This is a short week for me; I'm only working 4 days and then flying home to South Carolina for an extended weekend. I haven't been back to Winnsboro since last Christmas, and 11 months is too long to be away from your roots. Luckily, I'll be able to get a double dose, as I'm flying back for Christmas in a little over a month.
Even though the week has been short, it has been all but short from eventful. The guy I wrote about last week - the guy making the weird comments to his sister - decided to leave on Monday, claiming some absurd resemblance of claustrophobia as the primary precipitate for leaving the program. On Tuesday night, we found out that two of our clients had been in a long-standing relationship - 11 years; and, in our recovery program, relationships are a big deal. They had been in the program for a little over 2 months, and were both doing fairly well in the pursuit of their recovery. However, for two months to go by, to not say anything about the extensive past you've shared with another resident is not something we, as a staff team, take lightly. Both residents were discharged first thing Wednesday morning, and the guy immediately got high. This is the reality of the work we do - many of our residents do not know how to cope with stress or how to deal with situations that are outside of their control. The conclusion is that they pick up drugs or a drink to help numb the pain, and begin the cycle all over again. The sad part is that these particular individuals have the knowledge necessary to lead sober lives - they just don't have the desire or the patience to weather the storm.
Wednesday also witnessed the sign-ups for our annual Day of Thanks. Last year, the 15th Annual Day of Thanks was a momentous occasion. The Mission gave out more than 200 turkey baskets to needy families in the city, while also serving between 250 and 300 thanksgiving meals to members of the poor and homeless community. This year, we expect to do the same. The sign-ups are quite stressful, though, because there are more people than turkeys. Our AmeriCorps Vistas, Meryl and Michelle, had to sit through the verbal abuse and be the bearers of bad news, facing reality head-on: the needs of our city's poor and homeless are sometimes greater than our means to provide for them.
1 comment:
have a nice break away from "real life" while you're in SC.
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