We All Count
If You Look, You'll See the Need, and You'll See Those Ready to Help.
This morning, well over 1,000 volunteers were dispersed throughout San Diego County. In the early morning hours, volunteers were counting, surveying, and offering supplies to people living outside and in shelters not suitable for human habitation. The We All Count annual effort is an indispensable piece of providing services to those in need. The Regional Task Force on Homelessness organizes the effort, and you can learn more about it on their website.
I was one of the volunteers this morning. I, along with two other volunteers (a county employee and a Point Loma student) searched neighborhoods in Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Peñasquitos, and Poway. This was my 7th time volunteering for the count. I have participated in this national effort in San Diego, Seattle, and Honolulu. This time felt different.
On my first several experiences with the annual count, I was deployed into downtown areas and large urban city parks. When you are assigned to areas like this, you typically walk the streets as encounters with the unhoused are common. The experience was something like the image above. Most of the people I encountered would be considered "chronically" homeless and knew and/or were known by, local service providers. They were people who could not hide their homelessness.
This year, the assigned region was sprawling and required our team to drive from parking lots to parks. As we made our way through some of the wealthy neighborhoods in the County, we did not see tents on the side of the road or overloaded shopping carts on sidewalks. We had to look a little harder to see those experiencing homelessness. The unhoused were sleeping in cars in the dark edges of parking lots. Windshields steamed from warmth breath, towels hung internally from passenger windows to keep some semblance of privacy, and seats fully reclined into a makeshift bed. Shopping centers with grocery stores, gyms, and coffee shops were home to the unhoused who did not want to be found. I contend that the experience of homelessness is about much more than not having adequate shelter. It is also about having the experience of disconnection, vulnerability, shame, and fear.
ISN's Rotational Shelter is a vital and necessary program for those experiencing homelessness and for those volunteers who host and run the shelter. The program provides shelter, meals, case management, and so much more. It also addresses the emotional impact of being unhoused. The hospitality offered by compassionate and inclusive congregations provides safe points of connection and soothes the shame. The unhoused know they have found a sort of sanctuary within these faith-filled communities. As a staff member at ISN, I have the opportunity to hear about the experience of Rotational Shelter volunteers as they deepen their knowledge of homelessness and their understanding of the unhoused community. I am proud of and inspired by the congregations who open their doors to the situationally homeless (ie individuals or families who have become homeless after experiencing a crisis). These are often the individuals and families sleeping in their cars and tucked in the corners of parking lots. While the image of the chronically homeless is more pervasive, it is actually documented that more than half of the homeless community are situationally homeless (some studies say up to 81% are situationally homeless). Generally, these individuals and families can again find stable housing once a specific situation in their life is addressed.
This morning reminded me that the experience of homelessness lives in every neighborhood; it just might be harder to see in some. And, this morning reminded me that there are amazing congregations who will welcome and uplift those who feel isolated, uncertain, and afraid. The Rotational Shelter Program works to transform lives. Contact Manolo Guillen, Rotational Shelter Program Manager, to learn more (manolo@interfaithshelter.org).
