Homelessness should not equal hopelessness - Stories, Photos, and Hope.

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday, Volunteer log: Today I showed up at 6:47 AM and the beds were almost clear of the floor. It's an interesting fast paced dance of the clients in the morning that feels almost choreographed. Some are picking up the mats / beds off the floor while others grab the pillows. There's no delineation between whose bed is who's and the same applies to the pillows. It all gets packed up into adjacent storage. While this is happening round tables are being rolled out along with the chairs. It's like that Disney movie where the candlesticks and plates dance around singing. It's pretty impressive and it only lasts about 10 minutes. This morning I jumped right in helping to cook a large flat top of scrambled eggs. The equipment is nice but the kitchen is long and tight so you have to stay close to what your doing so the other volunteers can get around you. It only takes a couple minutes to finish up a large batch of eggs. Today there was also ...

Happy Monday, Not a big update today but I will be at the Men's shelter on Tuesday and Friday this week serving breakfast. I'm trying to connect with a few people so I can come back and talk to them about their stories. Something else dawned on me this morning. Most people like myself have access to food anytime we want. If at home we simply walk to the kitchen and make a meal or a snack or walk up to a store or restaurant while working in the city. We really think nothing of it. While I'm sure every person at the shelter is enormously grateful for the meals they are given can you imagine what it's like to have food given to you at only at certain places in a city and at certain times? Imagine there is no refrigerator,  no power to cook, no place to call home. The panic, the stress, the embarrassment one must feel. And we think our lives are stressful. More later this week. Robert

Happy Friday, I should probably give some form of a mission statement, a motivation for the actions I'm taking and I'll work on that, but for now I have three reasons I can think of. I've started this mission and to be honest it's all falling right into place, which is how life generally works for me, but this is not the case for everyone. 1) I've made comments on social media that have been sympathetic to homeless people and I've been attacked by those who want to generalize a very complex problem. My stance has always been there's a story behind every person and that's the story I want to bring to the surface. 2) I've worked at home for well over six years now and feel isolated from the World. Sure I help my co-workers but I haven't done anything positive to help people beyond closing a sale, beyond explaining some tech that's going to be gone in 5 years anyway. I need to engage and help those in a situation I don't fully understa...

Just finished my volunteer training for the Everett Gospel Mission so first step is complete. I will receive a login this week so I can sign up for activities. There's quite a bit of buzz around my cooking background and the folks at the men's shelter want to get me introduced to EJ, she runs the kitchen currently. As luck would have it tonight just before I sat down for training a couple new positions opened for a photographer and a videographer so there's some other options more in line with some of the things I had hoped to do. I'll gladly help cook meals but let me sit down and talk to the men and shoot photos? Now we're talking! Anyway I've decided to blog this experience so I can share some of the things I see, feel, and connect with. Best, Robert