I woke up at 6:30 a.m. in the tent. It was a cold night hovering around 34° F. I didn’t get much sleep.
I went to work at 8:30 a.m. Today I’m working with Mitchell from the treatment center and Jane, a nurse that works in one of the cities close by and does homeless outreach there.
I arrived at the office at 9:00 a.m. and met up with Mitchell from the treatment center. We prepared the truck with food, socks, clothes, and drinks and hygienic products for the people in the street.
Mitchell and I first stopped at Kelly’s furniture store and talked with John and Jose. I informed John about his warrant issue since I talked with a local officer about it. It seemed the only way John could clear up his warrant was to go to court. John was not happy about this but it was the best answer I could provide. John had been caught driving a stolen vehicle. We provided John and Jose with food, drinks, and some clothes.
Next Mitchell and I stopped by the encampment under the bridge and we met with Jake, Jake is from Haverhill and I’ve added him into the homeless database that I use. Jake took some food, some socks and a drink. Jake didn’t want any services at the moment but said he will stay in touch with us.
Next we walked along the riverfront and met with Christopher, Jess, Tommy, and Jen. provided them with food, clothes, socks, drinks, and Jess expressed interest in treatment but was not ready. Jess also had an infection in the form of an abscess on her arm from intravenous drugs use. We plan on cycling back once the nurse arrives today to see if she would like medical advice around an abscess that she has on her arm from intravenous fentanyl use.
At 1pm I met up with a nurse named Jane from an organization that does homeless outreach in the city next to the city that I work in. Jane brought another outreach worker named Nick and we went back out into the field and met with Jen and Pedro, a homeless couple that live in a tent near an abandoned train station. They struggle with addiction, especially fentanyl use. Nurse Jane applied medical treatment to Pedro who has been sick with a pulmonary illness recently. Next we went across the street to the encampment along the river. We connected with Jess who had the abscess from earlier. Nurse Jane cleaned and treated Jess’s abscess. They have a young cat that lives in the tent with them. I love this cat.
At this point it was around 2:45 p.m. We came back to the shelter and exchanged information for future collaboration. While everybody was getting ready to leave, Nick recognized one of the shelter employees in the parking lot. Nick had worked at the shelter about 3 years ago. This shelter employee used to be a guest at the shelter and Nick had helped him get his GED when he worked at the shelter. The two men exchanged hugs and were really happy to see each other. It was an amazing reunion, and it showed the power We have over others in helping people find happiness and stability in their lives.
At 3:30 p.m. I spent the rest of the afternoon uploading clients into the homeless database and wrapping up on my outreach log.
5:30 I drove to my girlfriend’s apartment. Her and I spent the night together. Since she has moved into this new smaller apartment, she has done very little to organize things or downsize. The place is a mess and sometimes it’s hard to walk around, especially at night when it’s dark. I’m really hoping that she takes some time to organize all the stuff that she has stuffed into such a small space.