Night Outreach Walk
This week I missed my regular slot again due to comps, so I decided to "make it up" by joining the Night Outreach gang on Friday night. It was a small group: myself, Erica, Alex, Miles, and a MS student in Education whom I don't remember the name of. Let's call her Jen. None of us brought food and only Miles had a dining plan, so he went to a hall to load up on food that we could hand out. While we waited for Miles the rest of us started talking about our experience at the Opportunity Center. I got the feeling that not everyone was getting the exposure that I was... Alex mentioned how she files mail a lot during her shift, often because it's just not very busy. I consider myself lucky for having a pretty busy shift.
Miles comes back with bunch of food, including a couple burgers, hotdogs, and donuts. We all get in Erica's car and drive into downtown Palo Alto. Typically the group splits into teams of 2-3 and take areas of University Ave. to find people. Since our group was small, we split into two and took opposite sides of University. I was with Alex and Erica, two veterans of the night walk. Since this was my first time, I thought I'd let them take the lead, but they didn't seem to want to assume that role.
We ended up serving three people, Tom, Victor, and Wally. Tom wasn't very talkative, but the other two were. Victor was an older guy who had lived in Palo Alto for many decades. He took an interest in where I was born, because he said that a lot of people say they were from the Bay Area but aren't really. He said it was rare to hear of someone who was actually born in Montain View, which I guess makes sense. A lot of people think of themselves being from the Bay Area but aren't really from here, mostly because so many people come here from outside. But Victor just seemed to be proud of calling himself a Bay Area native. He was also quite polite. He asked each of us seperately our background. He asked me what I thought were differences between Berkeley and Stanford students. I told him it may be because of the bias that I wasn't really seeking to serve while at Berkeley, but it seemed like the students at Stanford are ironically more enthusiastic about service, such as the Night Outreach group. He said he agreed, that Stanford students are more generous. I wouldn't say I agree for sure.
Next we met up with Wally, a guy originally from Detroit who had come to California looking for a job. He complained about how expensive it was to live in Palo Alto, and that the $600 he had come here with had gone very quickly because renting a room was almost double from the $20 or so he would pay back in Detroit. He said he was planning on returning. When I pointed out that being here has its benefits, especially weather, he agreed, then added in my ear that the women here are better looking as well. He seemed very upbeat for being obviously poor and unhoused. One noteworthy point is that each of the people we served were very gracious with the food we were giving them. Unlike at the Opp Center kitchen where it's a mad grab and people get pushy, when on the streets these same people become a little more appreciative. When I handed Wally a hotdog, he unwrapped it and immediately started eating it. It was clear he was hungry. But then shortly after he stopped eating and told me that I had accidentally given him an extra weiner, and offered to give it back. I was blown away. Someone in such need practicing equity! I told him to keep it. It turns out that the weiner accidentally slipped out of the bun of Victor's hotdog, whom we had served earlier. I felt terrible for Victor, but we couldn't find him to give him more food and apologize.
On the street that night there happened to be a group of Hare Krishnas who were chanting. Our group had all met back up and were talking to one homeless guy when they came by. I explained what they were doing to the rest of the group, none of whom were familiar. The homeless guy we were talking to started getting into a spiritual discussion, expressing his belief that atheists were ignorant. I find it very interesting that most homeless, people who have so little, have such strong faith. I guess it makes sense because they need something to keep them going.
As we were walking back to the car, Miles, another veteran of Night Outreach, was telling his stories for the night. He had met with a woman whom he knew from before, who was drunk and wandering the streets. He recalled how she had not said a word to him for the longest time until one night some time ago when he met her on a walk he had gone with crutches due to a hurt leg. I told him it was definitely the heart that he showed serving even while hurt that probably got her to open up. Anyway, Miles was saying how on she was now a few months pregnant and struggling to find a place to sleep on a regular basis. Her boyfriend was demanding she sleep with him in exchange for letter her stay at his place, and though she told Miles she was determined to not go there, Miles sensed that she was resigned to going back there simply because she had no other choice. Very sad. Jen mentioned how it was so hard to hold back helping these people more than with the food we were handing out... that one person had given her the impression that she wanted Jen to put her up for the night. Jen said it was a good thing she didn't come with her car or money, since it makes it easier to say no.
I'm continuously impressed with the Stanford students I come across from this group and in general. They just seem very sincere and enthusiastic about service. Between this group and Engineers for a Sustainable World and a couple others that I have come into contact with, it just seems like there's a lot of energy towards doing good.
It made me think about something Paul Farmer talked about when he came to Stanford recently. Most research institutions like Stanford or Harvard (where he's from) are set up to do about 2/3 research, a little less than 1/3 teaching, and the rest service, in terms of resources allocated, etc. Essentially, these institutions are really set up well to create knowledge (research), and disseminate it (teach), and that's what they are good at. And these are great things. But he was saying that there must be a model change/paradigm shift to include service into the fabric of what the institution does, to allow students who are interested in service (and there are a lot) to become agents to effectively serve instead of simply going abroad with some program and being a "spectator to poverty." To train these students, a change in thinking must be made by the research institutions in their role in serving humanity. I found it encouraging to hear such a prestigious person making this challenge, and hope Stanford hears it.
Miles comes back with bunch of food, including a couple burgers, hotdogs, and donuts. We all get in Erica's car and drive into downtown Palo Alto. Typically the group splits into teams of 2-3 and take areas of University Ave. to find people. Since our group was small, we split into two and took opposite sides of University. I was with Alex and Erica, two veterans of the night walk. Since this was my first time, I thought I'd let them take the lead, but they didn't seem to want to assume that role.
We ended up serving three people, Tom, Victor, and Wally. Tom wasn't very talkative, but the other two were. Victor was an older guy who had lived in Palo Alto for many decades. He took an interest in where I was born, because he said that a lot of people say they were from the Bay Area but aren't really. He said it was rare to hear of someone who was actually born in Montain View, which I guess makes sense. A lot of people think of themselves being from the Bay Area but aren't really from here, mostly because so many people come here from outside. But Victor just seemed to be proud of calling himself a Bay Area native. He was also quite polite. He asked each of us seperately our background. He asked me what I thought were differences between Berkeley and Stanford students. I told him it may be because of the bias that I wasn't really seeking to serve while at Berkeley, but it seemed like the students at Stanford are ironically more enthusiastic about service, such as the Night Outreach group. He said he agreed, that Stanford students are more generous. I wouldn't say I agree for sure.
Next we met up with Wally, a guy originally from Detroit who had come to California looking for a job. He complained about how expensive it was to live in Palo Alto, and that the $600 he had come here with had gone very quickly because renting a room was almost double from the $20 or so he would pay back in Detroit. He said he was planning on returning. When I pointed out that being here has its benefits, especially weather, he agreed, then added in my ear that the women here are better looking as well. He seemed very upbeat for being obviously poor and unhoused. One noteworthy point is that each of the people we served were very gracious with the food we were giving them. Unlike at the Opp Center kitchen where it's a mad grab and people get pushy, when on the streets these same people become a little more appreciative. When I handed Wally a hotdog, he unwrapped it and immediately started eating it. It was clear he was hungry. But then shortly after he stopped eating and told me that I had accidentally given him an extra weiner, and offered to give it back. I was blown away. Someone in such need practicing equity! I told him to keep it. It turns out that the weiner accidentally slipped out of the bun of Victor's hotdog, whom we had served earlier. I felt terrible for Victor, but we couldn't find him to give him more food and apologize.
On the street that night there happened to be a group of Hare Krishnas who were chanting. Our group had all met back up and were talking to one homeless guy when they came by. I explained what they were doing to the rest of the group, none of whom were familiar. The homeless guy we were talking to started getting into a spiritual discussion, expressing his belief that atheists were ignorant. I find it very interesting that most homeless, people who have so little, have such strong faith. I guess it makes sense because they need something to keep them going.
As we were walking back to the car, Miles, another veteran of Night Outreach, was telling his stories for the night. He had met with a woman whom he knew from before, who was drunk and wandering the streets. He recalled how she had not said a word to him for the longest time until one night some time ago when he met her on a walk he had gone with crutches due to a hurt leg. I told him it was definitely the heart that he showed serving even while hurt that probably got her to open up. Anyway, Miles was saying how on she was now a few months pregnant and struggling to find a place to sleep on a regular basis. Her boyfriend was demanding she sleep with him in exchange for letter her stay at his place, and though she told Miles she was determined to not go there, Miles sensed that she was resigned to going back there simply because she had no other choice. Very sad. Jen mentioned how it was so hard to hold back helping these people more than with the food we were handing out... that one person had given her the impression that she wanted Jen to put her up for the night. Jen said it was a good thing she didn't come with her car or money, since it makes it easier to say no.
I'm continuously impressed with the Stanford students I come across from this group and in general. They just seem very sincere and enthusiastic about service. Between this group and Engineers for a Sustainable World and a couple others that I have come into contact with, it just seems like there's a lot of energy towards doing good.
It made me think about something Paul Farmer talked about when he came to Stanford recently. Most research institutions like Stanford or Harvard (where he's from) are set up to do about 2/3 research, a little less than 1/3 teaching, and the rest service, in terms of resources allocated, etc. Essentially, these institutions are really set up well to create knowledge (research), and disseminate it (teach), and that's what they are good at. And these are great things. But he was saying that there must be a model change/paradigm shift to include service into the fabric of what the institution does, to allow students who are interested in service (and there are a lot) to become agents to effectively serve instead of simply going abroad with some program and being a "spectator to poverty." To train these students, a change in thinking must be made by the research institutions in their role in serving humanity. I found it encouraging to hear such a prestigious person making this challenge, and hope Stanford hears it.
posted by Neil Patel at 9:04 AM
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