The church that we a currently attending has a homeless ministry. So I decided that it would be great to go and share some of my time since I have so much of it to share. The program feeds and clothes the homeless and less fortunate in its area, as well as, allow the homeless to come in and take showers and get clean. I helped in the clothing area. First, I brought 5 bags of clothes/shoes to donate.
All I can really say about this experience is that it was just that... an experience. It wasn't bad, it was good. It was definitely eye opening. One man that stood out to me was an older man who worked with a limp and had slurred speech; he was also slightly agitated most of the time. Being in the profession that I am in, speech therapy, my heart broke just watching him. Jackie, church member that I was working with, said that they suspected that he had suffered from a stroke. It broke my heart knowing that was probably true and also because I know that he probably did not receive any speech services to help him at all.
This is what I know... a lot of homeless people don't choose to live on the streets, a succession of bad circumstances normally puts them there. Some homeless people are also are the streets by choice because they don't want to burden family and friends. Some are homeless due to mental status and their families are unable to take care of them. And some are lazy and don't want to work. But what makes them just like the rest of us is that they desire and long for the same things that the rest of us do... Love and Respect. Sometimes we find it hard to look past their dirty bodies and clothes, and even their (sometimes) ugly attitudes, but we have to realize that they are human beings just like the rest of us. I grew up in San Francisco and there are plenty of homeless people that live on the streets there. I'm guilty of walking across the street so I don't have so smell them, walking past and not looking them in the eyes because I don't want to be asked for money. But I know this for sure I have to do a better job of making sure that I show them respect and not make them feel less human because of their current unfortunate situation.
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