My home, my loved ones, and my daily routine easily constitute my “comfort zone” where I have support, resources, and luxuries such as various electronic devices. During a winter break, however, I left these luxuries and daily routine for a weekend to live in a Dorothy Day house that serves homeless women in downtown Detroit. Each morning, I walked in the bitter cold to serve at the local soup kitchen and returned to the house in the afternoon to perform household chores and converse with the guests. The experience of living in the house and serving in the soup kitchen encouraged me to reflect on the priviledge of having a home, food, and access to health care services. The guests’ openness to share their stories allowed me to connect with
On 8/5/15 worker visited the residence of Ms. Mona Watts, for the purpose of assessing her need for services and making first victim contact. Upon entering, the home worker noticed what appeared to be sewage under the trailer beside the steps. The home smelt like the powder off a dog flea and tick collar. There as a dog in the home and according to Ms. Watts, the dog is elderly and unable to use the bathroom outside and that was the reason there was dog urine and feces in the floor. the dog did not appear to be an elderly dog.
This supper stops the injustice of loneliness. Within the county, many more opportunities are available to seek out injustices and bring justice to those situations. Being a role model for all justice seekers, Brenda helped start the Sack Pack Program for students who can otherwise go hungry over the weekend. Along with thirteen others, she has made a huge impact on these students’ lives, and has had many benefits of her own. Being a justice seeker comes with many obstacles, but by God’s grace, we are able to see His providence through every situation, and give all the glory and honor to Him.
This book immerses the reader into the lives and struggles of individuals and families in Milwaukee during the 2008/2009 economic crisis, where many people lost their homes leading to increased cases of suicides and depression. When a person who lives in extreme poverty and depends on food stamps is evicted, he or she faces innumerable challenges that may include falling into deep depression. The author’s own parents were also the victims of eviction, and he helped them move out. As such, he spent several months living among the evicted families, and this made him understand the challenges that those families went through in shelters and poor
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige is a piece of fantasy. The main character in this book is Amy Gumm. Amy is transported into the world, Oz but the heroes are villains, and the villains are heroes. In Oz dorothy faces, witches, fairies, munchkins and flying monkeys. To get back to her mother, Amy has to, steal the scarecrow 's brain, remove the tin woodman 's heart, and take the lion 's courage.
Most of us are lucky enough to have a home. A place one can come to, and find those close to us. We often take this for granted, and stay blissfully unaware of how fortunate we are. Jeannette Walls’ life has been far from easy. From the day she was born, she and her family had combated constant forces of turbulence and order.
In the year 1984, October 1st, two Holy Cross Priests had the mere idea of creating a foundation to help the poor and homeless. By renting a house they started their own idea, by bringing in their first guest and creating something that will forever remain to offer hospitality. Slowly but surely, this organization formed many new members of volunteers to help as well. Not only did the volunteers increase, services were established that this organization offers, and many people from all over the Phoenix area started to send in donations such as clothes, blankets, and medical needs. Andre House of Hospitality is a non-profit organization, and because of this, they rely on “us”, the community, to do our part to help the less unfortunate.
Through Ruthie’s kindness, her perseverance in the face of death, her steadfast love despite, Rod was able to witness the community come alive. In that dire time of need, the people of St. Francisville rose up, offering their love, gratitude, and care to Ruthie, her family, and her friends. Such a display caused Rod to finally understand just what community
Life can be boring, especially when you might have lived in a certain place for so long. However, to have a place to call home is the most comfort feeling anyone can have, even if they have been moving their whole lives. But home, does not always mean a physical place, but the bond shared with people in that place. In Scott Russell Sanders essay, Homeplace, he expresses how people staying is good because one can truly respect or feel blessed of what they have received than to throw away the effort that once existed. Yet, Richard Ford’s
We typically do not give much thought to what we call “home”. We perceive home as somewhere we go after a long day, somewhere we can enjoy the simpler pleasures in life away from the restlessness of work. However in The Droughtlanders by Carrie Mac, it challenges our general notion of home for an unorthodox one—a notion that a home goes outside of comfort zones, rather than inside them. At face value, the Keys have everything: it is rich, secure, and organized. But by glimpsing outside its walls, we discover that those qualities can bring more problems than we see at first glance.
In her personal narrative, “Context” (1994), Dorothy Allison explores the ways in which the context of her life impacted her childhood and adult life. She also shows that when context is not fully understood, it can often create a gap between people who have different backgrounds. Dorothy Allison uses comparisons, flashbacks, and gives examples from personal experience to support her claims. She describes scenes from her life in order for readers to recognize how context gives people the facility to understand others and have distinct perspectives of others. She targets the general public as her audience for this piece of writing.
In A Paradise Built in Hell, Rebecca Solnit focuses on the occurrences of the aftermaths of five major North American disasters and how strong bonds within communities form because of those disasters. Each case study provides a concrete description of what surviving residents themselves understand to be an unusual sociological change arising in the midst of casualties, disorientation, homelessness, and significant loss of all kinds. Reflecting on the 1906 San Francisco earthquake; the enormous 1917 explosion in Halifax, Nova Scotia; the devastating 1985 Mexico City quake; Lower Manhattan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks; and Hurricane Katrina’s 2005 deluge of New Orleans, Solnit brings a new perspective to these heart-wrenching tragedies. Solnit tells many enlightening stories of altruism and courageous social action. Moreover, although providing insight on these tragedies, Solnit presents her case with a redundant political bias and can seem to show problems that were not there.
Dorothy Allison claims that context leads others to have distinct perspectives of a person due to his or her social class and familial background. She utilizes personal experiences and flashbacks such as memories from childhood and life as a grown up to reinforce her claim. Allison wants her audience to know that a person can be impacted due his or her social and family background. When the author states, “Then I saw his eyes flicker over to me and my sisters, registering contempt with which he had looked at my stepfather” (134), she brings to light the day she encountered context; she realized that the cashier in the souvenir shop looked at her as if she was exactly like her stepfather. She enhances the authenticity of her claim by providing
Everyone should have a place to call home that will provide them with a safe, supportive, and stable environment. However, every household is different and it does not always turn out that way for some people. Unfortunately, based on the memoir Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard, Liz Murray’s life is an example of this. Liz grew up in an impoverished neighborhood in the Bronx, New York. Liz yearned for the parental support and guidance from her parents; however, due to their ongoing battle with substance abuse it prevented them giving her a safe, supportive, and stable environment.
“Veteran poverty should be unimaginable, but sadly, it is an unpleasant fact today for some veterans” (“The Ugly Face of Veteran Poverty in the United States”). Many homeless veterans are not getting the support they need. People need to be witness to this injustice and stand up for it. “The kind of hope we need is an orientation of the spirit a willingness to position ourselves sometime, someway, someplace in hopeless spaces and be a witness and say something” (Stevenson). Veterans are living in horrible conditions after serving in the military because the government is not providing enough support for veterans.
Although most of my involvement has centered around politics, where I have been an active volunteer in the current election cycle, my service also extends to the homeless community in the Quad Cities. After recognizing the extent of homelessness in Davenport, my friend decided to start a nonprofit 5K to benefit a local shelter and I immediately joined in the venture. By working with the shelter rather than independently, we were able to avoid the faults set forth in To Hell With Good Intentions. Our good intentions have donated over $10,000 to King’s Harvest Ministries, who uses funds in a way that raises the standard of living for the local homeless