Updates #2

Over the past few months St. Vincent’s has really experimented with its programs for the guests that walk through its doors. One by one these pilot programs are finishing up and the managers, staff, and interns are able to take a step back and evaluate what they’ve put together and where they want to move forward. For the most part the programs have been very successful. A basic computer class was setup by one of our interns in the men’s center. It was an 8 week program that taught students everything from turning on a computer to setting up an email account. We recently had a graduation ceremony for all the students who stuck with it until the end.

The Kitchen of Champions is moving along with its second graduating class, and a graduation ceremony was held for the three graduates. It was really a sight needed to be seen to be fully appreciated. The program was well put together and seemed to be a little more “well oiled” then the first graduation. The highlight of the ceremony was both Marilyn King’s keynote speech and the student’s speeches. Marilyn King is a two time Olympian, and in her speech she talked about how she stumbled onto greatness by just having a willingness to give something a try. She acknowledged the student’s willingness to try something new and noted that it was a big step for each of them to participate in the Kitchen of Champions.

She started off by telling everyone a little bit or her story. While she was attending a pentathlon state championship the officials asked for a volunteer to participate in the meet because there were only two people competing and a third was needed to make the meet official. So she gave it a shot. To make a long story short, with a lot of self motivation and commitment to herself she went from having never competed in the pentathlon to going to the Olympics in 1972 and 1976 in a few short years.

After Marilyn spoke each of the students got a turn say a few words. Christine was the first to speak she wrote a little motivational poem and read it to the audience. Leon was the next to speak and he talked about how he just wanted to give back to the people who don’t have much, and that his belief in god and treating his fellow men and women with dignity is what brought him to St. Vincent’s and what keeps him here. The last to speak was Dolores who told everyone about how she promised her kids that she would graduate from the culinary class no matter what it took. It was a special time for all the graduates and everyone who was at the ceremony.

In addition to all the things that are finishing up and coming to an end there are some new projects coming about in the near future. For the past several months the new Men’s center has been under construction and will be done in the very soon. We have already started moving furniture and office supplies to the new center and it should be opened up sometime in early February. We will also be starting a bible study/spirituality group for both men and women in the community center. It will be a trial program to see how it goes. It should work out well and will fill a need for spiritual nourishment of the people who walk through the doors of St. Vincent’s. That’s about it I just wanted to give everyone some updates on what going on in and around St. Vincent’s.

Back in Oakland

Walking around Oakland on my first day back from a bit of a vacation, I couldn’t help but be glad to be back. As much as I enjoyed being back home and not having to live off my $100 dollar a month stipend, it didn’t feel like home. I feel like I’ve come to adopt this city as my home town. I didn’t expect coming back to Oakland to realize how much my life has changed. Between living simply and working with the people that I do the life I used to have back home looks a lot different. My friends and family are still back there but I feel as though my outlook has changed considerably. When I went back home I noticed how easy it was to distract myself from boredom, loneliness or any other unpleasant feelings I might have had. I did that with a lot of playing videogames, spending money on dinners, going out to the bars with my friends, and driving my brother’s brand new car. All that in fun, but I felt disconnected from people in general, and disconnected from any unpleasant feelings I might have been having.

So when I got back to Oakland there has been a noticeable adjustment period to going back to simple living and finding things to do that don’t cost too much money. It took an adjustment to not be distracted anymore. It kind of hit home last night when I was really bored and instead of calling up my friends and deciding which bar to go to or playing videogames long into the night I went to an NA meeting at St. Vincent’s (A little odd I know). But in all honesty it was the highlight of the last few weeks for me. The speakers they had were extremely eloquent and captured the audience’s attention better then anyone I have ever seen. I walked into a place where a group of people were devoted to helping each other to stay free of their distractions; drugs and alcohol. The people at that NA meeting were not trying to run from any unpleasant feelings they may have been having but tried to embrace them as a step in recovery. I immediately felt at home, and I felt a renewed motivation of my purpose here in JVC and volunteering at St. Vincent’s. It’s about people helping other people through their struggles and watching them grow, that’s why I came here in the first place and that why I’m excited to be back.

It feels a bit like settling in for the long haul, no more long vacations, going home, or taking a break from simple living. It feels like I just got out of the convenience store with snacks and candy in hand ready for a long car ride. There’s not a sense of drudgery about the journey but knowing that it’s going to be like this for a while so I’d better get used to the simple lifestyle and community living. There is also an excitement that when it’s all said and done I will be in a new place that I’ve never been before.

Truths

I thought that this blog would be a good way to get the stories of the clients across to the public. It is often times very surprising hearing the ways in which clients end up in homelessness. There are the stereotypical types of situations in which someone becomes homeless because of drugs or alcohol. But many times there are other factors and situations that play into someone’s homelessness. There are a great number of people here at St. Vincent’s because of layoffs, divorce, and personal or family illness. It took a long time for me to find someone that would be willing to put their story online in this blog. But I finally found someone brave enough to do it. J.R. let me write down is his story so I could share it in this blog. I was interested in his path to homelessness and what experiences led him there. And so this is his story from his mouth.





I grew up in Salinas California, where I lived with my two brothers six sisters. My sisters are older and my brothers are younger. I’m the oldest of my siblings that hasn’t been married. The closest I got to marriage was living with one of my girlfriends. My life began to change for me when I decided to move to Oakland with her five years ago. I moved to Oakland in 2002 because I got fired from my job that I had in Salinas. I came because my girlfriend told me that she could help me find a job in Oakland. She knew a few people and she got me hired at the dollar store but I didn’t really like that job so I only stayed there for a month. I then found a job at the Oakland airport that I had for about 3 years. I wasn’t really qualified for the job but I had the connections so I got in.

The first four months of my job were really hard. I was a fuel filler of the air planes at the Oakland airport. It took me a long time to figure out how to do that job. Once I got the idea of how to do it I began to really enjoy it. My boss and co workers also really enjoyed me working there. They would ask me to come into work even on my days off to help out because I was such a good worker. My girlfriend at the time was beginning to have some drug problems which was when everything started to go downhill.

I was working all the time trying to make ends meet with my girlfriend. She wasn’t working but she was getting a check so I was able to put away some money. Then she started getting into drugs really bad. Things began to change fast. She began stealing from me. She ended up stealing money from my savings account, until I was broke, and at one point she stole my work truck so I was able to get to work but I had to take the bus. Her drug addiction put a tremendous amount of stress on me, and my work also began to suffer. It took me two hours to walk to work each day. I was just trying to make some money to survive.

My girlfriend was continuing to use. It got to the point where I became so burnt out and I looked so out of shape that my co workers knew something was up. They thought I was using drugs. The rumors spread fast and my co workers lost trust in me. Without anyone helping me to take care of the bills I wasn’t able to pay rent. Pretty soon we were living on the streets. Even though she stole my truck I didn’t want to turn her into the police because I cared about her a lot. I knew she needed help but I didn’t know what to do. Her addiction dragged us both down in this hole I haven’t really been able to get out of.

Even though I was upset about the damage she caused me I was glad she was still alive. I was fired from work and I was so ashamed to see my co workers that I didn’t pick up my last check for two months. I went from loving my job and being loved by my co workers to nothing in a matter of months. When I finally went to go get my last check it hit me this is the last check I’m ever going to get, and it depressed the hell out of me. I had nothing. I never thought that this kind of thing would happen to me.


I spent most of my time feeding the geese and pigeons because I had nothing else to do and I was very depressed. Even though she left me to go get high, I was still looking for her and I still wanted her to be in my life. There were times when I would just be walking around and praying for her to return. I didn’t give up hope in her. Finally she got clean for a while but the drug still had a hold of her and she went back to it after a while. I tried to push her to get clean, but it seemed to fall apart. We argued a lot and things didn’t seem to work. I believed that in order for her to come clean I had to have some faith, but the more I tried the more she pulled away from me. Drug dealers feed on the weak and that’s what they did with her. I tried my best to keep her alive. I was so angry at her, and that anger stuck around through the rest of the relationship. We could have had so much if she didn’t get involved in drugs.

Then things started happening with St. Vincent’s like being in Seldom Seen and working and volunteering in the men’s center. I didn’t want to do this run around with her anymore. Especially when I made the cover of the Tribune I knew I had to get out of that situation. We ended up going our separate ways. I’m glad that happened and that she ended up getting clean and getting out of the drug scene and I was able to focus on my life. The day that she left I finally realized what had I done. I was sad to see her leave. I was sad because I was going to be alone. I was happy I did something that was going to make her life better, and I’m sure that she loves me for it. The way I see it is that I gave her something no one else gave her I gave her peace of mind. That was what I wanted for her. It was my goal. When I knew she had a place to say and was clean I had some peace of mind also. I was happy she was OK and off the streets. She also knows that I can’t be with her because I have to finish what I stated here in Oakland. No matter what happens now I know I did the right thing for her and me, I have complete confidence that that was the right decision.

I found myself happy for doing something I love doing. I feel like acting in Seldom Seen is my ticket out and off the streets. It gives me hope to do something I love. I am proud of what I have accomplished for myself and my family is proud of me. They know what I’m doing and are happy for me, and I am very happy that I made the decision to change my life. For anyone who reads this and knows someone who is using drugs whether it is a girlfriend, boyfriend, or parent. Know that you may want to push them to get better but you don’t want to push them too hard or they will you push away. And always have faith and believe in them that they will get better. I hope that someday I will be able to get back on my feet and recover from this. I want to get a part time job and be able to put this behind me. Believe in yourself because if you want change the only person who can do it is you. As log as you have faith and belief in yourself you can do anything you want to do in your life. I would not have been able to get though this without the man above my belief in him helped me out a lot.





One of my clients once told me that when you listen to someone’s story you are listening to their truths. I want to thank J.R. for sharing his truth with me and for his bravery in sharing his truth with whoever reads this. It takes a strong and giving person to be able offer themselves and others this kind of personal openness. Many times we get so caught up in what we are doing right now or what we have to do in the future that we forget how we got where we are, we forget what joys and what struggles we’ve had to go through to get to this point; right now. It’s good to be able to reflect on that from time to time and thank ourselves for being who we are because no one is the same or replaceable.
~Mike

Updates

I wanted to use this blog as an update of what’s been going on around St. Vincent’s. Again as always there have been a lot of changes going on at St. Vincent’s. In the last month a new computer class was launch with the help of Derrick and one of the interns at the Men’s center by the name of Mike. There is a huge need for many of our clients to have computer skills. They are at a disadvantage when applying to jobs because they lack the necessary knowledge of operating a computer. So we tried to level the playing field a little by starting a computer class. Many of the clients really enjoy it and have been coming back day after day. Mike has been able to show people how to access email, run Word and other programs, and I believe he has showed a few people how to write resumes using the computer. It’s been a big help to the clients and it’s great to see how much Mike enjoys it as well. He’s been able to use his skills to help people out.

I would also like to say that I sat in on a special works committee meeting yesterday and we talked about trying to find way to get people involved in these programs. These are great opportunities for both Vincentians and drop in volunteers to help run programs like these. Knowledge about computers, dietary and heath needs of clients, and even money management and life skills are all things that volunteers can help out with. It really is a great thing when not only can a client learn skills from a volunteer but a volunteer is able to know that they provided a lot of good help, and maybe learned a few things themselves.

Speaking of volunteers I thought I would also mention that Chris who was the volunteer coordinator at St. Vincent’s is no longer working here. After a year’s time he decided to move to another organization in San Francisco. Where I’m sure he will do well with his large inventory of creative ideas.

We also had a homeless court this month here at St. Vincent’s which went really well. There were a total of 20 cases that were seen by the judge with 10 of them coming from St. Vincent de Paul. All the clients had an opportunity to have their cases dismissed provided that they showed significant progress. I got a chance to sit in on homeless court this month and it is a nerve racking time both for the clients and myself as I watch them take the stand. I know that the majority of them have taken long hard strides to better themselves and I have tried my best to present that to the court. So in a way I feel like we are both taking the stand. But because of our combined efforts they are able to put the past behind them, and what a relief it is for them.

In the dining room and kitchen Thanksgiving was a huge undertaking for both the volunteers and students in the Kitchen of Champions program. They prepared something on the order of 70 turkeys with equal sized portions of stuffing, gravy, vegetables, and pie. When it was all said and done 800 people were given Thanksgiving dinner. Quite an accomplishment. A lot of people worked a lot of hours to have that run smoothly, also lot of people spent their holiday here at St. Vincent’s preparing the meal. So thank you to all of them.

Going along with Thanksgiving the Christmas give away is coming up. We are expecting to give gifts, clothes for kids and gift certificates to 300 families this year. We are asking for donations because every little bit helps. And to people who have already donated we thank you it makes the jobs of the people working here a lot easier when there are plenty of donations and it makes a lot of families holidays brighter.

The winter shelter has also opened up this month with 100 beds for people in West Oakland. There are 14 organizations in Oakland and Berkeley that do intakes for the winter shelter so a lot of people are served in a wide area. St. Vincent de Paul has the largest allotment of beds for Oakland. It is a good program that helps a lot of people get off the streets for the winter and actually Steve the old manager of the men’s center at St. Vincent’s is the one running the winter shelter. It’s nice that I get a chance to meet up with Steve once again, since he was a big part of my coming out here, and the clients get a chance to see him again.

This blog is a little choppy but I wanted to give everyone a quick rundown of what’s been going on here at the downtown campus for the last month. This is a place of moving and shaking and nothing ever quite stays the same, but that’s what makes it interesting here. That’s it for now. Mike

Inspiring Chaos (it's not what you think)

I’ve been at St. Vincent de Paul for three months now. Those three months have flown by for me. I think that it is the busyness of my schedule that keeps me unaware of the time throughout the day. My day is not measured in hours but measured in the number of people I meet. Very rarely do I come across a day saying “I wish this day wasn’t taking so long” in fact it usually just the opposite, I wish I had more time. Between the number of programs we offer here and the shear volume of clients we serve it keeps the days short. The only other job I’ve had that experience in was at a summer camp I used to work at with 15 college employees and 90 teenage kids. The same whirlwind atmosphere of 50 kids playing dodge ball is surprisingly similar to the in and out of hundreds of faces a day at St. Vincent’s. It’s an organized chaos. Sometimes it’s hekka confusing (see Oakland is rubbing off on me), when trying to keep track of Ms. Jones homeless court application, planning an outreach meeting, getting cookies for the kids in the visitation center, and trying to eat lunch. But there is a quote that my roommate Julia told me, (*brownie points*) that says that “confusion is a state of grace”. Never have I seen that more true then at St. Vincent’s.
One striking example of this grace that seems to be present at St. Vincent’s showed itself today. The public defender was doing intakes for homeless court here at St. Vincent’s. There were about 20 clients or so waiting to see her, and it took about 10 minutes to see each person. So the people towards the end of the list ended up waiting for about 2 hours, and for anyone who hasn’t been into the community center at St. Vincent’s there are no coffee tables with magazines on them. The only thing to keep people occupied is talking to the person next to them or people watching at the front door. So it was a long wait. As the people were finishing up seeing the public defender I had to run off and meet with another client. I asked one of my co-workers to watch the list and call off the names of the people who still hadn’t seen the public defender. To make a long story short one of my clients was missed in the fray of whirlwind activity in the community center and ended up missing out on his meeting with the public defender. I was in a panic because this guy had been waiting for so long for his meeting and missed it. I wanted to make sure he “had his day in court”. I told him he missed the meeting and all he said to me was “OK. No problem. I’ll try for next month.” I was floored and humbled.
See I pride myself on my patience. Being the oldest of 5 and having worked with kids for the last 6 summers I have developed a very patient personality. But it definitely gets tested from time to time and with the busyness that was going on today I was definitely reaching my limit. But this one act of calm collected patience, by a man who is 19 by the way, made my day go from chaotic and confused to absolutely positive that God is present here. Thank you Yosseph. If you spend enough time here you will see what I’m talking about its all around you just have to notice it. And it’s not always perfect here by any means but those times when you catch the Devine at work, are worth all those trivial matters that might be annoying you during the day. That’s it for this entry.

Mike

And the Winner Is...

And the winner is… All the graduating St. Vincent De Paul interns. We held a ceremony yesterday for everyone who participated in the champion work force for at least six months. It was an honor to have seen the graduates take the stage. Many of them I had worked with as co-workers over the last 2 ½ months and have become pretty close to. There was an air of accomplishment for everyone there. The graduation ceremony was the culmination of a lot of hard work on the part of graduates and staff alike.

All of the people taking the stage were at one time clients of St. Vincent De Paul, and had worked their way through the champion workforce to become paid interns. I know for me personally it was an inspiring experience to see everyone up on the stage. Seeing J.R. (Jose Rodriguez), Sonia Munoz, Daniel Pena, Carolyn Malbrough, and everyone else speak on stage just solidified the fact for me that this place does a lot of good for people. Everyone who got up on stage thanked the staff and the organization of St. Vincent’s for giving them the opportunity that helped them get where they are today. I know that the staff was also very grateful for the hard work that the graduates put into their own lives to overcome challenges that may have stood in their way.
I think that it is important to recognize all the people that graduated as a testament to the graduates and Society’s hard work.

The graduates of the St. Vincent De Paul Champion Workforce are…

Donna B, Michael J, Rochelle ,
Alan N, Portia B, Sonia M,
Gary C, Roderick G, Carolyn M,
Wayne P, Charles H, Folami B,
Daniel P, Duane M, Sheri P,
Bobby S, Issac O,
Susie J, Jose R,
Ldia R, Phillip W,
Nadia R, Lillie H,
Dennis F, Johnny W,
Gilbert J, Lyndon W

I think that everyone who graduated from the champion workforce had to do one of the hardest things any man or women can do, and that is to change. They all had to make the choice to turn their lives around and do something different. St. Vincent’s was the vehicle to help them do that. I’ll end this blog with a quote by Sir Edmund Hilary, who was the first person to climb Mt. Everest. “It’s not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” I believe all the graduating interns reached the tops of their mountains yesterday, and are on their way to climbing ever higher and higher peaks.

~Mike

A Learning Experience

When I began to write this blog I really did not know what I wanted to write. There were a lot of things that I wanted to say but I wasn’t sure how to write them down. There has been a lot going on at St. Vincent’s and I wanted to talk about that but I also really wanted to talk about my own personal experiences here. Over the last month I have felt blessed to have been working with the clientèle that I work with. I know that my managers won’t like to here this but my favorite part of the day is when I can sit and just listen to the stories of the men and women I serve. The main thing that this does for me is break the stereo types in my head of who a “homeless” person is and how a person gets homeless. I have talked to many people who have been relatively well off and because of a personal tragedy or a few poorly made financial decisions have fallen off their path and now struggle to make better lives for themselves. Sure there are drug addicts and mentally ill people that I see, but their stories and unique personalities far outweigh those labels.

I continually remind myself to never lose sight of the fact that I deal with human beings that on some days might get on my bad side but on others days surprise the hell out of me. Take for example one of the men I work with and a friend of mine in the men’s center who takes part in the Seldom Seen Acting Company and made front page of the Tribune on Friday. I felt honored to know this man, and I can say that he brought a spirit of joy and accomplishment to everyone in this organization and to homeless men and women all over the city. On behalf of St. Vincent De Paul of Alameda County, we just wanted to say thank you J.R. and Seldom Seen Acting Company and everyone involved. With one performance you managed to move a whole organization one step closer to it’s realization of being a versatile, sustainable, and most importantly helpful place for everyone who walks through it’s doors, clients and employees alike.

The theme of my last blog entry was the many transitions and changes going on at St. Vincent’s. There has been more of the same since last month. Just briefly I wanted to talk about a few of the many changes that have been taking place here at St. Vincent’s. As I mentioned in the last blog the Culinary Academy was starting up it is now up and running, with 5 students. They have made some of the best meals I have ever had here at St. Vincent’s, and the clients agree.

We also have has several new additions to the St. Vincent’s family. A new intern by the name of Nick has been working with me doing homeless court and working in the men’s center. He is a junior at St. Mary’s college and is originally from Sacramento. There is also a new Manager in the men’s center by the name of Derrick Ross, who comes to St. Vincent’s with many years of experience in the social services field. He used to work over at St. Mary’s when it was right across the street. We also have a new marriage/ family therapist by the name of Sandra working with clients from the men’s and women’s centers. She has had experience working with victims of domestic violence, substance abuse and troubled youth. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at Holy Names University. One last thing is that Seldom Seen Acting Company had its first performance of the season last Thursday which as I mentioned earlier was a huge success. Just check the Tribune’s website

(http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_7024943?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com).

That’s about it for now, as for upcoming blogs I would like to do a series on homeless men and women’s stories. It’s still in the planning stage so it might not be for a little bit, but it is something I would really like to do. So goodbye, until next time. ~Mike