There’s more than one picture of homelessness. Most of the images in the public’s consciousness feature sedentary subjects, people holding cardboard signs at stoplights or paper cups to deposit change in. The assistance offered in those situations is often equally idle – casually handing a bill out a car window or plucking some change from a back pocket.
The reality is that many homeless people spend the majority of their day on the move, propelled by the only vehicle they often have access to – their feet. And there’s a fundraising event right around the corner to give people a better picture of that day-to-day routine, and an opportunity to give back on the go.
The Concord Coalition to End Homelessness is sponsoring a “Walk in Their Shoes” fundraising walk June 26 beginning at 5 p.m., a roughly 3.5-mile trek to many of the places homeless people visit for assistance on any given day. The journey will start and end at the Friendly Kitchen and make stops at the Concord Homeless Resource Center, City Welfare and Open Hands Resource Center, among others.
“I thought about this idea a couple of years ago to raise awareness in the community about just how difficult it is to be homeless,” Marcia Sprague, director of the Concord Homeless Resource Center, said. These people walk miles, sometimes 10 to 15 miles a day. This is just a little piece of where people have to walk on a daily basis. That was the original purpose, to raise awareness about how challenging and difficult and tiring it is to be homeless and on your feet all day.”
Concord’s homeless population has been in the news frequently of late, with upcoming changes made to panhandling laws and several camps being cleared out by police order. From those news stories came a swell of support, according to resource center volunteer Robin Stamm, and the walk was an opportunity to capitalize on that support and open the eyes of others to the plight facing this faction of the population.
“The folks that wind up at the resource center are not usually the ones standing on corners with signs. They’re the ones that are wanting to get their resumes up to snuff, find out how to get help with rent, get a job, do an interview, find out where to get food stamps, how to get bus passes – really wanting to turn their life around,” Stamm said. “In my world and in my heart, that is what drives me to volunteer and be so involved in this and hopefully get people of like mind, because working together we can help these folks.”
The walk will make brief stops at several locations, giving participants the opportunity to hear more about what each outlet does for the homeless community. Sprague said several homeless people have also pledged to join in on the walk, and may offer their own insights into their daily path.
“I think anytime we label somebody or some group of people we don’t know about, we have stereotypes,” Sprague said. “I think it will be really nice to be able to walk in the shoes of some people who are homeless and maybe talk to someone and break down those barriers and stereotypes.”
Walkers will be seeking sponsors to donate money, though those interested in contributing and not walking can do so online at helpendhomelessness.org. Interested parties can also download a brochure and sponsor sheet at the same site by clicking on “Event Fliers.” People are also encouraged to simply show up on the evening of the walk, with or without sponsors, and contribute “however much money they’re comfortable with” to take part in the walk, Stamm said.
Walkers will gather at the Friendly Kitchen at 5 p.m., with the walk departing at about 5:30 p.m. The total distance is about 3.75 miles.
Stamm and others are hoping the impact lasts even longer, and perhaps changes some people’s minds about the homeless population.
“I recognize those that have views about the homeless that are negative, and I can understand that,” Stamm said. “But there are also folks that just a year or a little more ago were general contractors with their own house, their own car, and when the housing bubble burst, they went down and their savings went down and they wound up homeless. It’s the sort of thing none of us expect.”
Stamm has seen her share of harrowing stories as a volunteer at the resource center, from a man who had to sleep outside with broken bones through cold weather because the doctor he’d been seeing was in Concord, to a woman who appeared at the center simply to learn how to go about being homeless after having her dreams of running her own cleaning company dashed and losing her condo, to a man who was still in school but had been kicked out of his own by his father and had nowhere else to turn.
“That’s the value of the resource center – when it gets right down to it, what are you going to need if you have to live outdoors?” Stamm said. “It’s a heartbreaking thing, but it happens.”
What she hopes will also happen is an increase in the community’s awareness through the upcoming walk.
“The stories are as unique as every single homeless inpidual,” Stamm said. “If people want to show up just to hear some of the stories, to at least keep the awareness up and keep this reality in the minds of the citizens of Concord. Their goal is to get back on their feet; our goal is to help them do that.”
For more information, email info@walkintheirshoesjune26@ gmail.com, visit helpendhomelessness.org or visit the Concord Homeless Resource Center at 6B S. State St., 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday through Friday.
If you’d prefer to donate rather than walk, there’s a “Donate” option on the CCEH website, or you can send a check payable to CCEH, P.O. Box 3933, Concord, N.H. 03302.
