Outreach Van

I've been volunteering at a shelter for roughly a month and a half and tonight was the first time I was allowed out in the outreach van. It was an excellent experience!

It was just me and two burly guys who are passionate about their jobs, both recovering addicts (I emphasize this because they can relate to clients in a way that I can't), who have a LOT to say about outreach, life on the streets, and interactions with shelter staff. I got an exclusive picture of the friction between the outreach team and floor staff, a relationship that is most likely not unique to this program (I'd be interested to hear what the shelter staff say about the outreach staff... maybe this is my dissertation?). Working with the outreach team was a whole different world.

While I do feel more useful inside (inside I help in the kitchen, check people in, and clean up after dinner, whereas outside I just ride around and maybe hold open the door or talk to some people) riding in the van was an experience not to be missed. I got to go to where people live and meet them in their environment, people who won't, or aren't allowed to, come into the shelter. A few weeks ago I did outreach rounds on foot during the day with Health Care for the Homeless, which was also a great experience, but this was especially interesting because I had already met most of these clients inside the shelter, I had a relationship with the staff, and I had an understanding of the program; when I went for daytime outreach I had never met any of the clients, I officially met the outreach worker for the first time minutes before we began her rounds, and I had little understanding of the program.

The one negative is that this shift made me continue to question the value of what I do, sitting in an office 9-5 M-F with three weeks of vacation (which will be spent in Europe), sick time, holidays, and weekends off. I'm thinking that, if I can handle it, I might want to seriously consider taking up a part-time job in a shelter or on an outreach team. I want to stay close to these people, they are what matters, not the white papers or the statistics that I compile. It is the human lives and faces behind those numbers that I care so much about.