Annual Report – 2011
Posted on December 31, 2011
Posted on December 31, 2011
Posted on December 15, 2011
As you celebrate the holidays in the warmth and comfort of your homes this season, consider this:
57-year-old Billy Clayton of Toms River, NJ was found dead of apparent hypothermia in his makeshift tent last week. 49-year-old Charles Tompkins of Seattle also froze to death. 56-year-old Robert Lester Bunch died of hypothermia in Santa Barbara and was the thirty-first homeless individual to die in that city this year.
According to the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH):
“Seven hundred people experiencing or at risk of homelessness are killed from hypothermia annually in the United States. Forty-four percent of the nation’s homeless are unsheltered. From the urban streets of our populated cities to the remote back-country of rural America, hypothermia – or subnormal temperature in the body – remains a leading, critical and preventable cause of injury and death among those experiencing homelessness.”
Each year as winter approaches and the temperatures begin to drop, our country’s homeless population faces the difficult choice of seeking temporary shelter or enduring the bitter cold. On the one hand, shelters lack space & resources during the cold months. Chronically homeless individuals may resist any arrangement that requires them to follow rules or sleep among large groups. Theft of personal belongings is a common complaint. People with mental illness or substance abuse disorders often have difficulty coping in shelter situations. And the underlying causes of their homelessness ultimately are not being adequately addressed.
On the other hand, the average winter temperature in New Jersey is 34 degrees with an average annual snowfall of 23 inches. In Washington State the average temperature in winter is 33 degrees. Although snowfall averages are low in Seattle, it rains an average of 158 days out of the year. And despite Santa Barbara’s relatively mild weather, the past two years have been unusually cold and rainy. When miserable weather conditions are compounded by inadequate clothing, malnutrition, chronic infections, and substance abuse, the susceptibility to hypothermia increases substantially.
Can you imagine being faced with the kinds of choices that homeless individuals have to make every day just to survive? Virginia Supportive Housing offers a better way. The housing that VSH provides is neither temporary nor transitional. Our tenants sign leases, pay rent, and can stay as long as they wish. And their access to support services allows them to regain their independence and dignity. Don’t we all crave the warmth and comfort that comes from having our own home?
With the onset of winter, hundreds of unsheltered people will die preventable deaths this season. To find out what you can do, click here.
Posted on December 6, 2011
This blog was written by VSH’s volunteer resources manager, Alison Jones-Nassar.
Whether we admit it or not, homeless people can cause us to feel instinctively afraid. Not long ago, a VCU student wrote to me seeking permission to photograph some of our clients for a school assignment whose topic was fear. “Unfortunately, everyone I know is afraid of homeless people… [This explains] the general…reaction of walking past the homeless without making eye contact…or just plain ignoring them all together….I can personally understand this ‘fear’, as I have possessed it too, until recently. It’s saddening…how people with homes will act as if the homeless are simply dogs. I am glad to have broken out of that shell of irrational fear.”
What is the source of this “irrational” fear? For many, I think it has to do with the belief that homelessness only happens to “other” people. It happens to people who somehow deserve it, people whose poor life choices and anti-social behaviors have resulted in understandable consequences, people who are not like us or anyone we know.
But what if your mother was homeless, or your brother or daughter? Would it change how you think about homelessness?
Would it change your perceptions about people who are homeless? Would it help you become more compassionate about them and less afraid?
There is a lady who lives in one of our properties (I’ll call her Shelley) who has a lot in common with my mom. Both grew up in impoverished households with abusive alcoholic fathers. The volatility and cruelty they experienced as children caused them to develop a mentality common among abuse victims, drawing them subconsciously toward abusive personalities most of their lives. They married young to escape their situations, only to realize their choices had actually perpetuated the cycle of alcohol and abuse. But because they lacked the skills and confidence necessary to support themselves, they tolerated the situation, even saw themselves as somehow deserving of the degradation and abuse. Chronic depression and anxiety disabled them even further. But at some point along the way, their stories diverged. Shelley became homeless and my mom did not.
A few weeks ago my mom handed me a stack of clothing that she wanted to donate. Nice sweaters and tops from L.L. Bean, slacks from Coldwater Creek, warm coats from Orvis. I immediately thought of Shelley because of their physical resemblance. Both are petite in height and weight, though Shelley, with her worn-out smile and deeply lined face, looks much rougher around the edges. That’s what homelessness will do to you. So the clothes made their way anonymously to Shelley, and the first time I saw her wearing them, I felt a stab of visceral recognition that caused the hair to stand up on the back of my neck. I realized that, under slightly different circumstances that we can’t really understand or predict, my mom could have ended up homeless just like Shelley.
So.
Are you willing to confront your fear?
Are you willing to look into the face of a homeless person and recognize someone you know, maybe even someone you love?
To explore volunteer opportunities, click here.
