The Storm's Real Impact
November 04, 2011 at 9:10 AM
If you know me, you know the closest I get to camping is an economy hotel. I was a Girl Scout, but a bad one. In truth it was the long abandoned lanterns purchased for my sons’ foray into Boy Scouting that saved us in the early hours of the power outage. Many of us in Western Massachusetts and across the Connecticut border join June’s tornado victims in being reminded this week of what it is to do without, without a functional home. That is to say; shelter from the cold, running hot water, toilets that flush, food in the frig and a stove to cook it on. It is hard to function. It is even harder to organize your business life when there is no phone or email.
By grace, the FOH Worthington Street campus lost power for only a few hours during last weekend’s storm. We were able to shelter, house and feed hundreds of people who would otherwise have even fewer resources than most of us. As I came to work each day, dressed in the most wrinkle-free outfit I could find in my dark closet and complaining of not having a hot shower, I had a hard time feeling sorry for myself. For my situation is temporary and those that we serve have a much longer road to get back on their feet. Estimates of “Noon, Saturday” would sound good to them.
Men and women who are homeless are often expected to pull themselves up and out of the poverty that brought them here. But how many of us could have made it through the week without the kindness of friends and neighbors who loaned a flashlight, a chainsaw, a cell phone or the charger to plug it into? Could we have managed without a cup of hot coffee to start our day if we didn’t have the change to buy one or the gas to get to a place able to brew it? These are the same basic needs that our homeless clients seek to get through each day or week and we hope get to a place where they can begin working on the hard stuff like finding a job.
This is why the Friends of the Homeless Resource Center is so important. We help with the emergency needs of homeless adults and we go further. We are a place to charge your cell phone or use a landline, a place where you can hop on a computer to apply for job and take a shower so you can go on an interview.
At least for a while, the rest of us may not take those things for granted. We might even look at that homeless person we pass a little differently. We might offer up some spare change for a cup of coffee. And I hope that in the long run, we don't become fatigued by the string of natural disasters and forget that someone is homeless in our community 365 days a year.
Kathy Tobin
After almost thirty years covering the news for television affiliates in Western Massachusetts, Kathy joined Friends of the Homeless in the fall of 2009 to help raise money and the profile of the organization to fulfill its mission. As Director of Development, Kathy is available to help you understand the work we are doing and how you might contribute to end homelessness in our community.