Conversation, Community, and Coronavirus at HTC
by Christian Frederickson, Jesuit Volunteer 2019-2020
I have been working at the Harry Tompson Center as a Jesuit Volunteer for more than seven months now. When I’m not performing my official duties, which include cleaning showers and washing towels, my favorite part of every day is chatting with guests.
I cherish these conversations—it’s true that I’ll never pass up an excuse to be away from the laundry room for a few minutes—most importantly, perhaps, because they make me feel at home, both at the Harry Tompson Center and in this wonderful city.
In many of these exchanges I’m lucky enough to hear the guests’ life stories, and maybe even share a bit of mine in return. I’m rarely happier than when I hear that someone has gotten a new job or found a place to live. Of course, the news isn’t always good: people lose jobs and apartments, too, and sometimes worse. But it is through these conversations that I grow to know and love our guests more than I ever could if I were just cleaning their showers and giving them toiletries or socks. These conversations, and the relationships they nurture, are undoubtedly the most meaningful part of my job, and I couldn’t be more grateful to be a part of the Harry Tompson Center community.
Current events are another frequent topic of conversation. After just a few minutes of talking each morning, I have a pretty good sense of what is on people’s minds. Hardly a day went by during football season when the Saints weren’t mentioned, and people also loved to bring up LSU (especially while teasing me about the perennially underachieving football team from my alma mater, Notre Dame). Last month, I was guided through my first Mardi Gras by people who have been living here for six decades. People still frequently bring up the Hard Rock Hotel collapse that killed three people and has not been completely addressed, five months later.
These days, of course, there is one thing on everyone’s mind: the novel coronavirus outbreak that has quickly become a global pandemic. It has injected a great deal of uncertainty into our lives and those of our guests, many of whom are among the most vulnerable people in the city. The outbreak has already affected daily life at the Harry Tompson Center and will continue to do so. We are without many of our usual volunteers and have made some significant changes to the ways in which we provide various services.
Our guests, however, remain. They are the reason that this place exists in the first place, and they will be here long after this outbreak has faded from our memory. In the midst of all this uncertainty, one thing is for sure: the Harry Tompson Center will continue to be a place where people can find conversation and community (and a shower and fresh pair of socks), no matter what else is happening.
