Effects Of Volunteering In The Homeless

To my surprise, I found myself somewhere I never visualized myself being on a Friday night, actually, a place I never expected I would spend any night to be exact, surrounded by fifty or sixty men; of all different races, ages, and religions. I had overwhelming feelings of reconsideration and anxiety flowing through my body. I was wondering if these men would look at me different because of how I dressed or spoke. Nevertheless, I tried to convince myself everybody here was equal, and that I was not superior to the men here were. Amazingly, after my first few encounters while volunteering at a homeless shelter, it was quickly made apparent that everybody here was in fact parallel. The fact that these men dwelled in a homeless encampment …show more content…
Right from the beginning, I noticed a pungent odor lingering in the air. Ironically, the smell reminded me of my Uncle Alonzo, who would often live out of his car or vacant structures around the city. I was so nervous I was basically shaking, not paying attention I had almost tripped and fell over a homeless man sleeping in the lobby. I would later find out this gentleman would be the one who I would be working side by side with the majority of the night. Scanning the environment around me, I was caught off guard by the look of the building on the inside. Despite the odor that was becoming less noticeable, the structure was clean and neatly organized. I had envisioned the walls plastered with spray paint and graffiti, with cockroaches the size of my son running rampant. This was one of the initial signs of my opinions evolving on the past preconceptions I had about the homeless and the shelters in which they …show more content…
For an October evening, it was fairly warm and the sun was still overhead. Several of the men were engaged in a pick-up basketball game. While observing the game, I was taken back by how athletic these men were. I derived the notion that these men and I might have a great deal in common, since they spoke, looked, and enjoyed the same activities that I enjoyed. Gazing around the perimeter, the beautiful scenery inside of the property caught my attention. Faith Mission is in the middle of the projects on the east side of Columbus. Regardless of being encompassed by a run-down neighborhood, the shelter seemed to be the diamond in the rough. The bricks on the building had a yellow and white criss-cross pattern, the flowers in the garden looked well-manicured, and there looked like what was a newly renovated jungle gym for neighborhood children to play in. At that moment, my mother’s words hit me like a freight train, “Never judge anything until you have all the