Day 8

Another day at HHH, today we started just organizing out the files (our babies), they just don't seem to hold up without us! They do seem to hold up alphabetically, but they get so disorganized very fast. After that, we were able to talk to Ms. Cherie for awhile, she informed us that they narrowed down about 80 resumes to 2 great, qualifying individuals for her position as Volunteer Coordinator. They were actually interviewing one candidate that afternoon. There were really no projects set up for us to do...so we joined Elizabeth (also a student at UST) at the sign-in desk. She volunteers weekly as well and runs the sign in desk. She explained to us her job and what her roles were...once the patient signs in, you ask if they have an appointment or not, whether this is their first time, and what they are there for. Either for the health clinic or to see a case manager. There are two case managers, and what they do is evaluate each individuals case and determine what kind of services they are eligible to have. Today was interesting, since we actually received the chance to interact a little with the homeless individuals. When talking to Liz, why some people react certain ways, such as really impatient and to a sense a little rude. Liz explained it as they are people and they feel they deserve the treatment right away. In asking why they don't get jobs..that they are not used to or don't like to be told what to do. It was hard hearing some of their statements, it was raining pretty heavily that day, and I don't remember exactly what was said, but something along the lines that "some of us just don't have shelter for days like these." Just an eye opener that we take the simplest things for granted as such a roof over our head. I hope we get to do more interaction with the homeless people in the future...

Ms. Cherie's last day is approaching, she doesn't have a set date yet. She said she may still have to do the training for whoever fills her position..hopefully she stays until the semester! Liz, Amy and I, are going to get a little gift of thanks for her! Since she's always been so thoughtful... one picture is a picture of a little sign that says "We are Thankful for You." You can't quite see it, but our names are on there under Thursday! :) The other photo is Amy and I sitting at the sign in desk.

Until next time...