My Experience Of Volunteering With Homelessness In San Francisco

As Super Bowl season draws near, many of the homeless living in San Francisco are being encouraged to head away from the vicinity of the recently built Super Bowl City in San Francisco, California and move towards local homeless shelters nearby. Home to nearly 7,000 homeless people and growing, San Francisco is ranked 8th in the nation for its substantial homeless population city. According to “The 2014 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress”, “...Most (69 percent) [of the homeless living in the USA] were staying in residential programs for homeless people, and the rest (31 percent) were found in unsheltered locations.”(Henry, 5). However in San Francisco, “64 percent [of the current homeless population in San Francisco are] living outside of shelters”(Veckshin, 2). San Francisco cannot and should not just keep turning a blind eye on the men, women, and children harming their health by living on the streets.

San Francisco has a large population of homeless people. San Francisco is the 13th most populated city and is the eighth worst city homeless rate with estimated 7,000 homeless in 2015. There are many factors that can result in the high number of homeless people. One of the most common reasons why is they could not get a job and they just decided to give up so they don’t have enough money to do anything. I think there is a lot of homeless because we live in a competitive world and there is bigger demand on jobs than there is supply of it.

It is almost summer time here in the lovely Santa Cruz, California. UCSC students are excited for summer break: a time for us to go home, do laundry for free, get some decent food, and get our old rooms back; however, people do not realize that hundreds of homeless students are left looking desperately for a place to sleep where they will be safe and have a stable source of food.

In San Francisco since there is a large population of homeless people they are being told to move out because the super bowl party is going to take place and when photographers arrive they don’t want to show that poverty exists just by removing homeless people. San Francisco nudges homeless away from the Super Bowl fan village by Alison Vekshin, Bloomberg news, adapted by Newsela staff. According to politicians they are saying that homeless people must move out of the area of Super Bowl City. According to Christine Falvey a spokeswoman for mayor Lee she says that the city wide is included emergency shelters for homeless people. San Francisco had an estimate of 6,775 homeless

This video was very interesting and empowering. It's great that even though Brad is homeless he's still making a difference in the community. Unfortunately, he can't get shelter because he doesn't have an addiction or family. Also, he's on three boards and wants to educate others about the homeless. Even, when

For the majority of my service this year I volunteered at St. Vincent de Paul's on the east side of Green bay. When signing up for tasks when I was volunteering I tried to choose something different each time so I could experience volunteering there from multiple different perspectives. The first time I volunteered signed up for “stocking.” For this assignment I worked upstairs in one of the back rooms sorting through and organizing donations that people had dropped off. Although with this task I didn't get to really directly work with the marginalized I still think it was beneficial not only for the staff at St. Vincent's but for myself as well. When I was rummaging through boxes and organizing I got an insight as

Homelessness is an issue in many communities and it is not something that will ever go away. Try as we might, we as a community can not totally get everyone off the streets, but we can however do our best to help in many ways. Whether it be by giving food, time, clothes, or hygiene products, everyone can help.

My experience tells me that I am suitable for the work in my applied experience. I have acquired skills, such as critical thinking, group communication, understanding of personal behavior, organization skills, and accepting criticism. Moreover, I take orders well and can work in a stressful environment. I was efficient in what I put in at the homeless shelter and left with an experience of providing a public service within the community. In addition, I learned that I have quality traits, such as compassion, patience, and interpersonal skills to work around others. I was confident enough to approach the families at the shelter and made friends. I was there to listen without judgment, and they appreciated that I took the time to hear what they had to say. For example, I heard the different reasons why these individuals ended up at the homeless shelter and how they feel stuck in their situation. I heard testimonies from families who have undergone many tragedies and were fortunate to have the support that the BHC provides. Lastly, the area that I could improve on is conflict prevention among adults. I experienced watching some fights at the shelter, and I do not have the skills to stop it without getting physically involved. Furthermore, my site supervisor believed that I showed exemplary abilities with the families.

As a child, when I was driven around town I would enjoy observing other people and their situations. I would often look at the faces of the people in cars passing by or walking in the street. In doing this, every once in a while, I would notice someone all dirtied up on the side of the street with a sign who looked as if they had nowhere to go.after seeing them, I would sit back and attempted to comprehend why they were in that kind of situation and just what they were doing.

I've had several volunteer positions that have taught me a number of skills and exposed me to a variety of new experiences. Throughout high school, I volunteered at the hospital near my house, and while I was there, I held various positions. My first position was as the radiologist's assistant. As her assistant, I did secretarial assignments, like filing papers and escorting patients to the correct locations. My other position at the hospital was working the front desk. There, I delivered newspapers and coffee throughout the hospital, answered the phone, and escorted patients to various locations. Working at my local hospital, I not only learned how a hospital runs on the inside, but I also learned how to communicate more effectively with people that I just met and try and make them feel

Throughout my high school career I have enjoyed exploring numerous different ways to volunteer in the community. My first reason for even beginning to volunteer, was in order to get service hours needed for college applications and awards. Despite my original intentions, I have grown to realize it is about the people who are being affected by my actions and not about the amount of hours I put into giving back.

Throughout my high school years I’ve volunteered to finish my hours that were required to graduate additionally I knew I would keep on helping even when I've finished my hours. I'd help in campaigns for a few days which I had to make calls to voters and put up signs as just 1 of 3 places I've volunteered. Another is an organization called MEND which stands for “Meet Each Need with Dignity” where I'd go for 1 year every Saturday from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm. Within MEND I entered in the food bank section where one stacks, organizes, and sorts food. In addition, in putting my time to assist people by caring their necessaries to their destination as well as lead and be a guidance to others that just begin to help out. I've dedicated more time as a

I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. It was a very close knit place I guess; everybody seemed to know eachother. Our family didn't have a lot of money when I was younger so we moved around a lot. When I was around seven years-old our family became homeless and we had to move in with our aunt. I didn't think much of it at the time, I was too young to really understand the situation we were in. Overall I was pretty happy. I walked to my elementary school which was only a couple blocks away. After school everyday there were icee vendors and icecream trucks and I would ask my grandma to buy me one before we walked home. I wasn't a very social child outside of school, I very rarely went to my friends houses and I was ok with that. I spent my time drawing

Seven years ago, I started participating in community service through a club at my high school, I just wanted to hang out with my friends because that’s what they were doing at the time. At some point during that first year something sparked; I began enjoying the service more than I did joking with my friends. 4.Over the next year, as my friends decreased their engagement with the community service organization. I continued and even looked for more commitment as an executive board member. Before I knew it, I had been the vice president for two years and president for my senior year.2, Throughout my four years of high school, I came to realize that I am a person who enjoys aiding and assisting others and this did not seem like an obligation to me, it was my pleasure. I was fortunate enough to attend a college where I could continue doing the service I love in the same community where I grew up in and had done all my previous work. Over the next three years, my love for service became a passion, I enjoyed what I was doing. I was becoming the person I looked up to, someone who would advocate for those feeling hopeless and guide them to resources and opportunities that would benefit them. Through my interactions with social workers, I knew that this was a passion they also shared. These feelings are from the perspective of the individual offering assistance, but I’ve also experienced how it feels to receive.

I am volunteering at Youth On Their Own which is a nonprofit organization that aims to assist homeless youth graduate from high school. Youth On Their Own is a dropout prevention program that has been helping homeless students for 30 years. I am currently assisting them in two sections of the organization, the first one is at their mini Mall, were I am responsible of providing food, hygene products, clothing and school supplies to the high school students that come to ask for these items. The students are allowed to get groceries once every week. I also design encouraging notes for the students, this notes are stapled to the checks they receive every month. Also, I am in charge of selling home decorations at their home store. Recently I have trained the new high school interns in how to interact with diverse customers at the home store. I have learned about the different necessities of the homeless population, how broken families affect the educational path of students, and how family of choice plays an important role in the lives of homeless