By Sarah Bellovich ’19 I Staff Writer
Michigan winters have a way of bringing about a bitter cold that lingers at the doorsteps of many. But there’s a good chance they do not know the fierceness of its bite as well as Vicki does.
“Well, I bundle up, put on more clothes, put on more shoes,” Vicki said, wearing a Jamaican-colored hat stretched over her dreads. “You just gotta be bundled up.”
Applying more layers seems an obvious tactic to battling a winter in any situation, but when the only thing protecting you from the plummeting temperature is a thin layer of fabric, it becomes even more crucial. More crucial for people like Vicki who call a tent their home.
“In southeast Michigan alone they are saying over 20,000 people are in that situation where everything they own they are carrying,” Earl Eiben, director of Everyone Eats, said.
Spirit of Hope Church, situated on the corner of Martin Luther King Blvd. and Grand River Ave. in Detroit, hosts the program Everyone Eats every Wednesday. Volunteers from churches all around Detroit come to serve lunch for over 100 people in need of a meal every single Wednesday of the year.
“ I’ve been coming here almost every Wednesday for 3-5 years,” Vicki said.
Wednesday the 23rd of December, just two days shy of Christmas, a scene unfolded in the basement of Spirit of Hope Church.
Eight hams, two heaping pans of mashed potatoes, one pot of green beans and a pot of glaze all cooked in the warm kitchen no larger than the bed of a pickup truck. Carols ambled through the air from a passionate band tucked into the corner of a room crowded with tables and chairs.
Everywhere people subconsciously moved their lips along to the carols. Santa, who spoke in a French accent, walked around with a young boy trailing at his heels, sporting a huge grin. The abundant phrases of “Merry Christmas” and “Bless you” added to the chorus of noise, while the homeless enjoyed their meals.
“Well, today we lost count, but I know we were over 200 people. Normally we serve 130-150 people most Wednesdays. That’s pretty typical,” Eiben said.
Although the lively atmosphere drowns out the imminent problems of their everyday life for a moment, problems still plague them. The details of an expression can give hints into what they face besides not having a place to call home.
“They come in looking mad at the world, and you say their name such as ‘Hi, Jane’ and their faces light up. They like being recognized as a person, because that’s who they are. It makes them smile,” Maratha, an older lady who is a consistent volunteer at Everyone Eats, said.
Every week she comes to sit in her stool and pass out dessert.
Think of thousands of people who don’t have a home to call their own and struggle with dozens of other inconveniences each day. Small problems that stem from a lack of supplies such as no transportation and no pencils or paper.
“Shopping. That’s the most stressful thing. Shopping,” Vicki said. “Close grocery stores are hard to find. And you gotta go out like in the mall. Then you gotta think about gettin’ this. You gotta think ’bout gettin’ that, and don’t go shopping for food cause you can’t write down everything for like a recipe.”
Vicki also said she struggles with finding a place to live other than her tent, which she shares with one other person.
“I live with my friend, my boyfriend. Just two of us in the tent,” Vicki said. “But we try to get a house, but you know we gotta wait ’til after Christmas for they come up. With the Southwest Solution, but they’re wicked slow so we have to start all over again.”
There is always the option of moving from shelter to shelter, but she prefers her tent.
“I don’t like shelters ’cause they steal, and they keep us so disturbed. And they are sure not clean,” Vicki said.
Grosse Pointe South students have their own way of helping struggling families out during the Holiday Season through Adopt-a-Family. This program allows the more fortunate students of South and North to help out families in need who live in Grosse Pointe.
“I think it is so important that South participated in adopt a family,” Rachel Harris ’18 said. “It is so important to give to those who are experiencing a difficult time and are unable to provide for their family and kids. Adopt-a-Family is an amazing way to help these families out and show them how much they are loved and supported.”
Classes together decide whether to participate and how. Each third hour class is assigned either a family or a portion of a family to support, and they can do various things such as going out and buying gifts or raising money in class.
“I brought in canned food because I can’t even imagine what it would be like as a kid who has parents that want to provide for their wants and needs, but are unable to,” Harris said. “I’ve been blessed to have always been able to have clean sheets and food on the table, and I often take it for granted, so Adopt-a-Family really helped me realize that not everyone is able to have their necessities so easily taken care of.”
Detroit is broken. Look at the fissures and potholes that string the roads which may never be fixed. Look at the abandoned houses crumbling under the pressure of time and nature. Look at the thousands of people, hunkered down against the cold migrating from shelter to shelter, with a war they fight with themselves. Look at the truth.
The truth rings through the numb expressions of many, or the avoided pasts and blunt facts of the life they live, which they choose to hide. But stepping back and gazing at a lively scene, seeing much more than the details of an individual’s pained eye or twisted grin, paints another truth. A truth that reflects hope.
Just around the corner from Detroit is Grosse Pointe with scratches and cracks of its own. Somehow these cracks must be mended, but that is up to the members of the community to step up and help where able.
“We try to do it one person at a time, one meal at a time and try to make a connection, try to show them that we care, that we love them, that Christ loves them, and every once in awhile someone takes that and changes their life a little bit, right?” Eiben said. “And we just try to make them comfortable in a safe environment for just a few moments and do the best we can.”
