Last week I went to PATH's second Faith Matters luncheon. I was on a mission this time. We've had a slight rise in the number of homeless men stopping by lately. While it's been great to have these guys stop in, borrow a couple bucks, trade names, and offer a blessing to them on their way, we're woefully unprepared to truly reach out to people who are wrestling with the unimaginable difficulties of addiction, hunger, mental illness, and outdoor city living day in and day out. We can do our best to offer a friendly face and some temporary company, but we're not trained or equipped to go much beyond that. I wanted to talk to someone at PATH about this to see if we could somehow get wiser to all this so that we can help a little more.
As usual, PATH has come through.
In the next month or so, we'll be scheduling a session during which one of PATH's outreach specialists will train us in the basics of interaction and assistance to people who are chronically homeless. We'll learn about safety, respect, referral services, and other topics that will help us be more effective neighbors to this population. I'm really excited about this opportunity. Stay tuned for more details.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment