Room In The Inn

I volunteered with my church's Room In The Inn program last night. It was a fun experience and I look forward to doing it again. I have volunteered with homeless programs before, but always by collecting clothes and supplies or serving meals. This was the first time I spent significant time with individual homeless people and got to know them a little bit. Most significant or surprising observations:

• More or less normal people. All of them had problems of one flavor or another, but not a one had a problem that I or a close friend have not had.
• Employed. All but one of the guys I talked to more or less had a job. It wasn't regular work, mostly seasonal, and paid at or about minimum wage. They also mostly did temporary jobs or frequently changed jobs that were supposed to be semi-permanent.
  
• Three broad categories of reasons they were homeless were: (1) mental illness, (2) low income and high medical expenses, and (3) drug/alcohol addiction. One guy explained to me that the two most common were the mentally ill and addicted, and that the latter regularly preyed on the former for money to buy drugs or alcohol.
  
• Solvable Problems. For the two I talked with who had mental illnesses, they were receiving casework support but didn't have money regularly enough to stay on their meds which of course led to a cycle of problems that led to not having enough money. One guy I talked to was just paid for the first time since November because his caseworker changed and there was a problem with his checks. He hadn't had his meds since Thanksgiving.
• High spirits. One guy was sullen, but he had a cold and I think it was more because he didn't feel well than his housing situation. Everyone else was upbeat and seemed more or less happy. I was shocked and awed.
• Fun and interesting. I had great conversations on topics ranging from the art of hitchhiking, the ins-and-outs of oil rigs, reasons for weeble-wobbles, Ohio State football, Jesus, stock market and real estate investing, and marriage. We also watched Oceans 11 and Master and Commander.