I woke up in the tent, I continued my routine of doing a little bit of writing, and then trying to get out of the woods before 8:30 a.m. It seems the telephone truck only comes after 8:30 a.m.
I stopped at the McDonald’s down the street from my work for breakfast on my way to work. I saw Rod there, and I encouraged him to come back to the shelter when he was ready to stay there.
Ezekiel and I worked together on uploading files in Vesta such as documents for clients that are getting ready to get housed. We then drove to The Harm Reduction Center, which has doctors on staff, to discuss getting disability verifications for the clients we serve and are getting ready for housing.
Next we stopped and we talked with Jess and Pedro. The couple I went to see yesterday who were living behind Mr. Tux. We were going to drive Jess and Pedro to Brightview to get set up on MAT, but Jess said that she was unable to go because of a virtual court appointment that started shortly, I let them know we would come back later to bring them over to Brightview.
Ezekiel and I drove to the faith-based day shelter and we engaged with Elizabeth, who reported being sexually harassed at a shelter in a neighboring city. I took notes and I reported this to the director of that shelter. I did find out later that the director of that shelter moved Elizabeth to a shelter in Haverhill where she was given her own room. The director of that shelter also accused Elizabeth of lying, I could not tell if Elizabeth was telling me the truth, or if her story of sexual harassment was fabricated. It’s not my job to decipher what a client says is true or not true. It is only my job to report it.
We left the faith-based homeless day shelter and we went back to check on Jess and Peter to see if they were ready to go to Brightview. Peter was sleeping and Jess said that she had an appointment at 2:00 p.m. at Brightview, and would get there herself.
Ezekiel and I drove back to our office at the Shelter and I made a connection with a well known Homeless Doctor, who comes to the Harm Reduction Center twice a week, for doing Disability verifications for our client’s housing.
At 2:00 p.m. I drove to Brightview to connect with Jess and Pedro and hopefully do rapid rehousing referrals through coordinated entry. They did not show, but I did spend some time at Brightview talking to the staff there about how their program works for providing medications for opioid use disorder. Brightview provides almost every medication for all substance use disorders: methadone, Suboxone, sublicade, Campril, vivitrol, and some I probably forgot or don’t know about.
At 3:30 pm the outreach team returned back to the shelter where we finished up paperwork. I stayed late at work since I was going to the TMF dinner.
At 7 p.m. I drove to the bus station and jumped onto my virtual Prison to Prosperity mens meeting. A meeting I created 3 years ago to help men coming home from prison.
A little after 8:00 p.m. I walked into the bus station where the TMF dinner is held. I helped set up. And Michael who founded the meeting gave me my own table so that I can engage with homeless people. During the dinner that night there was a young man who had just been thrown out of his home. He was 18 years old and had nowhere to stay. TMF was able to get him a hotel room for the night. And I was able to get him into the shelter the next day.
At around 10:30 p.m. I gave Benicio, a man with multiple sclerosis who uses a wheelchair, a ride home. He is a good friend of mine and I always make sure he has a ride.
I Arrived back at my campsite around 11:00 p.m. and I settled in for the night.