West Side Homeless Outreach, Inc.

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Tough Talk 3

WSHO President Loren Franck Tackles Yet Another Seven Questions Surrounding Homelessness

Interview Conducted by Rosemary Campos

Now entering its fourth year, the economic downturn continues to devastate homeless people worldwide. Men, women and children struggling to survive on the streets of west Los Angeles County have been battered especially hard.

On one hand, L.A.’s West Side is known for its affluence. Some of the world’s leading physicians, attorneys, business executives and celebrities live there. On the other hand, homelessness abounds throughout west Los Angeles County. The gap between rich and poor appears to be widening. This makes survival efforts of West Side homeless people more difficult. West Side Homeless Outreach has observed a positive correlation between poverty and homelessness, between excessive pride in possessions and neglecting to help people who need it most. So regrettably, west L.A. County homelessness won’t end soon.

In this third installment of Tough Talk, Loren Franck answers yet another seven sizzling questions about homelessness. President and executive director of West Side Homeless Outreach, Loren leads frequent homeless outreach efforts throughout L.A.’s West Side, so he’s up close and personal with people who are struggling to survive on the streets. He’s seen the pain that living without a home can bring—and the joy that comes when society’s castaways improve their lives.

Rosemary Campos: Besides permanent homes and livable incomes, what do the homeless people you serve need most?

Loren Franck: We’re seeing an increasing almost desperate need for satisfying and nutritious food. People on L.A.’s West Side have been generously donating clothing to West Side Homeless Outreach. And we continuously need socks, large and extra-large T-shirts and sweatshirts, men’s shoes size 10 and above, and pants, especially sweats. But despite the availability of General Relief, EBT, and the relentless efforts of West Side Homeless Outreach, churches and food banks, many homeless people in west L.A. County have been exceptionally hungry recently. During the past three months, for example, we’ve taken meals and miscellaneous food items to homeless people on the West Side, and they tear into it immediately. Various meal and food programs, including West Side Homeless Outreach, serve homeless people on the West Side, but clearly, our collective efforts have a long way to go.

As West Side Homeless Outreach president, what’s your most memorable experience?

My most memorable experience helping homeless people occurred last March [2010]. One of our friends, chronically homeless in Venice [Calif.], died. His name was Robert. The staff and volunteers at West Side Homeless Outreach knew Robert for about two years before his death. When dying of a fatal disease, he spent his final days semiconscious in an L.A.-area hospital. Besides hospital staff, we were his only visitors. As he grew increasingly moribund, Robert was horribly gaunt. He had no money or other assets, but we loved him dearly. In a special sense, he was family to my wife Verlette and me. We were with him until an hour before he passed. Throughout the previous 24 months, we fed and clothed him, provided cool drinks on hot days, brought him tasty treats, and shared laughs. Robert was a good man. Homeless, yes, but a good man. Try as I may, I could never forget him.

What’s your most heartbreaking experience while helping homeless people?

That’s a tough one. As anyone who’s worked with homeless people knows, all your efforts are heartbreaking to some degree. For sure, my experience with Robert was as heartbreaking as it was memorable. But beyond my experience with Robert, there’s a wide range of homelessness throughout west L.A. County—everything from families living in RVs to people in their 70s sleeping without cover on cold, hard pavement. It’s all painful for me to watch because the homeless men, women and children we assist are precious people. They weren’t always homeless. They were neighbors, coworkers, classmates, friends and family. For example, two homeless people we’ve assisted grew up near me in Westchester (Los Angeles). I didn’t know them then, but back in the day, we attended the same schools, shopped at the same stores and knew many of the same people. The three of us lived only a few blocks from each other. Who knew we’d meet 40-plus years later under drastically different circumstances?

With that said, Rosie, the most heartbreaking aspect of my job are the requests we receive from homeless people who’ve hit bottom. They need to change directions but don’t know how and don’t have the resources. People telephone me, weeping, “I have no food, no money, no place to stay. Nobody will help me. Nobody will listen. I don’t know what to do.” Their anguish is sobering. It oozes through the phone. So we begin from the ground up, from where they are. We start by addressing their immediate needs and work toward long-term objectives. For example, we take food and clothing to these men and women, buy a bit of gasoline for their cars or offer a short-term motel voucher. Afterward, we help them receive GR (General Relief), food stamps (EBT) and other assistance, such as Social Security, Section 8 or Medi-Cal benefits. It’s heartbreaking for me, but it’s also indescribably rewarding.

West Side Homeless Outreach has been increasing its early-morning outreach efforts throughout west L.A. County. Here’s a two-parter: First, why do you deliver food, clothing, hygiene supplies and other items to the homeless at five o’clock in the morning? And second, why do you believe this strategy is effective? Why not conduct outreaches at a more reasonable hour?

Let’s take your questions in order—first, why we deliver food, clothing, personal-hygiene items, resource lists and other supplies before sunrise. In short, outreach efforts at that hour enable us to contact many homeless people we’d otherwise miss.

Between 4:30 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., various homeless men and women are beginning their day. Others are still asleep but will awaken soon. We take clearly marked boxes of items and place them in strategic locations; for example, in street camps where groups of homeless men and women spend the night. During that early hour, we also deliver items to lone homeless people. For instance, single individuals will be asleep in business doorways, on bus benches, in parking lots, beneath bushes and trees, in alleys and on open sidewalks. These “sole survivors” need our help too.

Regarding your second question, early-morning outreaches are remarkably effective because our efforts are fast and centralized. We help multiple homeless people quickly. During one stop, for example, we might encounter a group of 20 homeless men and women who haven’t yet scattered for the day. Within minutes, all of them can receive food, clothing, toothpaste and toothbrushes, blankets and sleeping bags, bottled water, nail clippers, you name it. These men and women, fatigued because of poor nutrition and lack of sound sleep, don’t need to walk miles to a West Side Homeless Outreach facility for help. Instead, we take help to them.

Why we don’t conduct outreaches at a “more reasonable hour”? We do. During daylight and early evenings, West Side Homeless Outreach also takes much-needed supplies to the homeless. Those efforts are usually face-to-face and one-on-one, however, so this is how our volunteers participate most frequently.

West Side Homeless Outreach recently launched a referral service homeless people (or those concerned about them) may use to find shelters, food and many other valuable resources. Why did you start this referral service, how does it work, and how effective has it been?

West Side Homeless Outreach’s referral service came about inadvertently. One afternoon, while visiting a chronically homeless man in West Los Angeles, I asked which organizations assisted him. His answer amazed me. The disheveled man described all the friends, former employers, family members and others who had helped him throughout his many years on the streets. Then he recited a laundry list of shelters, missions, churches, community centers and agencies of the federal, state and local government. He even mentioned our organization. All these individuals and agencies played a part, and yet, this good-hearted man remained homeless. And that’s when it hit me: Helping the homeless requires a multifaceted approach from numerous sources.

So I approached our board of directors with the idea of telephone and online referral service, and the board members loved it. I then generated a resources list for west L.A. County homeless people and those who care about them. I began to list names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail information and Web-site links of various government and private agencies throughout the county that assist homeless people. Then I put the list on our Web site. It’s a work in progress. I also placed West Side Homeless Outreach on additional Web directories, so when someone needs a fast and effective homeless-helping agency on L.A.’s West Side, our name emerges. Interest in our referral service soon blossomed to more than 100 calls and e-mails per month, mostly from homeless people needing immediate help. After offering our direct assistance, we refer these contacts to agencies that we believe will provide the best assistance. For example, if a caller needs emergency shelter, we might refer her to New Image Emergency Shelter. If a chronically homeless man needs a shower and daily hot meals, we would probably act as liaison with the St. Joseph Center in Venice, which could provide those needs. We have no problem referring homeless people to other agencies. Our efforts are to help the homeless, not pretend we’re the only assistance available.

What are the three most important pieces of advice you’d offer someone who wants to help homeless people?

First, whatever you do, however extensively you volunteer and donate food, clothes, personal-hygiene items and financial support, you won’t end homelessness. I’m not being pessimistic, just real. Within the United States, homelessness is primarily a systemic problem. Granted, it has multiple causes and a host of exacerbating influences. But our fiercely competitive society and resulting economic system, while offering abundance to many people, also engenders homelessness. Sad to say, when an economic system’s jobs, housing, educational opportunities, social power, socioeconomic status and other basics are limited, you’ll have homelessness. It’s built in. And despite the valiant efforts and billions of dollars invested by individuals as well as private and public agencies, there isn’t a Band-Aid big enough to cover the gaping, cancerous wound of American homelessness.

Second, I advise anyone helping homeless people to be painstakingly resourceful. Sometimes people believe they’re helping the homeless, but they aren’t, or worse, are being counterproductive. For example, West Side Homeless Outreach receives hundreds of clothing donations annually. Homeless people wear out their clothes quickly, so we need these donations continually. But unfortunately, many well-meaning donors give us clothes that homeless people can’t wear. These items include business attire, leather boots, high-heeled and open-toed shoes, lightweight pants and tops, and sizes that are too small. Most homeless people we assist are adult men who wear at least a large-size T-shirt, have more than a 34-inch waist, and wear size 10 shoes or larger. Sometimes people donate soiled and threadbare clothing. We can’t use these items.

Finally, all who want to help homeless people should envision the forest, not the trees. So whatever assistance you provide, look to the next level. For instance, as West Side Homeless Outreach provides food, clothing, blankets and sleeping bags, personal-hygiene items and other essentials to people living on west L.A. County streets, our goal is to take each individual up the next rung of the ladder. For every man, woman and child we serve, we look forward and upward by helping meet their temporary housing, healthcare and transportation needs. We assist these individuals with General Relief (GR), food stamps (EBT), Medicare and Medi-Cal, and Social Security benefits. With every homeless person we serve, we strive to meet his or her needs at the next level until that man or woman is self-sufficient and permanently housed.

In a recent volunteer-training session, you described the cycle of homelessness many people living on the streets experience. What is that cycle, and how is West Side Homeless Outreach addressing it?

For many, homelessness isn’t a singular event such as a bat mitzvah or high-school graduation. It’s cyclical. Surprising numbers of people repeatedly slip in and out of homelessness. Oftentimes, what initially caused their homelessness—lack of education, unemployment (or underemployment), psychiatric disorders, or alcohol and substance abuse—shove them back onto the streets throughout their much of their lives. West Side Homeless Outreach labors to interrupt this cycle. But you must start at the bottom and work up. That’s why we begin by providing unsheltered homeless people with life essentials. We journey forward from there. That’s our essential strategy at West Side Homeless Outreach.

Describe West Side Homeless Outreach in the setting of a perfect world.

Rosie, homelessness wouldn’t exist in a perfect world. Short of that, however, I dream of West Side Homeless Outreach becoming the ideal homeless-services agency. No organization has all the answers or the complete cache of resources. But in a perfect world, I envision our organization making every resource accessible to all homeless people on L.A.’s West Side. Those resources would include shelter, housing assistance, job training and placement, complete medical and dental services (including psychiatric and vision care), nutritional and personal-hygiene needs, and every other service all homeless people need. Of course, our long-term goal for the homeless is self-sufficiency. In a perfect world, manpower wouldn’t be an issue when meeting homeless people’s needs. Funding wouldn’t be an issue. Public education about homelessness wouldn’t be an issue. Advocacy for homeless people wouldn’t be an issue. The only “issues” involved would be the unending extension of a hand up to homeless people so they can stand on their own, remain self-sufficient and lead productive satisfying lives. Come to think of it, that would be a perfect world.

Rosemary Campos is a former executive director of West Side Homeless Outreach. She may be contacted c/o West Side Homeless Outreach, PO Box 5761, Playa del Rey, CA 90296-5761.

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The current recession has hit the homeless—and America’s charities —hard. So your financial support is West Side Homeless Outreach’s greatest need.

We use your donated dollars to buy food, clothing and other vital pro-visions, which we deliver to people living on the streets. Your financial support of West Side Homeless Outreach is completely tax deductible.

Please click on donate; or mail checks and money orders to West Side Home-less Outreach, Inc., PO Box 5761, Playa del Rey, CA 90296-5761.

Thank you for your support.

THREE THOUGHTS

If you want to help the homeless, we urge you to:

1. Make www.wshola.org your home page.

2. Tell at least three friends or coworkers about WSHO.

3. Set aside a mere $5 a week and donate it to WSHO.

YOUR COMMENTS?

If something’s on your mind regarding homelessness, contact us today.

DID YOU KNOW?

Little things can make big differences to homeless people. For example, a smile and greeting can make a homeless person’s day. Likewise, a simple, bal-anced meal can seem like a feast to someone living on the streets.

HOW TO HELP

Loren Franck, president and executive director of West Side Homeless Outreach.

Verlette Franck, vice president of West Side Homeless Outreach, listens intently as she offers food to a homeless man in Santa Monica. Based in Playa del Rey (Calif.), the outreach assists homeless people throughout West Los Angeles County in many ways.