As a Junior in the Honors Program, one of the classes one takes is Honors Community Involvement with Professor John Razzouk. Through this class students are given the opportunity to learn about the problems communities face, and attempt to solve them.
A problem that is very pressing in Riverside is the plight of the homeless population. So, a few of my classmates and I did some research and decided to do our project with Path of Life Ministries, an organization that is devoted to helping the homeless people of Riverside get back on their feet by aiding them in job searches and providing shelter for them until they can find permanent housing.
Although we have worked in Path of Life in a variety of capacities, the most impactful for me has been taking part in the intake process at the Community Shelter. After we had worked with them for almost a quarter, the administration at Path of Life asked us if we would be interested in helping out in other departments besides the Main Office. We asked them which of their programs needed help the most, and they pointed us towards the Emergency Cold-Weather program. This program is put in place during winter each year since the homeless cannot withstand the drop in temperature without an appropriate place to stay. To deal with this problem, Path of Life pushes its Community Shelter to maximum capacity by rolling out mats so that people can sleep on the floor and at least not be out in the cold. We were asked to help the Emergency Cold-Weather program by helping intake the large numbers of people who came to the shelter. While helping with the intake process I finally understood how tragic the stories of people who were homeless could be. There was an elderly man who was suffering from arthritis and had been homeless for 30 years. There was a woman who arrived with her kid that had been a victim of domestic abuse. There was even a case where a woman had come to the shelter but had suicidal thoughts, so everything was stopped to get her help. I was told by the Path of Life workers that stories like these are common, which made me wonder why we are not doing more to help people with such needs. Seeing the struggle that these individuals go through has made me glad that I am doing my project with Path of Life Ministries, and I hope that my group’s project is able to help out in some manner.