Did you know we pick up trash downtown 3 days a week, as a service to our community?
“Why would you do that?” Thanks for asking! We do it because it’s a little bit harder to hate someone when they are serving you and making your day better.
Two years ago at HRC we were getting nearly daily hate mail, in the form of phone calls, emails, and physical letters, both to us and to public officials, about how horrible we were as an organization that would enable “those people” to be close to downtown.
So instead of getting frustrated with that sentiment, we chose to do two intentional things: serve and inform.
Serve. Fifty percent trash pickup, fifty percent being really nice to people. We started paying people who come to HRC for services to pick up trash downtown and in front of our neighbors’ houses, and to be super nice while doing it. That became our Job Empowerment Program.
Inform. We closed our front porch and used our building’s cameras to help the people who use our services understand the impact their actions have on the safety and well-being of the neighbors who live and walk near our building. Yelling, catcalling, and other aggressive behavior affect everyone.
Through these simple but effective steps, we have invested over 2,000 hours of work serving our community in the past year. People have gained work experience that has led to more permanent employment. There have been fewer police calls. Our streets and sidewalks are cleaner. And the hate letters have stopped coming.
We can be the best homeless services agency in the world, but if our neighbors hate us, we have failed. That’s why this program matters so much to us.
Has homelessness ended in our community? Not yet. But the humanity of homelessness is better than it was a year ago, and that’s a win.
I deeply believe that we are better together. We are better when we see the world through each other’s eyes. We are better when we make space to understand how our behavior affects our neighbors. We are better when we aim to serve our community rather than get angry.
Thank you for allowing us to learn and to serve. I know it can be hard to find a positive perspective when you have had negative interactions, but all we can do is consistently serve through kindness until dignity abounds everywhere.
Love from Brett Hartford, Executive Director