I happened to come across this article online today and was frankly so shocked by it that I had to share it with everyone. In the name of “sanitation,” the university has ordered part of People’s Park to be bulldozed. Trees planted back during the free speech movement of the 1970′s were uprooted. Besides sanitation, another incentive for this action will most likely be to ensure that the students of the new housing units (currently under construction) will have better views.

Many of our clients live in People’s Park. For the university to destroy the place that many people call home is callous and inconsiderate. According to the article, part of the destroyed area included the garden that was maintained by people in the park.

Any thoughts on the matter?

During these tumultuous economic times, many Americans are struggling to stay afloat. And while there are no magic solutions in sight, students across the country are stepping up to do what they can to mitigate the effects of poverty and homelessness. Specifically, I would like to mention students from three separate parts of the country who are taking on the difficult task of providing shelter for currently unhoused individuals.

For the past 28 years, students from Harvard University have operated a student-run homeless shelter. The Harvard Square Homeless Shelter is a seasonal shelter that provides protection from the harsh New England winter. While these passionate student volunteers could be studying and engaging in typical college activities, they instead spend their nights creating a unique, refreshing atmosphere for shelter guests. The Harvard Square Homeless Shelter has earned fantastic rapport among guests from the Cambridge and Boston Area. On Tuesday, November 15, 2011, they will once again welcome unhoused guests into their shelter.

The success of the Harvard shelter has inspired students from other universities to create shelters in their communities. In the Philadelphia region, students from Villanova and other nearby universities have spent the past few months working on a student-run shelter of their own. Led by Villanova history professor Stephanie Sena, this group of volunteers has worked tirelessly to emulate the Harvard model and tailor it to fit in with the Philadelphia community. After months of hard work, they saw their efforts come to fruition. On November 1, 2011, the Student-Run Emergency Housing Unit of Philadelphia became the second student-run shelter to open its doors.

Across the country, students from Stanford University are also looking to provide shelter for unhoused individuals. These students, mainly from a campus group called Night Outreach, are collaborating with InnVision to create an additional shelter in Palo Alto. Currently, InnVision operates Hotel de Zink, the only Palo Alto homeless shelter. The Stanford students and InnVision plan to open Hotel de Zink: Women’s Shelter, on January 15, 2012. The shelter will be one of the only women’s shelters in the region.

On the other side of the Bay Area, some of us from Suitcase are in the research and planning stages of starting up our own shelter. While we face a myriad of obstacles, we are inspired by the students from these three other universities who have proved that it can be done. We have been in contact with all three groups, and we hope that we can increase collaboration in the near future. As students who have witnessed the heartbreaking effects of homelessness, we all share the same compassion and empathy toward those who are unhoused. Through our experiences in our respective communities, we feel that it is our generation that has the willpower and passion to ultimately put an end to homelessness, and to see the day when student-run clinics and shelters are no longer necessary.

Recently the New York Times posted this article on their website that some states including Arizona and Missouri have passed laws requiring people who want social welfare benefits to pass a drug test (in the form of a urine sample). The benefits they need screening for include assistance with public housing and food stamps.

Those supporting these laws argue that drug tests are common in job application processes now anyway, and working people would be unhappy knowing that their money supports illegal activities. Opponents to the drug-testing laws believe that such requirements vilify people who seek out social welfare, and the fact that they exist imply that low-income people use drugs.

Many of our clients at the Suitcase Clinic receive some form of public assistance. How do you feel about laws like these? Any comments?

Lee Jeffries lives in Manchester in the United Kingdom. Close to the professional football circle, this artist starts to photograph sporting events. A chance meeting with a young homeless girl in the streets of London changes his artistic approach forever. Lee Jeffries recalls that, initially, he had stolen a photo from this young homeless girl huddled in a sleeping bag. The photographer knew that the young girl had noticed him but his first reaction was to leave. He says that something made him stay and go and discuss with the homeless girl. His perception about the homeless completely changes. They become the subject of his art. The models in his photographs are homeless people that he has met in Europe and in the United States: «Situations arose, and I made an effort to learn to get to know each of the subjects before asking their permission to do their portrait.» From then onwards, his photographs portray his convictions and his compassion to the world.

Shot exclusively in black and white, Lee Jeffries has captured more than 135 photographs of the disenfranchised. Check out his Flickr page HERE to view all of these raw and striking captured moments. You will get lost in them.

What is it about these photographs that is most striking to you?

Being thorough, I remove a holey sock
to view a diabetic man’s filthy feet.
I use the time to complete our talk
of what drove him to live on the street
as I wonder how any of this can help.

While he tells me more of his medical past,
I run warm water into a stainless bowl.
I immerse both his feet and begin to ask
myself what good it does for this poor soul
to allow himself to undergo this ablution.

Silently I sluice the water between his toes
and soap the crusty callous at his heel.
I marvel at his arch and notice how closely
it fits my palm. I know he can feel
this proximity too. He shuts his eyes.

Months of useless layers peel away,
revealing layers useless weeks ago.
Removing the tough brown hide of yesterday
yields clean pink skin, but we both know
this ritual will be useless days from now.

Still, this moment may withstand time’s test,
teaching us each lessons unknown before.
I learn the medicine of selflessness.
He learns what medicine is really for–
the hope that basin, soap and touch can bear.

About the poet: 

Robert Fawcett is a family doctor with a masters in education and additional training in sports medicine. He was in private practice for nineteen years prior to joining the faculty of the York Hospital family medicine residency program. “I have always had an interest in poetry, but began writing more seriously about fifteen years ago, when I accidentally took part in a poetry workshop; my daughter was attending, and I’d arrived too early to pick her up. I was a regular at the monthly workshop thereafter and use poetry to reflect on my practice and on my life.”

About the poem:

“This was an experience I had years ago that brought me an increased awareness of how important care is to medical care. Meeting patients on that personal, humanistic level pays huge dividends in terms of both our understanding of the patient’s disease state and the patient’s understanding of (and adherence to) our recommendations.”

Poetry editors:

Judy Schaefer and Johanna Shapiro

I happened to stumble upon an article on the SF Chronicle’s website about a design student who has been developing a coat that can transform into a sleeping bag. Veronika Scott, 22, initially designed the coat as part of a project at the Detroit-based College for Creative Studies. After various prototypes–and $2,000 of her own money–she finalized her design: Element S (for survival). During the day, the coat functions just like any other coat. But at night, it can be converted into a sleeping bag in order to help protect the user from inclement weather.

Scott has been further refining the coat design, which utilizes low-cost materials such as Tyvek insulation and wool. Major companies, such as 3M and Dupont, have expressed interest in helping out her cause. Scott plans to sell the coats for a profit to people that are currently housed, and then use those proceeds to offer the coats for free to those living on the streets.

This type of innovation and dedication is exactly what we need if we are seeking to put an end to homelessness. It is encouraging to know that there are people like Veronika who will go great lengths to help those in need. And while it is unlikely that a single product will end homelessness, there is no doubt that Element S will make a positive impact on our country’s most vulnerable. Perhaps in a few years we’ll have the luxury of handing out these coats to some of our clients as we all know how cold and wet it can get during Berkeley winters.

For more information, check out this NPR piece and visit Scott’s website at: http://detroitempowermentplan.blogspot.com/

This past weekend Sandeepa and I made a visit (behind enemy lines!) to Stanford University. The reason: a small group of very dedicated students hosted an informational session about a shelter they are starting up in Palo Alto. We have had some very preliminary talks about starting a shelter here in Berkeley as an extension of The Suitcase Clinic, and we figured this informational session would be useful for us to attend.

The first thing that struck me was the amount of people in attendance; I counted at least thirty students. A sense of optimism and enthusiasm was palpable throughout the info session. I could tell that these students were determined to create a student-run shelter for the unhoused, and that they will continue to work tirelessly until they accomplish their goal. During the brainstorming portion of the session, a lot of great ideas were proposed and I could tell they are certainly headed in the right direction. They plan on opening their undergrad-run shelter later this year with a soft opening, and then to scale-up over the next five years.

After the info session was officially over, Sandeepa and I decided to stick around and talk to the students spearheading this effort. We talked about what we do here at Suitcase and how our experiences and resources could help them out. For example, they are very interested in creating a service-learning course for their volunteers. Lucky for them we’ve had one (HMS 98/198) for years! We then asked them questions that we had about starting up a shelter since we are still very early in the process. It was clear that not only can they learn a lot from us, but that we can learn a lot from them; collaboration between our organizations can only lead to positive outcomes!

Prior to attending this info session, the task of creating a student-run shelter seemed quite daunting. It still looks to be an uphill battle, but it has been done before. Harvard, in fact, has had a student-run shelter since the 1980s called the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter. In addition to Stanford’s on-going effort (view their website here), Villanova is set to open the doors to their own shelter this year as well (check out their Facebook page). It’s very encouraging and exciting to see that students from other universities are working toward a common goal. Perhaps it will be our generation that will finally put an end to homelessness.

CNN recently featured a video about a non-profit in New York City called City Harvest that collects food donations from restaurants to give to those in need. For over 25 years this food rescue organization has been feeding New York’s hungry. Watching this video makes me wonder: why don’t we have a similar program here in Berkeley?

As an organization we do a little to “rescue” food for our clients to eat. For example, every Tuesday one of our clinic coordinators from General Clinic walks over to Noah’s to pick up the weekly bagel donation. Instead of going to waste, these bagels are put to good use: feeding those who walk the streets of Berkeley on empty stomachs. However, I doubt that Noah’s is the only food vendor that is willing to donate left-over food. If there was an organization dedicated to collecting food that is doomed for the dumpster from restaurants in Berkeley, there would be more free meals available to those in need. We love serving dinner at our General Clinic, but due to budget constraints we cannot serve meals as often as we would like. Perhaps some day a food rescue program will come to fruition in Berkeley that would help local clinics serve the underserved with much-needed meals on a more frequent basis.

The Suitcase Clinic now has a blog! Whether you are a volunteer, client, student, service provider, or alumnus, you are more than welcome to post and comment on our blog. We encourage active discussion of our organization and issues that pertain to our clientele.

As a general rule, please remain courteous to one another as we are all here with the same goal in mind: to mitigate the heartbreaking effects the underserved face, and to ultimately find a solution to homelessness and poverty. Additionally, please refrain from naming or otherwise identifying clients without their consent when posting to the blog.

We hope that this blog will create a new avenue of communication among those connected to this organization. Enjoy!