- I spend Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
with the relief, and on Monday and Tuesday,
I help the homeless in Brooklyn.
I feed them breakfast.
That way, the only day I have really to myself,
is Sunday, which is good for me,
because idle time with me, gets me in trouble.
You gotta start somewhere, I'm on the street,
so why not feed 'em too?
- Homeless folks
want to contribute just like anybody else.
And so we wanted to carve out space in our program,
for homeless folks to actually serve with us.
And it's been an incredible program.
I can't wait for you to meet several other folks
who are volunteering with us today,
who are experiencing homelessness themselves,
and just showing so much resilience and generosity,
and they inspire me every single day.
(calm instrumental music)
City Relief is a mobile outreach program
that takes a hot meal, emergency supplies
like socks, toiletry kits, masks,
and other emergency felt need items to friends
who are experiencing homelessness
or don't have access to those items.
We set up a popup event eight times a week,
throughout the New York city Metro area.
We invite our friends to come and hang out with us,
but we also have trained staff on site
and community partners who join us,
to create a one stop shop experience for our guests.
Without partners, we are a bridge to nowhere.
And so while we can provide soup and socks
and a compassionate smile and friendship,
we understand there are other organizations in the city
that are providing essential services,
connections to housing and long term support.
And so we can be the point of contact for our guests,
who come for our services, but also get access
to legal assistance, medical care, and case management.
- Hi, how are you?
So I started off in the kitchen
and then I came out here and I did serve some hot chocolate.
And now I do life care, so that connecting with our guests,
seeing how we can help them, how we can get them connected
to resources.
I mean, this morning, there's someone who needed shower
and healthcare, however we can help.
- How long have you been homeless?
- I'm homeless for 12 years.
The relief person's good.
I got nice people here, and New York is kinda like tough.
It's kind of hard to be homeless,
it's hard to live in a shelter,
and it's hard to live in the street.
- Homelessness in New York city is a very interesting beast.
Some estimate that there's around 80,000 people
who experience homelessness in the five boroughs.
The vast majority of which are sheltered,
because New York city is a right to shelter city.
Unfortunately, it's not a right to housing city,
so the shelters, while they provide emergency beds,
are not always the safest, cleanest,
most dignifying experience, so many of our guests opt
to sleep outside, or sleep on the subway,
because they don't feel safe going into the shelter system.
(calm music)
- It was hard.
They sent me to the shelter on 30th street,
and then from there, I went from there all the way
to 110th street in Harlem, and then from there,
back to the original shelter on the 30th street.
I spent the night there, thinking that I was gonna get
a house in Manhattan.
They ended up sending me all the way out
to Ozone Park, Queens, which I never even heard of.
When they sent me to that shelter,
I got there at four o'clock.
I had to literally sit there until after 10 o'clock
to get a bed.
I'm talking about in the middle of the night.
So, if they didn't have a bed, it was just like,
"All right, well, come back tomorrow."
And what would I've done?
I know what I would've done.
My first joint was like, when I was like 14 or 13.
I'm 57.
I've been getting high for a minute,
but I started getting high on the hard drugs,
when I turned 35.
And that's when I met him.
- This guy works his butt off man.
When I first met him, he had walked two hours
to get to our base of operations and ask for help.
I was like, anyone who's willing to walk two hours
for the chance of getting help, is determined and ready.
- Gave me opportunities, put it that way.
To get myself straightened out.
- [Man] Someone's gotta show love to these people.
They need love too.
- I got over here from Dallas, Texas,
in October of 2021, and I've been looking
for a home, ever since then.
I've been in a shelter for the past two months.
And I actually just found one, today will be my first day,
I just got approved into a home for veterans, in New Jersey.
So I've been in the program
in their City Relief's Peer Empowerment program,
since about November.
And coming out here volunteering
and helping other homeless people because,
I know what it feels like and I wouldn't want anybody else
to ever have that feeling, that they're hungry
or they need clothes or they don't have anywhere to sleep.
And it's actually an honor
to be out here helping these people,
because anybody can fall into a situation like this.
- Homelessness can literally impact everybody and anybody.
I've met people out here who were business owners.
I've met people out here who are ex-professional athletes.
I've met people who just lost their job
and didn't have a backup plan, or a safety network
around them to catch them as they fell.
So really, homelessness can impact
and does impact everybody.
And so, that's why everybody has a responsibility
to do something about it.
- I started volunteering because a friend asked me to.
I went reluctantly because I've never spoken
to a homeless person in my life, I'm ashamed to say.
But it was just any other people, really positive,
really grateful, and now I've been going every Saturday
in the Bronx for over a year.
- Volunteering for the relief company
is not only keeping me clean, it's keeping me away
from the police and areas that I would normally be going to.
62 days.
62 days, man.
It's hard, man.
I didn't go to no detox, none of that.
I kicked it myself and it made me real irritable,
he'd tell you.
I was calling him every five, 10 minutes, man.
If it wasn't for them, I haven't cried in such a long time,
and they me breaking down in a office in front of
a whole bunch of people, man.
And I just lost it for a minute, man.
If it wasn't for this guy here, right here,
I think I would probably either be,
I'd probably be like high or dead.
(laughs)
- So the bottom line for me is that,
nobody chooses to be homeless.
And since the pandemic, homelessness nationally
has gotten worse, so we need to do something.
We have to engage this issue on a national scale,
we have to provide access to housing.
We have to shift from a shelter first model,
to a housing first model.
And we have to just acknowledge the humanity
of our homeless neighbors, by seeing them,
acknowledging them, recognizing that we are all,
one or two bad strokes of luck away from being
in their same situation.
So wherever you are, whatever you're doing,
please get engaged in the issue to fight homelessness
and provide housing to our low income neighbors.
If you're interested in the work that we are doing here
at City Relief, go to cityrelief.org,
you can find ways to volunteer, to donate
and to learn more about the work that we're doing.
(upbeat music)