(24 Hour Challenge) Homeless

Image provided by @mihaly_koles.

As part of the 15th Anniversary celebration for Natetheworld.com, I am hosting a 24-hour writing challenge. Starting in January 2024, readers began submitting essay prompts. My goal is to tackle as many of these prompts as possible in a 24-hour period.

I will never forget my first time volunteering at the Oklahoma City Rescue Mission. Based on the media I had consumed, I found myself afraid. I didn’t trust homeless people.

I will never forget visiting Chicago in February. It was in the teens, and the windchill made things feel much worse. As we exited the restaurant and made our way back to the train, we found a man asleep on a sidewalk vent. The rush of warm air was all that kept him alive on that night.

I will never forget the first time I met two teenagers experiencing homelessness. They were both 13 years old and standing outside the King County Library in Kent. One had been kicked out of his house because he was gay. The other had been forced to leave because an abusive father discovered he was trans.

I will never forget the time spent with moms exiting homelessness at Kent Youth and Family Services. Their stories were powerful. In their short lives, they had overcome more than I could fathom.