Post 7 – Shelter

The old warehouse that is the shelter on 2100 Lakeside is an uninviting structure even to volunteers who visit willingly.  Many of the residents don’t like it because, for many, it reminds them of prison.  The old, yellow brick façade, grey stone entry-way, and dilapidated fence that lines the asphalt “yard” looks impending to any passerby, especially when there are homeless walking outside or relaxing along the wall, enjoying the weather.  But inside this warehouse not designed to house people, there are kind hearted, misunderstood, educated people who simply need a place to stay to get back on their feet, get a job, or find another place to stay.  From my conversations with people during lunch and in the computer lab, I hear not only what ideas they have for social enterprises, but their life stories, where they went wrong, or how they ended up in 2100. One of the biggest populations that the shelter serves is the re-entry population (people who need to again assimilate to society after a prison term), but from the people I have talked with, they are not the homeless thugs we imagine roaming the street.  Many of them are thoughtful and educated and did what they did as a result of emotional of financial distress and saw no other options.  Some of the residents are hardened from time spent on the streets, but others are new comers; people as vulnerable and as scared as I was the first time I passed the line of homeless waiting to get into the shelter at 3:00pm when it opens to people who don’t reside in it.