Foodbank

Lately, I have had a heard time broadening my views on this project. I can't seem to think of creative places to go, or creative questions, or even creative insights on homelessness. However, this all changed when I visited the Cleveland Foodbank. 

Here is some contact info just to start off:

Cleveland Foodbank, Inc.
15500 South Waterloo Road
Cleveland, OH 44110
Phone: 216.738.2265
Fax: 216.738.1604

I visited the foodbank because of 2 reason: 1) I have never been to a foodbank before, and 2) I wanted to  experience a wider range of people in different economic classes. I have been so solely concentrated on the lowest economic class, homelessness, I hadn't broadened my view to include the underclass or the working poor.

As I observed the foodbank ministry I saw not only homeless people come in and eat, I saw people with work clothes on. People with Jobs. I saw kids with bookbags on doing their homework. I was astonished! 

I approached one woman who was wearing her hotel maid attire and asked her a series of questions. Because It took me forever to type all those questions a few blogs ago, I am just going to summarize what she told me.  

Her name is Alaina. She is 43 years old and works at a hotel in Ooltewah. She has 2 kids: Jane, who is 15, and Andrew, who is 10. She has been a single mom since her husband abandoned her and her kids 7 years ago. As I talked to her and learned her story I realized I couldn't do what she does. 

Throughout the time I was at the foodank, I was able to ask most of the people there if they had a job or not. Out of the 100 people who entered and left, 45 had jobs and 32 didn't (the remaining 23 were kids). 

I began to think and reflect and realize how close minded our society is. We think of a foodbank and automatically assume everyone there is homeless. But how wrong we are. I haven't figured out what this discovery truly means yet, but as I contemplate on it, I have some interesting thoughts that I will share on my October 27 post.