The Last Night of Room In The Inn

Tonight, across Nashville, a couple hundred homeless people are sleeping on mattresses and cots in church fellowship halls, having enjoyed a warm meal and loving fellowship with church members. Tomorrow night, these same men and women will have to find somewhere else to spend the night. Many will choose to stay at the Nashville Rescue Mission, the largest source of shelter for the homeless here, and some will live on the streets for the next seven months, since Room In The Inn, the Campus’s winter shelter program ends tomorrow morning when church busses will stream into our downtown parking lot for the last time this season. I haven’t really said much on this blog about Room In The Inn, so I figured I should before it’s over. Most people in Nashville aren’t quite sure what the Campus for Human Development is (“Oh, is that at Vanderbilt or something?”), but nearly everyone knows about Room In The Inn.

The sheer number of people who volunteer for Room In The Inn hadn’t hit me until last Sunday morning when those who had volunteered their time at some point in the last five months came to the front of the sanctuary as the congregation said a litany of thanksgiving. I imagined a similar number being multiplied by 150 and saw what a huge thing Room In The Inn is.

So, what is Room In The Inn, and how does it work? Basically, as I briefly explain it to new participants a few times a day, it is our winter shelter program that runs November 1st through March 31st. Over 150 congregations in Nashville take small groups of people to their church buildings one night a week, offering them dinner, a warm place to sleep, and breakfast. When RITI guests return to the Campus in the morning (by around 6:00), they can draw a ticket that will let them know when they’ll be able to go back to a church for the night—either that night or the one after.

The number of beds available in any one night seems to average between 150 and 250. There are very few nights when people are not turned away. On a recent day on the daily RITI wrap-up report it was written, “85 degrees, still not enough beds.” Because of the popularity of our program among the homeless population, there is quite a street market for Room In The Inn tickets.

I have mostly observed Room In The Inn from a distance, since I go home from work at 4:30. I have actually seen it more from the side of Second Presbyterian than from the Campus. Through most of the winter, I have had other commitments that have had me at the church on Wednesday nights, which has given me an opportunity to visit Room In The Inn. Second has been taking eighteen guests, which is about the most that is ever sent out in one group. We have also hosted the women, which is a special challenge, to say the least, for much of this season. It was funny the first few times I visited RITI at Second, because the first reaction when people saw me was that something must be wrong or that they were in trouble for something. After most people found out that Second is “Jeff’s church,” I stopped getting too many looks of fear. I actually have received numerous compliments each week about the hospitality that has been shown at Second Pres.

I think that the most important part of Room In The Inn is the fact that once the guests leave the Campus, they are entirely in contact with volunteers. I have found when I’ve been at Second for RITI, I have a hard time not being judgmental, since I know something about most of the people there. The volunteers who give their time welcoming their guests, fixing dinner, putting out the mattresses complete with chocolates on the pillow, and doing many loads of laundry, don’t have the same basis for judgment that I do and can focus more on practicing hospitality and unconditional love. Our program is also special because it lets people exist in small groups which foster community and respect. They don’t feel like they are being herded around like animals.

The end of Room In The Inn season means different things to different people. For us on the staff, it is a feeling of relief. Friday felt like the “Friday of Fridays” as I called it, because we made it through the busy time of the year that everyone was bracing for last October. Starting next week, the Campus will close at 2:00pm for the day, rather than at 4:00 until it reopened for RITI at 4:30. We’ll have some time to catch up on some of the things that we haven’t had the time to focus on. For our participants, it is a much more difficult reality to face. Many people go through a very rough time when Room In The Inn is over. Emotional stress often increases as does physical violence. With Room In The Inn, people find a home, where they are welcomed no matter what. They find a place where they can be served and serve others in ways that give them hope for change in their own lives.

LITANY OF THANKSGIVING FOR ROOM IN THE INN

Give thanks to the Lord who is good.
God’s love is everlasting.
Come, let us praise God joyfully.
Let us come to God with thanksgiving.
For human life;
for talking and living and eating together;
for common hopes and hardships shared from birth until our dying;
Thank you, God.
For the homeless in whom we see the face of Christ;
for the poor in whom we meet our risen savior;
for shared community and common humanity.
Thank you, God.
For our Room in the Inn guests, who give us the gifts of their stories;
for their life experiences, which challenge us to examine our own lives;
for deepening awareness of our common need of your grace;
Thank you, God.
For these volunteers, who gave up the comforts of home to share a home with our guests;
for their gifts of hospitality, cooking, companionship and service;
for being the community of Christ and welcoming the homeless into that community.
Thank you, God.
For all the ways their thankfulness for your love has been increased;
for the new ways they have learned how to bear the name of Christ through their service;
for growing discipleship and deepening faith.
Thank you, God.
Especially, O God, for Jesus the Christ;
who lived and died and lives again to welcome us home;
for our hope in him and the joy of serving you.
We thank and praise you, Eternal God,
for all your goodness to us.
Give thanks to the Lord, who is good.
God’s love is everlasting.

Heart for the People

from today's Tennessean:

'Heart for the People' fills Room In The Inn Leader:

From volunteer to executive director, Hester is advocate for city's homeless

By SYLVIA SLAUGHTER

Staff Writer

Though she studied interior design, Rachel Hester calls her office decor "secondhand chic."
She means clutter, unsophisticated clutter, from a dime-store Mickey Mouse to hand-me-drawn cards from the men and women she shields from their detractors and bawls out when she catches them lighting up a bong outside her window.

For longer than a year now, Hester has been executive director of Room in the Inn's Campus for Human Development, a way-station for the homeless.

continue reading...

Blogging the Campus Values: SPIRITUALITY

This is the first in a series of blog posts with some guest writers. I have asked some of my co-workers from the Campus for Human Development to write some personal reflections on the seven core values that are contained in our mission statement:

“Through the power of spirituality and the practice of love, the Campus for Human Development provides hospitality with a respect that offers hope in a community of non-violence.”

At the beginning of each posting, I will incorporate some reflections on the meaning of each value by our Founding Director Charlie Strobel. It is my hope that by getting to know some of the people I spend my days with, you will gain a better understanding of what I am doing in Nashville this year.

In this first post, we’ll reflect on the value of spirituality through the lens of three of my favorite Campus friends. Anneice will share the role that spirituality has played in her response to the death three weeks ago of her daughter Bambi. Many Campus values were lived out in our community’s response to Ms. Anneice’s loss. Jana writes about spirituality from the unique perspective as a young Jewish person. Finally, Fred, who I called “the person I never thought I’d sit next to in church” when we were at Anneice’s daughter’s funeral a few weeks ago, but who always surprises us with the depth of his love for our participants, writes about the fact that spirituality doesn’t allow us to judge.

* * * * * * * * * * *

“The Campus for Human Development understands that spirituality is a way of encountering the divine in all of us. It is a process, more than a set of doctrines—a process of discovery of our inner life, as coming from God and moving toward God. This inner life is at the center of our understanding of ourselves. The process of self-understanding cannot be gained fully without a personal journey inward. Others may tell us much about ourselves. Society can define and explain much about our relationship to one another. But no one is able to experience our inner life. There inside ourselves, we alone have the power to come to an awareness of our heart’s desires and our mind’s intentions. Our spiritual quest is to link our spirit (our desires and intentions) to the divine spirit that also resides within us. This process develops our conscience and forms our soul. Practically, spirituality transcends denominational identities and structures and expresses our values through actions.”

-Charles Strobel

* * * * *

GUEST BLOGGER: Fred Collins

I am a 62-year-old retired dentist and also a retired drug addict. After years of struggling with addiction I finally got clean and sober five years ago. I feel that working here at the Campus could possibly help others recover from this vicious disease.

To me, spirituality is the basis for our other core values. I think it is a must for staff members to embrace spiritual principles in order to empathize with our population. One of the most important of these is tolerance, because without this we could be judgmental. It is not our mission to over analyze what got our participants here but to help them return to mainstream society, or, if that is not within their reach, help them cope with a less than desirable situation. This requires the full array of spiritual principles—compassion, hope, love, hospitality, respect, non-violence, etc. No matter how many classes we do or group sessions we facilitate, without these spiritual principles we could become too judgmental and all would be lost.


Fred is part of the education team at the Campus. He leads drug and alcohol addiction recovery classes for the men in our Odyssey program and occasionally for our general population. He spends most of the day in our education center, and helping run our storage program. We all know Fred as someone who might greet us with a four-letter word or as the person least likely to sugar-coat the truth in any situation. We also know that Fred is probably the most caring person on our staff, and any of us would trust him with our lives.

* * * * * *

GUEST BLOGGER: Jana Bregman

Hi, my name is Jana and I am one of Jeff’s co-interns at the Campus. I graduated from high school (University School of Nashville) last May and chose to put off college for a year to work at the Campus. My thought was that as much fun as writing more papers and studying for exams sounds, working at an agency with an outstanding mission and an unreal staff sounded much more worthwhile.

From reading Jeff’s blog I’m sure you have begun to appreciate how complex this place is so maybe you can see why I am now just starting to understand (with some confidence) the Campus’ philosophy, procedures, and the population we serve. My understanding of the Campus’ seven core values has definitely evolved during my time at the Campus and in particular, the value of spirituality has taken on new meaning for me, someone who grew up in a religious household and practices a devout Jewish lifestyle.

It is a common misinterpretation that the words religion and spirituality are synonymous. For me, the word spirituality fosters images of my mom and I lighting the Sabbath candles, or me covering my eyes while I say the she’ma before bed. While these moments can be described as both spiritual and religious, certain interactions at the Campus have shown me that spirituality is not confined to religious experiences. Spirituality is also when God is present in the form of love, community, and peace between fellow humans.

Here are a few among many examples of spirituality I have witnessed at the Campus:

- A gentleman who used our services years ago is now on staff at the Campus and often works through the night serving individuals at our Guest House (an alternative to jail for the publicly intoxicated).

- When one of my co-workers helped dress an individual who is mentally handicapped and was not aware that he was exposed.

- One day a participant threatened suicide and later, when Mobile Crisis asked her for the name of the person she can rely on the most, she said the people at the Campus.

- The safety and warmth of our prayer circle every night before Room In the Inn, the Campus’ winter shelter program.

- The face that I feel welcomed and totally included even though I practice a different faith than the rest of the Campus staff.

The Campus was founded as a multi-faith organization and this is apparent in its values. The Campus doesn’t force a particular religion or even a particular God but it still values spirituality because of its inherent connection to the Campus’ five other core values – nonviolence, love, community, hospitality, and hope. And without these values, there’s no way we (the staff) could help others help themselves on the road to recovery.


Jana will turn 19 in a few weeks, but she is probably the most mature, capable person that works at the Campus. She takes on a number of roles, and works with just about all of our program teams, including administration, education, Odyssey, and Room In The Inn. She also coordinates the Campus’ Teen Board. Jana and I have a great time working together at the support desk, in the day room, and sorting the mail. We also share a luxurious office, and join in celebrating our latest victory over the mice that want to share it with us.

* * * * *

GUEST BLOGGER: Anneice Tisdale

Spirituality means to me is when God is testing you to see how much faith you have in him when he takes a love one from you. It is hard to keep the pain in my heart. And you ask, “why did you pick my little flower?” I know there is a time to be born and a time to die. It seems like he wants us to go on giving ourselves helping others. My heart is broken but I know God is a just God. So I am trying my best to help others to go on. Someday he will wipe away all my tears and this burden in my heart. He knows I am a giving person and would do anything for anyone. Spirituality to the Campus is about helping the participants and listening to them, giving all we’ve got and putting them on the right road.

When I see a bright star, I know it my child looking down on her family.

Ms. Anneice is one of the “originals” who has been with Room In The Inn and The Campus since its inception. She begins each day at 6:00am by running our shower program and works in the day room until the afternoon, also leading our daily orientation sessions. Known as “The Warden,” Anneice is the face of the Campus and a mother to many in Nashville’s homeless community. She never fails to make me laugh, and my favorite times at work are when I pull up a chair next to her in the day room. She is at her best when she is teaching our Odyssey guys to dance, or making sure that some of our participants who are least able to care for themselves have their clothes washed. The Warden also possesses special laser vision that can spot food in the day room from miles away.

Homeless rally arrest was wrong

from Sunday's Tennessean:

Homeless rally arrest was wrong

By GAIL KERR

Charlie Strobel is an unlikely convict.

He is 64 years old. He's a former Catholic priest who started Room in the Inn 21 years ago. Now, 150 congregations offer the homeless a warm, safe place to sleep on cold nights. He knows everybody from the lowliest street bum to the richest Belle Meade businessman. At the funeral of his mother, Strobel urged people to forgive her murderer.

This is the man police arrested last week for protesting. read the full article

The Great Thanksgiving

I usually don't like it when we use a communion liturgy that is outside the "norm." But, today's really was meaningful. I am really a fan of having communion every Sunday, which we have done through Lent here at Second. I wish I could give credit to the author of this prayer, but none was listed.

EUCHARISTIC PRAYER

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

What do you bring to Christ’s table?

We bring bread, made by many people’s work, from an unjust world where some have plenty and most go hungry.

At this table all are fed and no one is turned away.

Thanks be to God.

What do you bring to Christ’s table?

We bring wine, made by many people’s work, from an unjust world where some have leisure and most struggle to survive.

At this table all share the cup of pain and celebration and no one is denied.

Thanks be to God.

These gifts shall be for us the body and blood of Christ,

Our witness against hunger, our cry against injustice, and our hope for a world where God is fully known and every child is fed. Thanks be to God

All sing: Sanctus ("Holy, Holy, Holy...")

Creator God, let your Holy Spirit moves in power over us and over our earthly gifts of bread and wine that they may become the body and blood of Christ. On the night before he met his death, Jesus came to table with those he loved. He took bread and blessed you, God of all creation; he broke the bread among his disciples, and said: Take this, all of you, and eat it; this is my body which will be given up for you.

Thanks be to God.

When supper was ended, he took the cup of wine and gave thanks to you, God of all creation; he passed the cup among his disciples and said, Take this, all of you, and drink from it; this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this is memory of me.

Dying you destroyed our death.
Rising you restored our life.
Lord Jesus come!
Lord Jesus come in glory!

The table of bread and wine is now made ready.

It is the table of company with Jesus and with all those who love him. It is the table of sharing with the poor of the world, with whom Jesus identified himself. It is the table of communion with the earth in which Christ became incarnate.

So come to this table, you who have much faith and you would like to have more. You who have been to this sacrament often and you who have not been for a long time. You who have tried to follow Jesus and you who have failed. Come! It is Christ who invites us to meet him here.

Amen.

A Broken and Fearful World

Oftentimes, the things that make it onto this blog are happy, sentimental types of stories about beautiful and very uplifting moments that take place in my work at the Campus. Don’t get me wrong, these moments happen, and, indeed, they happen every day. But, what I sometimes don’t convey here is the ugly and violent reality of homelessness. Typically in the front window of the sanctuary at Second, we have a bouquet of flowers, through Lent it has been an arrangement of bare sticks. It serves as a reminder that life not only includes Sunday mornings filled with Easter lilies but Friday afternoons of switches and thorns. So, in the spirit of this season of brokenness and repentance through which we currently walk, here are some observations about the harsh realities of life for both the homeless and those of us who work among them.

VIOLENCE

A reality of the streets is violence. At the Campus, we put violence into four categories: verbal, physical, sexual, and racial. Verbal and racial abuse (mostly the use of the n-word, whether done in a friendly or malicious way) are the most common types of violence we see—a couple of times a week, while physical and sexual violence are more rare—a couple of times a month, if that. The past week, as emotions began to flare with the final week of Room In The Inn looming large in the minds of our participants, was one that saw a higher number of violent incidences than usual. On Wednesday, there was a heated argument over a stolen bag that turned into a physical scuffle which involved nearly all of the staff members who were present, including me, being pushed around a little bit. Fortunately, we were able to diffuse the situation ourselves before anyone was seriously hurt, since it took the police over 30 minutes to respond to our 911 call.

Fortunately, no weapons were involved in that incident, which wasn’t the case a couple of other times this past week, when a woman used a brick to injure a man, and an intoxicated man pulled out a razor blade on one of our staff people. We all know that we work in a somewhat dangerous place, but we try to make sure we deal with volatile people in pairs and are smart about the way we handle things. (That last sentence was for you, Mom.)

ADDICTION

Probably 90% of the people we serve at the Campus have some kind of addiction problem. For many it is alcohol, for others it is drugs (mainly crack cocaine) and for a lot it is both of those. I have seen my share of intoxicated people, and it’s been easier to pick them out as time has gone by and I’ve gotten to know how individuals act when their drunk vs. sober. Once a man walked up to me and pulled up his shirt, undid his pants and pulled out a bottle of Listerine that he had been drinking. Mouthwash is about 25% alcohol, compared with just 5 or 6% in a typical beer. It’s also cheap and readily accessible.

I have knowingly witnessed two drug deals. One was in our bathroom, where I saw some large amounts of money being exchanged. Another was just outside our door at a picnic table, where I actually saw a man with a bag of crack. The funny thing is, when I confronted these people, they came up with the same kinds of excuses that school kids would come up with if they were caught passing notes in class. (“I was just giving him some money so he could call his mom on the phone…”)

HEALTH

Some of the saddest things we see on a daily basis are people with illnesses who have to live on the streets. Most of us take for granted the fact that we have somewhere to go when we are sick. Can you imagine having to live on the streets and walk everywhere when you’re seriously ill? It is not uncommon for our participants to have surgery in the morning and be back with us in the afternoon. Most of us don’t appreciate the fact that we have a bed to lie in to recover.

Physical illness also spreads quickly through the homeless population, especially in crowded shelters. Being crammed into a church van on the way to a church for Room In The Inn or sleeping in close quarters in a crowded mission, combined with a lack of access to the resources necessary for good hygiene and proper sanitation don’t do much to keep people healthy.

Besides the physical illnesses that I see on a daily basis, there is a large percentage of our population that suffers from mental illness. Depression runs rampant through the homeless population. Diseases that keep people from seeing reality often lead them to refuse our help. All too often, the pressures of life in homelessness lead people to threaten or attempt suicide. On a few occasions, people have expressed suicidal feelings to me, which puts responsibility on me to make sure that they receive help.

CHOICES

So often, people will say to me, “You know, 90% of homeless people choose to be homeless.” I would agree that many homeless people claim that they chose this lifestyle, but I don’t agree with them. There are few people who would opt into a life of having to depend on someone else, whether that someone is a social service agency or a group of church volunteers, for everything. Hardly anyone would rather sleep outdoors exposed to the elements night after night than sleep under a roof. It is most often addiction and mental illness that keep people homeless. When your mental state will not allow you to receive help or you spend everything you have because of an insatiable drive to feed your addiction, you probably won’t be able to keep a home no matter how inexpensive it is.

But, that doesn’t let the rest of us off the hook. The broken life of the homeless could happen to any of us at any time, and we are each prone to the same violent tendencies and illnesses as a condition of our humanity. We must make the decision to love people unconditionally, and make peace where there is violence, healing where there is sickness and hope where there is despair.

I'm still here

Well, I've started getting some requests for a blog update, since it's been a few weeks since I posted anything of substance, so I'll try to fulfill those requests today. I've been pretty busy over the last month. I made two trips to Indiana on successive weekends at the end of February. On the first I played the piano for a wedding and preached at Trinity Lutheran. On the second, I took my NEP roommates with me to the "Middle East" as we would call it (or the "Midwest" for the rest of you). We gave a presentation at the Synod of Lincoln Trails Youthfest in Urbana, IL, and then came back to Terre Haute and gave some presentations at Central Pres. Brian came and spent most of this past week with me in Nashville, which was fun. I've also been keeping busy with music at the church. I'm subbing for the organist for three weeks, playing for the Wednesday night Taize services, plus I played for a memorial service last Sunday afternoon and am playing for an ordination service next Sunday. My fingers haven't been used to all of this work.

Here are a few pictures of what's been going on.

INDIANA SNOW: On the drive between Paris, IL, where the wedding was, and Terre Haute.

NASHVILLE SNOW: Patrick made these great snow people/animals on the day of our big snow here (1 inch).

This snow family met a slow and painful death.

Sad!

What would a presentation by Young Adult Volunteers be without piles of free goodies? We made the awesome bendy sticks into "YAV." The Youthfest planning team invited us to give two workshops on the YAV program.

At the hotel in Urbana (The Eastland Suites), they have a huge bird in the lobby. Strange.

The bird has quite a vocabulary of four-letter words.

Chasie became interested in the bird and asked to go into its cage area while this guy was cleaning. He said sure, because the bird loves women. We noticed that after he took the bird out of its cage, he was wearing all sorts of protective gear--thick gloves, goggles, etc. We also noticed that our dear housemate Chasie did not have any of these things on as the guy was trying to get the bird to stand on her arm. As Chasie was holding her arm out and the bird starts bobbing its head, the cage cleaning man says "GET BACK! GET BACK! HE'S IN ATTACK MODE!" So Chasie leaves the room not being able to hold the bird. Then we ask the guy why he wears all of that protective gear, and he proceeds to say, "Oh, I don't trust that bird at all, he'll peck my eyes out." Thankfully, Chasie lived to tell about it.

The joy of Sycamore women's basketball!

I thought we were heading for a shutout, but Bradley scored right after I took this picture.

Indiana State led by about 30 most of the way through.

Look at all of these Sycamore fans! Chasie and Tara raided Brian's closet since they slept in his room.

"Indiana State -- isn't that where Larry Bird went?" Yes, Tennesseans, it is.

Oh listen to the jingle, the rumble and the roar...

The final score: The Braves of Bradley, 50. Your Indiana State University Sycamores, 86.

Rachel Maenpaa gave a quite thorough senior speech.

Traveling Violations: A Coach's Coach

Here's a good article I found on Yahoo! Sports about the firing of Indiana State men's basketball coach Royce Waltman.

Traveling Violations: A Coach's Coach

The best quote from Coach Waltman after the loss at the Valley tournament last night after being asked if he would retire or try to find another coaching job:

"I can't get a head coaching job. You gotta understand. If you get fired for cheating, you can get hired right back again. If you get fired for losing, it's like you've got leprosy, so young coaches need to bear that in mind. Cheating and not graduating players will not get you in trouble, but boy, that damn losing."