Shelter Report: ANywHERE i cAN FiNE
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On his intake form, the bird-like man with russet dreads spilling from his knit cap answered the question How long have you been homeless? with 30+ years.
Shelter Report: Heading Home?
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Glen is headed back to Scotland where he hasn’t lived for 35 years. During many of those years in the U.S., he’s been a steelworker, hanging rebar in skyscrapers. Continue Reading
If I’m too tired, just think about these kids and their families
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Yesterday was the single most taxing day I’ve experienced in the classroom since I started volunteering in the shelter preschool in early 2009. Continue Reading
What do you get when you mix 8 preschoolers and 1 baritone?
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After a long break I returned today to the preschool classroom at People Serving People. Continue Reading
Shelter report: Filibusters and future leaders
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The day Washington announced a deal to end the federal government shutdown, I was at the preschool reading Green Eggs and Ham. Continue Reading
Melody hears the pitch
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A few weeks ago, I saw this sign on an office door outside the pre-school classroom where I volunteer: Continue Reading
Shelter report: Finding my inner Sleep Fairy
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For any parent who’s struggled with getting one balky four-year-old down for a nap, the prospect of bedding 17 of them at a time in the same room might not seem like a fun way to voluntarily spend one’s afternoon.
But it is. Half my job on the preschool afternoon shift involves the cultivation of somnolence: preparing kids for the nap, inducing calm, dampening distractions and disturbances, and doing chores during the miraculous time when everyone is asleep.
Sometimes it means I get to be The Sleep Fairy.
It’s perhaps the only assignment for which I am professionally qualified.
The Sleep Fairy is a minor deity, equivalent to, say, an offspring of Santa, the Tooth Fairy and Dr. Seuss. (Yes, we were warned that such marriages would become possible in Minnesota after August First!) Continue Reading
Shelter report: Menu of the day
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Since I was last at the shelter, a small art exhibit has appeared on the classroom storage cabinet doors. Ten children have colored in Gingerbread Man shapes and labeled the picture by describing their mood. Continue Reading
Homelessness ate my homework
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“You can hire 10,000 people for 10 to 15 minutes,” says Gigwalk CEO Bob Bahramipour. “When they’re done, those 10,000 people just melt away.” Continue Reading
Shelter Report: Little kids and old men
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The preschool had closed for the day and I was wrapping up my bike cable when Darius rolled over on a little scooter. He was on the sidewalk, peering through the tall iron fence that separates it from the parking lot. Continue Reading