When We Walk By - Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America.
By Kevin F. Adler and Donald W. Burnes – North Atlantic Books
Our world is full of challenges and opportunities. Whose job is it to dig in and find solutions? Often it takes a collaboration of like-minded people to make a difference. Taming a big problem can look like the Lilliputians tying down the giant – one rope at a time.
Kevin F. Adler and Donald W. Burnes, with help from dedicated students Amanda Banh and Andrijana Bilbija, have created a handbook about how we can help. When We Walk By gives a detailed look at the factors that lead some to find themselves without a place to go at the end of each day.
The book begins by having us think about the concept of relational poverty. When we find ourselves overwhelmed by what life has thrown at us who can we call? For many of us our first thought is family. As Adler and Burnes made the effort to get to know many people on the street, they learned that most of them had lost touch with their family members. These two authors thought about this and asked themselves, “What if we were to give these unfortunate people the opportunity to send a message out to their family members?”
Adler shares the story of walking among people that have no permanent address in the areas where they typically congregate. He brings a video camera and asks if they would like to record a brief hello. This can be a hard thing to do. People are understandably ashamed and embarrassed to have ended up with no place to call home. The book tells us what happened when one of these unfortunate individuals reaches out to his long lost relatives.
After posting his short monologue on social media, within an hour replies popped up from former school classmates. His sister said she had been searching for him for 12 years. These Miracle Messages, as they call them, have resulted in hundreds of reconnections and reunions for those who had lost touch with their relatives.
There are many misconceptions about those who have no place of their own. Most of them work, but do not get paid enough to afford the rent that most apartments require. There are many systems that make it very difficult to climb out of homelessness. Shortage of affordable housing, a big gap between the minimum wage and a living wage, the high cost of health insurance and the lack of reliable public transportation are all factors that gang up to make the climb out of homelessness seem impossible.
So, where do we begin? The authors suggest we consider this issue carefully and not just walk by. That first step is to realize that no one wants to be without a safe place to lay one’s head at night. These are people like you and me who find themselves in a tough situation. We need to take the time to check in with them as individuals. Each person’s story is different. And each person’s path to a better life will also be different.
Read this book to learn how you can become a Miracle Friend. It could be something simple like checking in with someone by sending a text message. You will be amazed at what can happen when people are given a bit of Miracle Money to help them climb out of their situation and find stable housing.
Thank you Jen Graney, for pointing me to this book.
