Rest In PeaceTwo weeks ago I received a call from the Thurston County Coroners office inquiring about a man that had been found deceased. He said that the only identifying information they could find was our address listed on his ID card and paperwork from our shelter in his belongings. He told me this information in a very matter of fact way--the Coroner was trying to locate family and was following all possible avenues in doing so. My heart sank and my eyes filled with tears. At this point I swallowed the lump and asked if he could tell me who it was... A few weeks before this call, I showed up to work and there was a kayak near the bike rack. A KAYAK. I never quite know what to expect when I walk down into that parking lot, but I must say--A KAYAK?!?! So upon further investigation we come to find that Brady had purchased the kayak from Big 5 Sports and had dragged the kayak along the sidewalk all the way back to the shelter from Big 5 Sports because the bus driver wouldn't let him take it on the bus with him! This was the man that Brady was. Determined, adventurous, and not one to back down from pursuing something he believed in. The weeks when he was boating each day we all noticed a shift in his spirit. He was more social, full of life and began pontificating even more so then usual about the beauty of the sea. This excerpt was a recent monologue he dictated to Ell/a one of our support staff as they transcribed it on the computer: Anonymous Persons (Nostradamus) Thesis 1.23 “To be on the shore of the west coast, longing for the open waters of the great ocean to catch sail of a gentle breeze going towards the islands of warmth. Shangrila (peace, harmony and contentment) of being very stable and wanting to just relax like a warm bathtub of water with one’s aching existence soaking in it, while sipping upon one’s favorite beverage. it sounds like poetry. want to make this poetry a reality. which is easy to grasp after residing within this comfortable harbor that’s kind of a jest (whats a jest? like a joke? correct.) Somber thought while walking from one such side of town to the other side of town. Take a moment and look out to the far end of the harbor, which does lead to open waters and just ponder on the sailing thought.” It is not very often that people have the opportunity to die doing something they truly love. This is especially true for people experiencing houselessness. In fact, one of the questions on our Vulnerability Assessment that we use to gauge someone's high likelihood of dying on the street is, "Do you have planned activities, other than just surviving, that make you feel happy and fulfilled?". I am overwhelmed with gratitude that Brady had the opportunity to find something to do other than surviving each day, that made him feel such a deep sense of belonging and peace on the water. The MemorialWe held a memorial service for Brady on Tuesday last week, at the "Octagon" as it's known on the streets, near the corner of East Bay Drive and Olympia Ave. Our amazing medical and hospice partners, the Amahoro House volunteers, provided food, warm drinks and a beautiful display of flowers, rocks and ropes to help us celebrate the life of a man described by his peers as full of dignity, a pure heart and a beautiful example of a true friend. The memorial brought out Shelter Support Staff, community members that knew him from the street, shelter volunteers and most importantly, shelter guests that have spent the past 9 months living with Brady. All but one of his dorm mates attended as did many others from the street community. We had three dozen long stem roses that we picked as we shared a thought, memory or appreciation of Brady. We took the petals and gathered them in two vessels. Two volunteers, a shelter guest and Chris, Brady's fellow Meritime enthusiast and Support Staff member, ventured out on a dingy and a kayak to spread the petals and all of our love for Brady into the water just as he would have wanted it. The rest of us threw the petals on the shore to be taken out later by the tide. Local Man of MysteryWe often referred to Brady as a Man of Mystery. We didn't know much about him and he would always say some coded catchphrases that were playful and might not always make linear sense. He never really mentioned family and all we ever knew for sure was that he loved the water. We learned a little bit more about Brady the day of his memorial, though.
A car happened to drive by as we were walking down to the shore and the driver asked me what we were doing. I told her, and I told her Brady's name. Her eyes filled with tears and she said, "My husband was his high school teacher at Capital". She said thank you to us for honoring his life and drove away. This moment points to a larger narrative in our city. In this Olympian article Brady Grivel, 50 year old local man who attended Capital High School is referred to as a "transient". When will we accept that the people experiencing homelessness in Olympia aren't "home"less at all? Their home is Olympia. They are without a structure of a physical house to live in, but they are from here. Their families are here. Their jobs are here. They went to high school here. Advocates and social service providers have tried a hundred different ways to explain the misconception that people experiencing houselessness on our streets of our city are flocking here from other cities. Overwhelmingly, through year after year after year of census information, surveying, and individual reporting we have unchanging data to show that between 80-90% of our street community has called Thurston County and specifically in many cases, Olympia, home for a very long time. The average life expectancy of someone experiencing longterm houselessness is around 47 years old. Brady is the 4th shelter guest that has died since we opened. Two guests, Chris Fabrizio and Lisa Rath died after they had moved on from the shelter, and two (Ariel Stone and Brady Grivel) have been active guests when they died. All had been living in Thurston County for over 10 years. May Brady, Ariel, Lisa, and Chris's lives solidify in our minds that the people you see on the streets are part of our community as much as anyone else. They deserve our care, respect and love. When we provide this for them, our community as a whole is healthier and better off. May we have the insight as residents, city leaders, business owners, faith leaders, newspaper editors and community members to look at the many ways our community continues to push our neighbors even further to the margins by the way we describe them. Rest in Peace, Brady. You will be missed. Photos by Angela Lee and Meg Martin
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I had the great privilege of attending the third national Housing First Partners Conference this past week. I gave a presentation about the shelter program that was well received. I was also able to hear presentations about all kinds of inspiring things happening around the world (Canada, France, Italy!) and here in the United States. What I took away most from the conference is that momentum is building for things to change. There were over 750 people in attendance talking about the concept of Housing First and how to bring it to scale. On the last day of the conference, Congresswoman Maxine Waters proposed landmark legislation to put $13.27 billion in relief over the next 5 years towards ending homelessness in the United States. This would allow for more money to flow through every level of government towards homeless services. It would go for creating more housing and for support services in order to help support people in housing that have more complex challenges. In this country, we are hearing more and more about income inequality, minimum wage increases, affordable housing and have a presidential campaign centering on many of these issues. We are hearing that cost of housing is skyrocketing in San Fransisco, Portland and Seattle due in part to the fast introduction of large tech companies and the lack of a clear plan for addressing affordable housing and homeless issues before it is too late. People often wonder why homelessness is so visible and seems to keep getting worse. They expect to hear answers about addiction, domestic violence, mental illness, etc. These issues have been in society for thousands of years and though they are often part of the experience of homelessness, mass homelessness like we currently have in the United States didn't start until the late 1980's. Together with a tax code overhaul and de-institutionalism of the mental health system, Ronald Reagan's Massive cuts to the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (three-quarters of the budget from $32 billion in 1981 to $7.5 billion by 1988) created the picture of modern mass homelessness in the United States. Homelessness is an economic issue that centers around income inequality, lack of viable job opportunities and the rising cost of housing. So why I am telling you this?
Last week a frequent guest of the Warming Center arrived with an eviction notice from the camp that he has been living in. His notice did not have a date of eviction filled out. Some of the people were told they had 10 days to vacate, others were told 24 hours and others were told by the Railroad police that they were to vacate immediately. Where does the city think people will go? The Salvation Army has recently moved away from providing emergency shelter which means that our 37 shelter beds and the Drexel House 16 men's beds are the only year round shelter beds in the county for single adults. Ours is the only public shelter for single women and the only one that takes walk-ups on a nightly basis. We now have the numbers from the 2016 census showing the there were 197 unsheltered people the night the census was taken--we have 37 beds and they are full every night. We continue to deal with homelessness as a de-facto illegal status that requires (expensive) enforcement and we continue to expect enforcement to resolve the issue. It is well documented at this point that this method--the criminalization of homelessness--does not work to solve the issues and results in expensive waste of public resources.
Let's work together to bring the real solutions that exist in our community to scale! The solution to homelessness is a permanent house for every person and family living on our streets, in parks and in doorways. We must adequately plan for our future as a growing city surrounded by two larger cities that are both experiencing housing crises and declared states of emergency on homelessness. Our issues will only get worse if we continue to not take action at the city level to create a clear plan for addressing this issue. Join us in making positive change for the betterment of us all!! A Project in the works...For the past few months we have been working with many amazing community partners on a program that will be a positive step in the right direction in serving the most vulnerable citizens of our community. I wanted to do a quick, overdue post about the initiative because we are really excited to be a strong partner in this effort. You can read more about it here in an Olympian article that ran in October of last year. Also, check out the video below (click the button!) that was used at the St. Peter Foundation Christmas Forest Gala to learn more about the project. Thank you first and foremost to our former guest, Noblelee for sharing her story for this cause--she is incredibly strong and I feel honored to know her. Thank you to our community partners and here's to progress in the path towards more efficient and effective services in our city!!
"When the center opens, social services agencies will be located together to work as an integrated resource. Center staff will coordinate individuals’ care among multiple partner agencies. An advanced registered nurse practitioner will provide direct psychiatric health care, improving access to psychiatric medication when needed, and a case manager will support individuals in the short term while connecting them to long-term solutions." Welcoming ALL People!Join us tomorrow February 13, 2016 from 1-4pm for our monthly volunteer training! Learn more about how to get involved and about the work we do everyday. Part of our mission is to provide community education about the challenges that face vulnerable adults experiencing homelessness in our city. If you have ever wondered about volunteering this is a great way to learn more to see if it is something you would like to pursue. We would love to have you! Meet at the shelter in the basement of First Christian Church. 701 Franklin St. SE downtown. Our door is in the parking lot under the building on the right hand side. Email meg@iwshelter.org with and questions. Looking forward to seeing YOU there!! It is with the heaviest of hearts that I write today in memory of Ariel Stone. Ariel, our youngest guest, would be turning 25 on February 7th. She passed away yesterday afternoon at St. Peter Hospital surrounded by love. People from throughout Ariel's life came together this weekend to meet and connect because of their deep love for this beautiful woman... and she would have been so thrilled about it. I kept picturing her in the hospital room fluttering around asking if she could "do anything for anyone" and introducing all the people she loved to each other. At our First Annual Up In Smoke BBQ celebration last August we presented our staff with an award for their "Fiery spirit, big love and laughter". When I was looking back at the video today watching Ariel, in her element--acting, singing karaoke, dancing, laughing with her friends, I thought that quote represented her so well. When she found out that we were going to record the event she was so happy because she could use the recording for her audition tape when she moved to LA to become an actor. She often talked about her dream to go to LA, break into the entertainment scene and get a red corvette to spin around town in. At the shelter our goal is to meet people where they are, in all their complexities and messiness and show them unconditional respect. Ariel connected with us and many of our volunteers--particularly the Amahoro House team--and although it was never said in plain terms I really believe she felt at home as an important part of our wild shelter family. Although her fiery spirit was often a challenge to reign in--it was the spark that made her undeniably lovable. Ariel experienced monumental loss and trauma in her short life and was such a clear, daily reminder of why we are doing the work we do. She kept coming back to us and for that I am so grateful. We saw so much stability, growth and comfort in her over the past year. We are so lucky to have had the opportunity to love her, see her and support her both in life and in death. A celebration of Ariel's life will take place this Friday, February 5th at 6:30pm. The service will be held at her church--Windworks Church--located at 1835 Cooper Point Rd. NW. We will be meeting at the shelter at 5:30pm on Friday evening to drive together for any volunteers or community members that want to come to the service with us. Please get in touch with any questions or to share stories of your time with Ariel for me to share at the service if you are unable to attend. Send memories and stories to meg@iwshelter.org. Ariel--you are loved and you are not alone.
What an amazing experience.
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I don't always get to blogging as quickly as I want to. This particular post I have started and restarted and I have yet to get it quite right. I realize that I won't get it right but all I can do is speak from my heart. Two of our founding members and shelter managers have decided to move on for now and to them I owe the deepest gratitude. Please join me in thanking them... |
Cassie Burke
More about Cassie Burke:
She earned her BA in sociology and political economy from The Evergreen State College. Cassie has been a core volunteer, outreach worker, organizer, and board member with EGYHOP for eight years, and created the training manual. Cassie managed the Bread and Roses Women’s Guest House Shelter, staffed the Bread and Roses Advocacy Center concurrently, while acting as an intern coordinator/ site supervisor with The Evergreen State College. Cassie participated in the initial formation of the Poor People’s Union and the original encampment of Camp Quixote and volunteered at the camp after it was sanctioned by the city of Olympia. Cassie held a workstudy advocacy position at the Family Support Center and coordinated the Interfaith Works Women’s Overflow Shelter and the Family Support Shelter, while staffing both as a volunteer host. Cassie volunteered as an advocate at the Sidewalk Advocacy Center in Fall through Spring of 2012. Cassie was also a collective organizer with Queer Rock Camp, a project of Stonewall Youth.
Jefferson Doyle
More about Jefferson
Jefferson has been a core organizer, outreach worker, and volunteer with EGYHOP for over 5 years. Jefferson studied political science at Montana State University, and general studies at The Evergreen State College. He worked as an overnight counselor in the Young Adult Shelter at Rosie's Place in Community Youth Services in 2013. Jefferson completed the advanced advocate training with Sidewalk Advocacy Center and volunteered as an advocate at Sidewalk in 2012. Jefferson has volunteered with Stand Up for Kids, a street based youth advocacy program in Oceanside, California, and also participated in the Poor People’s Union. Jefferson also assisted with the initial encampment of Camp Quixote.
Author
Meg Martin, LICSW, CPC, is the Executive Director for The Interfaith Works.
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