Spring 2012 Semester

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Josh Lee

UPDATE: application is now available in Word Doc (updated 1/22/12) format or PDF (updated 1/22/12).

UPDATE 2: the time and location of the first info session has changed.

Thanks for your interest in joining the Suitcase Clinic! Each semester we recruit new volunteers to serve the underserved and promote social justice in our community. If you would like to learn more about joining the Suitcase Clinic, please attend one of our Info Sessions on Tuesday, January 24 from 5-6pm in B100 Blum and Thursday, January 26 from 5-6pm in 182 Dwinelle. You can also email us at “class [AT] suitcaseclinic.org”.

If you want to receive email updates about the information sessions, please fill out this form.

New volunteers take a 2-unit service learning course (HMS 98/198) that discusses the problem of homelessness and how students can become effective caseworkers for homeless clients. Our Spring 2012 class will be held Thursdays from 5-7pm in 182 Dwinelle. Class begins on February 2.

In order to apply to the Suitcase Clinic, you must complete the following requirements:

Complete a written application (Word Doc or PDF) and submit it to 570 University Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 1st by 4:30pm.
Attend a Clinic Tour. Clinic Tours are Monday January 30 at 6, 6:30, 7, 7:30, and 8:30pm and Tuesday January 31 at 7, 7:30, and 8pm. All clinic tours depart from the RSF main entrance.
Complete an in-person interview. Interviews last 10 minutes and are held immediately following the Info Sessions and during the Clinic Tour times.

Applicants will be informed of our admission decisions by Thursday, February 2, at 12pm. If you have added yourself to the waitlist on Telebears, please remove yourself. Students selected for the course will be given a course entry code.

Thank you for your interest in working with the marginalized. We look forward to seeing you soon!

RIP People’s Park

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Aileen

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?

UC Berkeley Bulldozing People’s Park (?)

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Trevor Cline

To all who know about the UC system’s recent effort to “sanitize” People’s Park without alerting the People’s Park Community Advisory Board, which Suitcase Clinic actively follows and tries to participate in, please publish a reply to this post or email any of the officers of Suitcase directly, as listed on the website. People’s Park is a place where many of the Suitcase Clinic’s clients sleep and many use it as shelter, and thus we are vested in its maintenance as a safe place for everyone in the Berkeley community to use.

Happy Holidays!

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Josh Lee

Season’s greetings!

The Suitcase Clinic wishes everyone a relaxing and enjoyable holiday season! Both General Clinic and Women’s Clinic are closed during the holidays, but Youth Clinic will remain open (except on December 26). General Clinic will resume on January 17th, 2012, and Women’s Clinic will resume on January 16th, 2012.

See you in 2012!

December 2011 Newsletter

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Josh Lee

The December edition of the Voice of Suitcase Clinic is now available for your enjoyment! You can download it here.

Archived newsletters are located on the Publications page.

Check Out Our Benefit Concert Page

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Trevor Cline

Please check out the page for our annual Benefit Concert. This is one of the largest fundraising efforts that the Suitcase Clinic takes part in every year, and would greatly appreciate your support. In brief, it will take place on Saturday, December 3rd, at 7:00 PM at 155 Dwinelle. For further information, please visit the relevant page on our website by clicking the link below:

http://www.suitcaseclinic.org/concert/

We hope to see you there!

Winter Break Closing of General Clinic

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Trevor Cline

This is a message to all- students, service providers, and clients. The last day of General Clinic will be on Tuesday, December 13th, 2011. We will be closed for a month and will re-open clinic on January 17th, 2012. Youth Clinic and Women’s Clinic may remain open- if they do close during this time period, another post will be made.

Have a wonderful holiday!

Student-run homeless shelters

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Josh Lee

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.

November 2011 Newsletter

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Josh Lee

Our Newsletter Coordinators, Jenna Hang and Simon Wang, have been hard at work producing monthly newsletters this semester. A new edition of The Voice of Suitcase Clinic, our organizational newsletter, is now available. Download the November 2011 issue here.

Some articles include:

“Suitcase Clinic volunteers at Homeless Connect” by Aileen Xu
“Dental Service growing bigger, pushing limits” by Stacy Kim
Alumni reflections from Dippy Bhattacharya and Jessica Lau
Student reflections from Morwenna Rowe and Derek Wong
And more!

As always, you can download archived newsletters from the Publications page. Thanks for reading!

New Laundry System: Nov 8

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Paulina

Once a month, the SHARE Coordinators (Stephanie, Lexi, and Tara) will hold laundry service. Coins, laundry detergent, and dryer sheets will be provided. The next laundry day will be this week: Nov 8th, 2011.

Bring one load of laundry and meet them at Bing Wong Wash Center on the corner of Telegraph and Parker between 6 and 6:30pm this Tuesday.

*There are a designated number of spots each week, and the laundry service is on a first come, first serve basis.

**Also, please understand that you are prioritizing this service for the night, and may or may not be able to receive other services upon returning to clinic after laundry service.

Thanks and see you next week!