My name is Mike Tyler and this is my first entry as a JVC intern here at St. Vincent de Paul. I come from a town called West Chester about 30 minutes west of Philadelphia. All my life I’ve lived on the east coast so moving out to Oakland and deciding to live on an $85 a month stipend has been quite an adventure. I would describe the first few weeks of working at St. Vincent similarly.
I got a chance to work for a few days with my predecessor Paul Nichols who showed me the ropes of St. Vincent and the homeless court. I’m glad I got the opportunity to learn from him because it made the transition a lot easier on both the St. Vincent Organization and I. After talking to Paul and Steve about the responsibilities this job came with I have to admit I was a little intimidated. “You have big shoes to fill” was the quote I most heard when talking to people about taking Paul’s spot. I was also on hand to witness Paul’s going away party where there was a lot of appreciation showed for the work Paul had done. I had some mixed feelings about this; on one hand I was proud of Paul for the work he was able to accomplish, and on the other hand I was thinking how am I going to be able to live up to his accomplishments. That feeling was short lived though. I soon started to find my rhythm and groove in the way things run around St. Vincent.
Another thing I wanted to talk about was the transitions that St. Vincent’s has been going through over the last few weeks since I have been here. One of the biggest changes that I believe has affected the most people, especially the clients of St. Vincent’s, the resignation of Steve Krank. I didn’t get much of a chance to spend a lot of time with Steve, but I know that from what I have heard from other people that Steve played a huge part in this organization and in the personal lives of the clients he worked with. As a JV I know from talking to Paul and even reading the notes of past JV’ers that Steve was thought of very highly and considered a big part of their experience outside of St. Vincent’s. So speaking on behalf of St. Vincent’s clients and staff, Steve you will be missed.
Along with Steve leaving, major changes are going on in the kitchen as well. My roommate works in the kitchen and he keeps me up to date on the goings on there. There was a new chef hired to help start the new kitchen of champions program. He is also there to help streamline the operations of kitchen to make it a more efficient environment. The kitchen of champions program is an actual cooking school that brings people off the streets and gives them skills they can use in the workforce. The school positions are also paid. The kitchen is still in transition and the school won’t be up and running until about mid September, but the ground work is being laid to make it a worthwhile program.
Major changes are also happening with the men’s center. The clinic in the men’s center is being relocated to the visitation side of St. Vincent’s. I had the opportunity to move most of the equipment to the new clinic, and it seems as though there is a lot more space in the new clinic. It actually looks like a doctors office, its pretty nice.
I know this blog is kind of disjointed but, I’m still getting used to the fact that what I end up writing will be seen by a lot of people, so it’s a little difficult to know exactly what I want to say, but to summarize the theme of the atmosphere of St. Vincent’s right now is transition, and the expectation is that these changes that are going on are going to benefit St. Vincent’s in the future. Hopefully next time the blog gets posted things will be a little more gelled.
