Dennis Jaskell has AIDS and had lived on the street since 1987 before he started a sobriety group and a Monday night alumni group at the Boston Rescue Mission, a local shelter. Jaskell has been off the streets and sober for three years.
He said he feels he is an example to those struggling with substance abuse and those facing the possibility of being HIV positive. He gains his strength not to slip back into addiction by letting others depend on him, he added. Doing volunteer work with those that have less than him helps him avoid what he terms ‘stinking thinking.’
‘I just told one guy last week going for his test results, ‘It ain’t the end of the world. Don’t let it be a setback in life,” he said.
Ex-homeless staff members are especially effective because they have ‘been there,’ said Shepley Metcalf, spokesman for The Pine Street Inn. ‘They know how challenging it is and have a particular compassion. They realize how much life can fall apart.’
‘I never liked going to shelters when I was on the streets,’ said Jaskell.
‘They are crowded, with a lot of angry people. It brought me down,’ he said, explaining his reasons for running the support groups.
Homelessness ‘is a depressive world. It took a long time to get where I’m at today,’ he said.
With winter temperatures plummeting to lows of 17 degrees and the Christmas season fast approaching, attention toward Boston’s homeless has been increasing significantly over recent weeks.
Notorious state cutbacks have hit Boston area organizations hard, but the holiday season provides hope for these groups, offering opportunities for intense fundraising.
Thanksgiving traditionally kicks off the fundraising time of year, when shelters raise the majority of their funds and extend an especially hospitable hand to their guests. For the 6,000 homeless men, women and children in the city of Boston, this year’s holiday season bears remarkable importance.
The Home for Little Wanderers, New England’s largest child welfare agency, raises 60 percent of its annual funds during this month, according to Director of Communications Lisa Rowan-Gillis.
Little Wanderers has named its fundraising campaign ‘Beyond the Holidays,’ to emphasize the point that the need for funding lasts longer than the holiday season, according to Rowan-Gillis.
The Pine Street Inn, a haven for many homeless people with drug or alcohol addictions, generates about 40 percent of its funds from individuals, corporations and foundations. Officials at Pine Street said they plan to spend an undetermined amount to remain open when the weather drops below freezing, according to The Boston Globe.
This will be the first year Pine Street will be underwriting ads with Gillette on radio station WBUR to encourage volunteers. Pine Street officials are selling four different holiday cards this year, which are available at Barnes and Noble bookstores and on the Internet.
‘About 90 companies have bought the cards this season for their clients,’ Metcalf said.
Pine Street has been level-funded for the past three years, Metcalf said although their costs increase annually, funding from the state remains the same. This year, as a result of level-funding, there was a $2.2 million reduction in emergency service, according to Metcalf.
Grappling with addiction rates that seem to simultaneously increase along with charitable donations is a difficult challenge for the Pine Street Inn as well as other local organizations that try to implement unique ways to combat the issue of substance abuse. Holiday time can be especially difficult and exacerbate addiction issues, the experts said.
The Boston Rescue Mission tries to create a ‘home environment’ during the holidays, showing movies and increasing group support meetings, but they ‘wind up losing people,’ said Rev. John Samaan, president of the BRM.
‘Many go back to their addictions because of their situations. Many are estranged from their families,’ he added.
‘When you get to saying ‘poor me’ it turns into ‘pour me another,’ Jaskell said, adding he ‘knows the cry out there’ on the streets. While he conceded he doesn’t know all the answers, he thinks there need to be more programs and increased availability for the homeless to access them.
‘It’s hard getting people into shelters. It’s hard getting them to realize why to take that first step from detox. They’ve got to get their health back because the streets take their toll. People have got to find a foundation in Alcoholics Anonymous groups and get a sponsor. The next level is finding that spiritual path and really believing,’ Jaskell said.
‘We try to make the holidays as comfortable and as nice as we can,’ said Metcalf, describing this year’s Thanksgiving celebration at Pine Street as ‘amazing.’
‘We had 200 volunteers who served the guests. We used real china and tablecloths,’ she said.
Pine Street’s Christmas activities include holiday concerts and gifts for everybody. Christmas Day itself is quite a ‘bittersweet day,’ Metcalf said.
‘Let’s face it, who’d want to be staying at a shelter on Christmas Day?’ she asked. ‘It’s very sobering.’
To brighten the day, Pine Street makes an effort to get its guests meaningful gifts. The shelter has about 120 female guests who use the shelter regularly. Since the shelter staff is able to get to know them, ‘we’re able to get them individually tailored gifts. If we know someone’s favorite color is purple, we’ll get them purple slippers or someone else a special lotion,’ Metcalf said.
This winter, through their Adopt-A-Vet program, the New England Homeless Veteran’s Shelter will give the holiday wish lists of some homeless veterans to individuals and corporations in the area.
‘It costs us an enormous amount in labor, but people enjoy the gift giving. This way people who are estranged from their own families can still receive gifts,’ said Stephen Spain of the veteran shelter. ‘Some of the lists can bring tears to your eyes. Some men ask for toys for their daughters.’
The veteran shelter houses approximately 350 to 400 men a night, but guests must be sober. Therefore, the shelter does not experience a decline or jump in guests during the holidays.
‘We draw on comradeship and the military motto ‘Leave no one behind.’ We help people remember when they were in the service, when they were proud of themselves and what they were doing,’ Spain said.
‘Our job-training programs and the vets with full-time jobs from the program help others realize our success rate is not completely anecdotal,’ he said.
Success rates depend significantly on available resources, making the state budget cuts to social service programs especially detrimental. Jaskell said he thinks the state’s budget cuts ‘have made things 10 times worse.’
‘The Statehouse sees the homeless on the Boston Common within our hearts we need to reach out,’ Jaskell said.
‘We’ve managed not to cut services,’ Spain said of the veteran shelter. However, if the shelters get through this year, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are home free, Spain acknowledged.
‘It’s uncertain if we’re going to be able to keep [services] in 2003.’
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