Starting from Scratch

My VISTA volunteer job at West End Ministries is actually pretty exciting and wonderful. When I got there a month ago, six computers sat inert-- not functioning, no internet-- in a room that smelled funny, sort of like burning brakes or some kind of electrical burnout. Well, the smell still lingers, but the computers have all been accessed, a phone installed, and the internet actually piped in and functioning. I'm still missing basic office supplies, and the inventory of the technology is still not finished, but it is just loads of fun to start from scratch, and believe me, it was scratch.

I've starting looking for funding, volunteers and partners in the effort to get the computer room to be a fixture in the community building effort we're trying to accomplish here at West End Ministries. I've found a volunteer who will help me on Saturday mornings, and another who is willing to put in the hardware for our networking and wireless systems. I've applied for a Home Depot grant to paint the walls and take the nasty carpeting out of here and install a stone-looking laminate floor.

I'm also excited about what West End Ministries is doing--the latest project is building a homeless shelter for single women. Apparently, the Salvation Army turns them away...And there's all the food we give away, and the clothing. Believe me, when the first guy showed up fresh out of jail asking for some free clothes, I got a kind of awakening. Oh yeah, this is all about folks who are at the bottom of the barrel. Today, my executive director came in with one of the homeless women who needs a suitcase so she can get on a bus and wheeze her way to South Dakota where she has some other children. And while we were doing this reception for this rich Presbyterian church that helps us out with funding, another homeless couple came in with the reception attendees.

This is a far, far different world than any I have ever known. The poor in Asia aren't like this. But exactly what "this" is, I'm not sure yet. To be continued...