Day 3 Family Promise Banaszak
When we got there today, we did some more sorting in the donation room, and then took a little visit to some churches. Lisa talked today about the 14 churches that let families sleep there at night, and we went to visit two of those. The first one was Trinity and we picked up a bed that was left there from the week before. Then we went to First to drop off the bed, and we got to see what the rooms look like when the families are there. It looks nice, but not anywhere I would want to be because it's not home. They had a little gathering room with a TV and table and games, so they definitely treat the families well. After that the three of us went to Family Promise's storage room, which looks like it's 200 years old and is really creepy. Some guys from Guiding Lights came with a truck of mattresses so we helped them bring the mattresses up to the third floor in an elevator shaft. Which was really freaky. Kelsey told me and my group a little about Guiding Light since we would be working with those guys, and so I wasn't really sure what to expect. But they seemed completely normal! Kelsey was even joking with them about stuff.
One thing I've really noticed that's changed about me since we started this class is the way I look at homeless people. Instead of thinking negative things the minute I see them, I look at them as normal people. Which is actually a lot easier than thinking bad or even sad things about them. And Lisa's talk today helped with that too. It's good to see other people, especially people that help the homeless for a living, see them as normal.