5:00 a.m. I woke up in my tent. I get my stuff ready to head out for the day. I’m happy that I found a decent campsite close to work.5:45 a.m. I drove out to Cor Unum for breakfast. I continue to talk to the patrons at the meals. I noticed there are a lot of people that are living outside that eat here. Sometimes it’s really easy to spot those that live outside. You can tell by the hands which are usually dirty. There’s other signs as well, such as dirty clothes, and being ungroomed. There is an appearance to outside living.
7:00 a.m. I arrived at work. I help my partner get everything together like the food and the supplies for the people we outreach. I spend some time working on resource lists, as well as making some new contacts around the city who work with the homeless. We’ve gotten word that the city plans on taking down a couple of the encampments where homeless people are living. We will be checking on these individuals as well as many others today. And also met a few people at Cor Unum breakfast that we plan on meeting up with.
9:00 a.m. My partner and I head out and we go to all the usual spots where people are either camping or hanging out. We drove past a man pushing a grocery cart. I can see a leg dangling outside of the grocery cart that’s filled with blankets and other things. I told my partner to pull up next to the grocery cart just so we can check to make sure that whoever’s in there is not overdosing or dead. When we pull alongside the cart I ask if whoever’s in there is okay. I see the leg start to move. I asked the man if I could see who’s in the cart. The man pulled back the blankets to reveal a woman who seemed semi-conscious. My partner and I but these individuals know that we are outreach and we’re here to help. We give them our cards. These two individuals do not seem to want any help.
12:30 p.m. After riding around the city connecting with as many people as we can We head back to the office. We have about 27 names on our list with various requests that we can try to fulfill in the future. I meet with a local outreach worker for the police station. And I spend the rest of the afternoon working on my resource document as well as uploading people into the database. I had notes and information about the people we connected with. I can use these notes to slowly develop a working document of services provided and services needed for each individual.
4:00 p.m. I left work a little late again today, and I drove over to Cor Unum for dinner. It’s good to sit with the people and be served a good dinner.
5:30 p.m. Since I’m still sick, and every day I’m hoping that I will get over this RSV I decide to spend the night with my girlfriend. I’d reached out to her and she said I could come over later when she’s out of work. I hang out in Lawrence in my truck, and I look at stuff on social media.
7:00 p.m. I drove to my girlfriend’s apartment. I have also been encouraging her to pack since she has to move soon. We snuggle in for the night. She’s also still sick with RSV. She had gotten it much worse than me. Every night we go to bed hoping that tomorrow will be the day our bodies heal from this respiratory virus.