Author: Lisa McGurty

Children sleeping outside: we need shelter.

Call your supervisors today. Tell them that no child should sleep outside.

District 1: Phil Serna: (916) 874-5485

District 2: Patrick Kennedy: (916) 874-5481

District 3: Susan Peters: (916) 874-5471

District 4: Roberta MacGlashan: (916) 874-5491

District 5: Don Nottoli: (916) 874-5465

Mustard Seed School at Loaves & Fishes is an emergency school for homeless children ranging in age from preschool through eighth grade. Some of its students are lucky enough to be staying in emergency shelters but others have been turned away for lack of space. Last week 26 of the 60 children attending Mustard Seed were camping outside or staying in cars with their families. Maryhouse, Loaves & Fishes daytime resource center for homeless women and families, also reports mothers with infants and toddlers are unable to find safe shelter.  Homelessness is devastating to families, especially the children. Can Sacramento County not provide even the bare minimum of shelter for them?

Mustard Seed Director Casey Knittel states, “This is the first time I’ve seen so many children in cars. It’s heartbreaking to see them leave us at the end of the day not knowing if they’ll find a safe place to stay that night.”

“Look, he’s trying to feed the baby.”

The moment that I walk into Maryhouse, I can tell that it’s been a lively morning. Not that it I’m surprised; there is never a dull morning at Maryhouse.

Both lobbies– downstairs and upstairs–are full of women, some waiting for showers, some waiting to talk to a Maryhouse staff member, and others simply relaxing, enjoying a safe space to pause and rest in the morning.

As I stand at the counter I notice Evelyn* with her two-year old son Dee* standing around the corner. Dee has a bottle tilted up to his mouth, spilling most of its contents down the front of his shirt. “We’re working on that,” she laughs, and reaches onto the counter to grab him a cup instead. “He’s better with cups,” she says.

As we continue talking, another woman walks into the lobby, pulling her children in a two-seated red wagon.

“Baby, ” Dee points.

Evelyn laughs “He thinks he’s a lot bigger than he is. Kids can be the same age or older than him, and he’ll point and say ‘baby’. I thought he was going to be jealous when his little brother came around, but no way. He loves babies. He loves taking care of them.”

As she was telling me this, Dee ran straight over to the wagon and climbed right in the middle of the other little boys. He made himself right at home in that wagon, and the other little boys didn’t seem to mind another addition to their vehicle.

“Look, he’s trying to feed the baby,” Evelyn said as Dee held his cup up to the other boy’s mouth.

It was an adorable sight, and I can only hope that each of these boys has a safe place to call home for the night…

 

*Names changed

“I had been driving trucks for years…”

“I started smoking cigarettes when I was eight. I was the fourth of six kids, and my older brother and his friends loved daring me to do stuff. ‘Take a drag, take a drink, take a puff.’ So I started real young. It’s really too bad… I’m in my 50’s now, and my heart can’t really take it anymore.

“I had been driving trucks for years, until I got this last heart attack. It was a good job–lonely sometimes, but it paid the bills. Ever since my last attack, I can’t do it anymore. It’s too dangerous. I’m looking for something else but, for now, I’m back out here.”

–John at Friendship Park, Loaves & Fishes

 

Maryhouse Celebrates 30 Years!

This month, Maryhouse celebrates its 30th anniversary! Maryhouse, a daytime hospitality shelter for women at Loaves & Fishes, has served thousands of women over the years, and continues each day to provide a safe space for women and children in Sacramento.

To celebrate 30 years, we will share stories of Maryhouse each day in September: 30 days of Maryhouse Moments. We hope that these stories may help to illuminate what Maryhouse is all about, and how important this program has been in the lives of so many women these past 30 years.

Inspirational  messages such as this decorate the bathroom mirrors in Maryhouse.

 

Helping out

Lisa McGurty, the author of this blogpost, served as an AmeriCorps ViSTA at Loaves & Fishes. Similar to the peace corps, AmerCorps VISTAs labor at poverty relief organizations throughout the United States and live on a meager living stipend so that they can fully absorb the experience of poverty. Lisa’s work had a huge impact at Loaves & Fishes — she created this blog, advocated for the needs of our guests at the city, county and state level and routinely fashioned fantastic communications material for Loaves. 

I recently spent the day at Mustard Seed School. Mustard Seed School, a program of Loaves & Fishes, is a school for children currently experiencing homelessness in Sacramento.

After eating lunch in the preschool room, one of the children was eager to help with the dishes. “When I had a home,” she said, “it was my job to help my mom with the dishes. My brother would come in and make a big mess, and I would always help her clean it up.”

The conversation went on as she continued to scrub the the plates and cups, handing them over to me to rinse and dry. The little girl talked about her crazy brother, and I agreed that brothers can be very crazy. In the back of my mind, however, I could not stop thinking about the first thing she said.

This little girl is six years-old, and misses doing dishes in her home.

When we think about homelessness, we likely conjure images in our mind of what homelessness looks like. We create specific characters, and wonder what decisions they made in their lives that have led them to this place. We do not think of the thousands of children who have found themselves in this situation, who understand little about what it means or why they, unlike other children, do not have a home.

The truth is that homelessness is hidden everywhere. To learn more about Mustard Seed School, visit www.sacloaves.org/mustardseed.