The Face of Homelessness

Kristen Z While other PLU students have been venturing across the globe or fulfilling those darn GURs on campus, I have spent the last few weeks of J-term volunteering in the Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma. During this eye-opening and unique experience, I have worked at a number of different agencies in the area, and with a vast number of individuals who are either currently homeless or living on the verge of homelessness. Most importantly, this experience has put a face to homelessness in my mind and surmounted previous stereotypes I held about this population.

I have spent time volunteering at four agencies during the month. My experience began at the Hospitality Kitchen and the Nativity House. These agencies serve as places for homeless or low-income individuals (and really anyone who wants to) to come spend time during the day and eat a meal or two. The majority of individuals at these agencies were middle-aged men; however, I was very surprised by the number of elderly individuals utilizing these services. This saddened me, as I imagined my grandparents being in that same situation.

The second agency I worked at was the Adams Street Family Campus, a branch of the Rescue Mission. The Adams Street Family Campus provides temporary (90 day) housing for families at risk of homelessness and also families who are going through a drug/alcohol rehabilitation program (for 2 years). At this agency, I worked at an after-school program for youth ranging from kindergarten to high school. When I had previously envisioned "the homeless" of Tacoma, I never thought about the children. Although these kids have experienced hardships and sometimes devastating events already in their lives, I see an incredible amount of resilience in them-I know that they will succeed and overcome adversity.

Finally, I worked at the Food Connection, the largest food bank in Pierce County. The Food Connection runs multiple programs in the county, including the St. Leo's Food Bank (which I worked at) and the Springbrook Mobile Food Bank, which provides food to families in the impoverished Springbrook neighborhood of Lakewood. While distributing food at the bank, again many of the individuals who received food were elderly, carrying their bags while walking with walkers. Also, close to half the individuals who came through did not speak English very well because they were Eastern European or Asian immigrants. I was aware of Tacoma's population of both these groups, but I had no idea as to the extent (not to mention the number utilizing food services).

This experience showed me the face of homelessness and illustrated the diversity within this population. Whenever I thought of "homelessness" before this experience, I imagined a middle aged man with wild hair and dirty clothes standing on a street corner with a sign. At least, that's what homelessness is like in my town of Longview, Washington. However, in the last few weeks I have learned that homelessness is much more than just that. Homelessness may be children you see running around in a playground while at school or an elderly couple walking down the street. Homelessness may be the family at the grocery store buying only items that are on sale or that they have a coupon for. Most importantly, homelessness involves people. Human beings. No matter their story, their age, their gender, or their ethnicity, a homeless individual is a human being and should be treated as one. In the end, they are not very different from you and I. This is by far the most important lesson I learned during my time on the Hilltop.