Giving the homeless a voice

By Brandi Broxson

The three men who spoke to Dr. S. Kent Butler’s Special Populations course looked like they could have been someone’s grandfather, co-worker or classmate, but they all shared one thing in common.

They had experienced or are currently experiencing homelessness.

The men were speakers from the Faces of Homelessness Speakers’ Bureau and were invited to Butler’s class Monday.

The Homelessness Speaker’s Bureau is a side project of the National Coalition for the Homeless, according to Jessica Figueroa, an AmeriCorps Vista Coordinator and recent UCF grad.

According to its website, AmeriCorps Vista is a national service program designed to fight poverty.

“The National Coalition for the Homeless coordinates with AmeriCorps Vista to recruit volunteers to establish Speakers’ Bureaus and host these presentations in their communities,” Figueroa said. “The Faces of Homelessness Speakers’ Bureau is a program that works to educate the public about homelessness and what community members can do to get involved.”

The Speakers’ Bureau is made up of people who are homeless or have dealt with it in the past.

“If students are not educated about the realities of homelessness and the factors that contribute to it, perceptions cannot be changed in order for long-term solutions to be realized,” Figueroa said.

According to a January 2009 survey by the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida in partnership with UCF, 9,887 people will experience homelessness in the tri-county area that includes Orange, Seminole and Osceola Counties.

Butler said he brought the Speaker’s Bureau to his counseling class to bring more awareness to students and to get them to step outside their comfort zones.

“It is a way to give the students an opportunity to experience what other people go through,” he said.

It was not the first time Butler has challenged students in the classroom. Last year, he had students spend 24 hours in a wheelchair to understand what it is like to navigate through life in a wheelchair.

“With Dr. Butler, you never know what to expect,” Beth Cooperman, who is studying for her master’s in counselor education, wrote in an e-mail. “I knew that a lot of stereotypes would be challenged, and I knew we were in for a moving experience. When I noticed that none of the new faces in the classroom looked homeless, I knew I was going to learn a lot about true homeless culture and my assumptions were going to be challenged.”

The presentation began with homeless advocate Bruce Shawen, a man who became homeless when the recession began.

He was fired from his job and had no way to support himself until his unemployment check came in.

Shawen, who holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Frostburg State University in Maryland, urged students to realize that not everyone who is homeless is mentally disabled or scary.

“The stereotype that you have been taught is not the reality,” he said.

Lance Vick was next in line during the presentation. Vick, who looks like a 20-something college student, grew up on the road with his family who moved from state to state for construction work.

Vick finished high school at 14 and decided to stay in one place and attend community college to learn about computer programming. It wasn’t until a roommate of Vick’s destroyed all of his computer software and put Vick’s life in danger that he became homeless.

Vick said he worked in labor pools and telemarketing companies although the salaries were not enough to get an apartment.

“I didn’t feel like I deserved help,” he said. “It wasn’t until people got to know me and believed in me that I started to believe in myself.”

Vick spent some time in an abandoned camper and used what money he made to buy computer parts from thrift stores. It wasn’t long after that Vick was fixing computers for area businesses and landed a job as lead developer with Open Interactive, an Orlando-based company.

Cooperman said she related to Vick’s story the most.

“It is crazy to think that a few unforeseen circumstances would spiral out of control like that,” she said. “His story was so relatable to college students, and it really made me think about how easy it is for something to go tragically wrong in a person’s life that could cause homelessness. It made me think how close I could be to homelessness.”

Rick Peete was the last man to speak at the presentation.

Peete, a Vietnam War veteran who lost his wife and daughter to a drunk driver, became homeless earlier this year after being laid off by the Orlando Sentinel, where he worked in the packing department.

When Peete could not pay his mortgage, the bank foreclosed on his home and he was forced to the streets. Peete admitted that this was not what he envisioned when he thought about the American Dream.

“I had no family, no job, no home and I didn’t see any future,” he said. “People see me as an alcoholic, a criminal or a drug addict who is infringing on their lives, but they could be two paychecks away from sitting on this bench with me.”

Figueroa said the notion that every homeless person is mentally unstable is false.

Figueroa said only 16 percent of the homeless population has mental health problems.Peete mentioned a young woman whom he called his “hero.”

He said she was a friend to him during his rough time and helped him to get food and other resources. On Saturday, someone offered Peete a place to stay in a one-bedroom apartment.

Peete told students the most important thing they can do is “get out there and help somebody, it’s one of the most gratifying things you can do in your life.”

He said that a simple “Hello, how are you” to a homeless person would mean a lot.

On July 6, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled in favor of the City of Orlando to restrict large group feedings in city parks such as Lake Eola Park.

The feeding ordinance ruling was a big topic of conversation at the presentation.
Attorney Jacqueline Dowd, who represented Food Not Bombs and the First Vagabonds Church of God in the lawsuit that disputed the Orlando feeding ordinance, attended the presentation.

“Continuing the public discussion of homelessness and poverty may be the most important item on our ‘to do’ list,” Dowd wrote after the decision on the National Coalition for the Homeless blog. “The food-sharings will definitely continue, but they may look a little different in the future. Other locations are being discussed, along with other potential adjustments to the way it’s done,” she said.

Peete also responded to the recent ordinance.

“People have hate in their hearts when they are saying that a man can’t get something to eat,” he said.

Figueroa said the best thing for students who wish to impact this issue is to raise awareness and look for volunteer and donation opportunities or to simply research the issue of homelessness.

Cooperman agreed that students should get involved and change their viewpoints on the homeless population.

“I believe all students could benefit from being exposed to this issue, because it would allow them to take a good, hard look at the automatic thoughts that come into their minds when they think of homeless people,” Cooperman wrote in an e-mail. “It seems to be all-or-nothing thinking. Not all homeless people are scary. Not all homeless people are mentally ill. People really need to understand that. We need to take time to teach the next generation to be more open-minded.”

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