Yesterday was pretty boss.
I used to volunteer at the Atlanta Children's Shelter when I lived there and I loved the experience. Since then I have been looking for a similar opp to be a part of right now. It seemed as if alot of the volunteer opportunities that I wanted to be a part of had a shitload of hoops to jump through before you could actually help someone. That, or they were only interested in your money and not your time. So when I finally found out about Stand Up For Kids, I was stoked. They are a nonprofit that provide resources to homeless youth across the country. I said I would definitely get involved with them because it seemed like their only intention was to help. Period.
About two weeks ago I recieved an email from them announcing an orientation type of meeting for interested volunteers so I jumped right on it. I learned a lot about the organization and really felt some kind of connection and a sense of sincerity on behalf of the administrators of the meeting. I was sold pretty easily. So when I recieved a text this week about doing some outreach, I was totally down.
Yesterday me and a couple of volunteers met in the park at Union Square to try to get the name of the organization out and possibly get information from the homeless there on where to find more kids. We passed out flyers, cards, clothes and food to the homeless people that were scattered around the park and listened to their stories. It was a mild experience being that it was around 10 am but it was still a lot to take in and think about.
There were mostly adult homeless people there and they told us that alot of the kids usually live 'underground' and don't come out until after midnite. I gathered that the kids probably tried to remain as invisible as society wished they actually were. When I went to see Kelly Cutrone the other day she randomly let off about how nonchalantly we ignore the homeless and dismiss them as either drug addicts or mental patients when often time, they are regualr people who fell on hard times. Alot of the young ones are leaving fucked up situations at home only to move on to even more fucked up situations on the streets. Its a lose/lose for alot of these kids.
I overheard another volunteer talking to a kid who wasn't homeless but apparently had a homeless friend who must have had issues staying in the shelters and was now moving from couch to couch. It was a reality check for me. Homeless is a very broad term. It doesn't just mean that a person sleeps on the train or on park benches. You have some homeless kids who just 'spend the night' at a different house every night. You also have the 'surviving' homeless, like me in a way, who are only one paycheck away from homeless. Its crazy because most people feel like they are too loved, too smart or too whatever else to end up like that but you never know.
The older homeless people at the park also told us where we would most likely find homeless youth and that we need not go without the company of a man. At first, I was thinking, Dude, don't play this sexist bullshit with me, but the man that was most adamant about it looked like one bad ass motherfucker. I figured he must know what the hell he's talking about, so I left it alone despite feeling very much like I'd eff somebody up if they even tried...
There was this kid there (not a homeless one) that was filming this outing for a school project he was doing on homelessness in NYC. He asked me what made me want to do it and all I could manage to muster is 'I don't know'. That seems to be my answer to everything these days but its the truth. I don't know. I guess it gives me peace knowing that I am trying to be a part of the solution and not the problem. Doing stuff like this also helps me keep things in perspective. It helps me remember the things that actually matter in life when I get absorbed in my own little superficial shit from time to time.
http://www.facebook.com/SUFKNY
newyork@standupforkids.org
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