Finding a Way Home

Hard as it is to imagine, Opportunity Place has only been a part of our community, and my life, for four months. Four decades could rarely produce as much despair, hope, birth, joy, grief, and love as have been found so far in our short sojourn on Lovejoy Road.

Being a temporary shelter, four "generations" have already come through our doors. The first group was a gift. Lydia and I, along with our part-time receptionist Frances, were not the most experienced hands with running a family shelter that one could find. We were still renovating the facility and reading up on policies and procedures when the first emergencies came to our door.

A lovely Pacific Islander, with seven gorgeous grandchildren ages 2-13, was the first to arrive. Hard on her heels was a couple with a newborn, and another family with three children. An elderly woman arrived next. In the blink of an eye, we had 19persons and 15 beds. We got busy, and we have stayed that way.

No one in this first group had ever experienced homelessness before. They were stunned, heart-broken, terrified, and incredibly grateful for this shelter that had suddenly opened to help lead them out of the wilderness. They came, slept for a day, then woke up renewed and determined to make the best of this unexpected blessing. We all learned about group living together, and explored all the avenues for job searches, family reconciliation, affordable housing together.

As the original group moved out, a second group began moving in. We had couples who had never gone without work, and were willing to do anything to get back on their feet while they looked for careers. They cleaned condos, took day labor jobs, joined road crews, and pounded the pavements looking for employment. We had suddenly single moms with their children, who found living on one income to be tenuous at best. They stayed with us, arranged for child care, kept their jobs, saved their income, and found new housing that could be sustained on their salary. This is the group that helped us finish the renovations we began earlier. Any odd hour of the day, you could find residents painting walls, laying tile, installing doors, fitting plumbing fixtures.

Our third and fourth groups have been buffeted by economic storms for longer. They are mostly either very young, with inadequate education and too few skills to be competitive in the current work environment, or older, with outdated skills and too many aches and pains. They struggle against greater odds, with fewer expectations of success. These are the ones sitting for their GEDs, taking basic vocational training, signing up for vocational rehabilitation. CC Fearson joined the staff at this juncture, which was surely an act of providence. CC can find resources and opportunities for anyone who wants them, and he instills confidence in even the most discouraged.

As disparate as each of these groups has been, however, they have all been united in hope. They know things are going to get better, that life has something good to offer even when the outlook seems bleakest. They rejoice in each others' successes, and grieve at each others' loss. We celebrate each week, because we have learned that each moment of happiness must be savored, and shared.

In these past four months, we have watched babies learn to smile, to sit up, to walk and to say their first words. We have held birthday parties for one, two and twenty-five year olds. Children have headed off for their first day of kindergarten, while brothers and sisters have ventured off to their first day of middle school or high school. Parents have found jobs, and lost them, and found new ones. We have had trips to the emergency room, and trips to the beach.

Saturday we had a wedding, and it became the occasion for all the joys, hopes and dreams for everyone living at the shelter. The women transformed the shelter into the perfect wedding backdrop. Volunteers and shelter friends supplied the wedding license, the dress, the food, the flowers. A resident revealed an astonishing voice as she provided the vocals. A member of our Board of Directors, who is a pastor, officiated. I have attended weddings planned for a year that were not as successful as this one, which came together in a week.

During the ceremony, I wondered for a moment what this couple would tell their children about their wedding. It is human nature to try to blot out our traumas so that we can move on, and being homeless is certainly traumatic. But in this case, trauma was converted to peace, loss into gain. The husband has found steady work that he enjoys, the wife is discovering the joys of raising a small child in a stable environment. They have already achieved much, and they will achieve more.

Each night I leave Opportunity Place, and drive toward a home I will never again take for granted. I am thankful for all the staff, the volunteers, and the residents who have shown resilience, compassion, and good humor. We are all of us human, restless, seeking, looking for a way home. With hope, faith, and love, we shall all find a safe, secure place of refuge and comfort at day's end.