After volunteering for nearly two months at a local shelter in the Coachella Valley, I came to understand profoundly the critical issues of homelessness, and the structural system that creates poverty to be prevalent in our communities.  When I first arrived in the site, I came with partial knowledge of homelessness that was taught in class in terms of social support systems, history, and public policies.  The materials covered in class were evidence of a hidden issue that remain alive for decades, and continues to grow.  However, the facts were just an example of the unknown existence behind the lives of the people struggling to overcome poverty.

Having the opportunity granted by the agency to study in depth the foundations of homelessness, it change my way of perceiving people dealing with problems of addiction, domestic abuse, and financial reasons.  In the end I came to conclude that people like them are just the same ways as me trying to become better persons in life with goals for a better society.  In this journey I discovered my passions, aspirations, and capabilities, when I learned to overcome challenges that were difficult for me to handle.  I was push into the world of humanity to learn from my own mistakes, and learned to develop new techniques to face my fears of failure.  I came to the shelter asking myself who am I? And where do I want to belong?  After experiencing and witnessing the social inequalities towards the homeless people on the street, I realize that that’s the place where I want to belong, and I want to be to provide assistance in support, guidance, and inspirations.

Being part of the organization I learned by memory the services that the shelter provides, and I build relationships with people, in reality they gave me the sense of returning back to their community.  I was challenged by the residents to accept me in their social groups, and these innocent people open the doors that were once close to me, due to the insecurities of disrespect, and loyalty outsiders provided them. With the patience, and motivations of others volunteers I was accepted by the homeless people.  Sharing my background as a child into adulthood, I was surprised about the homeless people automatically opening up to me sharing their stories, concerns, and goals.

One volunteer in the homeless shelter always inspire me to do more than what I usually do inside the facility.  He taught me thoughly the difficult backgrounds that is inevitable to be ignored from the public to help the people in need.  I personally think that volunteers take an important role to go out of their way taking the extra mile to educate people, and to plan a proposal that can help them maintain, and achieve their goals.  In order to break the cycle of homelessness in the Coachella Valley, someone needs to take the lead to bring public awareness to the communities of the hardships of homelessness, and poverty.  I feel that many shelters have the resources, but do not strive to educate the general public about the importance of getting involved in their community.  As well as the staff not sharing the necessary time to engaged with people to meet their needs.  I am gladly to say that I am happy to be part of this organization to help implement changes that can encourage, fair treatment, and opportunities.