When I first volunteered to monitor the overnight warming
centers last year, friends and family thought I was nuts (nothing new
there). Not, as one might imagine,
because I was up most of the night (I prefer the 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. shift), but
because they thought it was “dangerous”.
And they asked me if I wasn’t scared.
Frankly, I didn’t quite know what to expect my first night,
but what I encountered was so far removed from “scary” that I had to
laugh. Chaperoning a group of teenagers
or hosting a child’s slumber party – now that’s scary! But the biggest challenge in volunteering in
a warming shelter was staying awake. The
sometimes cacophonous sound of snoring and the hourly fire checks helped keep
the other volunteers and me from falling asleep.
Getting back to the chaperoning comparison, unlike some
teenagers, those living on the streets do not come to shelters to party. They come to avoid hypothermia and to
sleep. There are strictly enforced rules
for behavior and the homeless community themselves enforce the rules. Disruption is not tolerated. There was only one time last year that there
was a verbal altercation while I was volunteering, and other members of the
“outside” community immediately nipped it in the bud. The last thing they want is to jeopardize the
shelters. And unlike a children’s
slumber party, the folks who use the shelter are not talking and giggling all
night. They are tired. They have been on their feet all day. They want to sleep.
And if your spouse is nervous about you volunteering,
suggest that you do it together. We love
having couples. Really, you will
probably find it the easiest volunteering you have ever done. All you have to lose is a little sleep on
occasion, and you will be rewarded by knowing that because of your presence you
may have saved fingers, toes or even a life.
-Sami Oeser for KEY Conversation on Poverty
