What if we cared?

​I recently joined Maryhaven on their outreach to local homeless camps around Columbus.  Maryhaven is a treatment center that also provides crisis care and homeless outreach.  Maryhaven routinely visits homeless camps, offering shelter and the first steps to recovery and self-sufficiency.  

​These services by Maryhaven and others are much needed as homelessness in Columbus has been on the rise despite a booming economy and low jobless rates (Columbus Dispatch, 2018).  When the economy is strong and unemployment is low, it’s easy to think anyone who is homeless must not want to work or have a roof over their head.  During my day with Maryhaven, I did not encounter individuals that met this description.  The kind and warm souls we met wanted and needed the help that Maryhaven provides every single day.

Would you go?

​​We go about our lives following daily patterns, sticking to the routines we know and are comfortable with.  But what if for a moment we take a look under the bridge, along the freeway, in the often overlooked spaces of society?  What would you find?  Who…would you find?

What would you find?

For a few hours I did exactly this, following Maryhaven’s outreach team led by Thom, off the beaten path to find people in need of shelter.  What did we find?  In areas obscured by vegetation and woods, we found entire communities of homeless people. 

​Yes, entire communities!  Except for the tents and make-shift shelters, these communities were like any other community.  People knew each other by name, looked out for one another, and shared together in hardships as well as happiness and hope.

“Outreach.  Outreach.  Would you like shelter” Thom and Leon would call out as we entered the area, not to startle people but letting them know we were in the area and our intentions.  Some were out away from their shelters at the time, but for those who were there they were eager for the invitation.

Who would you meet?  
​
James was one of the first people we met, and he seemed genuinely happy to see us.  “Thank you for coming out here to check on us.”  He was in disbelief that people were spending their time to come check on them.  James had constructed a shelter made of tents and tarps nestled just beyond a fence line.  He was in his early thirties, and taking care of a younger brother who was an amputee.  After both of their parents died, they moved up from North Carolina in hopes of finding work and starting over.

We offered James to come back to the van with us to get some winter clothing and blankets.  The temperature was freezing that day!  Knowing that many of the people we met would be insufficiently dressed for the cold weather, I tried to do without my hat and gloves for as long as possible.  I didn’t last very long at all.  Fortunately, we were able to provide James with enough hats, glove liners and winter gloves, socks, and warm blankets for both he and his brother.  I could see a sense of sincere gratitude on James’ face as he received these items. 

What happened next was just as much of a revelation for me as the trip into the woods itself.  Thom wanted to make sure James was aware of resources available to help them.  Thom ran through a list of about ten different services to which James said he was not aware of a single one.
It’s easy to assume that in this “information age” everyone would be able to just “Google” their problems and find all the available resources to help them without any difficulty.  But how many people are we missing when we assume this?  How many people could be helped out of homelessness, or even avoid homelessness altogether, if there was someone to point them toward already available resources at a critical time? 

What can we do to help spread the word and show that we care?

What would we do differently if we cared?  

As we spoke with people that day and invited them to apply for shelter, their stories were very similar.  These were smart, articulate, kind people.  Many previously had great jobs; one was even a licensed minister.  Then something happened:  an illness, a job loss, a move to another city that didn’t work out.  Everyone just wanted a return to normalcy, a chance to have a stable life once more.  As one person responded to our questioning, “Yes, I’m tired of living like this!  I want an appointment (to be approved for shelter housing) right now!”
​
My favorite moment that day came when we met Ricardo, who was living in a sleeping bag under the cover of a bridge.  As with the others, he gladly accepted the offer to apply for shelter.  Then we offered him winter clothing.  He told us that he already had a hat and gloves but he needed socks.  I handed him a pair of socks fresh from the package, and Ricardo’s face lit up as if I handed him an amazing Christmas gift!  Even in the cold, it warmed my heart to see such joy on his face receiving those socks!

What if we cared? 

What if we cared enough to help, and give our time to lift someone else up?

What if we cared enough to hold accountable and require the same of our elected officials?

What if we cared enough to give someone a second chance who may have made a wrong decision?

I wonder what would happen…if we all cared.​

---

Acknowledgements: 
- Thank you Thom Adams and Maryhaven Columbus for guiding our trip into the community
- Thank you Walmart (Lewis Center location) for your generous donation of winter hats and gloves