Thanks for the memories
The generosity of our supporters never fails to amaze me.
My year here at the Harry Tompson Center as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer is winding down to an end. It’s been a truly incredible experience and it has been a privilege to work at such a wonderful place with such wonderful people. I have learned a lot about myself during my time here, but I have learned a lot more about the issue of homelessness here in New Orleans and across the nation. It has been at once an eye-opening, sobering, and joyful experience to work with the unhoused population of this inspiring city.
I moved down to the Big Easy last June during a tropical storm. I wasn’t sure what I’d gotten myself into. I was about to start working at a homeless shelter, something quite foreign to me, in a city I’d only ever seen in the movies. I will freely admit that I began my job with certain ideas about the unhoused based on stereotypes and assumptions. I was surprised and delighted to find that many of these notions turned out to be wrong. My time interacting with guests has given me a new and more wholesome perspective on the issue of homelessness.
Talking with guests has allowed me to hear their stories and what put them on a path to homelessness. I learned that everyone has their own reason for being where they are today, and it is frankly quite frightening how close even I could be to homelessness at any given time. I learned that there is shockingly little standing between a person and the streets. It could be a death in the family, losing a job, or even just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. For many of our guests that I was able to talk to, it was a devastatingly short and slippery slope, often begun by something beyond their control.
Helping a guest in need to find the best route to his destination.
However, it was equally surprising to me how optimistic many of our guests are. Even when it seems that times are as tough as they could get, many continue to have faith that things can only get better. We often view the unhoused as having nothing, or next to it, and while they may not have much in terms of material possessions, it turns out they are wealthy in other ways. Wisdom, faith, love, and beauty are abundant here at the HTC. Our guests read, draw, paint, write, sing, and dance their way through the day. They discuss philosophy, religion, politics, and regale us with incredible, hilarious, and awe-inspiring stories. Above all, they view life through a unique lens, and many have found some happiness even in such harrowing circumstances.
That’s not to say that homelessness is all sunshine and roses. Far from it. It has been both saddening and frustrating to witness how government policies and greed have failed so many people, who are then left to fend for themselves. I have witnessed many forms of mental illness up close, as I never have before, and the experience has served as a solemn reminder of the lengths we still must go in order to properly care the country’s disabled. Many in the unhoused community lack support systems that I have taken for granted my entire life, and the draw of addiction can be even harder to break when you don’t have the resources to combat it.
And so, my year at the HTC has been an endlessly interesting one. It has completely reshaped my opinions on homelessness, and it has allowed me to explore both the positive attitudes of our guests and the negative circumstances they have found themselves in. This country has a long way to go in the fight against homelessness, and I have seen that housing truly is a human right that all are entitled to.
I have been extremely lucky to not only be afforded this experience to dive headfirst into one of the most stigmatized issues in society, but I have been able to do so in a marvelous environment with a superb team of people. The staff at the Harry Tompson Center have not only become my friends, but they have truly become my family here in New Orleans. I will certainly miss all the guests I get to see every day, but I know that they are in great hands. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my journey.