Beyond Charity: Investing Ourselves in Our Service

When you think of community service, it’s not the kind of thing that immediately screams “long-term investment” and “you’ll definitely be doing this a year from now”. Most of the time, we see it as something we do because we have to — sort of like a checkbox to tick off, which is merely an attempt to convince ourselves that we’ve made a significant impact. But let’s face it, that approach rarely makes a dent in deep-rooted structural issues, like the growing homeless population in LA. Why? Well, it’s because our connection to service work is usually superficial.

It’s in this context that Water Drop LA, a non-profit organization I’ve been fortunate to work with recently, differs from the rest. Water Drop’s weekly goal is simple: they provide water, food, and other essentials to the homeless folks on Skid Row, but they’re doing more than that. They’re redefining what “good service work” should look like by combatting the typical idea of community service: charity. In essence, their entire goal is to work to end the lack of clean drinking water for the homeless population in LA so that their services will no longer be needed. To embody the image of “good service work”, us volunteers at Water Drop should invest ourselves in the main goal of the organization by using our interests in sectors, such as public policy and mental health, to address the deeper issue of homelessness on Skid Row.

But, rendering an organization that provides vital essentials to the community unnecessary is not as easy as it sounds, especially with how long-winded the issue of homelessness has been in LA.

Historically, homelessness has been a prevalent issue in Skid Row as adult males, many with mental illnesses and physical disabilities, in need of social services housed this area. Skid Row was thought of as a way to contain the “poorest and most marginalized residents as well as the charities and social service organizations that served them”(Roos par. 20). However, with the onset of the recession in the 1990s, the Row saw an influx of families in the middle class, who struggled to maintain mortgages and their style of living, looking for social services (UCLA Luskin Social Welfare Department). It became evident to the city government that intake services, such as The Skid Row Housing Trust, for these families were needed, but at the same time the surrounding areas of the Row began to attract investment and revitalization, which brought a resurgence of lofts and live/work spaces. Not long after, the idea of gentrifying Skid Row became appealing to developers; however, the city stood firm in its policy to keep this area for extremely low-income individuals and for individuals needing high levels of social support by accompanying it with social services and affordable housing. Despite these efforts continuing in the present day, homelessness remains a persistent issue on Skid Row without any real progress being made to date. Undeniably, the history behind Skid Row makes it difficult for Water Drop LA, along with us volunteers, to navigate our mission of eliminating inaccessibility to clean water and other resources to the unhoused on the Row.

To address the issues that come with homelessness, many people do the first thing that comes to mind: provide them with food and water. In my experience with my school’s all-girls club focused on community engagement, Girls Build, we hosted a hygiene kit donation drive for the homeless women at Holidays Helping Hand during the holiday season last year. Hygiene products are one of those things that people cannot go without, yet it’s not free meaning it’s inaccessible to unhoused people. It felt gratifying knowing that our efforts in raising those donations would have an immediate impact on those women. In hindsight, it felt like we were combating a wider problem and making some grand gesture, and while that is true and we were doing good that no one else was, it didn’t get to the root of the issue.

This kind of charity work, while helpful in the short-term, typically addresses only the surface of the accessibility and homelessness issue. It’s like slapping a band-aid on a gaping wound.

While charity work is essential for addressing immediate and much-needed support to the unhoused, like food and water, these efforts often lack a deeper concern for the root causes of homelessness. On the other hand, critics of more ambitious service models may say that homelessness is too complex of an issue to implement comprehensive solutions quickly. Nonetheless, our helping hand was needed to address the immediate needs, and obviously, a group of teenage girls was not gonna solve such a massive issue the government has failed to solve time and time again, but it didn’t get to the root of the problem. This approach aligns with the concept of charity, which is about “giving of the self, expecting nothing in return, and with no expectation that any lasting impact will be made” (Morton 118).

Here’s where Water Drop LA comes into play. Their volunteers go beyond just handing out supplies. They focus on building connections, understanding individual stories, and working to address the long-term needs of the homeless population on Skid Row, breaking away from the conventional charity model. They aim for genuine, lasting change.

After attending the orientation session, I was left with a bit of unease, but I knew the people involved were passionate about their goals. What truly stuck with me was them saying that their whole purpose was to not exist. Shocking, right? It’s a perspective that vastly contrasts with the charity model I was familiar with. Later that week, I went on my first hands-on volunteer experience with them, and I didn’t know what to expect. Going into it, I knew I had to eliminate the savior complex we all tend to have when it comes to charity and approach the experience with empathy for the homeless community.

As I mentioned earlier, Girls Build worked behind the scenes and we were the ones raising donations, but we weren’t the ones giving them out. With zero experience under my belt, I showed up on Saturday ready to go and met with Claire, who’s been with Water Drop since its early days. We immediately got to work by putting the supplies in the car while getting to know each other. She showed me the ropes and eased my nervousness. As soon as Nisha, another volunteer in our three-person group, arrived, they gave me some last-minute advice and just like that, we started handing out supplies. It was amazing to see how they knew their section like the back of their hands, remembered names and locations, even down to the snacks they preferred. The volunteers and community had a mutual respect for one another and the relationships they’d fostered over the years showed. Seeing all of this motivated me to go again and understand that it was something amazing to not only witness but to be a part of.

From this experience, I saw that building unique connections with the community on Skid Row and treating people with respect and kindness, rather than letting the typical image of “people in need” cloud their judgment, was vital.

However, the question remains: What does good service work look like within Water Drop LA? I say it’s about investing ourselves in the organization’s goal and diving into the deeper issue of homelessness on Skid Row, all while keeping the challenge within our reach. It is true that on an individual level, we don’t have the means to end homelessness for good; however, we can put our individual passions within our community service to address both the accessibility of water and the structural issues of homelessness. Creating an image of good service might seem like an impossible task, but it’s precisely by expanding our boundaries beyond providing mere essentials and embracing a service-oriented approach to change, that we can begin to tackle the intricate issue of homelessness using social change.

One such example can be reaching out to the public policy section of Water Drop to create and eliminate the laws that are not only denying unhoused people their right to water but also the laws creating and perpetuating homelessness in LA.

At its core, homelessness is fundamentally an affordable housing issue, so individuals interested in public policy can advocate for policies that achieve two main goals: provide water to the unhoused individuals on Skid Row and “increase affordable housing development and rental assistance opportunities, streamline application processes, and reduce construction costs to increase production” (Warth par. 12). However, this isn’t an easy feat.

In recent news, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass produced a new initiative called “Inside Safe” whose goal is to move people from encampments to hotels and quickly into permanent housing; however, progress has been slow, with only a small percentage transitioning into permanent housing. Since its beginning in December, the city has moved “1,373 people into hotels…But only about 77 of those people — less than 6% — have moved from the hotels into permanent housing” (Kendall par. 11). Even the mayor of Los Angeles is having difficulty tackling this issue at hand. However, this is where the support of community members, including volunteers at Water Drop, can make a significant impact by expanding the possibilities within such programs. Joining public policy efforts and ensuring that housing is being provided not only on Skid Row but beyond Los Angeles can help tackle the wider issue.

Another vital aspect is the role of social work. Individuals at Water Drop interested in social work can play a crucial role in making resources beyond essentials like food and water more accessible to the unhoused folk. This includes connecting them to programs, like “Inside Safe” to help them access affordable housing. To add on, these individuals could advocate for providing homes for families who are facing homelessness as it often correlates with disparities within education. This correlation comes from the fact that homeless families have to relocate frequently as a result of homeless shelters’ limited stay, which results in children having to move schools too. “Homeless children and youth who are able to enroll in school still face barriers to regular attendance: while 87% of homeless youth are enrolled in school, only 77% attend school regularly” (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). Evidently, homeless youth are sacrificing their education just for a roof over their head, when that should not be happening in the first place. All of that is to say that advocacy for families and the education of the unhoused youth can bridge the gap between homeless youth and a lack of education; thus, alleviating the issue of homelessness.

To add on, many people who’ve experienced the effects of the prison system, either directly or through family members, can join in public policy efforts to make housing and resources accessible to prevent the prison-to-homeless pipeline. As people out of prison have to start over and now have the burden of a criminal history, they “are about 10 times more likely to experience homelessness than the general public” (Suffolk University par. 3). Supporting movements like “ban the box”, which aims to remove the requirement for applicants to disclose their criminal history on housing applications, can be a game-changer. Having their criminal history puts them at a disadvantage as they are more likely to be denied, which further supports the prison-to-homeless pipeline because it hinders people’s reintegration back into society and forces them into the streets. In turn, this movement prevents housing discrimination based on criminal history.

Moreover, individuals interested in psychiatry, mental health, or medical care can advocate for and create resources that provide free counsel, along with housing, to the homeless population on Skid Row.

In regards to mental health, shockingly, “of the more than 550,000 people in America who experienced homelessness on a given night in 2017, 1 in 5 had a mental illness” (Schultheis par 2). Being unhoused and having untreated mental illness further perpetuates the challenges these individuals face. As a result, individuals can partner with efforts advocating for better housing to provide intensive services such as health care coordination and substance use disorder counseling (Schultheis par. 11). As well as that, advocating for increased access to healthcare, including protecting the Affordable Care Act and expanding Medicaid, can ensure that unhoused people who may not fit the strict requirements, still receive critical, affordable, and accessible healthcare (Schultheis par. 12).

All of this is to say that on the individual level, there is so much we can do to embody what “good service” actually means if we invest ourselves in our project and make it truly resonate with our passions. The intersectionality within what is possible is truly endless as long as we incorporate the needs and opinions of the unhoused population in Skid Row into the decisions we make. By prioritizing both our relationships as we are already doing within Water Drop LA and honing in on the needs of the community, we make progress not only in addressing the water crisis among unhoused people but the broader homeless crisis in LA.

All in all, creating the image of good service within Water Drop LA seems like an impossible task, but expanding the boundaries from just providing water and food on the individual level to a service form of social change with Water Drop volunteers’ unique connections with the community members, we can transition from the “traditional” charity approach embrace a critical and comprehensive path to address the complex issue of homelessness.