Contributions comes in many forms...

I begin my work days as an employee of Samaritan House at 7:30a.m. and am always the first to arrive at our Café 458 location. As I turn the corner off Boulevard into the alley to park, I am always greeted by at least 2 to 5 clients saying "I thought that was your car passing by". Upon asking why they are here so early, the response from those residing at shelters explained that they have to vacate the premises between 6:00am and 6:30am and have no where else to go. Those sleeping on the street say that they have been outside all night and just want to come inside.

I am the Administrative Manager, not part of the agency program staff that directly services our clients; however I understand that they depend upon me just as much as they depend upon their counselors in my being here to give them access to Samaritan House, a place where they know they can come in to get out of the elements, make a cup of coffee and receive assistance in the transformation process of their lives towards stabilization.

Contribution in any form and in any amount is still contribution – of which I am glad to give because I am blessed to be a blessing!

Why I came here...

I joined the Samaritan House team last October when I came on board as Business Development Manager for Clean Street Team. In this role, I am responsible for securing contracts for Clean Street Team, a transitional employment and training program for individuals in our employment readiness program. Team members work collecting litter, clearing drains and performing general grounds maintenance services for municipalities, private companies and non-profits.
Before accepting this position, I worked as an account executive in the advertising industry where I earned a high salary and enjoyed a beautiful office space near my home. It was a great job but I couldn’t help but be bothered by the fact that the work I was doing was counterproductive to the change I’d like to see in the world. I am, after all, disheartened by consumerism and hyper-commercialism. With so much strife and suffering in the world, I felt it was my duty, as a citizen of this planet, to expend my time and energy on something more positive; so I was very happy to find this job and join the non-profit sector.


One of the many differences I’ve noticed between working in the business world and the non-profit sector is the attitude of my co-workers. I’m constantly impressed by their compassion and dedication to our mission of helping to transform lives and make the world a better place, rather than being dedicated to the accumulation of personal wealth and material goods. It is refreshing and inspirational to me to work alongside individuals who understand that our prime purpose in life is to help others.


I’m also inspired by our guests. As a Buddhist practitioner, I believe our guests can serve as spiritual teachers. Despite the fact that they are facing great obstacles in life, they are working to get back on their feet and improve themselves. I, on the other hand, have never experienced many of the challenges they might be facing: addiction, broken families, abuse etc. They help me keep my own challenges in perspective and provide me with an opportunity to practice compassion. Only through compassion can true inner peace and happiness be obtained.

Turn your frown into a smile...

I’ve had a pretty rough couple of weeks this month and I haven’t been in the best possible mood. I normally try to suck it up and not show how I’m feeling on the outside but being pregnant in the summer, in Atlanta, is no joke. When I walked through the front door this morning, limping from some sort of pregnancy related symptom, one of many, a client looked at me and told me to smile and that whatever it was it couldn’t be that bad. I turned around and smile at him and told him he was absolutely right. He kind of put me in my place, in a polite way. As much as our clients have to deal with here at Samaritan House, like addiction, disability and homelessness, if he can be here smiling then I should be grinning from ear to ear. I guess it made me realize that regardless of the situation he was in he was just happy to be here and that inspired me to limp around the office for the rest of the day smiling because my current pain will make way for my greatest joy and if that’s not worth smiling about, I don’t know what is.


Have a great day!

Natalie

Vernon Potts-The EDGE-Employment Counselor

Man Lost in Atlanta Finds His Way Home

names withheld for privacy

Mr. M is no stranger to the streets of Atlanta, for he has spent 10 years lost within the system in which he sought help. M came to our organization for the second time on April 16, 2008. After meeting with M I realized that there seemed to be some great deal of difficulty with him as he would often shift in conversations or stare endlessly into space. In one meeting when I was asking him about food stamps he told me that he had taken a trip to the local Atlanta DFACS office where he was spooked due to X-men being on the roof.

At times M seemed to be almost normal as if he had waken up for the first time and in those times our conversations pertained to him getting a job and becoming successful. Although I soon learned that M had greater issues to overcome within himself as he never made his appointments or attended our workshops. After speaking with Bobbie Slocumb over at the Café 458, I decided to send him to her in hopes that he would get his mental health in order and get the help that he needed. But that never happened for M because he never made his appointments.

However M did come in the other day and this day was different. Dr. Green and I were speaking of how we should handle M and how we felt that our services were not for M as he had not attended his workshops nor was he moving forward within our program. Dr. Green asked me to bring M into her office, so I did. After a brief meeting with M, Dr. Green realized that there were some problems and he needed help. As Dr. Green always does, she started thinking with her heart and asked M where his family was and if he had spoken with them. Something finally happened that started a chain of events that would lead M home, he gave us a name.

The name was that of L his uncle that lived in Alabama. After getting the name I began to search the internet for a L in Alabama and I found him. So I quickly returned to Dr. Green’s office where we made a call to the family. Dr. Green then spoke with M’s aunt and soon learned that they had been searching for him for 10 whole years, calling shelter after shelter in Alabama to no avail. Then M was able to speak with his family for the first time in 10 years, can you imagine the loss that not only he has felt but that of his family as well.

While speaking with his Aunt I gave them my office number and cell phone number in order for M’s brother to contact me. That evening he did, and he was so excited to learn that his brother was alive and wanted nothing more than to bring him home so they could take care of him. M’s brother explained to me that M did suffer from mental illness and needed to be back on his medication.

The trip was planned for Saturday the 17^th; this was the day M’s brother was to come to get his M. But where was M and would he be present when his brother arrived? I knew due to M’s condition and how he often missed appointments he may not show up or be hard to find. At our last meeting on the day he spoke with his family I told him to be sure to come back on Wednesday and Friday. To my surprise I did see M on Wednesday and I told him that his brother was coming to get him on Saturday. He stared at me with a blank gaze and I wondered if he really understood what I was saying. He told me he would come, although I could not say for certain that he would.

In life I feel that things outside of our human existence are often at play for the good of humankind. As the week was passing and I had not seen M, I became more discouraged as I began to call shelters and no one knew of him. Then out of the blue the phone call came form a Ms. Thompson at the Gateway Center. Ms. Thompson had contacted Dr. Green and asked that I call her, for she had decided to take M into there shelter. After speaking with Ms. Thompson, a case manager for Gateway, she agreed to bring M over on Saturday to reunite with his brother. But she didn’t have to, for M found his own way. Deep within his mind I am sure that he knew one thing, which he was finally going home.

A good ending to a man lost in Atlanta gives me hope as he has been reunited with his family. When M’s brother arrived he was in tears, some of sadness, but most of joy as he was happy to find his brother. In his own way, M lessoned the sadness of his brother with a quick word of humor, “you got fat” as he had not seen him in several years. Now many gaps have to be filled and a lot has changed since M has been missing. His grandmother that raised him is now deceased and his mother is in the hospital not doing well, as she too suffers from mental illness.

There are many lessons to be learned. Can we get so busy in life that we often forget what really matters? People are people regardless of the labels placed on them by society. When we place labels on people we often take away the human side of things and pass our own judgment of those that are different from ourselves. Different doesn’t mean bad, it’s just different, that’s all. I asked myself how an individual needing mental health assistance could bounce form shelter to shelter for ten years and not get the help that they needed. But I then realize the cold hard facts. We are in a business that is bombarded daily with paper work and heavy case loads that individuals can’t possibly get the full care that they need. Sadly, people can often fall through the cracks and their voices go unheard.

I spoke with M’s brother on Sunday and they where having a grill out for M with all the family present. M will be going into treatment for his mental illness on Monday and will be working soon with his uncle. I asked Christoph to print out a certificate of graduation from our program for M. M in many ways has graduated, as he has left the life of homelessness to join a loving family in which he can now get the help that he so desperately needs. Thanks to the Samaritan House M has now taken the steps to move forward within his own life and those are the steps worth taking.

Charcella Green-Director of Programs

About three months ago, I was sitting in my office at 5:00pm. It was very quiet and I thought that it was a perfect time to do some paper work, return e-mails and think about my plans for tomorrow. The phone rang. It was a young man crying at the other end of the phone. Through his sobs, he said he was at the Five Points MARTA Station when somebody told him to call me.

He said he had lost everything. He had lost his car, his home, his job and even his family. He was at the end of his rope and was really ready to give up. He said that he had never known his blood family. He grew up in foster care. Between his sobs, he asked if there was anything that I could do for somebody in his situation. He said all of his losses were due to using drugs. All he had in the world was his cell phone. He said he was tired and just wanted something different out of life.

After talking to him for a few minutes, I asked him where was he staying and where was he going? He said he was going to a nearby shelter. I asked him if he thought he could wait until tomorrow and come to my office. He said he could. He gave me his cell phone number and said he would come to my office the very next day at 12:00pm.

When I got off the phone with him, I called two of our collaborative partners to see if one of them could meet him at 12:00pm at Samaritan House. One of them was from an organization that specializes in drug treatment counseling called Westcare. Dr. Jordan from Westcare came to my office at 12:00pm. To my surprise the young man came. They found a quiet place in the office to talk. After about an hour, Dr. Jordan took this young many to a detox center in metro Atlanta. On the way out, the young man came by my office and asked me if he could call me from time to time because he had no family. I told him that it would be okay. As a matter of fact, I would be delighted if he called to let me know how he was doing. He actually called me every week for the month and a half he was in detox. I did not speak to him every week but sometimes I would have a message from him. He just wanted to let me know how he was doing. About two weeks before his time was up, he left me a message asking if he could get in the program at Samaritan House. I called him back and explained the requirements. He called me back and said he could meet the requirements and would like to start the very next week.

This is the first time I have told his story. I see him in the building with hope and anticipation about the future. This is very different from my first encounter with him. He has been here a couple of weeks and I believe he will soon have a job.

I could tell this story hundreds of times over. So often people call or come to our office who are on the verge of giving up; they absolutely have nowhere else to turn. Everyday I get to see lives change for the better. I get to see people, who have given up, regain an excitement about the future and about life. So many people today talk about “doom and gloom” but when you have the opportunity to see people at their worst and realize that even they can get up and get started again, I believe there is hope for the future. No matter where we are in life, we can all become productive and contribute to society. At Samaritan House, this happens every single day!!!!

Anthony Wynn-The EDGE-Employment Programs Manager

I am sitting at my desk just thinking about the path at which my morning has taken.

Getting guest prepared for employment, receiving job search forms and employment verification

that someone has secured a job is a GREAT WAY to start my morning!

Shakia Burnette-Cafe 458

Man what a day, It has taken this fencing company 3 days to finish the work that should really only take a day. Sometimes I wonder if companies take us for granted because we are a non-profit. Most figure that we are getting huge discounts on everything, but that is not altogether true!

We have to raise tons of money to pay for everything that other companies pay for, but we have to raise even more. We not only have staff, but also guests that have a certain expectation of us, I mean we are The Samaritan House of Atlanta! We work with each guest to map out a personal plan of accountability, while providing the support services needed to help each person achieve their goals. So why shouldn’t they hold us accountable?