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Making a Difference Indeed: Beyond Community Service
Rhonda Hackett, PsyD, MBA

George W. Bush’s re-election has riled many so-called liberals to ascend their soap-boxes and shout to the world the indignities that the poor and middle class will continue to suffer as his war politics and lack of social regard and awareness assuredly characterize the next four years with unknown, yet predictably, negative repercussions for eons to come. Indeed, there is no shortage of vocal pundits from the left reminding us everyday of how dire the situation is and will be for the American Every-Man. In the past, I have listened and most proudly lent my own liberal voice to the left mass; regarding doing so as an inherent attribute, yes duty, of my liberalness. Where has all the yelling and shouting gotten us? No further, it seems, than W’s shady economic policies and absolute, undeniable disregard for millions of hard-working Americans.

Make no mistake - to pilfer the words of the leader of the so- called free world - American people are in dire straights. There is no need to re-state the statistics – if you don’t know how many homeless people there are in America, for example, or have any idea how many children still go to bed hungry in our great land, you can very easily find out. My fellow liberals would be happy to recite the incredibly bleak statistics. It seems knowing the numbers and being attuned to the statistical bleakness, does nothing, however, to effect ‘new’ action, much less change.

Moreover, focusing too diligently on the statistics, results in political chasms widening and fueling the great American need to prove we are right. If you are a staunch liberal, try telling an equally staunch conservative that most homeless people are not mere bums with addictions who deserve their lot in life; your counterpart will be able to rattle off numerous examples of her ‘truth’, telling you of the 30 year old black drug addict who tried to steel her wallet; while you will be inclined to shout over her with your own experience of the young white family who ended up on the streets because of mounting medical bills. I realize I am committing a great sin by generalizing political viewpoints; however my point is this; if all any of us ever does is shout over each other, the so-called bum will still be an eyesore and nuisance to the person who regards him as such, while the young family who is new to the streets stays put in their humble un-abode.

After embarking upon a personal journey of sorts, thrust upon me after the untimely death of my dear father a few years back, I decided to stop my shouting, opting instead to act. Accepting that I will never convince my neighbors that homeless people have real and undeserved problems, for example, has freed me to dedicate myself to face the thousands of homeless people in my community. In my youth I would have considered it a great and necessary victory to enlighten my neighbors to the errors of their ways. Today, however, I understand the inadequacy of such a victory. After all, I would have considered my job complete when they rolled to my side, when in reality neither me nor my neighbor, would have done much of anything to help even a single homeless person.

Trust me; while we continue to argue our points of reference we are missing the opportunity to help someone who genuinely needs it. Whether you want to help, and do so by allowing yourself to be boxed in by the confines of helping through volunteering or writing a check to charity; or not, and continue to be blind to the plight of countless people around you; need increases and one way or another impacts you and yours. Letting yourself off the proverbial hook because you volunteer at a local soup kitchen every Thursday night - don’t get me wrong this is a commendable and needed effort -, or refusing to be hooked to help those who supposedly should help themselves are equally false and inadequate approaches. Neither affects the real, broad-reaching, societal paradigm shift that is desperately needed for any of our great social travesties, such as hunger and homelessness, to be finally understood and significantly diminished. As long as we insist on both equally stagnant constructs our worse fears come true.

Arthur I. Blaustein, an incredible human being whom I both admire and respect, rightfully encourages people to respond to the many ills in our society by answering the call to community service. He frequently reminds the choir of the benefits that such service undoubtedly brings, not only to those you help but to your own life experience as well. His many predictions of social unease following Bush’s re-election are even more poignant in these days following the unveiling of our administration’s latest budget. We knew the cuts to social programs including health care and food stamps were coming. Just as I am outraged by the cuts, others are delighted to see a move toward something that looks like welfare reform. All the while our outrage and delight fester, there is at least one hungry child in your back yard who is going to bed not only with a painfully empty stomach, but freezing cold as well. Accept or shirk responsibility for that child, his reality is not changing, and neither is yours.

It is time for Mr. Blaustein, me, and others like or unlike us, to propel some thinking outside the ‘make a difference’ box. Trying to force people to answer the call to volunteer in any of our great non-profit organizations or to open their pocket books is no where near enough of a demand to fix the societal ills that haunt and impact all of us regardless of our level of awareness or lot in life. Americans are volunteering and donating in record numbers yet many and varied needs outpace those commendable efforts. So, what is the answer?

First and foremost, educate and find out for yourself who needs help in your community. While you were writing that check for Tsunami relief there were people in your community needing help – you don’t know about them because either you have not gone looking or you reject readily available statistics. Don’t take anyone else’s word for it. Acquire your own information through your own channels (I accept that you may not want to take my word for it that a great majority of homeless people I work with hold down full-time jobs); prove yourself and your notions about them or any other alleged group suffering in your community as right or wrong.

Once you find and accept that someone whom you agree needs help, either put yourself in the ‘make a difference’ box – volunteer, write checks to charity, and you will absolutely make a difference; or go outside the box – have a conversation with your boss about what you learned and begin the process of involving your company in this quest; invite the person/group you want to help to your school, church, job and ask them to tell you about their reality – genuinely listening to what they have to say will enrich your self-education beyond description and will get the ball rolling in the direction of the real and desperate change we all agree is needed.

It’s the latter challenge I accepted years ago. Focusing on Denver’s homeless population in particular, I forced myself to know their plight. Beyond hunger, shelter, etc I learned thousands were desperate for some focus on their health. It’s not what you think – they weren’t looking for free health care – I, too was surprised. In fact, clinical care was not the most obvious concern of theirs at all. Quite simply, they wanted readily available health education and disease prevention information in the meantime of continued fights and negations that have come to be synonymous with figuring out the health care dilemma. Finding a community entity, in this case a responsive non-profit organization, to listen to my story and vision to make a difference with this newly discovered and understood problem, proved a lot less challenging than I first believed. Two plus years later, through funding and support of said non-profit, more than 40,000 contacts have been made with Denver’s homeless during which they learn critical health information (e.g. taking care of your feet while living on the streets; paying attention to nutrition while eating in soup kitchens; preventing frostbite; and much more).

To my critics, I know – this effort does not end homelessness; but it has brought light to a problem that before was buried under our many assumptions of what it is that homeless people need or want; it has also forced an organization to delve outside its status quo. Hearing from ‘John’ a 37 year old homeless man that this was the first winter in his more than 5 on the streets that he has not dealt with frostbite, and from the non-profit’s CEO that she had no idea this type of program was not already in place while wondering what else can be done, is all the proof I need that this effort indeed makes a difference, and will propel an even greater one to be made in the future.

Liberal, conservative, or in the middle? It does not matter. We are all capable of and on some level driven to help others. Make your efforts count and debunk our status quo.

Rhonda Hackett, PsyD, MBA
(303) 986-3571
mailto:rghackett@...

Dr. Rhonda Hackett is an advocate working to right social wrongs. She writes a regular column for the Denver Homeless Voice Newspaper and lives in the Denver Metro area.

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