MORE!
“You all are so nice! Here we were thinking everyone here was so mean!”
“We have been out here for two months. We were living with my husband’s sister, and we were taking care of her because she has a lot of medical stuff going on. But as soon as her boyfriend got out of jail and came back, she kicked us out.”
“Hey! Yeah! I have been hearing about you guys but haven’t been able to meet you yet! This is so great. You’re giving me more food right now than I can get in one entire day of panhandling.”
“I have been having a really rough time. You guys have no idea how much of a difference y’all are making. This stuff to eat and a dry pair of socks have really made my day.”
“If I could get my ID, I would be ready to go back to work!”
“The other three people that stay here are all at work right now. And I am working 3rd shift now loading trucks. Trying to do what I can to get out of these woods!”
“We are from Iowa, and we came here after our daughter died. I have heard there are a ton of jobs around here. I want to work, but I am too worried to leave my wife by herself for that long.”
“I quit that stuff. I have felt awful for the past few days, but I’m not going to do it anymore!”
“I haven’t eaten in three days, so these sandwiches taste great!”
“It’s scary thinking about losing these documents I have, and then something happening to me out here, and not having any family or anything here. No one would be able to identify me.”
“You all driving around really does make a difference.”
“Can we call you every week to let you know where we are? We really look forward to this.”
“I love you guys! You are doing the right thing. I try to help people too, but it always ends up with me getting taken advantage of.”
More, more, more, more! The pressure of more is a real thing when it comes to homelessness. We hear it and see it all the time.
More affordable housing is needed.
More shelter is needed.
More funding is needed.
More supplies are needed to be kept in stock.
More outreach workers are wanted.
More meetings, talking, suggesting, and planning.
Do we slow down and spend more time with one client when we have 40 more we could be talking to today?
People who are waiting on the housing process are asking us if we have heard anything more?
More communities are choosing to criminalize homelessness rather than being brave enough to alleviate it.
Our agencies are constantly pushing for more encounters, more success, more numbers, and more data.
We keep meeting more new people every day we do outreach.
We hear of more trauma, more violence, more arrests, more worsening health conditions, more overdoses, and more people and encampments having to move. And our clients are saying they aren’t sure if they can keep going like this anymore.
This pressure of more can easily become overwhelming and more than we can handle, but there are more truths for us to remember that can lessen the pressure:
More problem-solving occurs in the places where homelessness is currently being experienced compared to places where it is only being talked about.
More patience is always the best policy.
More listening and less talking when with clients. They have more to teach us than we could ever hope to teach them.
Helping to meet one person experiencing homelessness’ needs or goals each day is more than what 98% of the population is doing.
What we do for others means more and makes more of a difference than we will ever know.
More collaboration and partnership leads to more success for everyone.
#ROCAndRoll
#ROCRetrospective
#MORE
#HandleThePressure
