This is an excerpt from a Community Immersion Project I
participated in for school. I already volunteer at the River of Life helping
Veterans find resources and get back on their feet. But in this instant I had
the opportunity to really immerse myself by spending the day with a homeless
veteran to see what it feels like to “walk in his shoes”. Although this was
only a day it was an eye opening experience and only re-enforced my desire to
serve those who served.
What is a “community”? Webster’s defines a community as “an
interacting population of various kinds of individuals (as species) in a common
location.” (Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2012). Social Workers see a community as an
interaction between the people in the community and the community itself. The
interaction between the two is a reciprocal bond. The people define their
community and in some sense the community defines the people who live in. So
how important are communities? In today’s society a community can tell much
about those who live in it. Affluent communities usually suggest that its
residents are higher on the Socio-economic scale, where as a community with
pawn shops, payday loan stores or discount grocery stores may suggest that the
residents of its community are the lower end of the same scale.
The community I had the privilege to immerse myself in was
the community of homeless veterans. This community is centered on the River of
Life Men’s Shelter located in downtown Boise, Idaho. The Boise Rescue Mission
ministry or the “Mission” as it known here in Idaho is the parent organization
that oversees the day to day operations of this facility. The Mission has been
providing services to the communities of Ada and Canyon counties since 1958.
The initial idea of my immersion project was going to be
working in the River of Life and interact with the homeless veterans there. I
soon learned that the River of Life is a short term residential area so many of
the homeless veterans stop by in the morning to get basic hygiene items, razors
and toothpaste mostly, clean up and then leave. So I decided that if I was
really going to understand them I needed to immerse myself even more into their
world. On May 15, 2012 I worked at the mission doing manual labor tasks with
some of the veterans who were staying at the shelter. This gave me the
opportunity to “get my hands dirty” and I soon began to build a bond with the
residents. We talked about our experiences in the military and many of them
were eager to tell me about their lives and the circumstances that had brought
them to situation in which the currently were in. Many of the residents seemed
just happy to have someone listen to them and treat them kindly.
I began to hear stories of brutality towards them on the streets
and how people would look down on them when they “flipped their signs”, a
process of holding a sign that usually briefly describes the situation the
person is in and also asks for money. I decided that I wanted to see it for
myself and see how people would treat me if they thought I was a homeless
veteran and not a graduate student at the University of Southern California. I
began to prepare by not shaving and allowing my facial hair to grow out, I also
did not shower for two days and at my fiancé’s request could only sleep on the
couch. I am not assuming that all homeless people smell but I wanted to get
into the part as much as I could. I have been in many situations during Field
Training Exercises (FTX) and in combat where I did not have the opportunity to
shower, so I know how a shower can make you feel revitalized and uplift your
spirit.
This is only the first part
of a 3 part series that will cover my time researching what it is like to be
homeless from the perspective of the veteran.
I hope it will bring to light this real and sadly problamatic situation
homeless vetreans find themselves in.
