<< Front page News November 21, 2003

Shelter life panel brings realities to sheltered Obies

Notes from the other side: Donna Woods and Christine Matusik-Plas speak to students about life in the shelter system, as part of OhioPIRG's Hunger and Homelessness week.
 

“You think it doesn’t affect you because you are college students; it does affect you.”

Donna Woods, a former homeless person, explained to OberlinCollege students this Wednesday that homelessness is not a problem of individuals but of the community.

Woods met with College students in Wilder at the Homelessness Panel organized by the Ohio Public Interest Research Group. The focus of the presentation was to illustrate ways in which societal pressures force people into homelessness and how they can find their way out.

Woods has two sisters; both of them are drug addicts. She described the harshness of the street by using the story of a homeless man in a shelter who saw food in a large quantity for the first time in months and grabbed as much as he could, even though he could not eat it all.

The deprivation of material goods and the sudden shock of warm soup in front of him made him greedy, Woods said, although he didn’t have anything for which to be greedy.

“It’s all about your self esteem, how you define yourself,” Woods continued. “My sarcasm has saved me.”

The panel was part of the Ohio PIRG Hunger and Homelessness Week. Lorain County has one of the highest rates of poverty and homelessness in the country, according to the panel. They addressed the possibility that homeless people can find their way out of the abyss of despair, return to society and help others do the same thing.

Christine Matusik-Plas, director of Families In Transitional Housing (FaITH), and Yvonne Aufmuth and Donna L. Woods from Westhaven Youth Shelter were the speakers on the panel. They talked for more than an hour to about 20 Oberlin students who attended the event.

The three women told stories, gave examples and talked about laws.

Christine Matusik-Plas talked about programs for homeless kids and the organization of their education and their future.

“Kids deny that they are homeless,” she said. “We get them together, talk about them being homeless and they say, ‘What? I’m not homeless! I can stay anywhere!’”

The shelter also has programs for families, who can stay in the ‘emergency shelters’ for up to 14 days. Altogether they have 365 beds in their shelter.

Matusik-Plas thinks that the society has the wrong idea about homeless people.

“These are people who have real jobs and lives and things fall apart,” she said, opposing the view that homeless people don’t want to find a job and so they live on the streets.

Some of the children Matusik-Plas is working with are up to two years behind in their education and many suffer from mental illnesses. The people in the shelter are doing their best to provide the kids with a normal life. They have tutors, play games and have organized activities.

“The other day Andre scored nine points in a basketball game and he came to tell me ‘Ms. Christine, I scored nine points!’” Matusik-Plas said. “He is 14 and the most exciting thing in his life is basketball.”

At the beginning the kids are hiding, she said. They are depressed or hostile, but the people from the shelter help them to open up. “If you don’t hold them responsible for their actions, nobody will,” Matusik-Plas continues.

When the shelter starts taking care of them, they may not be homeless; their mothers may leave them there during the day and pick them up after work.
“Every single mother who has ever been in our program has been sexually abused as a child,” said Matusik-Plas.

The “system kids,” as they call them, need normal lives more than anything else. Very often their foster families don’t care for them and kick them out as soon as they turn 18, with no social skills at all.

According to federal law the kids have the right to attend public schools, but that doesn’t usually happen. There are many other discrepancies between the intentions of the law and reality.

For example, a drug addict will get a home faster than someone with no job. Separated family members living in different places require a note from a shelter to get a home. Therefore, they have to leave the house of the family member, go to a shelter and live away from one another just to get help.

Other children simply choose to help themselves. The women from Westhaven Youth Center told those present about a 12-year-old boy who sold drugs in order to raise money for his family. When they asked him if his family knew about it and what they thought of it, he said, “Well, my grandma doesn’t like it, but she likes the money that I bring home.”

About 98-99 percent of the homeless kids use drugs or alcohol, Matusik-Plas said.

When asked what the cause is, Christine Matusik-Plas at first answered jokingly, “George Bush!”

“It’s a system problem,” she added after that.

She pointed out many cases in which homeless people are segregated from society. One of the most shocking cases was that homeless people from the shelter were denied the right to vote, even after filling out official registration documents.

The message of the event was more than clear: everyone is responsible for proactive policy towards the problem.

Donna Woods had one more message for all those present at the event.

“Every time you meet a homeless person on the street, nod your head and say ‘Hello, how are you doing?’”

   

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