Service opportunity! It's often hard to figure out how/where to start when you want to help meaningfully with an issue as huge and nebulous as homelessness, but good works like this REALLY make a bigger difference than you might think.
A long, long time ago, when I stayed at Urban Peak's youth shelter, our lunches and dinners were provided by volunteers. Sometimes, the person/group who had signed up would no-show, so our backup was frozen burgers. These events were particularly memorable because the burgers nearly always set off the smoke alarms, and when that happened, we had to go hang out across the street and wait for the fire department to visit and confirm that everything was okay. We made the best of it (brought blankets out to huddle in, pretended to have mini rave dances in the fire engines' lights) ... but no matter how we acted on the surface, every one of us still was hit at least a tiny bit by the stinging message of "People don't keep promises. You're forgotten. Nobody cares about you." These painful beliefs/harmful self-perceptions are already a dangerous, easily-triggerable vulnerability for everyone experiencing homelessness or other chronic trauma, and particularly young people.
It wasn't super common (probably happened around once a month on average during my stay), and was very much outweighed by the friendly sincerity of all the volunteers who DID show up -- especially those who would hang out and eat with us (others would sometimes act awkwardly obligated the whole time they were in the kitchen and then nervously shepherd their families away as fast as possible, which I'd say had a relatively neutral impact overall; most of us understood that we could seem a little scary lol). But it still particularly hurt when we were, or at least felt, forgotten. In some ways, feeling forgotten is even worse than feeling feared/disliked.
Showing up matters. Every single instance of showing up, even in the most seemingly mundane "here's some food" way, matters. If you're able to make a promise, even a small one, and keep it, then you're able to make an impact that lasts longer than a meal does. Any small bit of involvement, when it's sincere and compassionate, is valuable!
In essence: Don't worry about scale. Don't underrate what you can do with very little. As my dad poetically puts it, "The difference between zero and one is infinitely greater than that between one and two".
Please help support the Delores Project if you can! And ditto Urban Peak, they're an awesome org too.
Calling all volunteers: past, present and future! TDP provides our shelter guests with three meals and two snacks daily, and we can't do this without YOU! Do you love to cook? Perfect! Hate it? Fine, too! There are so many ways to support our meal program. Click the #LinkInBio or email laura@thedeloresproject.org to learn how you can make a difference today. 🏠💕
Co-Founder at c3 Strategists
3dSo honored to be working with you!