“We don’t give hand outs, we give hand ups” this is saying that I hear a lot at Back Bay Mission. This quote stands out to me the most and really represents what I see everyday here. I see this in the food pantry, in the Micah Day Center and working with clients. The volunteers are also encouraged by the staff to not give money to the homeless in this community. This isn’t just because we already offer services here to assist them, but because it says that “I feel sorry for you and there’s nothing else I can do to help, but throw money at you” and in actuality there are things that you can do to help besides a few bucks.
I can’t say that I’m innocent to not giving hand outs to people who are homeless, but being here has taught me that there are alternatives to just giving money. For example you could simply sit next to them and listen to their story and understand that people who are homeless can’t be fit into a box where they’re all the same. This not only helps the person listening to start understanding this issue, but also gives the person talking a chance for someone to listen to them for a change. There is so many times where people will walk right by a person laying on the sidewalk without looking at them as to ignore them. This does nothing but silence the real issue of what goes on all over the world.
I say the first step to helping this population of people is to stop ignoring them and recognize that yes they are here. Then once you are comfortable with noticing that they are all around you, now you can take another step and listen to their story. This can be hard because all of us have things in our life that is hard to deal with, but put your self in their shoes and realize that this could happen to any of us.
