Consider this... It is 101 degrees outside, with the sun blazing down and no clouds in the sky. You do not have a place to live, so your only choice is to be outside all day long. All day, that is, until you head over to the House of Mary and Joseph for dinner and a place to sleep. When you get there, there is no air conditioning and no windows, only large fans. The people who run the shelter have gone to the store and bought freeze pops for you and the other patrons to try to help you cool down, but since the freezers at the House are a little iffy, the pops are not quite frozen. After waiting in line under the hot sun, you are let in to have the same dinner of a sandwich, hot soup and water that is always served at the House. This time, the water has ice in it, again thanks to the foresight of the staff, and there are some more freeze pops and cookies for dessert. When you are done eating in the stuffy dining room, you head into the dormitory where the temperature is higher than outside. You try to get a bed near a fan, but you know that with 110 people sleeping in a room with no windows, the heat is just going to get worse.
That was the situation for the patrons this week at the House of Mary and Joseph (mentioned a lot in previous posts - consult them for background). When we left after our shift at 9:30 pm, the temperature was still 95 degrees outside, and it was decidedly cooler outside than in. The staff was doing everything they could to make things a little better for the patrons, but the building is the building. With no air, and very few windows, the fans could only do so much. Even if some angel were to donate enough money to install air conditioning for the building, the cost to run it would be prohibitive. The House recently acquired some new, very large fans, but even those were barely helping. Jen and I worked in front of one all night, and still had to stop for water and sit occasionally. I can't imagine how any of the patrons slept in the dorms, with the temp reaching up in the 110's. But these people are survivors. They just keep on keepin' on, and that is what we saw.
We expected everyone to be in a sour or even a belligerent mood, but almost every patron was smiling and grateful to be given what we had. I thought the chance of scuffles in the dining room would be greater with the heat, but things were really calm. Maybe no one had enough energy to argue, but it also seemed like any kind of relief was appreciated, and a place to sleep, even a sweltering one, was still a godsend. We did see a marked increase in the number of impromptu sponge baths being taken in the dining room, but that is to be expected.
We all know that periods of extreme cold and extreme heat are hard on the homeless population, but this really brought it home. When I think of how lucky I am to have access to a place to cool off, much less to have consistent cool in most of my life, I am forever grateful. I don't know how these people make it through, and I suppose the sad truth is that some do not. I know that for myself, I will try to do more to help during extreme weather. I try to stay off a soap box in this forum, but I do encourage you to see the suffering of these people in this kind of weather, and, if you can, give them some water, or a cool treat, or anything that will help the get through.
For more information on the FHMJ, go to: Franciscan House of Mary and Joseph
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