Why People Are Homeless Part 3

Here is another example of the people we have to deal with on a daily basis...

The guys in the Center were told to take out the trash to the dumpster. They carried the barrels to the dumpster and there they sat next to it. We have two large, blue, 55 gallon plastic barrels full of rotting food and other stinky trash next to a large dumpster and they would stay there until they were FINALLY emptied into the trash. In utter frustration Fran instructed the guys to carry the barrels to the dumpster and put them in the trash. Fran said, “Annette, do you know what these people did?”

I answered, “They threw the blue barrels INTO the dumpster.”

It was the most illogical plan of action but to them-the most literal.

She emphatically replied, “Yes! The barrels were IN the dumpster.”

So Fran was in a training class with people from a partnership grant Mercy Ministries received. She explained the trash problem in a group setting. Fran told me what one of the responses was from an out-of-touch participant. He told her she needed to explain in great detail how to take out the trash step-by-step and then, send the volunteers a follow-up email. I laughed myself off the couch when I heard this “fix.”

Most of these folks don’t own a computer let alone have email. Some may even be illiterate. I asked, “That answer was not in our zip code?”

Fran corrected me, “That answer was not in our reality.”