So Sunday in L.A. was "Big Sunday," a day when people around the city volunteer to give folks a hand. With a small group of people, I spent Sunday at a homeless shelter in Santa Monica, CA called the Ocean Park Community Center or OPCC. It was a little funny because the number of volunteers about equaled the number of residents, but in the end it was a good thing. We cooked hamburgers, had an ice cream bar and we served the folks who make the OPCC their home.
I spent a lot of time talking to people and trying to understand how
they came to OPCC. I was struck by a British man of Kenyan descent who
spoke so elegantly. He told me that he made his way to California via
London in search of business opportunities. Then he got sick. He was
diagnosed with cancer and though in remission has had a host of health
problems that he says have prevented him from working.
An attractive Argentinian woman whose passion is photography told me
that when she and her husband divorced, she was left with nothing and to
fend for herself. She had not held a job for 17 years while married
and was having extreme difficulty making rent payments. Two months ago,
she got evicted from her apartment and has been living in the shelter
ever since.
I met an Asian woman who told me that she is currently a kindergarten
teacher but can't afford rent in high priced Santa Monica so she has to
sleep in a shelter. Her story was particularly alarming because she
has so many children in her care. I had to wonder, if her personal life is so
unstable, how might her work be affected. How might her students be affected.
There's something wrong in society when teachers have to live in homeless shelters.
In one day, I met so many people who for various reasons, ended up without a home in which to live.
As I was driving home, I couldn't help but think about how smart and
talented some of the residents are--far more than I am. They were just
dealt an unlucky hand. It happens to all of us.
