Homeless but not hopeless
How one person can help 389 others
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By Angela Chiu  | Published July 2008

A couple of days ago I had the opportunity to volunteer at a homeless shelter downtown, Coalition for the Homeless. When a family friend fi rst sent me an email a couple weeks prior to my visit I only saw it as a new opportunity to add to my volunteering experiences. Before my visit, I never really put enough thought towards the homeless people. However, when I actually went to help the Coalition, I began to view my visit in a different light.

Before this visit, I had never been to a homeless shelter and I didn’t really know what to expect. When I fi rst arrived I was a bit startled; there was defi nitely more people who were down on their luck than I imagined. Looking at the quality of their living quarters, which was pretty much a roofed and screened patio, I defi nitely appreciate what I have more than I did before. However, I couldn’t sit and refl ect on the quality of my life, I had a job to do: to serve dinner with the other volunteers who had taken time out of their own lives to help the community. Surprisingly, the menu for that night looked fairly delicious and healthy: spaghetti with meat sauce, corn and peas, mixed veggies, garlic bread, apple sauce with raisins, and a cup of ice tea or pink lemonade. What else surprised me was that most of the food was donated to the shelter, along with the plates and utensils. Actually, the whole process of serving dinner was surprising. The staff had managed to make serving meals a seamless and organized event. A staff member stood at the main door in the front and counted all the people who came in and another staff member counted and kept the dinner-line in order. An additional member handed out completed plates of food to handicapped people who couldn’t wait in line. And several staff members were supervising in the kitchen, making sure that the volunteers had enough food to serve.

After going through 3 large tubs of spaghetti, 2 large trays of sauce, 3 trays of mixed veggies, and at many, many cups of juice and apple sauce; our shift was finally fi nished. It felt very nice to be able to do something for other people and hearing their genuine thank-yous and seeing their warmhearted smiles. Although I was only serving spaghetti for an hour and a half, the staff at the Coalition told us that we had served 389 people that night.

While it made me happy to have helped that many people, the staggering fi gure also made me somewhat sad. As the volunteers were packing up to go home, the Coalition staff was still busy at work. In several minutes, the tables and chairs were cleaned and packed up and the fl oor was quickly swept. Only then did I notice the faded yellow painted rectangles on the fl oor. As I walked out of the shelter to drive back home, I noticed that several of the homeless men had already lined up outside with blankets and bundles. It occurred to me then that, even though it was 8 o’clock, they were waiting in line for a place to sleep at night. There were at least 389 homeless men (the women and children were already served earlier) in the Central Florida area and a lot less than 389 sleeping spaces. Even though every little bit helps, there are so many people out there who could use some help and there’s only so much we can do. I do not know the personal stories of some of the homeless but I believe many people are where they are today because of mistakes that they have made in the past. For many of them with bad habits and vices, we can’t do anything to help them unless they help themselves fi rst. However, that does not mean we should deny them any help or look down on them because without help there is no hope. A wise, Chinese philosopher had said before that people can be classifi ed into four groups. Those that have little ability need help from others, the average person has enough ability to help him or herself, and a person with greater ability can help other people as well as him or herself. And fi nally, there are those who have are capable of helping thousands and thousands of people. One day, I hope I can be classifi ed into that last group because I want to improve society and the world that I live in. If anyone wants to volunteer at or donate to the Coalition for the Homeless, their address is 639 W. Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801 and you may contact them at (407)-426-1250. They would probably welcome any sort of help anyone is willing to give. Founded in 1987, the Coalition has provided more than 67,500 nights of shelter to children and served over 310,000 meals in the past year. Last year 12,000 volunteers donated their time to the coalition last year, which amounts to 53,000 hours and nearly 300 group projects.