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. ​

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.

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