For the first event for the month of December our house volunteered, along with hundreds of other people from throughout the city, downtown at the Civic Center one afternoon. What happens at the Bill Graham Civic Center, five times a year, is a true miracle, albeit left me questioning if we are really doing enough.
5 times a year, dozens of private and public organizations offer their services, free of charge, to whoever walks through the doors. Social services such as DMV registration, job networking analysis, legal services, HIV testing, seamstresses repairing old clothes, and drop in center information is all readily available to all those who walk through the door. In addition there were hundreds of medical professionals, ranging from dentists to M.D.s, nurses, hospice workers, and even eye doctors were on site taking measurements of people's eyes and producing brand new glasses on the spot, all of this was free of charge. This was a great day for the homeless of San Francisco, a day they can relax, be taken care of, even get pampered with a free massage or a walk through the temporary library, choosing to take home some books with them.
All of this was great, and the tikkun olam and kavanah was exploding out of the building. However, what about the other 360 days of the year? I had so many questions about the system, and our continued lax treatment about the homeless situation here in San Francisco, curious to know if a day like this is going to do much in the long run. How sustainable is it do something on such a grand scale 5 times a year, without really getting at the root of the problem: a lack of education, high rates of drug addiction, apathetic attitude about holding down a job, and a homeless reality that has gotten no better in the past 10 years.
It always feel great to volunteer and help out those in need, but it left me feeling incomplete, wishing others, as well as myself did more to help people who are in tough times.
Danny in SF
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