BY JOHN BAILEY
Catawba County United Way
(The following is commentary based off recently helping at the 2020 Point in Time Count.)
Willing and Able to Help…that’s what I hope I am every day I go to work at the Catawba County United Way.
At any given moment, I can get a call from someone who is facing eviction, a medical crisis, abuse or is just looking for a meal. We do the best we can to steer people to local programs to meet their needs.
Usually, this is always done over the phone. I’m trying to connect one voice with another. The CCUW currently helps fund 22 non-profit programs in the county, but we work with so many more.
On Jan. 30, I volunteered to help with the annual Point in Time (PIT) homeless count. It’s organized every year by a group of local non-profits who make up the Housing Visions Continuum of Care. Besides data collected, the event identifies gaps in services as well as barriers that prevent individuals and families from becoming successfully housed.
This year I helped at The Corner Table Soup Kitchen in Newton, and for a day the people I was hoping to help were standing right in front of me.
As I drove home at the end of the day, my mind was flooded with thoughts related to work and ticking off my weekly to-do list at home, generally feeling – like most of us – overwhelmed with my perceived daily stress.
Then, I was suddenly reminded how fortunate I was to have those things to worry about and a home to do that worrying in.
At the PIT, I met individuals who would be sleeping in their car, under a bridge, in the woods, behind a building. They were concerned with being warm that night, being safe for another day and finding someone who might be able to help.
While our objective during the PIT was the count, I took the time to ask about how they were doing, where they were from, what problems they were having and where they were getting help.
Then I provided them with information about 2-1-1, the United Way community service phone line. It’s a vast data base of local and state-wide agencies and programs providing help with everything from housing, to health care, to substance abuse services, to employment, to just about anything you can think of.
I don’t know if the help I provided made a difference, but I hope it showed someone cared at that moment.
If nothing else the PIT count reminded me how important it is to wake up every morning willing and able to help as much as I can.
More observations from my PIT experience on Jan. 30.
Along with The Corner Table, volunteers helped with counts at the Hickory Soup Kitchen and at The LIFEhouse in Hickory.
-Dissatisfaction with the lack of access to health care and affordable housing.
-For some a sense that no matter what they do, they just aren’t going to catch a break, resigning themselves to be a have not – “That’s just my luck.”
-For many there is a desire to make life better, find work, get a car, move into a home, but medical conditions limiting how long and what type of work inhibits these desires along with having a criminal record – despite doing their time.
-The Corner Table was a haven, not only for the homeless but for the working poor and anyone just looking for a way not to have to face the world alone. There was an appreciation for the meal, the friendly smiles, the camaraderie.
-One gentleman shared the news about finding work through the Census Bureau.
-Another woman planned out how she would reset herself financially by getting a similar job with the Census Bureau, then using that money to fix her car and then looking for another job. “You have to have a plan.”
The Housing Visions Continuum of Care group meets every second Thursday, 12 p.m. at the Catawba County United Way office in Hickory and is made up of local agencies concerned with meeting the needs those facing hunger and homelessness.
For more information contact the CCUW at 828-327-6851.