Washington DC

When we first got to Washington D.C., I saw around five homeless people on the streets just going from the train station to the hostel. There was someone in a sleeping bag on a bench in front of government buildings. This first sight definitely stuck in my head throughout the trip. We saw the White House the first night and then a conversation came up a day or two later that in this city, our nation's capital, there are leaders who have power over the whole country but yet there is such a juxtaposition in the same area. Just down the street from Capitol Hill are community members living on concrete sidewalks going around every day for soup kitchens or other places to live.
The worksites that I went to were The Milestone Place (a single room occupancy building), Thrive DC, and DC Central Kitchen. The YSOP Community Dinner and Thrive DC were both my favorite and also the most memorable service experiences in DC. After we prepared and served food to our "guests", I met Jerry and Burt. Burt seemed to be in his 40's and dressed like an average man. As we were talking over food, he mentioned that one of his professions was a chef/cook. This caught me off-guard but then made me actually realize that homeless people all have histories, families whether they be present in their lives or not, and are normal people (most of the time) just like the rest of us. Burt was educated, laughed at Jerry's jokes, interested in asking me questions about my life, and also knew about current sport topics. We had average conversations about things such as New England, seafood, Newport, and sports just like I could have with any other person even if they weren't homeless. The whole time at dinner, Jerry was laughing, telling jokes and riddles, and simply smiling.
The morning after the community dinner, I went to Thrive DC. I'm not sure the exact number of people they serve, but it was at least a hundred per meal. We served plenty of food and people still wanted more in the end. A couple people were taking advantage of the extra food and got fourth servings when some people had just come through the door looking for first servings of food. That's not what I will remember from Thrive DC though. Jerry and one other person from our community dinner the night before were at Thrive getting breakfast from us! As soon as I saw him, he still had a smile on and laughed at the coincidence. He even told the volunteer director at Thrive how good the YSOP dinner was the night before. The only difference between him and our group was where we had slept that night. At the end of the community dinner, he was smiling and when I saw him the next morning, he was still smiling. This gave me a new perspective about the homeless. The experience of working with organizations in Washington DC was remarkable. Instead of thinking of the stereotypical grungy homeless person, I now think of those average men and (few) women we met and conversed with at a community dinner or who we saw at a soup kitchen trying to provide for their family. These people who had a rough life in past years still have hope for a better life thanks to the help of these services.


--Andrea