Homeless Simulation

Tuesday night the Door staff organized a homeless simulation in which they gave each person a dollar, and then in teams, we had to find a way to get money or food without saying we were homeless or that we were part of a church group. We had to feed ourselves with whatever money or food we recieved. We stayed in our work groups Team 1 and Team 2, made signs (which you can see below) and after prayer we headed out to our designated area in the city. The point of the excersize was to give us a firsthand experience of what it would be like to be homeless. Needless to say it was very challenging as it was way out of our comfort zone. Some of the things that suprised are group were: being ridiculed or laughed at by people driving by in cars, the utter vunerability you feel, and the generosity of other people living on the street. In fact, overall it was the people living on the street that were more willing to help either with advice on where to go or giving money. At the end of this 30 minute simulation both our groups were able to feed ourselves with two hotdogs, two slices of pizza, a handful of chicken nuggets, 6 tacos and two cheesy nachos from taco bell, a Hamburger helper meal, a danish, peanut butter crackers, a gallon of water, a granola bar, three ready bake pizzas, a loaf of whole wheat bread, and ice cream sandwiches for dessert. After we enjoyed our meal, we actaully had some food left over for some of the DOOR staff to eat as well. Not bad for one nights work. No doubt it was a tough experience but it did open up our eyes to what life is like on the street and in turn made us more empathetic to our neighbors in whom street life is a constant reality.

Enjoying their hard earned dinner...