I recently attended a webinar hosted by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The discussion focused on how housing advocates can speak about Housing First programs to gain support for those programs from the general public. (For this article, you don’t need to worry about what Housing First is, because that isn’t the point of […]
As you may have heard, in late September a car went through the dining room wall of the Opportunity Center, which is a service building about three blocks from Peace House Community. Fortunately, the building didn’t suffer any critical damage, and it re-opened fully within two days. For those two days, though, PHC was busy.
Lately, the negativity of the world has affected me more than usual. Over the last few months, several supporters and members at Peace House Community have died or experienced some form of trauma. World news has been bleak. The mornings are darker and colder. Sadly, I’m one of the fortunate ones, as I know many
After the doom and gloom of my last few columns, I wanted to write something a little more upbeat this month. Based on my current thoughts, I may not succeed, but by the end of this article I will try to have found a ray of hope. At the end of July, I travelled to
Every Little Bit Helps Read More »
Recently, a discussion about bathrooms at Peace House Community took a strange turn. I and several community members were talking about the problem we have with individuals camping out in the bathrooms. We have two bathrooms and we serve about 120 members a day, so we need everyone to get in and out quickly. The
What Did You Just Say? Read More »
Kathleen Zuckerman is an artist by vocation and training so connecting her volunteerism with art is easy. What stands out in how her commitment to Peace House and other organizations underscores key characteristics of the artistic imagination – a keen sense of awareness, an attentiveness to detail, and an abiding curiosity. We tend to describe
Meet Kathleen Zuckerman Read More »
So much is happening at Peace House Community these days that I don’t know how best to use this space. I want our supporters to know what they are accomplishing through their support, but I also want to discuss the challenges and opportunities that lie in the future. Part of the challenge is that the
This morning, one of Peace House Community’s members stopped by to say hi. He hadn’t been here for a few months, and I was glad to see him. When I asked how he was doing, he smiled, said, “I’m doing alright”, and held up his hands to show me that all his fingers had been
The Absurd Society Read More »
Decades ago, I heard my supervisor speaking with a friend about their respective marital troubles. They had very different challenges in their marriages, but they understood each other’s struggles. Being young, single, and stupid, I made some naïve comment that was meant to be helpful. My supervisor laughed at my ignorance and commented, “When it
Which is Worse: A Viper, a Cobra, or an Adder? Read More »
Occasionally, you come across wisdom in such an unexpected place that you don’t notice it until later. It’s like driving past something quickly and then thinking “Did I just see …?” I had this experience recently when I ran across one of the best commentaries I’ve ever heard about what matters in a relationship. Some
Wisdom in Unexpected Places Read More »