Blog 4: Coalition for the Homeless

            Today I awoke fully equipped with eight hours of sleep to successfully go about my day. After yet another exciting van ride with the group, we received our final assignment before preparing to depart for Coalition for the Homeless.

            Entering Coalition, one could immediately sense that this experience would be different than the coffee and hotdog experience in the park. The woman who greeted us filled us in on a number of facts and statistics about the Coalition that further debunked plenty of myths commonly mentioned in the same breath as the word “homeless”. All in all while touring the shelter, it was, on the surface, a clean and decent place to stay. At the same time, as I pictured the people adorning the pictures on the walls having to live day in and day out there, I cannot imagine life in their shoes. The idea of growing up in a homeless shelter does not match the idyllic childhood that every child deserves to have.

            When it came time to make jewelry with some of the women at the Coalition, both of the women near me were evidently far more experienced in making jewelry than I and produced artful bracelets. On my left, a number of us were entertaining and being entertained by a four year old with perfectionist tendencies. The little guy clearly had a vision for what his lizard and butterfly bead pieces were meant to look like, and made sure we knew it. The energy and CEO potential he brought to the table has made me reflect on how his current situation might hinder all that he and kids just like him are capable of. With all of the other situations we have seen on the intercession and read about in the book, there are plenty of children like him out there with enormous potential to attain what our society deems as “success,” but that situation might prevent. While I lack any genuinely plausible solutions to these situations, I hope that as a whole our community can work towards finding them. I can only imagine that with projects like Habitat for Humanity and the work that the Coalition for the Homeless does, we are making steps in the right direction that will hopefully start to move even faster.