This month our director Irit was invited to come on the new “Inside the Abbey” podcast started by our friends at St.David’s Episcopal Church. Listen to Irit as she discusses a little about her life; as well as, the intersection of spirituality, mindfulness, and serving the population of people experiencing homelessness!
We started the year with an assumption that we would keep serving our un-housed neighbors just like we have done for over twenty years. We surely could not have imagined that life as we knew it would be changed radically by a virus that made it unsafe to gather in groups. We started the year being a navigation center, service provider, a church, and overall a community that would meet our brothers and sisters right where they are to help them make progress through our support, guidance, advocacy, compassion, and professional knowledge. In early March the whole country came to a standstill as it tried to figure out how to respond to the pandemic that made our previous way of operation potentially detrimental to one’s life.
A lot of the world has moved digitally, especially during the pandemic. Public libraries used to be the go to place for most of our neighbors to access the internet, but unfortunately they are closed. Other agencies and resource centers also used to be open for use throughout the day but only a handful still allow people to drop in to use the computer. The closure of offices and government agencies has forced them to move essential services online; from social security to food stamps, almost all services people experiencing homelessness rely on have moved to either the phone or on the web. This has created a massive barrier for our neighbors as it is incredibly difficult to access these forms and websites.
Something that a lot of us take for granted is our identification. Whether we keep it in our wallet, a safe, or an old shoe box, most of us have ready access to it when we need it. That is not a luxury most of our neighbors have unfortunately. IDs get lost, birth certificates get damaged, or your bag gets stolen and you have to get them all back. It’s another unfortunate barrier to living life on the streets. In many cases having these IDs is integral to accessing resources. You need them to check mail, enter shelters, and apply for benefits as well as housing resources in many cases. Luckily we are able to not only help people apply for or make appointments to get their documents, we also help pay for them.
Mondays at the Trinity Center can be a little hectic, but it is an important day for many of our neighbors. People begin lining up early before our doors open so they can get a 7 day bus pass which will take them to their medical appointments, their jobs, maybe to class, and everything else they may need to do; we don’t judge. A bus pass can make getting around our sprawling city much easier and sometimes it is the thing that gets you from one appointment to another on time, making them an essential for many. Unfortunately we can only give 80 every Monday.
