St. Vincent de Paul

I went to St. Vincent de Paul’s last Friday to serve dinner those in need. It was a great experience and this was opportunity to gain insight from those working and from those receiving the food (which in many cases were the same people). I had a chance to speak to cooks, volunteers, and some homeless who were receiving the food. One of the men in particular has been in the United States for about 10 years now. Prior to working at St. Vincent de Paul, he found it difficult to obtain a job. He now attends the local community college and works at the same time. He loves being in America but finds that people complain too much. He was born and lived most of his adult life in Africa, where people literally have nothing and still are not complaining because they are alive. He claims that people here have a lot but because they want more they complain and are greedy. It was even evident that when serving food people wanted more than the servings that were given to them. He came to America for a new/better opportunity, which he finds hard to come by.

I thought it was interesting how some of the people who were served food were able to come back as many times as they wanted and others were not. It was good to see the relationships that all of these people have with each other. They knew each other on first name basis and treated each other with much respect. The servers and cooks even knew the people who were vegetarians and let us know beforehand so we could serve that individual accordingly.

Some individuals are at St. Vincent de Paul because of the economy and the effects of losing a job and currently have no job or have taken the job that pays less. Other individuals are at St. Vincent de Paul’s because they have been previously released from jail/prison and need help readjusting to life outside of cell walls and barbed wired. These individuals also come to St. Vincent's to keep themselves clean and away from alcohol and/or drug use.

St. Vincent de Paul is a great place but the downfall is there are so many people and a lot of the time not that much room. People get put on the waiting list for weeks and sometimes months before they even here a response. One gentleman said that he was on the waiting list for 4 weeks after being released from prison. He was able to receive food but couldn't do much helping and couldn't stay in the facility until being cleared. He says he couldn't really complain because he is in, and feels bad for those who aren't as lucky as he is.

Occupy San Diego

I visited Occupy SD and when I first arrived I thought it looked like a place where the homeless were hanging out and I was confused about being at the right place or not. I did see a few people with signs next to them or attached to them, so I realized I was in the right place. When I walked up there were a small number of people scattered around sitting or laying on stairs or standing, eating or smoking. They did not seem like an organized group of protestors, nor did they seem violent or of any danger to anything or anyone. The first man I spoke to was a vet and basically he just kept saying that he was part of the 99% and he talked about how badly the government treated people in the military. It was hard to talk to just one person at a time because it seemed like they all just wanted to be heard once they noticed a new face. Another young man spoke to me for quite a bit of time about all the hardships he had endured as a massage therapist business owner and how by being taxed so much he was run out of business. He talked about always joining any social justice group that exisited in San Diego and how so many other countries care more about their people than the U.S. does. He told me that when Occupy San Diego was originally set up they had 24 hour medical care available, booths with donations, information and awareness and that it was all peaceful. He said that the police in one night tore it all down and caused a huge riot when ripping things down aggressively and maced and elbowed people in the face and arrested people for no reason. He said that the police would also just arrest people for holding signs or take their stuff if they left it out for a second and throw it away and that they would do many other things that I was disgusted to imagine. That was sad to hear that our own police force who should probably be included in this protest, since they are not among the 1% of wealthy Americans in this country that are being criticized for their corruption and greed. I noticed that there were more police officers stationed around the whole area than it seemed demonstrators. I also talked to this young woman who asked if I would sign a petition to help have the charges dropped for those that were arrested for no reason. She told me that they had lawyers working with them to help protect their rights. During my time there a small group of people did a walk down the street to demonstrate and show their signs. I was also told that if I came by on a Sunday I would get to see more activity because some professors would come to talk and present throughout the day and more students would be there as well. Visiting this protest was an eye opener for me because I went there thinking I was going to see a lot of rioting and maybe some violence as I had originally thought that was what protests were all about, but when I went there and saw that everyone was calm and just wanted to talk and seemed harmless I was deeply saddened to hear that the police had to tear them down at any chance they could get. I think that more people should get involved and at least stop by to see what is really going on down there at some point as it affects so many of us more than we may know.