A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (actually yesterday afternoon, downtown), I participated in the C.O.T.S. Walk with my family, in an attempt to reduce and understand homelessness. C.O.T.S. is an acronym for the Committee On Temporary Shelter and they provide waystations, daystations, and transitional housing around the city for those of us humans who are shelter-challenged. And I thought it was important to bring my children with me on this journey.
The walk, aside from raising money for the organization, takes its participants around the city on a 3 mile walk that passes by and through the various offices and shelters run by C.O.T.S. We started off in the park, and then marched down Church Street to the sounds of drumming and shouting. Well, most of us. Edward decided after about two blocks that he had had enough of the C.O.T.S. Walk, so he just sat down on the side of the road and refused to move. My wife had to take him back to the playground while Ruby and I pressed onward with the rest of the team put together by my church.
Our first stop was the waystation, where people can come to get a bed for the night. Rooms full of crammed together bunk beds, and hallways filled with lockers, made up most of the facility, and I think it was good for my daughter to see. There are so many misconceptions and stereotypes about the homeless that seeing where the lucky ones get to stay is eye-opening. We see panhandlers on the street of course, but homelessness really is a bit of a phantom menace: an obvious problem with no clear solution. But until we can solve the problem, we can respond with compassion and faith for the future.
Our second stop was the family shelter, where you might go if you have kids. As much as you hear the statistics about children and poverty, you don’t really understand until you see them. There were kids playing in that play room, and my daughter had a lot of questions. Up to 10 families can stay at that shelter, which seems like a lot of people crammed into that house, but on the other hand seems like a tiny number when compared to how many families are struggling these days.
As we trudged around the city to each stop , Ruby collecting stamps on the fan that she had made earlier at the crafts table, we got a sense of what it must be like for people trying to get services each day. If the waystation is full, they can try to get a spot to sleep at the daystation, but that is all the way across the city, and walking is probably how they are going to get there. By the time we got to the last stop, we were ready to fall over. Although, to be fair, one of us is 8, and the other one is in terrible shape.
The final stop was the C.O.T.S. offices themselves, where we learned a little about the preventative programs they have for families facing eviction, and about their other work around the city. It was all good information, but we were ready for our free Ben & Jerry’s that was waiting for us at the finish line. Except when we got within sight of it we saw the Ben & Jerry’s truck pulling away. They were out of ice cream. We were the very last, very slowest people on the walk, and we had missed the ice cream. They did go out and buy some store brand dairy-flavored dessert for us, and by that time we didn’t care. It was fantastic. And even more fantastic was that my daughter and I got to see, up close and personal, a problem that often bubbles just below the surface of our awareness. So now we’re ready to help do something about it. And I hope you will too. If you’d like to donate to this organization, the link is still active. May the fourth be with you.