Homeless Shelter

I guess I have to admit it is partly because of my cancer thing that I was motivated to volunteer at the homeless shelter, but I'm glad I did. It has been interesting so far. Betty, the geriatric nurse who was a friend and a help to Martha's mother before we came up here, and has become our friend too, talked me into this, and we volunteer together on Wednesday evenings. I also signed up alone for every other Saturday. I have already mastered the intake paperwork and the handing out of towels.

There are only 15 beds, and the shelter is an emergency overnight place where guests can stay only 14 days max and then wait 30 days till eligible again. It's open from 6PM to 7AM. If they are under any influence, they are turned away, which is hard to tell them now that the nights are so cold. We do have lists of other shelters, rehabs, resources to help them find another place if we can, but some are beyond that. The director, a wonderful aging hippie guy, often counsels the guests during the day when the shelter is closed.

Contact with the guests, interacting with them and trying to let them know we are all in this world together, is part of the job, it seems, and has been a satisfying thing for me, although sometimes I feel they should be, or actually are, comforting me as well.