Let me be blunt.
Booman Tribune is a valuable source of information, a place to connect and network with other progressives, a place to help members of this community in times of need, a place to promote candidates and solicit campaign contributions and volunteers, a place to vent and, as with all internet forums a place to engage in metaphorical pie fights.
What Booman Tribune, or any political blog for that matter, is not is a place where you can go do something away from your computer screen that actually helps people in your community. And trust me there are many, many causes and organizations that could use your assistance. Community organizations that every day are out working hard to provide the help to fellow Americans that our federal, state and local governments so often let down. Booman Tribune is not such an organization. However, it is a place where a person can suggest, recommend and promote active participation by the people who read this blog in their local community organizations that do do such work.
And that is what this diary is about: a program in my community in which I am a volunteer that provides assistance to homeless families. It’s name is The Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network or RAIHN, and it is associated with the National Interfaith Hospitality Network.
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The RAIHN Vision:
RAIHN is recognized as a model of social justice and advocacy by social service providers and the community at large as the premier provider of services to families that have been temporarily-displaced from their homes. We will accomplish this premier role by achieving the highest levels of independence and lowest recidivism rates for our guest families. We do this through superior and recognized case management, through collaborative interfaith partnerships, through a rich and fulfilling volunteer network of faith communities, and through an unparalleled record of efficient investment of community resources. Our commitment to families first, and to respecting diversity will continue to earn us a solid foundation of support from the Rochester community and will continue to hold us in the highest esteem of our guest families and caring volunteers.
Mission :
Our mission statement is our main vehicle to state “what” it is that we do on a day-to-day basis.
The Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network (RAIHN) is a not-for-profit, interfaith, culturally-competent organization of faith communities that assists homeless families to achieve sustainable independence by supporting them with tailored services including shelter, food, personalized case management, and a diverse network of caring volunteers.
RAIHN Values & Identity Statement:
Quality:
We believe homeless families deserve the highest quality array of services that are delivered with professional, consistent, caring and faithful actions that empowers our guest families to reach sustainable independence in a timely manner.
Respect:
We believe in respecting all of our family guests, volunteers, staff, and faith communities regardless of age, sex, race, religion, marital status or family make-up.
Last Saturday afternoon and evening, I, my daughter and three other volunteers provided dinner for three homeless families in our community at my church, The First Universalist Church of Rochester, NY one of the faith communities that participates as a member of RAIHN.
We served salad, homemade pizza (that was my contribution and the contribution of my daughter) and desserts (brownies and cookies). I’ll be frank. It was hard work. I had to make the dough, sauce, buy toppings, cheese, provide pans, cutting boards, make the pizzas and cook them. It was the hardest I’ve worked on making a meal since — well since I was a 17 year old pizza cook at a small hole in the wall pizza place in Denver, Colorado ages ago.
It was also the most fun I and my daughter have had in a long time.
We arrived at 4 pm and began to set up. My daughter cooked up hamburger to the meat its fat and grease, while I set up the my production line at the table in our main lounge, where I planned to roll out the dough, place the dough in pans, sauce the pans, cheese the pans and place the toppings that the guests had already requested. As I was doing that the guests arrived back at the church, after a day of looking for housing with other volunteers. That’s when all hell broke loose.
You see, the people for whom we were fixing dinner wanted to help make the pizzas, something for which I hadn’t planned. However, they were very excited. None of them had ever made pizza from scratch before and they wanted to learn, and by learn I mean learn by doing, not watching. Fortunately, I am not yet so rigid that I couldn’t change my original “plan” on the fly. Besides, I doubt I could have stopped them if I had tried. So I went with the flow, and everyone got in the act, from the older mothers, the teenagers and even two little girls ages three and five. It was slightly very chaotic at times but also very refreshing. You see, the only significant difference between homeless people and you and I is that they are homeless. They aren’t stupid, they have lots of valuable knowledge and life skills (more than many of us), they are curious about new things and they want to be involved in whatever is going on, which in this case just happened to be the opportunity to learn something new. And they crave respect and to be treated with dignity just like any other person on earth.
One thing I can tell all my wingnut conservative readers (I’m sure there are some of you out there): homeless people aren’t lazy. Last Saturday they worked their you know what’s off to learn and make pizza. In the end, I probably did less than 40% of the work in getting the pizzas made and ready to cook in the ovens. Indeed, I spent most of my time hopping for one person to the next, showing them how to roll dough and pan the pizzas. I think I sauced only one of the six we made — they did all the rest, including adding the cheese and toppings. In fact, one pizza was made entirely by two young women with some assistance by my daughter, because I had to start cooking.
Meanwhile the other volunteers prepared their contributions and one 79 year old man from the Catholic Church across the street washed all the dishes, which was critical since we didn’t have enough cutting boards, so we had to re-use them as each pizza came out of the oven. He also cleaned all the pots and pans. Talking to him and his wife I found they volunteered once a week for RAIHN, regardless of which church, synagogue, temple or mosque was hosting guests that week. Made me feel like a real slacker, to be honest.
In the end, with everyone’s help we finished ahead of schedule (a meeting of a local youth group was scheduled for 7 pm in the lounge where we made and ate dinner so we had to be busy little bees to get everything done, including the clean-up on time). I confess it was challenging at times for me since I wasn’t terribly proficient in the dialect of our guests (all of whom were African American women and girls) and I wear a hearing aid in my right ear, which in large groups is not always as useful as you might think. But they were kind enough to put up with my ignorance and correct me whenever I misunderstood a question they asked a statement they made or even a joke they told. They treated me with respect and I hope they felt I reciprocated in kind.
Well (I can imagine some of you saying), that was sure nice of you Steven D, you’re a a swell guy and all, but what’s all this it got to do with me? Short answer: A helluva lot.
Long answer: I think we can all see the handwriting on the wall. No matter who controls Congress or the presidency, we are headed for austerity measures that will bring a great deal of further hardship to people who are already suffering, as we know from the many diarists who have told their own personal stories of suffering, unemployment, medical concerns, and the imminent loss of their homes, among other stresses. Long term, we need to keep fighting for a political system and government that prioritizes services to help real people first and fictional people (i.e., corporations) dead last.
In the meantime, we need to find ways to help our friends, neighbors and others in our communities survive the storm that is currently bringing so much pain to so many, perhaps even to many of you reading this post. I’m all for political activism, and I salute all of you who are actively involved in local, state and federal party politics, but political activism will always be only one part of the puzzle necessary to “Promote the General Welfare” and give everyone in this nation a real opportunity to “pursue happiness” however they define that condition.
So please, consider volunteering for a local charitable organization in your community. They aren’t hard to find if you seek them out. Your cause doesn’t have to be homelessness, but it should be something that provides essential services to people in in need: childhood hunger, vaccination programs, helping elderly and disabled people get to their doctor appointments, participating in tutoring programs for our youth, working on social justice issues, neighborhood crime watches, providing legal assistance to the poor, fighting for cleaner water and living conditions, etc. Take your pick. Whatever you choose to do to help your community is necessary, now more than ever, believe me. Indeed, the day may come when you need the very services that you can provide others now.
And before anyone think this is just a one way, altruistic, warm and fuzzy, liberal do-gooder appeal, let me tell you that’s only a small part of it. Volunteering to help your fellow citizens will give more back to you than you can ever give to others. It gives you a sense of purpose, it offers you a chance to learn about others and learn something from them, it makes your community a better place in which to live, and it enhances your own self worth. In other words, volunteering is at heart a selfish act as much as an altruistic one. You benefit as much or more than those whom you help.
You might even run into a few conservative volunteers and impress them with your vision, your work ethic, and your principles. All sorts of people volunteer, and what better way to spread a cooperative, progressive message than by the evidence of your deeds as well as the power of your words.
Think about it.
Peace.
Ps. For those of you who already volunteer in your communities, my deepest respect and gratitude. You are our nation’s heroes.
