In Pursuit of Happiness - Helping the Homeless

I grew up in an affluent town 20 minutes outside of Washington DC. My formative years were fairly sheltered and I can honestly say I never wanted for anything. I remember seeing my first homeless person in the city when I was about 11 years old, looking out the window of my warm comfortable car. For me, the homeless were people on the news, extras in movies - I knew little about them and didn't care to learn more.

Fast forward to my early 20's. My husband and I moved to NYC and lived there nearly 7 years. There were so many homeless that in time they simply faded into the background. We had one homeless man who took to laying spread eagle on the sidewalk outside our 25th Street Grammercy park apartment - we simply walked around him. I would occasionally give money to people on the subway and one Christmas we brought a bag full of blankets and food to some homeless people that lived in the bank lobby on our corner.

Fast forward to now. We moved to the Bay Area 2 1/2 years ago and again, were confronted with homelessness. San Francisco is well known for its homeless problem..but I was completely unprepared for all of the homeless in the suburbs. In my sheltered naivitee I assumed it was a city problem but of course it is not. The town we live in is the county seat...which we later found out means all of the homeless shelters, rehab programs and food banks are right HERE. As had happened many times before, however, I eventually stopped noticing and these men and women without homes simply faded into my background.

About a month ago I saw the new Will Smith movie, The Pursuit of Happyness. It's a good movie, a true story but for some reason it struck me to my core. I cried and cried so hard in the theater that I had a headache afterwards. What hit me for the first time was that there are families living on the street, young children, mothers and fathers who are doing their best but have been dealt a series of hardships and heartaches...and they have become homeless. I remember closing my eyes at the credits and vowing to do something...

A week or so after the movie, I was driving down the main street in our town on the way to Target with my two kids. As we drove past a strip mall with a large parking lot I noticed a man and a woman, the man standing holding a sign, the woman bent over holding something. I immediately assumed they were homeless. Then I noticed the stroller next to the woman. My first thought was, Well they're probably using it to haul stuff, there's no WAY there's a baby with them. I looked back over my shoulder as we drove past...and saw that the woman was holding a baby.

A homeless woman holding a beautiful baby.

My heart started racing and I said outloud "There's a baby. There's a baby." I immediately felt prompted to turn the car around, go back and ask them what they need. I started arguing with myself. "That's crazy! I have two little kids in the car. What if they're junkies? I've never done this before! What do I say? What can I possibly do?"

I turned the car around. I pulled into the parking lot, drove up to them, rolled down the window and said, "Hi. What do you need for you and your baby? I'm going to Target right now." The man and woman looked at each other and the woman said without hesitation, "Diapers. And some baby food". I asked what size diapers and what kind of food the baby liked, how old she was. Then I asked what I could get for them and they asked for food. They looked to be in their late 40's and were clearly beaten down and hammered from living on the streets. But the baby...she was beautiful. She looked so much like Carrie's daughter Pumpkin that I could feel my eyes welling up with tears. I told the family I would be back in one hour with everything they needed and to please stay put.

I raced to Target feeling like it was Christmas morning. I abandoned my other errands and went crazy with assembling things for the family. My 4 year old son even helped: "The baby would like this blanket, mom". Toss it in the cart. I bought a large backpack and crammed as much in there as I could. Getting ready to check out I felt prompted to by infant Motrin for the baby - again, my eyes welled up.

Driving up and giving them those bags was a high. They kept saying "God bless you" over and over. A few days later I saw the woman, wearing the backpack, pushing the stroller with the baby wrapped up in the blanket. I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest. I was SO happy.

Over the last month I have met with them half a dozen times. Usually I bring diapers and things for the baby, always food. I have gotten to know Dana, Cherrie and baby Ajianna (who is 14 months) and their story. They are a family in a terrible situation, down on their luck, doing their best to take care of this baby, who is their granddaughter. I told them one day that they are doing such a good job with the baby because she is happy, smilely, healthy and always dressed warmly. They are doing everything they can for this little girl. They are not junkies or criminals - they are people, a family, with few options and no place to call home.

I wish that there was more I could do for them but I know that I am doing exactly what I should be doing right now. I've started keeping extra snacks in my car to hand out to the guys standing at intersections holding signs - they just want food, never ask for money. After years and years of not doing enough, I'm now trying to do my part. By doing my part, I have also created amazing teaching opportunities for my kids. My son asked me one day why I am always taking bags to those people in the parking lot. I told him that we are very lucky, very blessed and so it is our job to help other people who are not as fortunate. He sat quietly for awhile and then said, "I like to help other people, mom". I am learning...and they are learning.

I'm writing this post to encourage all of you to take a look around your street corner, your neighborhood, your town. Take 5 extra minutes and see if there's something you can do to help out, bridge the gap a little. As much as I'd love to take these people into my home, adopt that baby I can't...but I can bring them diapers and food and get them in contact with the shelter down the street. I can do my part. We can all do our part.