SLP #2: Project Homeless Connect: Sarah Brehm

On May 9th, I had the wonderful opportunity of working at Project Homeless Connect located right here on the University of Denver campus. I arrived to the Ritchie center at 8:50 am so that I had enough time to get checked in and get in line to work. As I checked in, I was asked to put on a nametag and go stand in the line of volunteers that went down the stairs and around the corner of the Ritchie Center. I went to the end of the line and noticed a lot of other DU students that I recognized. I ended up staying in line until about 9:30, and was asked to step out of the line and come upstairs and take a client who had entered from the other side of the building. I went inside and met with my client, Jennifer. She had a stroller, and in it was a 10-month old baby, Emily.

Jennifer said that they had already eaten, and that all they needed were birth certificates for the both of them. We sat down and filled out the information on the check in sheet, and I learned that she actually has two other children that live with her husband, who she is separated from, in Georgia. She has been homeless numerous times in her life, and had a streak of two years where she lived consistently on the streets. She now lives in a housing area with her daughter and she has lived there for the past two weeks. We then proceeded down to the Gates Arena, which resembled more of a blur of yellow shirts with a few specks of color, and took Emily to the child-care area. We had to weave our way through lines of people in order to get back to the far corner, but we finally made it and got Emily care so that Jennifer and I could go and get the birth certificates.

We walked to the line, and ended up having to wait about 30 minutes because Jennifer and Emily needed out of state birth certificates, and there were only 2 people working on those ids. While we were waiting, Jennifer opened up a bit more about her personal life. She explained to me in further detail about how her husband and her became separated because she had a drug addiction and they could not pay any of their bills. He got full custody of the children and moved to Georgia. She then got pregnant with her baby who she has now, Emily, and is currently pregnant with another baby, due in July. She said that it has been hard trying to support Emily, but it has been the best thing for her because it keeps her grounded. However, because of Emily and her inability to pay for childcare, she has not been able to find a job, which, she said, leaves her extremely bored. But finally having a house has been a huge blessing for her. After we finally got her id, I asked her if she wanted to partake in the survey for a $25 King Soopers gift card, and she was more than willing. However, the surveyors said that she must have two or more children over the age of 5 in order to be eligible. So, we went back to child-care and picked up Dylan, and Jennifer was so excited to see her, even though they had only been apart for about an hour.

I ended up walking Jennifer and Emily back to the light rail station, and we continued to talk more about her personal life. When we finally got there, she sincerely thanked me for everything I had done, and was off.

After I worked with Jennifer, I proceeded to the line of volunteers, and someone informed me that it would probably be awhile until there was another client, and advised me to go see if there were other things I could help with inside. So, I went upstairs and ended up packing lunches for the lunch shift. We ended up packing over 750 bag lunches with a sandwich, chips, apple, cookie, and condiments. It took us a really long time to get everything packed and we kept losing track of which bags had what in them. However, by the time lunch rolled around, we had packed enough for the first wave of people, but by the second wave, we were frantic to get them packed in time. I also noticed a lot of homeless people taking extra bags and sandwiches and putting them in their bags, but there was nothing we could really do about it. Once lunch had ended, we only had about 5 bags left over and then helped clean up. We rolled the carts back into the kitchen, cleaned the tables, broke down the boxes, and broke down the tables and put everything away. After I had done this, the Ritchie center was pretty much empty, and the people in charge of check in said it would be okay if we went home.

I had never worked with homeless people in this kind of personal setting before in my life. While it was definitely uncomfortable for me to make such direct contact with a stranger, it also shaped my view of the homeless. While Jennifer and I were very different, we also had a lot in common that made it easy for me to relate to her. She had a child right around when she was my age, and the way she spoke was so casual and friendly that it made it much easier for me to continue conversation. In terms of bagging lunches, I was disappointed when I saw the people stealing food, because it kind of rekindled the thoughts I had tried to get rid of in my head; that people coming to Project Homeless Connect would not steal, at least while we are trying to help them out. I think that sometimes I am too trustworthy of too many people, and this made me realized that there really ARE people out there who will just blatantly steal. However, I also realized that some of these people stole the sandwiches out of necessity, which also made me feel some sympathy for them. Overall, the whole experience really shaped me in a positive way. It made me step out of my comfort zone and place myself in a situation where I could really relate with people I hadn’t before. I would definitely do Project Homeless Connect and would advise other college students to do so as well.