Playing Catch-up!

Hey y'all, it's Kendra this time, working to get you up to speed on our trip! It's been super-busy the past couple days, but we're doing great and really enjoying every minute of this trip! So, here's the scoop, from Sunday to today, Thursday, March 19th!

Sunday--The Plunge Perspective!
Doug mentioned above the Mass we attended Sunday morning (which, I might add, had a most welcoming community!). However, shortly after Mass (and on stomachs full of Pop Tarts) we set off for the National Homeless Coalition, NHC, (22nd & P Street NW) which we found with a limited amount of trouble (we were only lost for a few minutes--just long enough to make us a little late!). At the NHC, we met Jonathon who heads up the program and Jennifer and another lady (Claire?) who were both formerly homeless and who shared their experiences with us. After they were finished speaking to us, the four of us plungers (Bridget, Denton, Matthew, and I) put on our homeless garb and bid the other half of our group goodbye! Then we got a briefing on how to live on the streets for 48 hours. And with this briefing session came our first encounter with our guides for the evenings (we were very grateful to know that someone would be showing us the ropes on where the best places for sleeping are!): Anthony and John (they will most certainly be mentioned again). We surrendered our cell phones, watches, and Metro cards and set off in pairs--Bridget and Denton, Matthew and me--to immerse ourselves in homelessness.

I can't speak for anyone but myself, but the first day was so scary. I don't think of myself as a vain person, but I was extraordinarily self-conscious walking around with greasy hair (we boycotted showering the two days before to look legit), un-plucked eyebrows, and sweat pants and a jacket that made me, as Matthew said, "look like you're going running." Most people we encountered simply pretended as though we did not exist, which at the time I was unsure if they thought I was invisible or the majority of the population just wasn't interested in making eye contact.

Our plunge officially began at noon, but without a lot of directional orientation yet for the city, we ended up not eating lunch. Bridget and Denton were able to panhandle $3.80 to buy some pretzels and dry beans (which they gratefully feasted on!). They found that when Bridget approached other women to ask for change, they were much more generous (the female-to-female bond?). Matthew and I opted to stay out of the rain and happened to stumble upon an interim Public Library, where we spent most of the afternoon immersed in books (I went with James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces"...Matthew, a book by the same author as his favorite book of all time, "Fight Club"). That evening our groups met up looking for Makenna's Wagon, a traveling soup kitchen thing, which we did not find. We shared our experiences with each other (Bridget and Denton caught a few Z's under a parking garage's overhang...and were jarred when the garage door opened with them leaning against it! We then went our separate ways, with Matthew and I feeling a bit sheepish for not even attempting to panhandle yet (if you don't ask, you won't receive!).

Matthew and I then tried our own luck at panhandling, which did not go quite as well as Bridget and Denton's effort (we made a grand total of $0.31!). I really, really hated the panhandling part. I can't remember another time I've ever felt so helpless--and humbled! We needed to eat (those Pop Tarts we had at 6:30 AM weren't cutting it by 6:30 PM!), but people were going out of their way to avoid passing us on the sidewalk and if they even acknowledged our existence, they hastily stated "I don't have any change," with a half-hearted "sorry!" I was faith in humanity by this point (so that's a bit dramatic, but I'd gone so long without eating that pretty much everything seemed like the end of the world!), but then I watched a cute middle-aged woman with graying hair and a big smile approach me while MAKING EYE CONTACT with a kind-looking, young Asian gentleman. They asked Matthew and me if we knew anyone who was looking for a meal and we were grateful to receive a ham and cheese sandwich, an orange, Oreos, and Cheez-its. We saved our Oreos and Cheez-its for later, but few things have ever tasted as good as that sandwich and orange in that moment!

So, morale boosted, we met up with Bridget and Denton and our guides at 14th and New York Avenue--the site of a Starbucks coffee shop--at 9 PM. From there, John and Anthony led us to a hiding spot where they kept blankets and then proceeded to show us how to make a bed on the concrete at the nearest metro station. We quickly realized that Anthony and John took their responsibility as guides very seriously and wanted to protect us and show us the ropes. Anthony was on his umpteenth cup of "plain, black Starbucks, mm'mm, you-can't-beat-that" coffee so he could stay up all night watching over us. Anthony and John, as we later learned, had both been homeless themselves for long stretches of time (though they're both happily employed and living in apartments now) and knew what to do and how to do it.Their connections with people were incredible: they got free Starbucks coffee and leftover food (which they generously gave to us!), they hooked us up with the bathroom at the metro station we slept outside of ("Oh yeah, I know Alan [the metro employee] and he'll let us use the restrooms!").

The first night was definitely a little chilly and hard to get used to noise-wise, but we were so fortunate to have John, Anthony, and each other that we did manage to get some sleep and were pretty warm thanks to some thermal blankets!