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People Seeing People |
Building Understanding, One Voice at a Time
The large snowflakes delicately fell in late February as we listened to Bryan's calm, welcoming, voice recall his life’s events. “I was born in Watertown, New York and grew up at the foothills of the Adirondack mountains. I moved up there when I was seven. It was a good childhood. I was outside all of the time and it didn’t matter what time of year it was. I was just an outside person whether it was hunting, fishing, skiing, or snowshoeing, or hockey, a whole lot of hockey. I have three older sisters and a younger brother. I thought it was a great childhood. I had great parents. My parents were always busy. They ran a hotel. We kind of got to sneak around there as kids. Me and my brother would go places we weren't supposed to around the hotel. We got away with what we could.”
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This time in the life of our organization marks a new season. We took a break from stories to reorganize our vision and our commitment to the community. Over the past few months we continued to collect and transcribe interviews, receive and distribute donations for the homeless community, and think through the next steps for People Seeing People. We remain committed to sharing stories from those in the homeless community and those who support the community. While taking a step back from the public platform, we brainstormed avenues for how People Seeing People can learn from the stories we disseminate and seek to create change at a preliminary level. These changes include using our educational backgrounds to research, write, and implement curriculum in schools with a focus on food insecurity, needs and wants, access to resources, developing relationships, and more. Stay tuned for more information. We will continue with our stories starting next week. Together, we must embrace our differences and seek to understand others through stories, perspectives, and empathy.
We also want to take a moment to recognize a few milestones our organization captured over the course of the last year. Thirteen months ago we posted our first story. Since that time 24 stories captured the perspectives and lives of those currently experiencing homelessness, those who experienced homelessness in the past, and those who support the homeless community. These stories comprised 821 recorded minutes or over 13 hours of interviewing and over 52 hours of transcribing interviews. We remain committed and passionate about denormalizing homelessness in our community by sharing stories.
With Sincere Gratitude,
People Seeing People
We also want to take a moment to recognize a few milestones our organization captured over the course of the last year. Thirteen months ago we posted our first story. Since that time 24 stories captured the perspectives and lives of those currently experiencing homelessness, those who experienced homelessness in the past, and those who support the homeless community. These stories comprised 821 recorded minutes or over 13 hours of interviewing and over 52 hours of transcribing interviews. We remain committed and passionate about denormalizing homelessness in our community by sharing stories.
With Sincere Gratitude,
People Seeing People
Follow this link to place your t-shirt order! We are placing the order on August 13th and will have them within two weeks! They are $15 with 100% of the profits going toward the homeless population.
 | We want to take this week to thank our community members for their constant support for People Seeing People and those we aim to uphold. Over the course of the last month, we received numerous donations to support those currently experiencing homelessness as well as those recently housed. Donations of blankets consisted of fleece, chenille, flannel, and emergency blankets. Over the course of the last month, brand new and gently loved items continued to enter our spaces. An abundant number of t-shirts were donated from the Boys & Girls Club (BGC), local families, and some of our own family members. We sorted hygiene products, socks, belts, shoes, pullovers, jackets, jeans, and underwear into bags. From there, we traveled to visit people who currently live on the streets to assess and fulfill immediate needs. The unused donations continue to travel with those who serve people currently experiencing homelessness or those recently housed until all donations find homes in the hands of those in need. A unique donation this week was a used bike from a UWL student. This bike found a home in the park today with someone who expressed extreme gratitude. We are humbled and honored by the continued outpour from the community. Many Thanks, People Seeing People |
 | This is our third episode of Where People See People and we continue to try something new with each recording. We decided to make this podcast a bit more conversational and weave in our personal experiences with interviewing, stopping to listen, and spending time with those in our community. We hope you take time to listen to Episode Three: The Forgotten Community where we discuss the need for a sense of community. When we started this project last year, we asked ourselves a lot of questions. We wanted to know why people stayed on the streets. As many people do, we thought that we would find a cut and dry response, maybe it was drugs and alcohol or maybe it was mental health. What we were met with was a web so intricate that we are still untangling it. Some of the biggest issues are still not being talked about enough. |
 | We interviewed Renay while sitting in her cozy home surrounded by items she found and artfully restored and displayed for utilization or decor. Renay walked us through her childhood and early adult years. “I grew up in Pennsylvania. Me and my sister were both adopted. We were adopted by the same family, same mom and dad and raised by the same mom and dad. It was an abusive household even though we had the belongings that we wanted. We come from coal miner families. Both my grandads were coal miners and died from black lung. |
For the first Monday in May, we decided to feature Couleecap. This organization works to combat poverty in the Coulee Region.
 | Words we must all pause to consider when we ponder the normalization of homelessness, “... I wouldn’t let my dog sleep outside. Why is anyone okay with letting any human go without their basic needs met in a country with a multitude of resources? When did we decide homelessness is normal?” We gathered around a wooden table in a coffee shop to learn noteworthy lessons from an amazing human being, Sandy Brekke. |
Sneak Peak: Slowly walking down the sidewalk and talking with a friend, you stumble and abruptly fall to the pavement catching yourself with your hands. Face down on the concrete, you examine the severity of the deep abrasions on your knuckles and the throbbing pain in your left ankle. You start to wonder if your fall might require medical attention. How will you access the medical attention you need?