Currently, about 1,500 people in Boulder do not have permanent housing. This number is bigger than it should be, but I’m not writing this article to bombard you with facts and data. Instead, I want to address the social changes that we need to make in the way that we treat people that are homeless. While none of us have the means to completely fix this problem, we can make simple adjustments in our social behavior that will have a tremendous impact on those facing homelessness.
Many people in this population of Boulder will spend their nights shifting from couches and homes of friends or in motel rooms (referred to as the invisible homeless). Others spend their nights outside, trying to find shelter from the cold temperatures and wind. These are the visible homeless and the people you may see when on the Boulder Creek Path or around downtown Boulder. During the day, they are often getting rest and shelter and pursuing their goals, whether that is finding a job, finding food to eat, taking care of personal hygiene, etc. Doing this every day is hard enough. It’s important to recognize that during these exhausting and often depressing tasks, the homeless are widely ignored by the rest of the population in Boulder. That is not to say that there aren’t programs in Boulder that try to help them, there are groups that do their best to offer food and shelter. However, while our community works hard to take care of them in terms of survival, Boulder is currently lacking in its social interactions with the homeless.
This past weekend, I volunteered with Peanut Butter and Loving, a volunteer event for CU students on Saturday mornings. Volunteers make and hand out sandwiches along with water, toiletries, and other items throughout downtown Boulder. While the program does help supply people who are homeless with basic items that they may need, it is not the point. Instead, the point is to use this task as a starting point for making conversation with these people. The overarching goal of Peanut Butter and Loving is to remind people who are homeless that they still matter and that there is still hope for them to get out of their current situation. This is exactly the kind of program that Boulder needs to expand on. Let’s just think about this for a second. It must be hard enough to go about your life when you have no home and extremely limited financial means. Now, picture trying your hardest to: find a job, be respected, feel good about yourself when most people that walk past you pretend you don’t exist. This would make you feel a thousand times worse and you’d probably lose hope and motivation pretty quickly. That’s what happens to the people who are homeless in Boulder when we ignore them as we pass by. If we don’t acknowledge them who will? How can they progress if they’re constantly being reminded that they’re seen as insignificant?
There are some really amazing people in Boulder that are currently homeless and you’ll learn this for yourself when you start a conversation with one of them. One person I met this past weekend was a French-Italian woman who was sleeping on a bench outside of Boulder Public Library. She had slept in the snow that night, but still engaged with us with a kind heart and gracious attitude. This woman gave a small group of students and myself some of the most heartfelt advice I have ever heard. She encouraged us over and over to love more and forgive more and praised us for the work we were doing. Let me remind you, this woman had slept in a pile of snow the night before this occurred. To do that and wake up the next day with such a compassionate and positive is not easy, rather it’s extremely trying. Another woman we talked to said her days usually consisted of her walking up and down streets in Boulder filling out every job application possible and following up. She had previously worked for 10 years and ended up homeless. Despite her frustrating situation, she continues to persevere and appreciated that we cared to talk to her and see how she was doing. Many of these people are a lot stronger than it seems and have valuable lessons to teach, it just takes some dialogue to get an understanding of it.
To conclude, I’ve realized that in a lot of ways, as college students, it’s extremely easy to relate to and empathize with those that are homeless. We both are trying to figure out our path and make our way in the world, and often times we’re struggling to decide what’s best and what to do next. We both value and frankly need the support of others when we’re going through times when we feel lost or alone. We’re really not that different. So, it’s time we start to work on our responsibility of breaking down some of the existing social barricades and treat those who are homeless like the important pieces of our community that they are.