I woke up in the tent around 7:00 a.m. Depression has been real for me and the weather isn’t helping. It’s been cold, snowy, and rainy for days. I did a video then headed out to work a little after 8:00 a.m.
The Outreach team arrived at work at 9:00 a.m. Today is our office day where we stay at the shelter all day. I first texted all the clients in the outreach phone to let them know that this is our office day and if they needed drug treatment, supplies, or other services to come by the daybreak shelter.
At around 10:30 Gio, Sean, and Jose stopped by the daybreak shelter for clothes, socks, cosmetics, drinks, and food. The Outreach team discussed Outreach hours, which include arriving at the shelter at 9:00 a.m. to go to drug treatment, and office days on Friday when they can stop by the shelter for supplies. I asked Gio to sign a consent form so that I could talk to his mother but he refused.
The outreach team made phone calls to various community partners just to check in and discuss various plans and coordinating efforts for helping people living on the street. I talked to Brenda from CleanSlate about trying to put together a list of halfway houses and dual diagnosis programs that take MassHealth insurance, the free Massachusetts insurance most homeless people have, to help further treatment for clients that we get into detox.
At 1:30 p.m. the Outreach team organized the Outreach trailer. This project was spearheaded by my outreach partner Ezekiel who did an amazing job freeing up space and organizing the things in the trailer. Ezekiel was also able to contact one of his community connections and set up donations of cosmetics for people in the street.
After organizing the trailer Elizabeth and Michael arrived at the shelter to get sneakers. The shelter team, including my boss, and some of the other staff talked to Elizabeth and Michael about different options. Elizabeth would be interested in staying at the shelter in the future. We will work on finding options for Elizabeth and Michael including treatment or perhaps a shelter stay.I drove to the main office for the non-profit I work for, which is down the street by the river, to pick up a check for one of the shelter workers. When I arrived back at the shelter I received a call from Mitchell from the local drug treatment center who had a client that would like a shelter space. We had one spot on the floor that we put aside for Mitchell’s client Edward. And this was the end of my work day.
I hadn’t showered, I had slept outside for a week. Oftentimes I take baby wipe showers. I decided to drive to my friend’s house to spend the night. I would also be closer to LA Fitness in Saugus where I will be playing handball in the morning.