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| Ben Osborn, Quality Assurance Officer (left), spends time coaching, mentoring and training new tier, Dawn Brown. At St. Paul's Community Outreach, 4427 Franklin Blvd., in Ohio City, Cleveland, Ohio. |
Recently a story from the New York Times went viral about a homeless man who was given a $100 pair of boots by a Police Officer after he was seen barefoot outside on a very cold night.
It turns out the man, Jeffrey Hillman, was not homeless, but has an apartment paid for by vouchers, social security and veterans benefits.
This, however, still brings attention to those suffering in the cold, the reasons for it and what can be done. Many others are still there in the cold, like Mr. Hillman was.
Some people wonder how people even survive outside on a cold Northern winter night. The homeless are a segment of the population Ohio City Power is proud to serve and support.
The following are some of considerations in helping the homeless, using this barefoot man in the cold as an example:
- Homelessness can negatively affect a person’s self-worth in a number of ways.
- Things could be at work here, such as pride, underlying fear or basic human emotions.
When Mr. Hillman was asked how he ended up homeless, he stared blankly, paused and said “I don’t know.” Pride could keep people in this situation from answering the question directly. Being homeless can take a mental toll, in addition to taking a physical toll.
- The homeless are human and might not like to admit they have underlying problems.
- Another issue faced by the homeless is that middle-aged men in this society are expected to be able to provide for themselves. For some, the shame is too much to try to face people.
It is important to remember that some, even a Veteran like himself, are in these kinds of situations every day in cities all across America.
- Another possibility for being homeless, mental illness, is another issue that could be hard to for some people to deal with. People do not like to think of themselves in this way, even if they did not cause it.
If someone in the Cleveland area thinks assistance could be useful please contact 211, which is United Way’s First Call For Help, and they can inform you of where to get help.
Deep down many people naturally would like to help those they think really need help. There is a perception of people holding out cups as con artists who don’t really need the help and unfortunately, this has probably always been part of the population. People generally aren’t quick to help in that scenario. People in that case would blame Mr. Hillman for being in that situation.
However, for some people there is an empathy that thinks, what if this were them? Thinking of yourself when you were that cold could make you want to help someone else in that situation.
The article does not give details about the Police Officer, but this tells you there are people somewhere who look out for others when conditions are unfavorable. It leads you to wonder how many other times this happens on a typical night that people do not hear about.
Ohio City Power would also like to help those who are homeless and looking for guidance back into the workforce, for whatever reason.
- Written by Albert Wagner, Operations Manager, Ohio City Power; Edited and Published by Betsey Merkel
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