This has been a wonderful experience and I am so greatful that I was able to be apart of such a wonderful project. I think that in do ing this project I gaine alot of knowledge about things as far as homelessness and why people become homeless from the statistics that I didn’t even know existed. Therefor, I belive that with the knowledge that I have gained from this experience I was able to do better than I though that I would. Although I have not heard anything from the letters that I have written I will continue to write because I knew going into this project that I may not get responses my first time around but I feel that anything worth while is worth working for, so althoughthey have not responded yet I will continue to write untill I get a response. It was wonderful to hear the responses from people about what they thought of my project and what they thought of the work that I was doing because although this project is just getting off the ground I still appreciate all the feed back I get from those individuals who can relate t some of the things that I’ve gone through while trying to complete this project. I must say this, and I think that I say it everytime I complete abolgg entry, I am really getting tired of doing these bloggs but everytime I get tired I begin to think that it is salmost over. I recently shadowed some one from a homeless shelter called bridgehouse, and in shadowing this person I learned the ins and outs of what the volunteers do on a daily basis to assist the homeless people. At bridgehouse the volunteers work with the homeless individuals to help them get their lives back on track, but they begin by just cleaning them up and and feeding them. Once they get down to their real needs they sometimes fond out that some of these people have become homeless because of drug problems and some of them have become homeless because the may have lost their jobs , of even because of health problems. If the person that they are assisting has come to the shelter because of a drug problem then they work with the person to find a drug rehabilitation center and then once they get to the rehab center they recieve counseling and treatment to get off of drugs. Them that same rehab will also work with that person to find housing and a job. As for the people who come to bridgehouse with medical issues, they have a volunteer who assist with medical attention, but this person can only check them out to see what may be the issue after that the person becomes treated by a doctor and then returns back to bridg house for further help just as the person who was addicted to drugs. The only thing that was different about bridgehouse was that they only assisted males, but in my program I will assist male and female. After I shadowed at bridgehouse I also shadowed at a volunteer AIDS clinic that with AIDS patients. I shadowed here becaue I wanted to get some information about how to run a place of this nature without being funded. While shadowing I was informed of so many organizations that I could use to help fund my project because they will work with small organizations like myself to help recieve money to complete my task. I realize that this may not seem like much but I have begun helping the people at brighouse and the people at bridgehouse, meaning the staff, have begun to help me as well with starting this organization. I feel really fortunate to have met the people at bridgehouse b ecause one of the main things that I learned from this organization is that although it may seem rough and it is, the key is to never give up, and to continuoisly remind yourself why you are doing what you are doing so that you wont lose sight on the really important factors of your project. I said this to say that this project was no where near as easy as I thought that it would be in the sence that there aren’t as many people out there willing to help as I though that it would be . I thought that I would have hundreds if not thousands of people willing to help me or help to lead me in the right direction for be to know were to begin my journey, but when I began calling aroung to look for places to let me shadow them so I could get some instructions as to where I should begin there weren’t many people who were willing to do so because I don’t thinl that they took me serious or it may have been because they were not serious about their job in helping people. In the beginning I became very discouraged as to what I was going to do as far as trying to put this thing together because I felt lost, but one I got to bridge house I felt like everything would be okay because they welcomed me with open arms and were instantly ready and willing to help. I feel that I gained so much from that experience because I understand why people come there because they don’t make you feel like an outsider, they make you feel welcome and like you are with family. So, although my project is going somewhat slow I feel that I am on the right path towards something great. I realize that I have built a great relationship with an organization that is willing to help in any way, shape, or form, and with their help I cannot possible go wrong. I think that this project will help me grow as a student and as a person who wants to do great things to help the greater good.

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