by: Brooke Haseltine, GSHFS volunteer

Today is my last day at Good Shepherd Housing and Family Services for a long while. I wanted to use this blog to articulate my thanks for everyone who’s helped me out over the past two weeks. I will miss you all and will remember what I’ve learned here at Good Shepherd. Volunteering is something many of us look at as tedious and time consuming. In my two weeks here I’ve learned quite the opposite. The forty hours I’ve spent here at Good Shepherd Housing have been informative and have changed my outlook on homelessness in America and in other countries. I have talked to clients who have lost their homes, I have interviewed graduates from Good Shepherd’s ABC Program, I have researched theories to end homelessness, and I have written on possible solutions. It has been a wonderful forty hours and I wouldn’t trade any minute of it.

I’m seventeen. All I am supposed to care about is Zac Efron, Gossip Girl, and the occasional Twilight Movie. Good Shepherd has opened my eyes to a world that most teenagers don’t ever have the privilege to see. I’ve learned about the hard work that the staff put into finding homes for people in need. I’ve learned how many lives Good Shepherd has positively impacted, and how many things we take for granted in our own lives. Almost half of the clients I called on our Emergency Services list were not reachable because their phones had been disconnected, and a large number of them told me their electricity had been cut off. The majority of people I called work all day and still don’t have enough to pay rent. It is amazing to think that we walk around every day with a roof over our heads and lights in every room and we don’t think about how they got there. Good Shepherd has made me think about it. So, my parting words are: thank you Good Shepherd, for making me think! Good Luck this July, and I’ll see you in August!

A brief thought. What if every person in the world gave one dollar to help the homeless? Right now there are 6,917,957,635 people in the world, and roughly three more people are born every second. In the time it takes you to read these first two sentences, it’s been about five seconds, right? Now there are 6,917,957,650 people in the world. Right now (if you ignore any other seconds since you read the previous sentence) if every person gave the equivalent of one US dollar we would have $ 6,917,957,650 to give to the homeless. That is a lot of money. There are 100,000,000 homeless people on earth, and with $ 6,917,957,650, we could give each of them $ 69.18. If every person in the world gave the equivalent of two U.S. dollars, there would be $13,835,915,300 to use for the homeless and we would be able to give each homeless individual $ 138. 36. How many US citizens could buy a house for $138.36? The answer is: no one. However, would that money be helpful to them in some way? Yes. It is hard to think globally about homelessness, because not everyone sees it in their own country or state or city as it is. Because of the current economy, most of us believe we have our own money to worry about. But while we worry about our money, the number of homeless people in the world has gotten so great that even is if every person in the entire world gave one dollar, we would not even be close to ending homelessness.

Currently, there are 306,000,000 people in the United States. Of those people, roughly 134,372,678 are required fill out tax returns based on their annual income. The last count of the number of homeless people in the US, in 2005, was 744,000. Every year, each American family meeting federal income reporting requirements receives an IRS Income Tax form. On the front page of these forms there is a small box that you can check if you want to give three dollars of your tax refunds to political campaigns. If checking that box meant giving that money to end homelessness, and every tax payer in the United States checked that box on their Income Tax form, $541.86 would go to each homeless individual in America. If every single US citizen checked that box, regardless of their age, $ 12, 096 would be given to each homeless individual. With $12, 096, some families could pay rent for months. That amount of money might not seem significant to some, but it is more than many families on the verge of homelessness make in a year. If that check was written to every homeless person in America- we would make a difference. Furthermore, if each major World power came up with a similar plan, we could make a difference globally.

So, on this rainy day I have a penny (or dollar) for your thoughts:

What if we stopped thinking charity, and started thinking in population?

By: Brooke Haseltine, GSHFS Volunteer

Summer is here. Sometimes it is hard to believe, given the hectic nature of our schedule, or Mother Nature’s persistent rain. But, really, open your window. You will feel the heat, and you will see children who would normally be in school, now running around the neighborhood, along with teenagers in tank tops and shorts that we all really know are too short. You will hear the sounds of water splashing at a near by pool, and the flip flops of countless women smack against the pavement. You will smell the humidity, and occasionally the smoke from a barbecue. It is easy to get lost in summer. It is easy to forget everything but your sun-tan lotion and your new sunglasses. It is easy to forget that for some, summer is characterized by the same struggle faced during all the other months of the year – finding and maintaining affordable housing. It is easy to forget that it only takes a little to make a difference in someone else’s life.

So far this week, my primary job has been to call different clients on our Emergency Services list and ask them how they are doing. I ask them if they are living in the same apartment, if their eviction was cancelled, in addition to other standard questions. Today, after almost two hours of calling houses, cell phones and faxing information to landlords, I received a call back from a man who I’d left a message for earlier. We talked for a while, and he explained that his family had moved apartments due to a surgery he had three months ago. When I asked him how they were doing now, he exclaimed: “Wonderful! Thanks to you people, everything is wonderful! I pray to God everyday that there will be more people like you.” I was touched by his enthusiasm, and after he finished answering the survey questions, I thanked him and told him to have a nice day. I’m not sure if he didn’t hear me, or if he didn’t care, but he kept talking. After another two minutes of thanking me, and inviting me and the whole staff for his house for lunch, I tried again, to say “good-bye” to this grateful man. I was unsuccessful. It took me two more tries until I finally hung up the phone.

The total time of the call was almost ten minutes. In those minutes, I was invited to lunch, and thanked in a million ways. We talked about his ability to speak English- I thought his was good, but he said his daughter’s was better. He told me how grateful his wife was- that she was making personal visits to every person that had helped their family. He told me how smart his daughter was, and how much Good Shepherd Housing and Family Services had given them as a family. Between every sentence, he stopped and professed his undying thanks. He continued to repeat: “you don’t understand…you people are wonderful…you help so much…” until the last second of our call, during which he hung up with a “God Bless you all”.

I have never been thanked so profusely in my life. This gentleman’s gratitude and his new found financial situation has not only illustrated the importance of Good Shepherd Housing’s mission but has also left me with a sense that a few good people can truly make a difference. It’s hard thing to remember when we are busy with school, homework, extracurricular activities. It is equally hard to remember, when we are busy planning our summer vacations, trips to the pool, or just enduring Virginia’s heat and humidity. People can make a difference. It’s amazing to me that a simple phone call could warrant that much affection and gratitude- but it happens.

This summer, I challenge you to remember something before you dive into a pool, or ride a beautifully curved wave. I challenge you to remember that the little things make a difference. If you’re going swimming, invite your little brother along (even though he really gets on your nerves). If you are at church, put the five dollar bill in the collection basket instead of the one. If you haven’t called your grandmother in a really long time, pick up the phone. If you see a neighbor, who needs help, lend a hand-even something as effortless as holding the door open for another person is a gesture of kindness. Doing unto others as you would have them do unto you is indeed that simple, and it’s something to remember while you’re putting your sun-tan lotion on and relaxing this summer.

(This blog is brought to you by Brooke Haseltine, a GSHFS summer volunteer)

A few days ago, my younger brother, who is finishing sixth grade, came in to our home with an amazing proclamation. “I want an I-phone, or at least an I-touch, because they are cool and everyone else has one.” When my dad and I told him that, no, he did not need one, he only repeated: “You don’t understand –everyone has one.” When we shook our heads again, he preceded to name, in alphabetical order, every student in his grade who had an I-phone, or I-touch, or some other ridiculously priced gadget of that nature. I’ll admit it was pretty crazy how many twelve year olds had these $300 phones. Yesterday, I started to volunteer at Good Shepherd Housing. My first job was to call previous clients, see how they were doing, and ask them a few questions about their current housing situation. The first three numbers I called were disconnected, and the next three were answered by friends or family of the client, who was at work. Across the more than twenty phone calls and standard set of questions, there was no distinct pattern in client responses. Here are some examples:

Question One: “Was the eviction stopped?”

Most times, the answer was yes…but not all of the time.

Question Two: “Are you still living in your apartment?”

Again the responses varied. Some people were in the same apartment, others were moving, and some had left and were now living with their famlies

Question Three: “Do you feel less likely to be evicted now?”

Several people said that although they feel safe for this month, they don’t know how they’ll come up with next month’s rent. Others said that thanks to Good Shepherd, they do feel secure. I couldn’t count the number of people that answered “I don’t know” or “what do you mean: secure?”

Question Four: “Do you have any comments about our work?”

Nearly all of the clients made comments like: “wonderful” and “very helpful”. One woman let out a whoop and exclaimed “I was absolutely overwhelmed. God Bless you!” Many of them thanked me for calling them, and for having faith in them.

Although I was glad some of the clients were doing well, by the end of my first day, I realized that I would never buy an I-pod touch, or an I-phone, or any other unnecessary item-even if everyone had them. Because, the truth is, in spite of what some social circles may say or demonstrate, “everyone” does not have them. Of the six billion people in the world, 16.6% of them have I-phones. I-touch users make up 15.5% of the world wide population. However, there are 100 million homeless people in the world. There are one billion people with poor or insufficient housing in the world. Trust me- they do not have I-phones. The people I called are struggling with keeping their regular phone bills paid, along with their electricity and monthly rent. They struggle to afford everyday items that we take for granted, and most of them don’t know the sense of security that we feel in our own homes.

This is a huge world we live in- it’s massive…and it is not ruled by Apple device users. We have better things we can be doing with our money, like helping working families afford basic housing. I promise I’m not condemning all electronics users. I am however, reminding people that in the grand scheme of things, the newest electronics really are as about important to real life as their increasingly small size.