Project Homeless Connect

Today I volunteered at Project Homeless Connect. It's a project the City of Mpls. puts on twice a year. I've wanted to do it for a number of years, but didn't feel I could with my bad knees, etc. Now that I've lost weight and can walk OK, this was the year. I was overwhelmed! There were about 1,400 volunteers today and about 2,500-3,000 homeless guests that were served. To see so many people who are homeless or on the verge of being homeless is unbelievable.

While we aren't supposed to share details, I will tell you that I met and helped 2 men today. One was from Somalia and he's about 30 and has been homeless for a number of years. He came here in 1996 because his family in Somalia was killed. He had no one here. He still is alone (other than friends) and going from shelter to shelter. The other man was 55 and he's originally from New Orleans. His children are still there. He has mental health issues and some physical issues. He's been homeless for about 8 years. He was promised housing effective May 1, but he had to be in Louisiana then because his mother died, and shortly after his mother-in-law died and he wanted to be there for his children. Since he didn't show up on May 1, they revoked his housing and he has to reapply. He ended up in jail last night (for tresspassing), and so the shelter he was in wouldn't allow him back again tonight. He had no idea where he was going to sleep. He said it's not safe for an "old man" to sleep on the streets. He worried that the younger kids would beat him up and take the $13 he had in his wallet. We were able to find a place for him for tonight...and connected him with an agency who will help him going forward. But it's just a band-aid.

Two different people today told me that God will bless me for the volunteer work I was doing. Both of them were homeless people. The 55 year old guy thanked me over and over again for spending the afternoon with him and for helping him. I know I will see his face time and again when I see a homeless person and I will wonder how he's doing.

There are so many people, and about 1/2 of them are children, who are homeless. One statistic that haunted me is that a person making minimum wage in Minneapolis would have to work 80+ hours a week just to pay for rent (if there were places available for them to rent). So say a prayer tonight for those less fortunate than we are. It was an eye opening experience for me, and I get emotional when I think about it even now.