve turned into on alcoholic.
Q: What is one thing that people do that pisses you off?
A: I am inwardly frustrated at the complacency of some of our guests with their state of life. There are opportunities to move on and up in their lives, but they, for whatever reason, do not make the effort to take advantage of those opportunities. Something else that frustrates me is to see people piss away their lives by using drugs. That is precisely the reason they are where they are and why their lives are going nowhere. I realize that addictions are tough to beat, but again, there is help out there.
Q: What’s your favorite color?
A: It’s blue, but what does that have to do with anything?
Q: I’ll ask the questions here. What has been hardest thing you’ve done so far?
A: I’ll give a serious answer and a not so serious answer to that one- I’ll let you decide which is which. I had a hard time making myself pay a cover charge at this crappy bar we went to one night. If the people we were supposed to meet weren’t already in there, I never would have gave them my money. I have also had a hard time not spending my stipend within the first two weeks of the month.
Q: Any bike troubles lately?
A: Why yes, yes I have had some bike issues. Saturday when I was riding to work, the dumb thing just stopped going forward. And anyone who has studied physics can guess that when the bike stopped suddenly, I kept going forward. It is then needless to say that I had a little rendezvous with the street. Fortunately there were no cars in that intersection at the time.
Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met?
A: This is a good one. There is a guest that hangs around our place named Gilbert. Gilbert is s huge alcoholic and always comes to dinner drunk out of his mind. I met him sober (just once) and he is a good guy, but that was the only time I’ve seem him not wasted. I think he is some sort of reminder to me to be careful with the choices I make in life, because it’s not a far fall to where the other Gilbert finds himself. And no, this isn’t my sly way of telling everyone that I’ve turned into on alcoholic.
Q: What is one thing that people do that pisses you off?
A: I am inwardly frustrated at the complacency of some of our guests with their state of life. There are opportunities to move on and up in their lives, but they, for whatever reason, do not make the effort to take advantage of those opportunities. Something else that frustrates me is to see people piss away their lives by using drugs. That is precisely the reason they are where they are and why their lives are going nowhere. I realize that addictions are tough to beat, but again, there is help out there.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Today's reflection
Today we hear in the readings two of the arguably most well know stories from the Bible- the story of Jonah and the great fish and the parable of the good Samaritan. I think maybe there is just so much to talk about I have had a hard time picking just a few things.
Many people spend countless hours of their lives analyzing and deliberating over scripture to find out what exactly they need to do with their lives in order to inherit the gift of heaven. I always find this kind of thing funny. There are many places in the Bible where you can obtain evidence in order to draw some lengthy and complicated answer, but in the Gospel today, we get that answer plain and simple.
The man asks what he must do in order to obtain the gift of heaven. Jesus has him answer his own question. The man answers, and Jesus confirms, that we must “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s it. No thesis, no in depth analysis of countless Bible passages, no intense mental exercises, no debating required. Jesus tells us, through the lawyer, simply and exactly what we must do to obtain eternal life with Him in heaven.
That is the simple answer, but how that call by Jesus is lived by us is another thing entirely. The concept is simple, but the way that we fulfill it is not. Think about how much is involved in completely loving God and completely loving our neighbors. Then think about to what extent you do the things that show your love for God and neighbor. Or maybe a better way to look at it is to look at the things that do the opposite, the things that destroy your relationship with God and your fellow man.
To illustrate the point even further, Jesus conveys the parable of the good Samaritan. In the end, Jesus asks who was the neighbor to the man who was robbed. It was neither of the men of God, but in fact an ordinary person. This reminds us that all are able and called to act with compassion in the name of God, not just those who hold some sort of special title linking them to religious life. Jesus tells us that we must go and do as the Samaritan did, to live our lives in compassion and in service to others. I’m certain that this is the call the many of us here have heard and are answering.
And there is always a lot of talk around here of saying no, about how we must operate in the parameters of our schedule and the services that we make available to everyone. While adhering strictly to set rules and standards has merit, remember that there is some wiggle room in the system. The wiggle is called for by Jesus in his call to live with compassion. What we do has a certain amount of compassion, but we all know those cases in which we must provide more help and attention than we do on the average day. Say no, but remember that we must sometimes say yes to God and yes to our brothers and sisters.
Many people spend countless hours of their lives analyzing and deliberating over scripture to find out what exactly they need to do with their lives in order to inherit the gift of heaven. I always find this kind of thing funny. There are many places in the Bible where you can obtain evidence in order to draw some lengthy and complicated answer, but in the Gospel today, we get that answer plain and simple.
The man asks what he must do in order to obtain the gift of heaven. Jesus has him answer his own question. The man answers, and Jesus confirms, that we must “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s it. No thesis, no in depth analysis of countless Bible passages, no intense mental exercises, no debating required. Jesus tells us, through the lawyer, simply and exactly what we must do to obtain eternal life with Him in heaven.
That is the simple answer, but how that call by Jesus is lived by us is another thing entirely. The concept is simple, but the way that we fulfill it is not. Think about how much is involved in completely loving God and completely loving our neighbors. Then think about to what extent you do the things that show your love for God and neighbor. Or maybe a better way to look at it is to look at the things that do the opposite, the things that destroy your relationship with God and your fellow man.
To illustrate the point even further, Jesus conveys the parable of the good Samaritan. In the end, Jesus asks who was the neighbor to the man who was robbed. It was neither of the men of God, but in fact an ordinary person. This reminds us that all are able and called to act with compassion in the name of God, not just those who hold some sort of special title linking them to religious life. Jesus tells us that we must go and do as the Samaritan did, to live our lives in compassion and in service to others. I’m certain that this is the call the many of us here have heard and are answering.
And there is always a lot of talk around here of saying no, about how we must operate in the parameters of our schedule and the services that we make available to everyone. While adhering strictly to set rules and standards has merit, remember that there is some wiggle room in the system. The wiggle is called for by Jesus in his call to live with compassion. What we do has a certain amount of compassion, but we all know those cases in which we must provide more help and attention than we do on the average day. Say no, but remember that we must sometimes say yes to God and yes to our brothers and sisters.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
The art of saying "no"
One of the things that I was asked when I interviewed here at Andre House was how I felt saying “no” to people. There are a lot of situations that we as staff encounter every day that require us to act almost contrary to the mission we try to fulfill. A simple example that can illustrate my point is handing out ice. Every day from 1300-1500 we offer ice to anyone who requests it and has their own container. At 1501, we stop offering ice. It is very important that we stick to this rule. If we go beyond that time window, there can be all sorts of conflict that arise. From day to day, a different person fulfills this duty. If I offer ice beyond the set time window one day, people are going to give the next person doing ice a hard time for not giving him/her ice at 1505. “The guy yesterday gave me ice at this time. Why can’t you?” It seems silly to some, but the guests can get very upset over this sort of thing. It is easier just to say, every day of the week, “we stop serving ice at 1500. You’re late so you don’t get any.” There can be exceptions to this, but it has to be a good reason. This is where our judgment comes in. Someone on the verge of passing out deserves some cold water. They also deserve to have the fire department come and check them out (the fire department out here operates the ambulances).
So how do I feel about saying no? This might come across as impersonal and uncaring, but I have no problem telling people that I can’t help them. This is mostly in the case of routine services we provide. For example, people come to us in the clothes closet an hour after we started. We will not make an exception for them. Most of the people we serve are here every day of the year and they know the way they operate. The fact that we won’t help them is not an issue of not caring on our part, but an issue of the guest not caring enough to get there on time. They know the rules we have in place and the times we operate. Most will not have a problem leaving empty handed because they were late, but word of an exception goes around quickly.
I guess another good way to think of this is giving change to a beggar on any random street in any random city. As soon as you give one person change, every person who saw you do that expects you to give them change too. Soon you are being mobbed by people asking you for change. That last part is a little bit of an exaggeration (and a reference to South Park), but you get the point.
There is, however, a certain balance that must be found concerning this. There are many situations in which we turn people away, but it is mostly only temporary. Most of the services we provide will be available the next day, and the one thing most of the homeless have plenty of is time. There are situations, though, that we can make exceptions. If someone comes to us nearly or completely naked, we will definitely help them out and get them some clothes, no matter what time of day. If there is a mother with an infant (there a few cases of this), I don’t think any of the staff would think twice about bringing them cold water, no matter what time of day.
Again, some of this seems heartless and cold, but respect for our rules is one thing that keeps our operation running smoothly.
So how do I feel about saying no? This might come across as impersonal and uncaring, but I have no problem telling people that I can’t help them. This is mostly in the case of routine services we provide. For example, people come to us in the clothes closet an hour after we started. We will not make an exception for them. Most of the people we serve are here every day of the year and they know the way they operate. The fact that we won’t help them is not an issue of not caring on our part, but an issue of the guest not caring enough to get there on time. They know the rules we have in place and the times we operate. Most will not have a problem leaving empty handed because they were late, but word of an exception goes around quickly.
I guess another good way to think of this is giving change to a beggar on any random street in any random city. As soon as you give one person change, every person who saw you do that expects you to give them change too. Soon you are being mobbed by people asking you for change. That last part is a little bit of an exaggeration (and a reference to South Park), but you get the point.
There is, however, a certain balance that must be found concerning this. There are many situations in which we turn people away, but it is mostly only temporary. Most of the services we provide will be available the next day, and the one thing most of the homeless have plenty of is time. There are situations, though, that we can make exceptions. If someone comes to us nearly or completely naked, we will definitely help them out and get them some clothes, no matter what time of day. If there is a mother with an infant (there a few cases of this), I don’t think any of the staff would think twice about bringing them cold water, no matter what time of day.
Again, some of this seems heartless and cold, but respect for our rules is one thing that keeps our operation running smoothly.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Clothes closet
On Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays we offer clothing to our guests in the “Clothes Closet.” This is one of our more popular services. We are able to get thirty people through on each of these days. It all starts with people like you (e.g. anyone).
At any time during any day, people will bring donations to our door. Sometimes it is food, sometimes it is toiletries, sometimes it is something random. But most of the time, the donations that we receive are of clothing- shirts, pants, shorts, shoes, socks, underwear, etc. These donations get thrown into our freight elevator and then put into a pile in the basement where they are then sorted, put on hangers, and put on racks.
Upstairs in the actual Clothes Closet, the thirty people that are first in line come in (not all at once) and shop. The donations are brought into the room and the guests are able to look through what is there, pick out what fits them and/or what they want, and then they check out with a staff member. We make sure that no one takes more than what it allotted to them. We put limits on what they can take so that we don’t run out of clothing. Unfortunately, some of what we give out ends up being sold on the street, so that is another reason we don’t give any one person extra clothing.
This particular activity (which I do on Wednesdays) gets on my nerves a little bit. I think most of it is because it is the day in which I get off in the afternoon, so I’m not so motivated. It is also a time in which some of the guests want to make our lives difficult, so that taxes me as well. I just try and remember that we are giving them the help they need to get back on track in life.
At any time during any day, people will bring donations to our door. Sometimes it is food, sometimes it is toiletries, sometimes it is something random. But most of the time, the donations that we receive are of clothing- shirts, pants, shorts, shoes, socks, underwear, etc. These donations get thrown into our freight elevator and then put into a pile in the basement where they are then sorted, put on hangers, and put on racks.
Upstairs in the actual Clothes Closet, the thirty people that are first in line come in (not all at once) and shop. The donations are brought into the room and the guests are able to look through what is there, pick out what fits them and/or what they want, and then they check out with a staff member. We make sure that no one takes more than what it allotted to them. We put limits on what they can take so that we don’t run out of clothing. Unfortunately, some of what we give out ends up being sold on the street, so that is another reason we don’t give any one person extra clothing.
This particular activity (which I do on Wednesdays) gets on my nerves a little bit. I think most of it is because it is the day in which I get off in the afternoon, so I’m not so motivated. It is also a time in which some of the guests want to make our lives difficult, so that taxes me as well. I just try and remember that we are giving them the help they need to get back on track in life.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Letter of recommendation
So I asked the Andre House director, Father Bill, to write me a letter of recommendation for my second attempt at a congressional nomination. Here’s what he came to me with last night:
Dear Senator X,
Greetings. This will serve as a letter of recommendation for Gilbert Coyle for nomination to be re-admitted into the United States Military Academy for the fall of 2008.
I can’t believe that Gilbert asked me to write this, knowing how much I dislike him. He totally “chickened out” of school and went AWOL, then came crawling to us to see if we would take him. I thought he was applying for admission to our men’s house- such was his slovenly attire and composure. Out of pity and a love for our poor brothers and sisters, we took him in and offered him a position on our “staff” (he honestly thinks he is a member of our regular staff, but we tell him that so that he won’t go off on us (again)).
Gib spends a lot of time lounging around at home and watching “Scrubs” and “W.C. Fields,” instead of doing something more productive. True, he has done a lot of cleaning and extra work around our building and houses, but I think he does this out of fear more than anything else. I’m told that his cooking skills have improved, though I am too frightened to eat the food on Saturday nights.
A good quality of his? Well, he takes a lot of pictures. Then again, so does my old “friend” Andy, but he totally stabbed me in the back a few years ago so he’s not really a good guy after all. Why he is still angry with me for winning the student body president position I’ll never know. Anyway, Gib takes pictures. Very big deal.
There you have it Sen. If his isn’t the worst application you have on your desk this year, go ahead and nominate him. Let’s see if he sticks it out this time.
Peace,
Father Bill
Director
PS: Dude, I was behind you all the way for President in the 80’s. What happened?
Very funny, Father Bill. Now where's the real letter?
Dear Senator X,
Greetings. This will serve as a letter of recommendation for Gilbert Coyle for nomination to be re-admitted into the United States Military Academy for the fall of 2008.
I can’t believe that Gilbert asked me to write this, knowing how much I dislike him. He totally “chickened out” of school and went AWOL, then came crawling to us to see if we would take him. I thought he was applying for admission to our men’s house- such was his slovenly attire and composure. Out of pity and a love for our poor brothers and sisters, we took him in and offered him a position on our “staff” (he honestly thinks he is a member of our regular staff, but we tell him that so that he won’t go off on us (again)).
Gib spends a lot of time lounging around at home and watching “Scrubs” and “W.C. Fields,” instead of doing something more productive. True, he has done a lot of cleaning and extra work around our building and houses, but I think he does this out of fear more than anything else. I’m told that his cooking skills have improved, though I am too frightened to eat the food on Saturday nights.
A good quality of his? Well, he takes a lot of pictures. Then again, so does my old “friend” Andy, but he totally stabbed me in the back a few years ago so he’s not really a good guy after all. Why he is still angry with me for winning the student body president position I’ll never know. Anyway, Gib takes pictures. Very big deal.
There you have it Sen. If his isn’t the worst application you have on your desk this year, go ahead and nominate him. Let’s see if he sticks it out this time.
Peace,
Father Bill
Director
PS: Dude, I was behind you all the way for President in the 80’s. What happened?
Very funny, Father Bill. Now where's the real letter?
A homeless night
It's hard to believe that I've been here for more than two months now. Time flies...
Last time I talked about some of our attempts at Andre House to live similarly to our guests. I wanted to take it one step further, go beyond the expectations. Here’s how.
The Central Arizona Shelter Service (CASS for short) operates shelter in the same area that Andre House is located. The very lowest quality of their shelter is known as the overflow. CASS will basically let anyone stay at the overflow, pending I’m sure that the person isn’t drunk, high, or violent. Most times, this is the only place someone can stay if they are new to the area and didn’t have a chance to get higher quality shelter with CASS during the day. Often times a new guest will come to us at dinner and ask where they can stay the night. Every time, we tell them to walk north on 11th Avenue, turn left on Madison, and the overflow shelter is the building with tons of people and a cop car out front. I’ve only heard stories about it, but I wanted to know firsthand what happens when someone new goes to the overflow.
What better way than to spend the night myself? So last night, I emptied my pockets except for my keys, ID, and cell phone, grabbed a blanket from our donation pile, and took that walk north on 11th and left on Madison. People start lining up for beds around 6PM, but I was walking in about 7:30. I just walked in and asked for a bed. They asked me some standard questions- name, social security number, how long I’ve been in Phoenix, employment, how long I’ve been homeless, drug addiction, alcoholism, SMI, health problems. I was able to get through that without them knowing I worked at Andre House, and they let me into the building. What I walked into I was not quite expecting. It was simply a large room. The were about 200 mattresses on the floor, mostly full, and then bunk beds all the way around the walls. The mattresses were all right next to each other, with a few foot-wide spaces here and there for walking. There was an outside area where there were probably another 50 people sleeping on the ground. There were also portable toilets outside, which were quite gross.
I grabbed a bed, put down my blanket, and just sat there and watched the goings on. My first observation was that nearly every person that was there comes to Andre House for services. My attempts at going semi-incognito failed miserably, as many of the people there recognized me, mainly as one of the guys at “that soup kitchen.” One dude had done some work for us during dinnertime and received a sack lunch for his help- he was selling the pieces of that lunch in the overflow. Another guy walked by me and asked if I knew anyone looking to buy some beer. In other words- did I want to buy some beer. This guy obviously didn’t recognize me, as we chase anyone off our property with any sort of alcohol.
There are always a lot of horror stories floating around about the overflow, but I can’t say that I feared for my safety at anytime during the night. But then again, if it is anything like Andre House at the overflow, there are good days and bad days- last night could have been a good night. I kind of half-slept, waking up occasionally to see who was up and at ‘em. Most of the people were sleeping peacefully. The one guy I was sleeping next to (literally next to) kept rolling over onto me, so I kept pushing him back onto his own mattress. I woke up at about 4:15, gave my blanket to someone who looked like they needed it, and came back to our building to make myself some breakfast.
I think I gained the knowledge I was looking for last night. I now know what exactly happens when we refer someone to the overflow shelter for the night. I also have a CASS ID card, so I can go back and do it again whenever I want to. I’m not sure that I will, I kind of like sleeping in my own bed.
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