When asked about the monetary
donations she received from unsatisfactory individuals, Mother Teresa is said
to have remarked that the money was cleansed by the good it would do.
During today’s service to the
Salvation Army, I recalled this statement many times.
Monday’s experience was not
at all what I—and I think I can speak here for the rest of the group, and say we—were expecting or what we had hoped
for. When our program leaders contacted
the Salvation Army, we were told we would be doing service with the elderly and
playing bingo with them. Once we arrived
to the center, though, we were redirected a given a short task to rearrange a
very small food pantry, pulling the older cans to the front so they can be
given out first. After this, we were
told that the individual who we were set to work with was not in, and that
there was an issue with the supplies we needed to accomplish our task. We later realized that bingo is not scheduled
for Monday afternoons.
In the end, of day consisted
of arranging the pantry, playing basketball among ourselves to pass the time,
eating lunch, and then packaging “Salvation Army”- branded socks and their
magazine publication, “War Cry,” in tissue paper to hand out to the elderly at
a nursing home.
During our time at the
Salvation Army, ABers picked up some the informational literature lying around. Many of us were shocked by the obviously
religious undertones, as some in the group were unfamiliar with the history and
mission of the Salvation Army. Another
thing we noticed in these informational magazines was the sense that the Army
saw themselves as above the people they were serving. One article noted the story of a Roma man in
Europe whose life dramatically changed after meeting a Salvationist. The article, which was written in the first
person but whose language very clearly indicated it was not written by this
individual, attributed all this man’s success to the Army. Many of us felt uncomfortable with the
hierarchy present in this article and in the literature, and the overall
propaganda-like feel to the information the organization was publishing.
We did get a chance to chat
with one of the Salvation Army employees, who was able to give us a better
sense of current efforts in Chicago to combat hunger and homelessness, as well
as the demographics of those that this particular Salvation Army serves. She stated at the largest population served
is single men, but when asked if the Salvation Army captures or is interested
in information on why the individuals the Army serves are homeless, she said
that this area isn’t something the Salvation Army works to address.
She went on to note a program
spearheaded by the city of Chicago in which, during extraordinarily cold
nights, homeless individuals are picked up in vans and transported to area
shelters. She mentioned that many of the
homeless refused to be transported, and went to say that many of them choose to
live on the streets. She said many of
them have jobs—using family members’ addresses as their own—and are actually
“wealthy” but chose to live on the streets.
She really emphasized this point: choosing to be homeless.
I was incredibly disappointed
to hear that someone who works with the homeless in their community has this
view. If a person is mentally ill or
unstable and, as a result, finds him- or her- self homeless, is that really a
choice? I absolutely do not think so. Reflecting back on this conversation later in
the day, I saw a connection with the Salvation Army literature I had read. There was this overall sense of people being
completely responsible for their personal plight, without regard to any of the
barriers present that could lessen their ability to earn gainful employment,
own a home, get an education, put food on the table, etc.
We as Alternative Break
participants have come to understand homelessness (and hunger) as being linked
with other issues, not the direct result of a choice or choices. There are systems in place that make it
difficult for some people to make the system work for them, and also things
that mitigate their ability to improve their situation.
In the end, we came to the
conclusion that although today’s experience was disappointing on two fronts:
the lack of service and blame placed on homeless individuals, it was a valuable
experience in terms of a true understanding of the services and systems in
place in Chicago to deal with the issues we aim to address.
Maddy Bersch is a junior
Government & Politics major and Arabic studies/Global
terrorism/International Development & Conflict Management minor. She
originally hails from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and wanted to participate in this
trip to get a glimpse of efforts by the City of Chicago to combat hunger and
homelessness in veteran populations.
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