Hike for Hesed

In two weeks, I will be participating in the Hike for Hesed. This is a five mile walk to raise funds for Hesed House, the second largest homeless shelter in Illinois.

Why am I doing this? It all starts ten years ago with a man named Gordon.

It was a chance meeting in the food court of Chicago Union Station. I was in the city, killing time before meeting my adviser at DePaul University. While in the Metra station, I saw CPD hustle out two homeless men. 

“They do it to me, too,” someone to the right of me said.

He sat reading a discarded newspaper. He wore a 49ers sweatshirt that had seen the better of days. I saw weathered skin on his face, teeth a deep shade of yellow in his mouth, and detected the slightest scent which indicated an absence of soap and deodorant. We started talking. He told me his name was Gordon. In 2001, his wife contracted cancer. They found it harder and harder to cover the innumerable bills that came their way, despite their having insurance. They wiped out his 401k. They took out a second mortgage on their house. Then the other shoe dropped.

Gordon worked as a machinist at a Chicago factory. The CEO of the business decided he could make a greater profit if he moved the plant to Mexico. Gordon lost his job. He and his wife soon depleted their savings. She died. He lost the house. With no other family to speak of, Gordon went to the streets.

I never forgot that chance meeting. For the ten years since I have reflected on how we are all, in the end, subject to the capricious whims of chance. You never, ever know how someone came into their situation, whatever it is. I am certain there are those who would greet this account with counterclaims, such as, “He should have worked harder and saved more” or “Why didn’t he just get another job?” To those claims, I offer yet another question.

Would you say that to me?

If you are reading this, then chances are you know me, either informally through the ether of cyberspace, or as an intimate friend. You might even be an extended family member. My point being, seriously, would you say those things to me if I were homeless?

Because I easily could have been.

When Saint Josephs’ College closed in May of 2017, I lost my job. As my wife has serious health conditions, I was the sole provider for my family. I sent out hundreds of job applications and went on numerous interviews. I ended up getting two part-time jobs, which still did not come close to covering monthly costs of living. How did we make it?

Pure accident of birth. I am blessed and grateful beyond belief to have been born to parents with both the love and the means to help my family survive…and I do mean basic survival…for that year before I was again blessed and acquired a wonderful, full time faculty position. If not for my parents, my family would have been homeless. Every day I reflect on how few people have such a safety net. I also believe that to whom much is given, much is expected. 

Therefore, I must act.

There are unique pathologies within our society. One of them, I believe, stems from our pioneer times, times which disappeared well over 150 years ago. This thinking goes: “As long as you work hard, you will make it.” Another is a reductive equation which states wealth=virtue. If you don’t have money, then you must be poor in character and morality as well as finances. Thus, I concede the fact that someone out there would still have belittled me for my situation or worse, belittled someone like Gordon for his, with “You should have worked harder” or “it’s your problem.” I posit that those harboring such an ethos are susceptible to the many myths surrounding the human tragedy that is homelessness in America.

“Homeless people just don’t want to work, or if they just got a job, they’d be fine.”

A 2013 study from the Department of Housing and UrbanDevelopment found that 55% of homeless had worked in the previous year. Gordon had worked the year before I spoke to him. I worked in the first half of 2017. I then worked two part-time jobs, just as many housing insecure people do. A minimum wage worker needs to work between 69 and 174 hours a week in order to afford a two-bedroom rental.

“Fighting homelessness is too expensive.”

A study from the Central Florida Commission onHomelessness determined that subsidizing housing for people costs $10,000 per person, per year. If left homeless, then people can cause a strain on jails, law enforcement, hospitals, and other community services that amount to $31,000 per person, per year. If one cannot see assisting the homeless as a moral imperative, then perhaps one might yield to the logic of numbers and finance.

I am also struck by how many young people are homeless. Last March, a student confessed to me that they were living out of their car and were running out of cash for food. I connected this student with campus services in order to change that situation post haste. But this student was symptomatic of a larger and systemic plight. Yesterday’s Chicago Tribune reported that 16,000 public school students qualify as homeless. “I felt very embarrassed to tell people”, was a common comment from those students.

Nationwide, one may see the scope, namely a 70% increase, of homelessness among school-aged children in this chart:

Something must be done.

That is why I like the simply stated mission of Hesed House: “Because everyone deserves dignity.” Every human deserves the dignity of a roof, heating or cooling, and food in their stomach.

Consider the many victories won by Hesed House:

-Over 200,000 warm meals were served to people in need.

-80,766 Warm, safe nights of restful sleep were provided.

-120 children were served over the course of the past year.

-So many people who now have jobs and their own housing via Hesed House training and assistance programs.

You may read of more successes at this link.

So that is why I am participating in Hike for Hesed. Several of my fine colleagues at the college, along with a few of their family members, will be joining me. Our team name is “Waubonsee Walkers.” I assure you none of us are Walking Dead fans, but rather the name comes from my being unimaginative at the time of registration. Because we’re from Waubonsee and we’re…well…walking. If, however, you are a zombie fan and that motivates you to help, then by all means.

I ask that you please consider sponsoring my team in this walk by making a donation of whatever you can afford. In doing so, you will be helping so many people to change their lives. Yes, it is the moral thing to do, but it also just makes good sense.

Everyone deserves dignity.

Everyone deserves to feel like they matter.

Everyone.

I’m going to do what I can to help make that happen.

Thank you all so much and take care.

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