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I've been dealing with the shelter system for a little over a week now. "System" one word for it. It is somewhat of a hodge-podge and much of it seems set up to prolong your state of homelessness. There is a pamphlet that lists many of the services. It breaks down who the target population is, i.e., veterans, ex-cons, victims of domestic abuse, women with children, disabled, addicts, etc (I am none of those, though I do deal with depression and some ADD and PTSD), the times and days of some of the basic services, and the address and phone number.
Quite often, these services are scattered all over town. You bus, walk, and or bicycle to the service, stand in line, and find you've wasted time, money, and energy because you cannot avail yourself of the service until you've done an intake and/or orientation, which was not listed, and invariably takes place on a different time and day. You might think calling ahead would save you the trip, and sometimes it will. I called the Salvation Army to ask about their service. I got a recorded message saying no one was available to take the call and stating to leave a message. The voicemail box was full. No email provided. I tweeted them about the voicemail box. It did not help me in the short haul, and I don't know that most homeless would go to the trouble or have the ability, but I did it just so some other schmuck could get through.
I am focused on getting a job and becoming a renter. I have no desire to be one of the chronic homeless. I want to have a full, healthy, and happy life. I figure the faster I make this happen, the better, lest i get sucked into the quagmire. I am doing what I know I need to do; going to networking events, job fairs, employment agencies, looking online, submitting resumes, etc.
I ended up going to the Salvation Army to line up for a bed. I asked if I could go to a job networking event that evening from 5:30 to 7. They said that once I signed up for the bed, I could not leave or I'd lose the bed. I wasted time, etc, getting there to find that out. Time I could've used investigating other services, including services not tied to homelessness, but employment.
I called a shelter that I'd stayed at before to verify that they too would not take me in. You have to be there to line up, it's first-come/first-serve. Plus, as a Rescue Mission (ugh), you're required to attend a religious service and you cannot leave the premises lest you lose your bed.
Another service seems more interested in helping you transition to being employed and housed, but if accepted, you are not allowed to get a job for 30 days. I don't plan on being homeless longer than I can. If I got into that program and found my ideal job, I'd be put out before I even earned enough to rent a room for a day, let alone a month.
I understand they might want that 30 days to stabilize a newly clean and sober person, a recently released ex-con, etc, but that, again, is not me.
As for that networking meeting... I went to it. I did it knowing I was going to have to, for the first time in my life, try and find a place to sleep outside in a big city. I am dedicated to finding work. I'll take a not-ideal job while I'm working on finding the ideal, as long as I can make enough to rent a small room or do a share-rental.
I found what I thought was a covered and dry spot. Covered in the sense that people would not see me. Then the sprinklers came on. I ended up wet and cold and up all night and throughout the day. The clothes I was wearing got dryer through the day. Enough so that I could go to the job interview I had lined up in Los Altos.
I was lucky enough to have been contacted by someone from the Silicon Valley Shambhala Meditation Center who had seen my posts. We met in Los Altos before my interview. She held onto my stuff in her car while I interviewed. Afterwards, she treated me to lunch, we talked, and, because there was no way for me to make it to the shelter in time by bus, she gave me a ride.
I am and will avail myself of the homeless services, as well as employment, and other services to get on my feet ASAP. Some of these services are impediments as much as they are of assistance. If I cannot go to job-search related events, or an actual job, once I find one, because I will lose a bed (and possibly a meal) for having attended, they are blocking my path towards self-sufficiency, employment, and dignity.
I'm not asking someone to let me move in and invade their space indefinitely. I want a place to shower, a place keep much of what I'm carrying with me (clothes, shoes, toiletries, laptop), and a place to sleep. When not doing the arranged chores/tasks, I'd leave the house to do my job search. I'd leave early and return at the agreed time.
If the person lending me their space want's me to spend time with them, I'm amenable. This is a Shambhala forum. I want to be a part of the community, get to know people, practice, and be of service.
The stay can be one night, one week, whatever, though I plan to keep the whatever to as brief a span as possible. Also, it can be spread to different persons. It can be one night one place, another night some place else. For clarification, I am not nomadic by nature. I'm just working with what's in front of me.
It may not seem much better than being homeless, but knowing I can leave my stuff somewhere and have it be safe, feeling personally safe, not having to carry my life with me and have people undress me as a homeless person, being able to walk into an interview with clean clothes not wrinkled from being packed in a duffle/suitcase, makes a huge difference.
I've been posting what I've been going through on Facebook. I only share it with "Friended" people because I am not advertising my situation to potential employers. If at all interested, Friend me or email me and I'll Friend you. I would hope that as a member of the Shambhala community, I would have, in time, Friended some of you eventually.
If you email me, please indicate you are with Shambhala, in some fashion. I get a lot of email.
