Opportunity Center Week #1 - Orientation
This will be the first of a series of posts about my volunteer work at the Palo Alto Opportunity Center. I signed up for the work through a group at Stanford called Night Outreach, which I originally saw tabling on campus when I first started school. Night Outreach refers to a weekly walk on Friday nights where students gather some food from their dining halls where they have meal plans and go out on University Ave. and hand out meals, spending time with the homeless and trying to connect. I thought the idea was cool, though I found it a little odd that the walk was on University Ave., where it is super rich and not a place where I would guess a lot of homeless/needy people would be hanging out. Why don't they walk in East Palo instead?
Anyway, at the first meeting, I also signed up for two hours of volunteer work at the Opportunity Center, which is a new drop-in center off of El Camino near the Palo Alto Caltrain station. My thinking was that this would be a great way to engage with the underside of my local community, and to bring in some regular service in my schedule.
Below is what I wrote to Paul, the president of Night Outreach. Paul is a really mellow guy, a grad student in philosophy who is exploring spirituality. At the first meeting everyone was asked to describe someting unique about themselves as an icebreaker, so I talked about my Vipassana experience. That piqued Paul's interest, so we later met to talk about religion and spirituality. But that's for another blog entry. Here is what I wrote to him about my first week:
As I'm approaching the opportunity center, the first thing I notice is that the building is really nice. It is clear that it is newly built. When I got to the center I asked to speak with Gina, who is the volunteer coordinator for Stanford and also runs the day-to-day operations at the center. I expected Gina to be an old lady, but was surprised when I saw the young woman behind the desk.
Gina is amazing. She's that rare person whose heart is so big that you can just feel it by being around her. She seems middle aged, with straight black hair and baggy skater jeans. She had that rare ability to command complete attention/control/respect of the people at the center while at the same time being loved by everyone. Although she has to be disciplinarian sometimes, you can tell that the people at the center really appreciate her. For example, when I would be talking to her, if a client approached and asked her something, she would say something like, "excuse me, I'm having a conversation with Neil right now. You are being rude. I'll be with you in a minute", and then quietly ask me to continue. And the clients, often big gruff men, would comply comepletely! This sort of command and assertiveness (but without any anger or hate) is what impressed me most about Gina. And unlike others, she has that unconditional compassion for the people. She's not there just because it's a job. I get the feeling that she would work there for free and nothing would change (if she's not already doing that).
Before I even get to introduce myself to Gina, someone in the common area yells that someone is having a seizure. I follow Gina outside and help the man up. I'm told to walk with him to the exam room and stay with him. The man's name is John. He is pretty new to the center. I got to talking with him and made my first connection. He had lived in SF (not Tenderloin) for a long time before coming down to PA. I got him an orange juice from the lunch truck parked next to the center and talked with him in the sun. I told him his breathing was erratic and he should take deep breaths. He said it helped. Some time later, merely hours after suffering a seizure, he was smoking a cigarette. When I asked him about it he said, "I can't quit" and shrugged his shoulders.
I got a tour of the facility and met the kitchen staff. I noticed that there was a computer center but it wasn't hooked up... I hope I can get a chance to teach basic skills to some of the clients.
Most of the rest of the time I spent talking with Rodney (a staffer at the center), Michael (a client, black guy with a bad leg who limps around), and the regular health worker/nurse Diana. We were just cracking jokes, laughing. It was fun. I asked Michael if he would like it if I could teach him how to use a computer in the lab. He replied that he doesn\'t know how to read or write. That caught me off guard completely. I came back by saying I could at least teach him to play games, just to pass time.
Anyway, at the first meeting, I also signed up for two hours of volunteer work at the Opportunity Center, which is a new drop-in center off of El Camino near the Palo Alto Caltrain station. My thinking was that this would be a great way to engage with the underside of my local community, and to bring in some regular service in my schedule.
Below is what I wrote to Paul, the president of Night Outreach. Paul is a really mellow guy, a grad student in philosophy who is exploring spirituality. At the first meeting everyone was asked to describe someting unique about themselves as an icebreaker, so I talked about my Vipassana experience. That piqued Paul's interest, so we later met to talk about religion and spirituality. But that's for another blog entry. Here is what I wrote to him about my first week:
As I'm approaching the opportunity center, the first thing I notice is that the building is really nice. It is clear that it is newly built. When I got to the center I asked to speak with Gina, who is the volunteer coordinator for Stanford and also runs the day-to-day operations at the center. I expected Gina to be an old lady, but was surprised when I saw the young woman behind the desk.
Gina is amazing. She's that rare person whose heart is so big that you can just feel it by being around her. She seems middle aged, with straight black hair and baggy skater jeans. She had that rare ability to command complete attention/control/respect of the people at the center while at the same time being loved by everyone. Although she has to be disciplinarian sometimes, you can tell that the people at the center really appreciate her. For example, when I would be talking to her, if a client approached and asked her something, she would say something like, "excuse me, I'm having a conversation with Neil right now. You are being rude. I'll be with you in a minute", and then quietly ask me to continue. And the clients, often big gruff men, would comply comepletely! This sort of command and assertiveness (but without any anger or hate) is what impressed me most about Gina. And unlike others, she has that unconditional compassion for the people. She's not there just because it's a job. I get the feeling that she would work there for free and nothing would change (if she's not already doing that).
Before I even get to introduce myself to Gina, someone in the common area yells that someone is having a seizure. I follow Gina outside and help the man up. I'm told to walk with him to the exam room and stay with him. The man's name is John. He is pretty new to the center. I got to talking with him and made my first connection. He had lived in SF (not Tenderloin) for a long time before coming down to PA. I got him an orange juice from the lunch truck parked next to the center and talked with him in the sun. I told him his breathing was erratic and he should take deep breaths. He said it helped. Some time later, merely hours after suffering a seizure, he was smoking a cigarette. When I asked him about it he said, "I can't quit" and shrugged his shoulders.
I got a tour of the facility and met the kitchen staff. I noticed that there was a computer center but it wasn't hooked up... I hope I can get a chance to teach basic skills to some of the clients.
Most of the rest of the time I spent talking with Rodney (a staffer at the center), Michael (a client, black guy with a bad leg who limps around), and the regular health worker/nurse Diana. We were just cracking jokes, laughing. It was fun. I asked Michael if he would like it if I could teach him how to use a computer in the lab. He replied that he doesn\'t know how to read or write. That caught me off guard completely. I came back by saying I could at least teach him to play games, just to pass time.
posted by Neil Patel at 6:15 PM
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