When people ask why I work for a nonprofit organization my answer is easy. As a development director, I love that the success I have in my job directly impacts the community I am a part of.
Last month, I volunteered as a direct service administrator helping to collect data for Rhode Island’s annual Point in Time (PIT) count through interviews with unsheltered Rhode Islanders. Volunteering for the PIT count was personally an important opportunity for me to continue to see the reality we are facing as a state with low housing inventory, increasing rental prices, and not enough shelter beds.
The PIT count involved volunteers collecting survey results over the course of a week, asking unsheltered Rhode Islanders where they slept on the night of January 24th. The count provides critical data that affects decisions regarding federal and state funding, advocacy routes, and resource management. The data is used over the course of the year to better address the needs of people who are unsheltered, but my experience gave me insight that will last long beyond 365 days.
My team of three began by heading out on foot to areas that have been known as common tent sites in Kent County. We carried with us a bag packed full of small snacks, hand and feet warmers, harm reduction kits, and gift cards with small amounts to hand to those who completed the survey with us.
It was not too long until we came across an occupied tent set up in an abandoned tunnel. As we approached, the smell of rotting trash and refuse greeted us first. Living in the tent were an older, disabled couple whose home was destroyed in a fire and they had nowhere else to go. At the mercy of the waiting lists to get a voucher and then find an apartment that would accept it and be suitable for them, they set up a home here. They gladly complied with the survey and the team was able to supply them with some necessities.
As we continued, we heard the same story over and over – an unforeseen circumstance coupled with underlying, untreated physical or mental conditions landed these Rhode Islanders in their situation. They wanted help. Some didn’t know where to start or how to navigate the system. Others were receiving benefits but have been priced out of the area and possibly the state.
As hard as it was to witness the reality of the people we spoke with, it only refueled my passion to make long-term, lasting changes at a systemic level as well as address the current needs Thrive Behavioral Health’s outreach team sees on a daily basis.