Blog Posts

by Anita Pullani (UGA MSW Intern)

“Walking a mile in someone else’s shoes isn’t as much about the walk or the shoes; it’s to be able to think like they think, feel what they feel, and understand why they are who and where they are.   Every step is about empathy.” – Toni Sorenson 

During the past six months of my internship, I have been fortunate to be able to listen to our guests’ diverse stories. They have taught me important lessons on faith, perseverance, and gratitude. Empathy is critical for social workers, but can it be learned in the classroom? My professors have continually stressed the importance of examining our beliefs, identities, biases, and experiences and how they may influence and color our interactions with others. Without this self-assessment, how can you begin to understand the experiences of another person?

Before this internship, I did not fully comprehend why chronic homelessness continues to plague Atlanta’s streets. Our discriminatory social services system cannot be the only cause of this situation. As a society, we can only thrive if everyone can receive a living wage, affordable housing, food security, and access to quality healthcare and mental/behavioral health services. Our guests are not ultimately looking for handouts; they need the tools and resources to get back their life. One of the central tenets of Central Outreach and Advocacy Center is “empowering our guests to take the next step toward self-sufficiency.” I will never understand their struggles until I walk in their shoes. At the same time, I hope to take a few encouraging steps beside them on this journey.

by Kimberly Parker

(In full transparency, I wrote this blog for Central Presbyterian Church to use in an Advent booklet they published. December is one of the months I write a blog for Central Outreach and Advocacy Center. I really felt this was the blog I wanted to share with our readers so I decided I could adapt it a bit.) 

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:7 KJV

Can you imagine showing up at an inn (hotel, motel, cabin, friend’s house, etc.) and being told “there is no room for you here?” Or maybe that has happened to you. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that, but others may have, due to some unforeseen circumstance.

I can’t imagine what Mary and Joseph experienced or felt when they were told there was no room in the inn.

I feel like some of the guests we see at Central Outreach and Advocacy Center are often told there is no room for them. It may be when they walk to a shelter and hear the words, “We are full.” It may be when they try a different shelter and are told, “We cannot give you a place to sleep until you have a state ID.” 

I get the feeling that it isn’t just at shelters that our guests sometimes feel like they are being told, “There is no room for you here.” Sometimes that feeling can be associated with the way in which someone is treated. Our guests are often ignored, walked around, and shunned. People are sometimes scared of them. Some don’t know what to say to someone who is dirty and smelly or someone who appears to be talking to someone who is not standing right there with them.

I know for sure that our guests are often treated poorly when they go into places seeking services. They share that with us. I can imagine that during these times, they feel as if there is no room for them.

At the OAC, our values are, “We believe in meeting people where they are with patience and humility, and treating each person with respect and dignity.” Our team does our very best to make sure we do this with each person we encounter. It’s not always easy. Our guests sometimes come to our doors, hungry, dirty, angry, tired, and totally beat down. As we attempt to meet them where they are with patience and humility, and treat them with the respect and dignity that everyone deserves, I hope we are saying to them, “There is room at our inn for you.”

I wonder during this holiday season and into the New Year if we could make sure we say to another person in some form or fashion that there is room at our inn for you? I wonder if we are able to do that, what that invitation may feel like to us? Who knows? In doing so, it might transform our own lives!

Madison Ricci (Georgia State University Intern)  

I began working at Central Outreach and Advocacy Center in late August and will continue serving as a social work intern until May. I am a senior at Georgia State University. I am appreciative to have the opportunity to earn my hours at an agency like Central Outreach and Advocacy Center, which serves to help those experiencing homelessness.

Upon receiving my placement, I was excited to work with the organization’s incredible team and work in the heart of downtown Atlanta. Atlanta is an ever-growing Metropolitan city, where many individuals need assistance. So, I was eager to get acquainted with Central Outreach and see how I could help them with their mission of preventing and ending homelessness – especially seeing how stigmatized those facing housing insecurity are.

My traditional idea of helping those experiencing homelessness was assisting with housing or food. Yet, since working at Central Outreach and Advocacy Center, I have learned how important it is for guests to receive documents such as ID, social security cards, birth certificates, and so much more. Without identification information, trying to apply for things such as housing or work is almost impossible. It brightens my day, knowing that I can help guests get the documents they need and help them in a way that can change their life for the better.

by Sam Phillips (Chaplain Intern)

“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation” 2 Corinthians 5:17-18

It is a privileged phrase, isn’t it? Sometimes in life, we get complacent, bored, or need a change. So, we can say to ourselves, “It’s time to turn over a new leaf.” Sometimes we do not get that gentle nudge into something new. Sometimes it comes as quick as a blinding light.

During my first month at the Central Outreach and Advocacy Center (COAC), I often met guests as they are turning over a new leaf. More often than not, this is not by choice. Life is full of surprises, but for people experiencing homelessness, it also comes with many hardships, uncertainty, and unwanted change.

How I ended up at the COAC also comes from an unexpected life shift. After finishing my degree at Columbia Theological Seminary, I was all set to begin with my dream job in camp and conference ministry. Due to unfortunate circumstances and realizing I was not in the right place, mentally and spiritually, I had to leave. So, now I was a recent graduate with little direction, and I felt like I had made an enormous step backward in my career, and now I was trying to get off the ground.

It was not until I gained some connections from old and new friends that I got connected to Central Presbyterian Church. There was a part-time job open for family ministries. Plus, I was considering what I had to do to complete the last step in my ordination, which was to complete a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). And it just so happens that there is an accredited CPE site in the basement of Central Presbyterian called the Center Outreach and Advocacy Center. Once I learned of this and began to meet the wonderful people participating in these wonderful ministries, I realized that I had not moved backward but was turning over a new leaf.

Sometimes life is the one to turn over the leaf, good or bad. And although I believe that God is big enough to hear complaints and laments, we must remember that God is not the cause of our misfortune but the presence that holds and endures our suffering. Perhaps gently nudging us into new places and spaces.

When we feel the discomfort and change that comes with something new, something lost, a piece of us yearning, it is hard. But in Christ, there is new Creation. In Christ, we are created new every day. Because every time that we turn over a new leaf, on our own will, or by life’s misfortune, or by God’s guiding hand, we are reconciling our old life to our new one.

I am blessed to be part of this ministry, where I get to be with people and hear their stories daily. Everyone who enters these doors has a story that will touch your heart. And as the chaplain, whether I am helping folks with new documents or simply listening to their stories, I see God at work making us new and reconciling our old selves to where we want to be, myself included. Ultimately, I’m not the one turning over the leaf as our guests embark on their next part of life, but I get to be a witness to and celebrate it with others.

Hallelujah and amen.