Hi, I'm Homeless...

Author’s note: There’s a saying that I know “Be careful or you just might become a character in my book…” Well as in the case of this blog – everyone is character without any name changes. I don't expect a huge following with the blog entries I make ...just want to share my thoughts and experiences with you...

At this moment, I’m sitting on a bed in the most mouse-infested room (seen three of them scurrying around Saturday night so far …I’m sure there’s more) on the second floor at this building. Ha! You should have seen this particular room earlier when I was moved from the transitional apartment known as “Richmond” to where I’m at now. It was totally a mess! Food …mice droppings ...trash …clothes …etc was all over the place – no one thought or bothered to clean it before I arrived with my daughter. However, I’m getting ahead of myself about this place. Perhaps I should start at the beginning…

The place – A Safe Haven Foundation …is located near the Little Italy, Lawndale and Garfiled Park neighborhoods in Chicago. As many as I’ve passed by this place. I never knew it was a homeless shelter. Yep, I am in a homeless shelter with my teen daughter. Though I never bothered to care or know what this place is, it’s one of the few places (so I’ve been told) that’s better to be than the other options. And I didn’t know there were other options! Someone should write a handbook about homelessness because I’m getting a really good education about it now. However, here at Safe Haven, the staff and workers give off that general assumption that one (like myself) have been through the “system” and/or homelessness.

In my case, it’s neither.

This is my first time …and my only time since I don’t plan on repeating it ever again.

I arrived in the afternoon on January 2 with my daughter and a shopping cart of stuff …clothes, bedding and other personal items. Actually, I had to leave and come back with the rest of my stuff before I was “officially” inducted as a resident of A Safe Haven Foundation. Hey, don’t judge! I didn’t know what to bring …remember, this is my first time. What a way to start 2015. Automatically, I knew they probably have never seen a person like me …a woman who had the “deer caught in the headlights” look on her face but I wasn’t going to show them any fear or nervousness. I would save that for later when I’m finally in the room apologizing to my daughter for putting her in this predicament.

The process began with sorting of our clothes …10 outfits for me and 15 for my daughter. Of course, me never being homeless before packed WAY too much clothes. Everything, the clothes we came to the shelter in and the ones we picked, were unceremoniously lumped together along with our undergarments into one huge washer machine (on a HOT setting) to be washed and dried …after also sorting out other personal items we wanted to keep before putting them into storage. Meanwhile, the clothes were being washed and we had to shower in the bathroom located in the laundry area. Even with the door locked, I was terrified but again I tried not to show any fear especially in front of my daughter. Since we didn’t have clothes yet, we wore scrubs which automatically indicated to the other residents here who the new people were since it was dinnertime here.

Oh joy …food! There’s no such thing as a decent meal here and our first dinner at Safe Haven truly lived up to its “reputation”. The burger – dried (as in The Mojave Desert) …fries – cold or lukewarm at best …the drink – tasted like the combination of kool-aid and iced tea. Yep, it’s fine dining at its best when you reside at Chez Safe Haven, folks. Soon, I would learn in the coming days the kitchen LOVES chicken. Seriously, it’s baked chicken …greasy roasted chicken …sweet and sour chicken (their version with pineapple sauce and red peppers) …reheated whatever chicken …chicken …chicken along with mystery and surprise meats like roasted pork loin (extremely dry), meatloaf (wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole) …pizza casserole (smashed pizza – yuck!) and so much more. Food not decent enough to serve to your enemies. The only thing that’s fairly safe is the salad bar …and most days I ate from there than having a full meal. Don’t get me started about the breakfast. Yeah I know I shouldn’t be complaining …in fact grateful they serve food but they could at least serve something worth nutritional and healthy. Wait, you have kids or special dietary requirements? Well, here at Chez Safe Haven cafeteria, you’re out of luck! They don’t cater to having kid-friendly meals or special diets (which they should especially those who are of a certain religion).

My first few hours here is almost coming to a close. After quickly eating “dinner”, we were shown to our room on the second floor. It’s not much to brag about …just dormitory style housing with the simplistic of necessities – a bed, a nightstand, sink to share with your roommate or kids and shared bathroom with the next door to you. When we arrived, our clothes weren’t ready yet but that’s when the feeling of actually being homeless really took its toll …the realization that this would be “home” for a while. Not the best way to start the new year.

It was hard to fathom (and it’s still is) that I’m homeless…

To be continued

Surviving my first weekend…