Worst Wandering Wonder
I see trees of brown
Brown water too
I see them swell
In front of me and you
And I think to myself
What a wandering world of wonder
I see skies of blue
And clouds of white
The broken day
The dark scary night
And I think to myself
What a wandering world of wonder
The colors of the rainbow
So pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces
Of people going by
I see friends joining hands
Saying, "What do you need? Can I help you? How are you?"
They're really saying
I love you
I hear puppies cry
I’ve watched them grow
They'll see much more pain
Than I'll ever know
And I think to myself
What a wandering world of wonder
Yes, I think to myself
I wonder if this is the worst of the wandering I’ve ever known
I was required to attend a self-care training this week, and I was given a meditation exercise that is aimed at calming and refocusing the mind. You are to close your eyes, relax your spine, focus on your breathing, and then try to listen to the lyrics of the song “What A Wonderful World.” The goal is to get through the song without having your mind wander from the lyrics.
Yesterday I attempted to do this exercise in the midst of a moment where I was feeling overwhelmed. What ended up happening instead was each lyric of the song was changed to fit the situation that was causing my verge of a panic attack. The exercise failed me, or maybe I failed at the exercise. That happens when you find yourself in the results of the failures of a failing system. You’re face-to-face with the over 40 people who have been flooded out of their most recent place of survival. Who now have nothing, nowhere together, and were moments away from losing their very lives to the floodwaters.
Wonder how this happened?
2020: The same people were bulldozed out of their encampment on Workman Rd. without any notice.
2021-2022: The same people were forced to leave their encampments a little further down Workman Rd., but on the other side.
2023: The same people were pushed out of their camps even further down Workman Rd. A split happened where some started staying off of Fagan in the woods there. While others spread over to Hooker Rd. and started camping on an abandoned lot there.
2024: The same people who camped on the lot on Hooker Rd. were made to leave the abandoned lot, which was later bulldozed. These people then moved to the other side of Hooker Rd., closer to the creek. I said then, “Now that they’ve been pushed over there onto the flood plain, they will eventually be flooded out of there.”
January 16, 2025: A plan is put into motion to be able to house several of these people.
January 28, 2025: The federal government places a freeze on all federal funds for federal grants. Therefore halting any new housing vouchers through the Chattanooga Housing Authority. Putting a complete halt on the plan to house these individuals.
February 13, 2025: The same people are completely decimated by the raging floodwaters that engulf the encampments of those on Hooker Rd. and the encampments of those in the woods off of Fagan. The people on Hooker Rd. said that they barely made it up the hill to the road before they themselves would have been swept away. Ten people and fourteen dogs from the Fagan camp had to be rescued by emergency crews via rafts. Some of the dogs were not able to be rescued and died.
Wonder where they went, or where they will go?
The past 5 years give you the answer. Not far. They still exist and will exist in the same area. Yes, I offered transportation to the cold weather shelter last night. No, nobody went. Why? Because they can’t have their dogs with them there. No, McKamey couldn’t board them, because they already had their hands full with the dogs from the flooded camps whose owners couldn’t be accounted for at the time. They also wouldn’t go, because they wanted to be there to salvage what belongings would be left of theirs after the waters receded. They wanted to be there to do that before potential looters could swoop in first. So they wandered over to the next camps over that weren’t flooded, and everyone was on top of each other there. Wet, tired, stressed, overwhelmed, scared, angry, sick, and depressed people are now yelling, screaming, and fighting with one another. Only to then come back together and lean on one another to continue in their fight to keep wandering and wavering.
Wonder what’s been done?
We at the Regional Outreach Cooperative—ROC—Chattanooga went out with Tiffany Castleman with H3 Ministries and Caprice Wofford with Happy's Coat Street Outreach Ministry and did exactly the most we could do in situations like this. Which is to be a familiar, helping, caring, and trustworthy face not only on the good and ok days but on the worst days too.
We handed out as many socks, gloves, blankets, sleeping bags, tarps, water, flashlights, dry bags, tents, MREs, and other food items as we could. More outreach was done last night and this morning to hand out more supplies and make sure folks were accounted for. Bill Rush at Metropolitan Ministries collaborated to share who all had come through the Impact Hub over the past couple of days from these areas. Currently, as far as I can tell, there are still around 6 people that I haven’t heard have been accounted for. Homeless Healthcare’s medical unit was in the area this morning offering their typical medical care, along with encouraging people who were in the floodwaters to get a hepatitis A vaccine. We guided rescue teams to other encampments within the area that were also flooded. We yelled out the names of the people we know who stay there, only to hear the echoes of our own voices through the woods as our only response back. We dealt with the complexity of whether to take that as a good or a bad sign. We heard the drone operators respond over the radio that they were not detecting any heat signatures at each of the encampment locations we were guiding them towards. We struggled with the complexity of whether or not to take this as a good or bad sign. We heard our clients say to us, “We love you all!” We heard our own voices crack as we emotionally responded back with, “We love you all too.” In short, not enough has been done. There is no telling what other camps across the county that we visit regularly are facing similar crises or will be after more rain falls this weekend.
We do know that one of our clients in a different area was found dead and pulled from the water after appearing to have drowned late yesterday evening. They are now the 93rd person experiencing homelessness that I have known to have died. Their loss weighs heavy, because their heart was so big, and their smile was so bright, and their hugs were always so sincere. After each encounter with them I always felt that I was walking away the one who had been helped more than I had been able to help them. They were truly one of a kind. They are literally the reason that one outreach worker even began doing homeless outreach. They told me earlier:
“He was my friend before I ever even had clients. I'm so thankful to have known him. He changed everything. He's one of those dividing lines in my life—there's before meeting him, and there's after meeting him. Changed me.”
Their impact may never be world renowned, but it is no doubt world-changing. There’s no need for wondering there. I think we could all only hope the same could be said of us about how we live out our lives.
Wonder what can be done now?
Vote for those in our current local elections that you feel will have the same positive, life-changing impact that my friend did.
Love your neighbors. Give to them. Give to them what they need and ask for, not just what you think they need, or stuff you’re just trying to get rid of. Advocate for them. Don’t let other people talk poorly about people they don’t know by name or have never met.
Donate more supplies to replenish all the ones that have already been given out. The ROC has an Amazon wishlist linked to their Facebook page. You can also reach H3 and Happy’s Coat Outreach through their Facebook pages to see how you can aid in their efforts.
Consider sharing this post.
A system of community disaster response centers needs to be created. Having locations within each of the areas that we visit that are willing to be on standby and open their spaces to allow people who are struck by these disasters to no longer wander or wonder where they can go. These disaster centers could have cots, sleeping pads, blankets, pillows, dog crates, food, and water reserved and ready to utilize when these situations arise in the future.
Wonder if this is the worst?
Yes, this is the worst! I was having this debate within myself, wondering which of these disastrous moments throughout the years that I have been involved with is the worst. I have come to the conclusion that this is the worst, simply for the fact that this is the most current one. All of these disaster situations could be classified as the worst because they’re all avoidable. If housing were a human right, none of these disasters would happen. But housing is not considered a human right here right now. So this is the worst, and not if, but when the next one happens, that one will then be the worst!
#WhatAWonderfulWorld
#WorstWanderingWonder
