My Nonprofit Reviews

Project Homeless Connect seems like a good idea, but, when you get there, it is just line of people, who appear to be waiting forever. It seemed like the clients were just waiting. I went to look around and there was a three-page list of people who wanted to get their hair cut at 11:30am. The lady in charge of that area said to a man: “I’ll take your name, but we probably won’t get to you.” The DMV line was even longer than actually going to the DMV. The main services that most people wanted, like eye check ups and dentist visits, ran out of appointments fast; most people did not even get chance to see the dentist. The area for foot care was overwhelmed with people, appearing to be a highly needed service to them. Also, I feel like giving food to the volunteers is unnecessary; they should use that food to give it to the needy. Beforehand, I was uncomfortable around homeless people. However, with this experience, I actually talked to some of the clientele, who were very nice and shook my hand. When I got my volunteer sandwich, I was trying to find one of these nice people to give them to, but it was impossible with all the people in the auditorium. I feel that providing these services might make people want to stay homeless, because why work to get all these services, if they are offered for free by PHC; when one could just go get a free CA ID, why pay $30 for it at the DMV. The people I talked to mostly were not looking for housing, but for identification cards and insurance services. If I was homeless, I would rather go to a regular clinic, opened on a daily basis, to seek treatment for my problems rather than wait for Project Homeless Connect every two months. Waiting a few hours at a clinic is much shorter than waiting months for the next PHC event to happen. This was a great experience though, for I feel like I learned things about the homeless population.

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