I woke up around 5:30 a.m. at my girlfriend’s apartment. I decided to get up early and go to one of the meal providers called Cor Unum that serves two meals a day in Lawrence. They serve breakfast at 6:30 a.m. and then they begin to serve dinner at 6:30 p.m. The woman in charge allowed me to sit outside and talk to the homeless people as they came in and out of the dining room. There’s very few employees for this nonprofit and volunteers come in every day and serve food to the homeless. I was able to engage with a few people I hadn’t seen in a while, as well as people I see regularly as they came to eat their breakfast.
I came back to the shelter at 8:30 a.m. On my way I stopped at McDonald’s to get some sandwiches and there I saw Rod who hangs out there all day panhandling and struggles with crack addiction.
Right before 9:00 a.m. Sarah and another representative from Life Partners showed up to tell us about their virtual MAT program.
At 9:30 Tito and Jaselda, who had just recently gotten a room in Lawrence stopped by to visit me and thank me for all the help that I had provided them. I gave them some sheets for their bed and sent them on their way.
I entered some of the engagements I had done yesterday and today into the Vesta system and then I headed out into the street to see if I could find anybody in need of service. As I traveled around I visited various homeless people in the street, some homeless people were at McDonald’s hanging outside the building next to the McDonald’s parking lot where they always like to go.
Behind that building there are a bunch of taxi cabs parked, where homeless people also hang out and like to shoot fentanyl and smoke crack. It’s what’s called a shooting gallery.
I drove by the bus station and didn’t see anyone there. Although sometimes I do see people hanging out there getting high or smoking crack. There’s also an alley next to the bus station where people will go and do drugs, drink, and have sex on a mattress that is laid down in the alley.
There’s also a parking garage in the same building as the bus station next to the alley, and sometimes I climb the stairs because homeless people like to go all the way to the roof and smoke crack up there.
Sometimes I just see people walking in the street that I know are homeless or look homeless and I’ll stop and I’ll talk to them and see if they need help with anything. After driving around it was getting late around 4:00 p.m. and it was almost time for me to leave work.
I drove back to the shelter and finished up my paperwork for the day. And left for my girlfriend’s apartment to spend the night.