Dan’s Papers February 4, 2011 danspapers.com Page 19
An Evening With the Homeless in the Hamptons By Stacy Dermont The East End of Long Island is “home” to an estimated 500 people who, out of necessity, live outdoors most of the time. I spent an evening with our local homeless last week. We ate together, swapped stories and commiserated about the weather. We agreed that my black suede boots are a pretty good pair of winter boots. Then I went home and my new friends bedded down on air mattresses for one safe, warm night in a local school. Maureen’s Haven is an area nonprofit that has been doing a miraculous job of providing overnight housing to people in need since 2001. It operates from November 1 through April 1, accomodating guests in area churches and schools for one night at a time. Several Maureen’s Haven employees coordinate the screening and transportation of the guests. Volunteers, typically a group of about 30 people from a local church or synagogue, do the rest. Let me tell you something about “the rest” of what it takes to house 15 strangers overnight. Volunteers from Christ Church of Sag Harbor manned the operations the night that I participated, aided by a married couple from St. Andrews (Sag Harbor) and one volunteer from Holy Trinity (East Hampton). The Christ Church team told me that on the night they ran the program last year, they had only three men stay with them. I volunteered to make the pies for dessert. I was handed a set of 16 pages of instructions and, at a later meeting, another three pages of reminders. There were several meetings; there were a lot of questions. The loudest question came from an older lady when it was announced that a snowstorm could cancel the program for the night. She shouted, “THEN WHAT HAPPENS TO THE PEOPLE?” A very good question. A brother and sister team coordinated this church’s night. They organized and prepped all of the other volunteers. This included sweet-talking a local registered nurse into volunteering for a few hours. It also included reminding volunteers that everyone is “first name only” at all times. In order to turn part of an elementary school into a dormitory and a cafeteria in one afternoon volunteers had to: pick up the bedding from where it is stored and set it up; set up a nursing station; set up the dining area furniture; set the dining tables; collect, prep and reheat the food for dinner (and later for breakfast); set up a television, a digital video disc player and seating for the evening’s entertainment; prep and clean separate bathrooms for men and women; clean up after dinner, clean up after television viewing, clean up after breakfast and clear away the bedding in the morning. After breakfast, guests are sent back into the world with a bag lunch, made by volunteers. All supplies that were brought in for the night have to be removed in the morning. Talk about exhausting! We were warned that guests might not feel much like interacting with us– that staying alive all day can be very taxing. Fifteen guests, 12 men and three women showed up with all that they owned in their bags and looked to the volunteers to show them
around and be their hope for this one night. At this point some of the volunteers were more worn out than the guests. Most of the guests were alert and eager to engage in conversation. The guests were a mix of African Americans and Caucasian Americans. The three women were white and in their 50s to 60s. All but two of the men were middle-aged or older. According to Tracey Lutz, the executive director of Maureen’s Haven, the organization has seen record numbers of participants this winter and organizers are expecting that number to climb given the state of the economy and the weather. To ensure that no one is left out in the cold, the First Parish Church in Aquebogue often houses
the overflow from other participating sites. Sadly, this year, due to the sharp increase in guests, at times Maureen’s Haven has been forced to turn some people away. What struck me most profoundly about this volunteering adventure were two things. Number one was how very polite and articulate the guests were. Some of them had apparent mental ticks, but by and large they had better manners than I do and, hell, I think I’d be in a lot rougher shape than they are if I didn’t have a home! Secondly, why are we working so damn hard to reinvent the wheel here? These human beings (continued on page 22)
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