#catalyst 2017

New Post has been published on https://mywatch-seriestv.com/catalyst-season-18-episode-2.html

New Post has been published on https://mywatch-seriestv.com/catalyst-season-18-episode-1-meet-the-avatars.html

Hey all! Today we spent day 2 at Victory Garden Initiatives, some of which was spend with our fave pal Logan (featured in the second photo making a peace sign). We are all SO IMPRESSED by the work the people at Victory Garden Initiatives do (and all farmers) because we are super sore and we only put in two days of work. 

Sleeping on the ground sucks. 

That was one of the more obvious observations made at the National Coalition of Homelessness. After forty-eight hours of living on the street with nothing but the clothes on our backs and a couple of blankets, we were asked about our thoughts on the experience. 

Another observation was the fact that people of color are disproportionately affected by homelessness (as they are disproportionately affected by poverty). The vast majority of people experiencing homelessness we met over the last two days were black. Three of the four Coalition guides--all of whom had experienced or were currently experiencing homelessness--were black. 

Conversely, we noticed that white women tended to make up the bulk of non-profit volunteers. This is true even in our own group. Andrew is the only man on this trip (excluding Ben, who’s our chaperone/adviser/adultier adult), and we have one black woman. Everyone else is a white, cis woman. When one of the guides--Eric--asked us why we think this is, one of the possible answers is that women are systemically trained to show more compassion, to be nurturing, helpful and caring (one could even use the word “motherly”), while men are, for the most part, taught that the only acceptable emotion they’re allowed to show is anger. 

Eric then went on to talk a little more in-depth about life as a homeless person, and gave us advise on how to interact with them. One of the easiest things to do is ask their name. Some people living on the streets haven’t heard their name in three months. Another is simple conversation, which is lacking even in places like shelters and soup kitchens. For example, one of the soup kitchens operated more like an assembly line than resting place. People were pushed in and out at lightning speed. And while the people receiving food could, of course, interact among each other, they could not interact with the volunteers. Eric is a very friendly person and knows many of the volunteers on a personal basis, but when he tried to initiate conversation with them or vice versa, one of the other volunteers would butt in and basically say, “Stop talking to him and get back to work.” So classism in volunteering is a thing. 

Basically, Eric said that the only thing you had to do was CARE: 

Contribute - give money, time, advice, anything that could help someone in need. 

Advocate - some people in power either ignore the problem of poverty and homelessness or actively try to destroy those experiencing it (*cough cough* Trump *cough*). Don’t let them. 

Reach out - a few kind words can go a long way. 

Educate - so many people we know--friends, family, coworkers--are completely ignorant on the struggles of the homeless. Talk to them about it. 

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When we got back to the hostel, we all jumped into some much-needed self-care. This tended to include a hot meal of spaghetti, the best shower any of us have had in our entire lives, and a good long nap in an actual mattress. Oh, the mattress. How we missed thee. 

Dinner was pizza, complements of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps, a national organization that sends volunteers across the country to fight a variety of issues for a year. If they threw in a bit of chocolate with that pizza and soda, their recruiting efforts would be a solid 10. 

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