Artist’s Spotlight

by Tiffany Teng

 

Every Tuesday, Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK) hosts A-Team meetings, led by Susan Darley. The artists who hail from Trenton come to paint, draw, and create art in a relaxed yet energized atmosphere. With the A-Team, Susan states, “Art comes first.”

A-Team artists are passionate about the art of expression. One artist has been coming to A-Team gatherings for years. Frankie Mack makes abstract pieces that incorporate colorful paints to unearth revolving images of faces, homes, stripes and shapes. He is inspired by music – he describes the experience as, “I can get what I want,” and not “I take what I can get.” A number of Mack’s pieces have been sold, another way the A-Team and TASK collaborate to help these patrons.

Another artist’s name is Brooke Beatty. She makes dolls and model houses, paints, draws, writes poetry and sings Vast I Am, a musical group at TASK. Art has been a constant in her life, ever since her own talented mother taught her to sew and utilize patterns to piece together beautiful quilts.

Art has personality. And because the A-Team does not promote a competitive atmosphere, the authentic creations are made with joy and derive from pure inner vision. Each artist is self-taught, and none of the artists wish to deceive or copy from another. After years of despair, suffering and pain, their voices beg to be heard and their hearts soar with the expressionism art provides for them.

Forgetting the past takes heaps of courage and they are unafraid to be dependent on one another for support. Without this empowering community that meets two hours a week, the artists would not release their emotions and frustration in creation.

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2011 edition of The Wall Newspaper.

What Homelessness Means to Me

By Ama Banahene

This article originally appeared in the print version of the Spring 2013 issue of The Wall.

For many people, including myself, homelessness has a negative connota­tion. It is usually believed to be the end of result of engaging in social vices: excessive gambling, drug and alcohol abuse, prostitution and general irresponsibility.

Many will confess their conflict surrounding this issue. They are will­ing to help those in needs yet believe most homeless individuals are simply corrupt and have low morale. How­ever, this could not be further from the truth.

The reality is that people with mental illness are the most vulnerable to becoming homeless. With increas­ing healthcare cost, high unemploy­ment levels and with a spike in those without or with inadequate insurance, members of the society with mental disorders are at a very high risk of los­ing shelter.

The high level of stress caused by the present state of the economy has led to an increase in the occurrence of mental illnesses. The hike of symp­toms leads to bad health and poor performance, placing many of these individuals at a high risk of job loss. Lack of adequate insurance deprives many of proper treatment, making their disease become a source of li­ability. More importantly, with the increased competition for jobs even in the menial ones, the mentally disabled face a higher risk of job-based dis­crimination than other applicants.

The sub-group of the mentally dis­abled with the highest risk of becom­ing homeless is those with drug and alcohol related issues. The criminal­ization of chronic drug users, social attitude towards substance abuse problems and weak mental health care system places these individuals at a risk of not having a secure place for shelter.

Criminal laws that punish drug use and distribution leads to many chronic users being incarcerated; they are then faced with many difficulties during the process of re-introduction into society.

More often than not, societal misconception about substance abuse issues being a reflection of personal characters leads to those with abuse issues facing family and social rejec­tion. The lack of support cripples their successful readjustment. Most ex-convicts face job and housing-based discrimination. Also because of so many substance abusers are of low socioeconomic status, there is less of a chance they will receive the rehabilita­tion or familial support they need to move on—particularly after years of alienation.

These problems are not going away. To be aware is the first step. Home­lessness can befall anybody; this must be known.

Volunteering Around the World

By Caitlin Dolan

This article originally appeared in the print version of the Spring 2013 issue of The Wall.

During the academic year 2011-2012, I studied abroad in Shanghai, China to improve my Mandarin language skills and immerse myself in the Chinese culture. Upon entering Shanghai, I was able to physically experience China’s economic boom in its famous masterpiece, The Bund.

The Bund is Shanghai’s waterfront area, which holds 52 buildings and one of the richest collections of art deco in the world. Within the last 20 years, The Communist Party has built up this area for international business, tourism and architectural expression. The Bund is China’s image for the world to see how much the country has developed and thrived economi­cally.

After I joined the Habitat for Hu­manity in China, I was able to wit­ness the alarming difference between China’s extravagant Shanghai city life and the Chinese countryside. Up until this point, I imagined China to be very well developed everywhere due to the country’s rank as the world’s second largest economy.

 

How bad could homelessness be in China?

In 2008, an earthquake devas­tated the Mayan village, located on a mountain in Qionglai city in Sichuan. With a population of 1,380 people, the citizens lived in houses made of mud, wood and bricks. The village did not have appropriate sanitation, electricity or a clean water supply.

After this earthquake, many of the houses were destroyed due to mud­slides, leaving most people homeless. The Mayan people are very traditional and sheltered from the outside world, so most are uneducated and illiterate. Thus, they found it difficult to relocate and find work in the bordering city of Chengdu, another one of China’s cit­ies specifically used for international business.

Hope came to the Mayan village in 2010 when the government of Qiong­lai City supported the national “New Rural Construction Policy” to raise the safety level and improve the quality of life. For the first time, China allowed an outside organization to come in and restore homes that were damaged due to natural disasters. Habitat for Humanity was given funding to come in and build new houses that are able to hold up against an earthquake with 8.0 magnitude.

I was the leader of Team 2, in charge of lifting bricks and stones from the mud that was still left behind from the destroyed homes in order to construct new homes for the families. Aside from participating in the day’s activities, I had the opportunity to become close with one of the elders in the village, 哩哩 (Lili). I carried the debris from her destroyed home in a basket backpack that she made for us. I also went to her temporary shack on the side of the dirt road for tea and conversation. 哩哩 (Lili) told me about her family and her business collecting and distributing spring tea leaves to and from Chengdu.

She also told me that before Habitat for Humanity, she never saw a for­eigner before in her life. She is thank­ful every day for the organization helping her village to end the two years of suffer­ing spent homeless, without proper food supply or sanitation. Habitat for Human­ity is finishing up the Mayan village this fall with new homes for every family.

Through my volun­teering, I saw differ­ent kinds of home­lessness and poverty. The disaster in China created homelessness for a very rural com­munity.

In Trenton, Habitat for Humanity also plays an important role in the lives of families that are in need of stable housing. The families are always very welcoming to volunteers. There is never a day that goes by that I am not offered a cool drink or conversation.

The same is true in the Mayan Vil­lage, only in the Chinese way: tea and dumplings. Both communities wanted to get to know the volunteers from Habitat for Humanity. I can honestly say that my work in Trenton prepared me for overcoming the cultural bound­aries that were present in the Mayan Village. The families in Trenton want a safe and stable place to call home and I knew it to be the same in Mayan, China.

In my experience in China, not only was I able to volunteer, but I was also able to leave with a better understand­ing of what it means to be a volun­teer—adjusting to diverse situations to effectively serve with the little amount of time you have in that special place. Whether you are volunteering in a city or a rural village, homelessness comes in vastly different shapes and sizes. So, listen and learn, challenge your limits, and find yourself with a greater understanding for the world.

Steps to Self-Fulfillment: Beyond the TEACH Program

By Tiffany Teng

 

“The smile on her face was so worth it, I’d do it every day if I could,” Ryan described the moment he told his mother he passed the GED. After years of living on the streets, coping with his heroin drug addiction, raising his son (now 13 years old) and landing back in jail every couple of years, he is eager, yet terrified, to move on with his life. Ryan R. is a 36 year-old client at the Rescue Mission’s TEACH Program, an educational program run by Ida Malloy.

During his interview, Ryan detailed some of misconceptions about homelessness and praised programs such as TEACH. Not only is passing the GED a motivating factor to move forward, but “people like Miss Ida are the ones who motivate you, they let you know that you’re worth it whether you realize it or not…no matter how pissed off you get.”

At the Rescue Mission, he was finally motivated to make his mother (who was diagnosed with breast cancer) and son proud and by receiving an education. Currently finishing the methadone treatment, Ryan sees such programs as opportunities, but certainly no cakewalk; “you’ve got to do the footwork, no one’s gonna do it for you.”

Throughout the years, Ryan was most bothered by the stereotype that all drug addicts are awful, violent people. He points out that before he became homeless in November, he and his son used to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for those on the streets. Ryan emphasized, “Homelessness doesn’t care whether you’re white, black, gay, or straight…”

 

So, what is the solution?

Successful drug treatment programs, re-entry programs and increasing the availability of housing after prison. Decreasing incarceration of drug abusers, and most of all, making people aware. Shedding light on the people living under the bridge. Having everything taken from you. “You gotta have nothing in order to know how you’ll make out.”

Ryan is a prime example of a man who came from a good, tight-knit family who fell into the wrong crowd out of sheer curiosity. He will be the first one to admit, “I did this to myself. Now I’ve got health problems, physically and mentally.”

Education, above all, is crucial to eliminating homelessness. At the very least, educating others about the issue of homelessness unearths the real problems that remain undetected and unaddressed.

Soon Ryan hopes to detox from methadone, move on with his life, and get an education.

“A place without homelessness, no drugs.”

The Rescue Mission of Trenton’s TEACH Program is a comprehensive adult education program that offers GED preparation, along with basic life skills and technical training. It strives to create employment and life-changing opportunities through its job placement program for residents. The TEACH Program relies on volunteers for tutoring and special classes. Questions can be directed to IdaM@rmtrenton.org.

St. Francis’ Mission and the Cost of Care

 

 

“We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way.”

― Saint Francis of Assisi

By Gary Kehoe

 

In 2010, Mercer County had the eighth highest percentage of people living in poverty in New Jersey—roughly 25%, according to the New Jersey Poverty Research Institute’s Poverty Benchmark report, released in May 2012. Large statistics often paint a very distant picture of what it is to be poor or in need, but today, eco­nomic struggle, often accompanied by homelessness, is no longer a concept confined to shelters and charities.

Amidst tough economic times, there remains a tight-knit, dedicated system of volunteers and professionals who make it their mission to preserve a spirit of hope and care for the most vulnerable. St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey is a leader in this mission, reaching out to those who find themselves struggling to meet one of their most basic needs, their health and well-being.

“The beauty of what St. Francis does is that we turn down no one,” said Christine Stephenson, Vice Presi­dent of St. Francis Medical Center. “Regardless of whether the patient has no address, no insurance, we will take care of them. Our doors are open.”

St. Francis is one of New Jersey’s leading care centers for the homeless and underprivileged. Despite the prox­imity of the hospital to major areas of the state, located just ten minutes from the state’s capitol and fifteen minutes from one of the state’s premier colleg­es, the individuals who pass through its doors can be very misunderstood.

In a recent interview, Ms. Stephen­son and Vice President of Mission and Ministry Russ Hansel offered their perspectives. Speaking to what he saw as an inaccurate stereotype, Hansel shared, “I think there are two definitions of ‘homeless’ that we deal with. When some people hear we take care of the homeless, they picture the stereotype of ‘druggie, alcoholic, deviant’. When you take the time to see what we are doing you realize the new definition has to be broader. It’s everyday people: single parents and children that we care for.”

“A lot of our patients do work and are insured,” Stephenson added. She explained that addiction or behav­ioral health related issues were the primary causes for admittance. Many of the patients they see cannot afford their treatments or access to services. “These people are not morally corrupt or socially deviant,” she shared. “They are just in a rough patch, you know? They don’t have money.”

Using the statistical formula devel­oped in the publication “Estimating the Need,” it is projected that over the course of a year, 2,469 adults and chil­dren are homeless in Mercer County, according to merceralliance.org, and the correlation between poor health and low income remains consistent.

According to the Legal Services of New Jersey, 13% of people reporting poor health bring in less than $15,000. (Legal Services of NJ). Stephenson and Hansel were in agreement that the heart of the issue was economic, and explained that homelessness was not only a result of economic struggle, but could also be the cause of tremendous expense to the healthcare system as well if not handled properly.

Though a citizen might be quick to think free healthcare for the uninsured or homeless to be an unfair burden on those taxpayers who are insured, it is actually, according to Stephenson, Hansel, and many other service orga­nizations, an essential way to prevent a more costly alternative.

Stephenson said that the major­ity of St. Francis’ patients seen in emergency rooms at least 40 times a year were homeless. Proactive efforts are underway to lower this number through early recognition and inter­vention, preventing costly visits to the Emergency Room in the future.

St. Francis Medical Center adds to its traditional hospital duties an out-patient service program designed to make itself an early resource and develop meaningful relationships with those who find themselves in shelters and social service programs. Rather than waiting for an individual to arrive at St. Francis, St. Francis places social workers, Nurse Practitioners (DNP’s), and even graduate-medical students in places like Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK) and Rescue Mission. These efforts saves the cost of frequent emergency room visits.

Stephenson and Hansel mentioned Peg Nasaro, DNP for St. Francis Med­ical Center, as one of the very impor­tant people in their care system. Once a week, Nasaro visits Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, dedicating personal time to individuals who need basic medical care on behalf of St. Francis Medical Center. Nasaro’s consistent presence and dedication to those in need is part of St. Francis’ long-term goal of developing meaningful relationships which, according to St. Francis medical staff, prove essential in care process.

“You must foster a relationship with people,” Hansel emphasized. “That personal engagement, which may take weeks or even months, helps you really understand what people’s needs are. That’s really where it starts.”

Just last year, Peg Nasaro encoun­tered a young man in T.A.S.K who claimed he felt ill. He had not been seen before in the St. Francis Emer­gency Room or hospital, but as Nasaro discovered, he was a diabetic who had gone untreated for a very long period of time and was in serious condition. The man could not afford his treat­ments, and in his present state, was not expected to live past 45. It was the early intervention by Peg Nasaro, and the handoff to St. Francis Medi­cal Center, that eventually led to the man’s recovery.

“We didn’t just release him from the hospital and forget, either,” added Stephenson. “We got him in touch with those who could help him find work to pay for his treatments. In the meantime, Russ even paid for those treatments out of his own pocket.”

Hansel nodded, assuring that, “After hospital treatment may be complete, we ensure a ‘warm handoff’ to the next step in their recovery and remain in contact. Hansel and Ste­phenson each remain in contact with their former patient, and were pleased to share that he is currently living in his own residence, employed and in good health. The man’s life and the cost of more severe emergency care in the future had he gone untreated, were saved.

This story is one of many, and those like it are not limited just to St. Francis Medical Center. As Peg Nasaro plays her role for St. Francis within T.A.S.K, so does St. Francis play its particular role in a much larger community of volunteers and profes­sionals who share the same goal.

“We are… ‘unusually blessed,’” said Stephenson, “in that we have such a tight group of people working together with us, committed to serving the needs of the people who need help most. Sometimes we even hear from other counties and they send their needy people here to Trenton.”

St. Francis Medical Center joins Henry J. Austin Medical Center, Greater Trenton Behavioral Health­care, Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, Res­cue Mission, and HomeFront, in the effort to connect and provide for the individuals who may find themselves in need of a helping hand.

St. Francis said, “Start by doing what is necessary, then what is pos­sible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” Today’s economy has shown many that poverty and hard times are not impossible for anyone. A community of support in the Mercer County area makes it their mission to show that recognizing the humanity beyond stereotype, and saving the cost of care, is quite possible.

St. Francis Medical Center:

Located on the corner of Hamilton and Chambers Street, Trenton, NJ 08609

(609) 599-5000

Henry J. Austin Medical Center:

Locations in Trenton, NJ:

317 Chambers St.

321 N. Warren St.

112 Ewing St.

For immediate assistance:

(609) 278-5900