On a Mission

By Christy Houghton 

Christopher Carter

On a chilly Sunday morning last spring, I sat down with Christopher Carter, one of the residents at Camp United We Stand (CUWS). After graciously agreeing to the interview, he led me to the TV Tent so he could warm his hands by the heater while we talked.
Christopher has been an elected leader at the homeless camp, and speaks with sincerity and conviction. One of the first things I learn about him is that he’s on a personal mission.

“God Delivered Me from a Terrible Stutter” 

Christopher said he’d had a bad stutter for most of life. He worked in construction as a general contractor, building houses in Oklahoma. In 2013, a traveling evangelist sent him a text, telling him to read Jeremiah 33:3. At this point, Christopher paused, and I looked at him questioningly. He just repeated, “Jeremiah 33:3.” He went home and read the whole chapter.
When Christopher went to share what he'd read with his friend Theresa, she interrupted him, saying, "Christopher, you don't stutter no more." From that time on, Christopher says, “God delivered me from a terrible stutter, and has given me a beautiful voice.” It made his mother cry, when he first spoke to her without that stutter.
I didn’t learn what was in that Bible verse until I got home and looked it up. “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” – Jeremiah 33:3

He Needed to Go to Tent City 3 

In 2015 Christopher helped a friend of his move from Oklahoma to Arlington, Washington. From there, he felt called to go to Santa Monica, California. The police picked him up on the side of the Interstate, telling him that he couldn't walk down it. You can do that in some other states, but not in Washington. In Downtown Seattle, where the police dropped him off, Christopher had planned on getting a couple day’s work for a bus ticket to Santa Monica.
Someone he’d recently met at the Bread of Life Mission downtown interrupted a conversation with someone else not just once, but three separate times, to tell Christopher that he needed to go to Tent City 3. So, that’s what he did. "Years ago, I told the Father, if You need to use me or move me, give it to me in threes or sevens." Camp United We Stand was founded by Christopher and some others who were at Tent City 3.

“This is where God wants me.” 

Christopher would prefer living in permanent housing, but he says, "This is where God wants me." Drawing on his construction background, he recently designed a new type of shelter made from thick Styrofoam insulation material. These shelters, called BOBs (Built On Blessings), are easy to build, relatively inexpensive, and collapsible for moving. Once tarped, they’re warmer and drier than a tent.
Christopher has also been working on building a "bath house”, a foam structure with a real bath and shower using a donated tub. “The foam house is just a rest stop on my journey." Christopher has a bigger vision.

“Homelessness isn’t something that gets fixed, it needs to be healed.” 

Christopher says he never felt the need of the homeless while he was living in a house. He never felt it until he came here. “Homelessness isn't something that gets fixed, it needs to be healed. Permanent housing can help with that. If every church has housing structures, people who need a place to live can come to their local church instead of going downtown where the drugs are.” Christopher has a personal mission to talk with each church in the area, asking them to reserve part of their property for people in their community who become homeless. His vision is that each church, according to its size would have portable but permanent housing.
In the future, Christopher plans to keep going wherever he's led, to wherever he’s needed, to wherever his mission points.

NOTE: Since Christy’s interview with Christopher, he has left Camp United We Stand. Several of his BOBs, however, are still standing at the camp. If you are interested in seeing this innovative new structure, feel free to stop by to visit. You can find the camp’s current location at http://greaterseattlecares.org/encampments/location-hosts/.

Speaking Up

By Christy Houghton

I signed up for Homeless Advocacy 101, a workshop sponsored by the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness (SKCCH), to learn something new about helping the homeless. Geared towards ordinary people like me, who aren’t professional lobbyists and don’t remember much about American Government lessons from high school social studies, this free workshop was informative, interesting, entertaining – and sobering. On any given night in the Seattle area, 10,000 people are homeless, with 4,500 people still outside after shelters close. There is clearly a need for solutions.

Kate Baber, who works for the Washington Low-Income Housing Alliance, kicked off the workshop by reviewing some current legislative priorities which could benefit the homeless. But how to get our legislators to listen to our concerns about our neighbors who are without shelter?

That was the focus of Nancy Amidei’s talk. Nancy has influenced public policy for years in both Washigntons before retiring from teaching civics and advocacy at the University of Washington. She gave a short review of how our elected representatives work for us at the state and federal levels and the way that bills are turned into laws.

Nancy’s definition of advocacy is, “Speaking up!” Our government representatives have staff for facts. They need us for personal stories. Stories that are brief and compelling will help influence their colleagues on our behalf. One easy way to speak up is to call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000. It’s a free call to a helpful person who will get your message to the right people. Nancy also advises signing up with a good advocacy group that's tracking the issues you care about and will inform its members about opportunities to act.

Alison Eisinger, SKCCH’s Executive Director, facilitated the workshop. Her goal, she told us, was to have us leave with tools, knowledge, and a sense of empowerment. I left with all of that, plus the conviction that I can make a difference by speaking up to share stories about the homeless with my elected representatives.

Resources:

• Sign up for free community workshops: Homelessness Advocacy 101 Workshops.
• Go to http://leg.wa.gov to look up your legislative district.
• Call the free Hotline to Olympia 1-800-562-6000, 8am - 8pm, Monday through Friday. 
• Join Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness at www.homelessinfo.org
• Check out the website of the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance at www.wliha.org.
• Greater Seattle Cares also has links to find your representatives at http://greaterseattlecares.org/effecting-change/contact-representatives/.

Room to Grow

By Christy Houghton

Additional Property for Camp Second Chance

There were only 14 residents at Camp Second Chance before the city added another parcel of land in March, making room to grow. The site can now house up to 70 people in 50 tents or tiny houses. New residents have come from other camps, or from homeless 'sweeps', where people and their things are removed from an unsanctioned location.
By April first, the camp had already doubled in size.

A Model Camp

Camp Second Chance allows adults only, due to the relatively remote industrial area where schools and daycares aren’t very close. Everyone is expected to follow the camp's rules, including a prohibition on having alcohol or drugs in camp. If a rule gets broken once, though, there’s compassion. That person is reminded of the rules and given a second chance to stay. Sometimes, the Second Chance Community isn’t a good fit for someone in their current life situation. There's a large extra tent with three cots, so people can spend the night as guests, even if they decide not to join the community. Camp Second Chance even hires an Uber ride, so the guest has a way to get to a different place the next morning.

Eric Davis, the camp’s Program Director, founded this nonprofit transitional housing community with fifteen others. Davis shared the planned improvements and his vision for Camp Second Chance. “We’ll have electricity in April. Shortly after that, running water will be available.” A mobile shower service arrives every Tuesday now, and will soon come on Saturdays, too. Davis would like to see tiny portable houses replace the tents. Eventually, they’ll build raised garden beds. After a visit, the mayor had said that this is a model camp, and Davis agrees. It’s not all about the services, though.

Run Like a Family

“This camp is run like a family,” claims Davis. Each camper has a voice in making decisions that impact the camp, like how to spend donated money and when to purchase new items. All decisions are put to a vote, and the majority vote wins. Davis feels strongly that everyone needs to be treated with respect, with their opinion heard and valued. And, just like in a family, everyone is expected to help out with the camp's chores. Davis’ philosophy is that "we use you for what you're good at." People are assigned to roles and tasks for the camp, based on what they can do. Responsibilities include security, kitchen coordinators, and maintenance duties. When people arrive with very few personal things, the camp purchases a tent and tarp for the new residents. Camp Second Chance is a place to feel safe, where people can leave their belongings while working or looking for a job. Residents know that their things will be there with their ‘family community’ when they return, even as the family grows this year.

Dental Care Partners

By Christy Houghton

Who likes to go to the dentist? Nobody I know! But Greater Seattle Cares (GSC) and Medical Teams International (MTI) have a new partner that is helping make that visit to the dentist a little easier for residents of Tent City 3 and other formal homeless encampments.

It’s 8:00 a.m. on March 22nd, and the door of the UW Fisheries Science Building opens, admitting a volunteer who escorts a man walking with a cane. A black Lab with a graying muzzle ambles over for a polite sniff. In the middle of the great hall, a small fluffy white Maltese sits near three reclining dental chairs. Open-mouthed patients lie in the chairs, each tended by a small team of dental students with a faculty advisor. Behind them, a long table is laid out with dental supplies, while on the other side a separate room has been designated for X-rays. Down the hall, other dental students are checking patients in, helping them fill out paperwork, or sitting to chat with them while they wait to be seen. Outside, the big red MTI Mobile Dental Van is parked next to Tent City 3, accommodating two more third-year dental students and another of the dental school’s faculty. This is Husky Health Bridge at work.

“The little white dog is mine,” says Brandon Walker, a former U.S. Marine turned dental student. “Earlier this morning, Teddy sat on a patient’s lap during her whole procedure.” Brandon is the “Media and PR guy” for Husky Health Bridge, a nonprofit formed last October by a group of first-year UW dental students who wanted to extend dental services to underserved groups in the area. He and a faculty advisor even brought their dogs today to help ensure the best possible dental experience for people who may be pretty scared after not having seen a dentist in a while.

This is the second time that Husky Health Bridge, MTI and GSC have organized a dental clinic for Tent City 3 while it has been hosted at the UW. Justin, a camp resident, had a molar extracted by this same group just one month earlier. “They were very nice. I was nervous because they were students, but they were very knowledgeable,” he says. Today, they’ve given him fluoride toothpaste and a soft brush to help with the sensitivity in his mouth while the area around the extraction heals.

Greater Seattle Cares has collaborated with MTI for several years, bringing free dental care to the residents of Tent City 3. MTI provides the mobile dental van, which has two dental chairs, onsite x-rays, and some advanced dental equipment. Usually, MTI also finds volunteer dentists to serve on the van. Greater Seattle Cares serves as liaison with the camp and assures a constant flow of patients through the clinic. And this year, Husky Health Bridge (HHB) joined the partnership, bringing enough dental equipment and volunteers to treat another three people at a time. Even more importantly, HHB has committed to “adopting” Tent City 3, providing volunteers to bring the MTI dental van to the camp, wherever it is, on a monthly basis.

For today, however, this dental services partnership is closing up shop. HHB volunteers pack up the mobile dental chairs, the dental equipment, the generator and the extra supplies. The MTI Clinic Manager ties down everything in the Mobile Dental Van with bungee cords and maneuvers the huge red vehicle carefully out of the parking lot, heading back to the MTI headquarters in Redmond. The GSC Dental Program Coordinator secures all the dental charts for storage in a locked filing cabinet in her garage. “All together, the Husky Health Bridge/MTI/GSC team saw 20 patients today, many with complex dental problems,” she reports. “Though the clinic was supposed to close at 2 PM, the volunteers have all stayed until well after 5 PM in order to make sure that every patient could be seen. This kind of commitment really sends a message to people living in homelessness that they are important, that they matter.”

And that can make coming to the dentist not so scary after all.