Beauty and Love
"Despite my own personal life of chaos and confusion, I still am able to see love and beauty, even in hopeless places, which is why I found great joy in volunteering with the Hub of Hope."
Kat Delancey, who originally came as a guest, has volunteered at Project HOME’s Hub of Hope for the past three years. Here are some of Kat's reflections from this past winter’s Hub.
In an old hair salon in an empty corner of the Suburban Station concourse, I see beauty!
Project HOME and its partners operate the Hub of Hope – a winter initiative that provides essential outreach services to folks who call the Station home during the frigid winter months, these folks are the chronically homeless and most vulnerable. The walk-in center provides case management, housing and shelter placement, and medical services.
This year was my fourth year volunteering with the Hub of Hope and its beauty, while I continue to battle my own personal demons. February 9, 2016, after two years of being in stable permanent housing, for several reasons, I returned to being homeless. Homelessness, substance abuse, mental illness, just to name a few are the demons I face. Besides, the fact, I identify as transgender, which to some puts a big twist on things.
Above all, despite my own personal life of chaos and confusion, I still am able to see love and beauty, even in hopeless places, which is why I found great joy in volunteering with the Hub of Hope.
This year was quite an experience. I saw a lot of youth come through the doors of the Hub of Hope. Which is something I reflected upon and hold close to my heart, as I recall my very first outreach contact with Sam Santiago in Washington Square Park when I was just a youth. I saw a lot of folks receive medical care, which is a good thing because for whatever reason, many folks lack that service, especially when they are experiencing literally street homelessness. I saw a lot of folks receive shelter placement and actually stay in shelter placement, which is also a good thing as I am someone that at times will receive shelter placement during my periods of homelessness, but I will not stick and stay for personal reasons. I saw a lot of folks this year come in just to talk with someone, a volunteer or staff member. One thing I do know, in a five minute conversation with someone living on the fringes of life, you can learn a lot!
More importantly, this year and through the other years, I saw BEAUTY! I saw LOVE!
I saw Project HOME living out their mission of “None of us are home until all of us are home!”
WIth Love and Beauty,
Kat Delancey
Read the report on this past winter’s Hub of Hope, and a reflection on the Hub by its director Karen Orrick.
