I want to tell you a story that happened many years ago, as recently as today and will happen again tomorrow. It is a story about a deceptively familiar place where securing the basic necessities of life, health care, housing, transportation and communication, requires persistence to overcome one obstacle after another. I call this place The Parallel Universe.
When the good news arrives of a place to live, joy abounds, but it isn’t long before reality sets in. An empty apartment is, well, EMPTY – every cupboard, closet and shelf that held the previous tenant’s supplies are totally bare. Just like Mother Hubbard who went to the cupboard to get her poor doggy a bone and found it bare, “and thus the poor doggy had none.” None as in no liquid cleaner (floor or toilet), trash bags, sponges, towel or toilet paper, not even a wastebasket… The solution: to provide a new kitchen wastebasket full of needed supplies; a bathroom wastebasket full of needed supplies. I spread the word among the Quaker meetings and churches in our area, provided a list of items for each type of bucket, and the Move-in Buckets Drive was under way.
As I created a list of items for the buckets, it quickly became obvious that NONE of them are covered by food stamps. A basic Move-in Bathroom Bucket includes a shower curtain, liner and hooks, a tub and bathmat, a toilet bowl brush and basic cleaning supplies for a total of $90-$100. The basic Move-in Kitchen Bucket is even more expensive because it includes a sponge mop and pail, a large wastepaper basket, trash bags, food storage containers, a broom and dustpan, and various household cleaning supplies.
The cost of housekeeping is irrelevant to someone living on the street, but after moving into a place of one’s own, there are costs beyond the expected bills for rent, electricity, and water. It didn’t tumble on either one of us it would take several hundred dollars to buy basic household supplies.
A local church created a Free Store open three afternoons a week. Shoppers with paperwork indicating they are in need may come once a month. Depending on donations, cleaning supplies along with the necessities of facial tissue, toilet paper, paper towel and sponges are also available. This ministry occasionally has feminine hygiene products and pull-ups as well as baby diapers, all of which are incredibly useful and deeply appreciated.
I remember the day Trila was having a fight with a used vacuum cleaner. She removed screws and a belt and bolts and looked up at me in frustration. “I need a screwdriver,” she said holding up two screws. “I know where they go, and I can put the belt back on, but I need a screwdriver.”
Having no idea how to repair anything mechanical, my contribution was to run to an ACE Hardware and return with a screwdriver that holds four different tips. We celebrated a successful repair job with two cups of gas station coffee (after Trila ran the sweeper, of course.)
* To protect their identity, Trila is a composite of these women. All the stories are true and describe my experience as companion in each case.
Patricia Thomas has volunteered as a Lead Hostess at Hope House for nine years. Currently she is experiencing firsthand the numerous obstacles the homeless encounter as they attempt to get off the street.
