5:30 a.m. I woke up at my girlfriend’s apartment. I’ve been encouraging her to pack. It’s a stressful time for her, because she has to move from a 960 ft² apartment to a 360 ft² apartment. She’s going to have to downsize. We have until the 17th of this month to get her out of there and into her new apartment. 6:00 a.m. After I’ve gotten dressed and got my stuff together, I drive out to the Cor Unum breakfast in Lawrence. They have eggs over easy, bread, and home fries for breakfast. As always, Cor Unum volunteers to serve you. I also found out that Conan O’Brien is a huge contributor to this local resource.
7:00 a.m. I arrived at work. I see the stray cats that come by the shelter, and eat cat food that is put in a bowl and the cats also have a bowl of water. They’re two orange cats and it seems as if they might be related. They are fluffy with little knots in their fur.
7:30 a.m. I spent the morning working on getting resources together and putting them in a resource guide for the shelter, and for the people living in the street. I also work on uploading data into the statewide database, so that I have good records of services provided to the people over time. The goal is you get people things they need to improve the quality of their life so they don’t have to live in the street any longer.
9:30 a.m. My partner and myself drive around doing outreach. We stop and bring food and supplies to some of the people that are staying out in the street. Some of them we saw yesterday, and some folks I have not seen yet. You try to get all their information and ask them what we can help them with. This will be a developing endeavor where we consistently work towards providing more and more service. That’s the beauty of doing outreach everyday. It’s a connection point it’s consistent and it works towards the ultimate good.
12:45 p.m. My partner and I got back to the shelter. We eat lunch and I spend the rest of the afternoon working on uploading data into the system and developing a resource guide. Overtime I will personally access every resource to see what services and benefits they offer to the people that are living in the street. It is my goal to help reduce the amount of people in the street by 50 in Lawrence. The roundabout number I keep hearing is there’s about 200 people living in the street in Lawrence.
4:00 p.m. I drove over to Cor Unum for dinner. I wait in the parking lot until the place opens. There’s usually about a hundred or more people eating there. It’s open for 2 hours so I can imagine upwards of 200 people eat there on a nightly basis.
5:00 p.m. I’m still sick, and I want to be there to support my girlfriend. I asked her if she would want me to stay for the night. She says yes. I drove to my girlfriend’s apartment, and I spent the night with her and her son.