I woke up at my campsite around 7:00 a.m. I noticed I had a bedding partner that somehow snuck in my tent and snuggled in the blankets with me. I left this intruder be, I was actually kind of happy for the company. I headed to work around 8:00 a.m.
I arrived at the shelter at 8:30. I collected my backpack and devices and some drinks and I went over to the methadone clinic to meet up with their Outreach worker.
The Outreach worker from the methadone clinic and I drove to West Street Park where I was looking for Joanie. She is high on the housing list, and I need to engage with her to work on getting identification and verification of disability if needed. We were not able to find Joanie, her tent had moved.
Next, the Outreach worker from the methadone clinic and I drove to McDonald’s where we engaged with Epi, a homeless addict that I’m familiar with. He reported to us that he plans on going back to Puerto Rico at the end of June. Epi was not interested in services at the time, but I let him know that we’ll continue checking on him. Also present was a homeless man named Hector, he said he was interested in services but had to do something. I took his information and I entered him into the vesta system. While we were at McDonald’s we engaged with Craig, Phil, Michelle, and another individual named Hector. I gave everybody drinks.
While at McDonald’s the outreach worker from the methadone clinic and I bonded. We talked about the struggles with substance abuse in our history. We talked about our families, and some of our other struggles. It was good to learn more about this good friend of mine who I’ve been spending so much time with. He told me about losing his uncle who was close to him. It brought him to tears.
At 11:30 the Outreach worker from the methadone clinic and I left McDonald’s and we went to The faith-based homeless day shelter where I engaged with David, Louie, The Banchi brothers, and a few other people who did not give me their name. I drove the outreach worker from the methadone clinic back to his car and I came to the shelter and got sandwiches and I went back to The faith-based homeless day shelter and began giving the people sandwiches. I gave all the people I mentioned in this paragraph sandwiches as well as drinks.
I drove back over to McDonald’s and I gave Rod and Hector sandwiches, as well as a homeless man named Robert. I also gave them drinks.
Next I drove to the harm reduction Center, and I visited the mobile shower unit across the street that is run by a faith-based non-profit that I will call dreamland. I gave a resource list to a homeless woman named Christina and I also gave out some more sandwiches and drinks. I made a connection with Dreamland and their director on a call. I plan on meeting him in person on Thursday.
At 2:00 p.m. I went to lunch with The client that had texted me from my old work at Aware Recovery Care, The same text I had sent to my manager showing my good work, who I helped with his addiction, and was now doing well in college. We had a great lunch, and it was great to hear that he was doing really well. The advice that I shared with him at lunch was to be mindful of people’s intentions when building relationships.
I arrived back at the shelter at 3:00 p.m. And left work at 4:00 p.m.
After work I drove to my girlfriend’s apartment. I have been showing up to work, and Ezekiel and I have not talked at all.
With my manager on vacation, this week has been stressful, but I’ve held my ground. I am grateful for my girlfriend, and her support of me in this time of strife. She and I enveloped in each other’s comfort and passion for the night.