Finally... An Update

I know the Blog has been down, but I might be standing a little bit taller. My responsibilities here have multiplied since December and everything that is not an emergency or high priority has been put on the back burner. Now that things are beginning to stabilize again, I am working to squeeze some blogging time into my schedule.

Briefly: The Champion Guidance Center was closed and it has now re-opened and returned to its regular hours. In December, the supervisor of the Women’s Visitation Center left SVdP. Steve and I are now overseeing the Women’s Drop-In Center as well as the Men’s Center. There was a one month period when I changed offices and phones three times. Fortunately, I ended up with a pretty nice work space.

Another added responsibility of mine has been to manage our new Help Desk, located in the Community Center next door. The Help Desk is a place where people can come for information and referrals to local emergency services. On Wednesdays and Fridays our clients are able to receive free clothing and household items from the Help Desk. Imagine a small thrift store without the cash register. Part of my job was to set up a system using an existing database for tracking the distribution of clothing and household goods. I tried to strike a balance between helping those in need while preventing others from taking more than their share and going to the flea market (believe me, it happens). It has been going fairly smoothly since we opened, and I am constantly tweaking the system to make it better.

Homeless Court has been running full force through the closing and re-opening of the Men’s Center. In fact, my caseload has grown each session and the court is now transitioning from meeting every two months to every month. This is a very good thing for clients who are waiting to get rid of warrants (which I would say is a significant percent of them). My caseload has also grown from around fifteen clients per session to over twenty. Word is certainly spreading.

I have also been in charge of issuing winter shelter vouchers for beds at the Oakland Army Base. On days when all of our beds are filled, I feel obligated to help my clients to find spaces in other shelters. This goes to show that on top of all of my formal commitments, I find myself responding to emergency situations as they inevitably come up again and again throughout the day. For example, I helped a homeless man yesterday with an eleven-week old baby to get some supplies and find a suitable housing program. It was late in the day and he was inches away form sleeping on the street with a new baby.

Lastly, there are the fundraisers and seasonal events. Steve and I dressed up like the Easter Bunny to give out baskets to our Visitation Center clients and their children. We try to lighten things up when we can, and many of my co-workers are masters at finding humor in the roughest circumstances. I learn things from them every day.

Altogether, as my job has expanded, perhaps exponentially, my enjoyment and satisfaction has grown proportionately.