One Man's Trash
Story by Bella Wexler, photograph by Nick Bolton
The sun had barely risen one Saturday and I was already donning a mask and gloves alongside my classmates in a parking lot. Like many high schoolers, I participate in a community service club. And, like many high schoolers, I have pondered the merit in volunteering for the sake of earning credit in said club. After all, can any work really be considered service if I knowingly gain recognition for it? I have come to rationalize that what really matters is whether the activity I do produces net good in my community. Hence why I was standing in a parking lot on a Saturday at the crack of dawn, preparing to clock my 3 hours of volunteering to help clean a local neighborhood wash.
I spent the morning working alongside other volunteers from around my city to transport debris to nearby garbage receptacles. Although the branches we carried were heavy, it was the old clothing, tattered blankets, and bent shopping carts that weighed down on me. It became clear soon enough that the vast majority of materials we disposed of were likely the belongings of homeless people.
I had signed up for this service event to help clean up a wash, which I had perceived to be a service to the neighborhood nearby. I left feeling guilty for having potentially thrown away the only resources many homeless individuals in my community may have had to get them through winter during a pandemic. I don’t actually know what happened to the people whose belongings we gathered, but the experience certainly opened my eyes to the pervasive impact of poverty in my city.
Local news outlet, KVOA, documented a study conducted by Pima County and the City of Tucson which found there to be 361 people living on the streets and more than 700 people living in shelters in my community during 2019. According to Pima County’s “Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness”, homeless women experience sexual assault 20 times more than other women and the average lifespan for homeless men in 1998 was only 53 years.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, these vulnerable communities are more at risk than ever. To slow the spread of the virus, The Tucson City Council relaxed its restrictions on sleeping in public parks and even partnered with two hotels to provide quarantined housing for homeless people who are at high risk for or are exhibiting symptoms of coronavirus.
But this is just my city.
There are over half a million homeless people nationwide. The 2019 White House report on homelessness by The Council of Economic Advisors noted that homelessness almost always occurs when people are facing desperate conditions with very few resources to which they can turn. Especially as we continue to face a global pandemic making it difficult for many to make ends meet, we must realize that this crisis will not solve itself.
What was absent from the wash I cleaned that day and is far too often absent from policies affecting the homelessness are the actual people who suffer from it. Disposing of unsightly indicators of homelessness in order to beautify a neighborhood epitomizes the ways in which systemic problems are perpetuated in our society. Sweeping these issues under the rug doesn’t make the people they affect disappear. My experiences while cleaning the wash showed me that service isn’t about the number of hours I have dedicated in order to receive credit for my club; it is about what comes of the hours I’ve spent. As Tucson and the US take strides towards combating homelessness, it is essential that those of us with a roof over our heads or some volunteer hours to log don’t turn a blind eye to the legitimate struggles that people face on a daily basis. No matter what, no one’s life deserves to be discarded.
Please take advantage of the following resources to learn more about homelessness and contribute to future solutions.
“The State of Homelessness in America” (White House report by The Council of Economic Advisors)
“Homelessness By State” (United States Interagency Council on Homelessness)
National Alliance to End Homelessness (national nonprofit)
Stand Up for Kids (national nonprofit)
