Charity and Social Change: How Do The Two Mix?
When asked about volunteering, many picture handing out food in a food bank or helping out in a dog shelter. Though these are examples of service, can they really be defined as “good” when looking at the broader picture? To some, good service is about caring for the cause, while others may define it as being consistent with your work. Service has gradually become a way to build your resume as a way to impress employers and admissions officers, and this has led to service that follows the charity approach as described by Keith Morton. This was my view before volunteering at Water Drop LA. I believed community service was a transactional donation of my time, but seeing service through a new lens has allowed me to see that there must be an understanding of the work you do and how it affects the community. While some argue that good service solely consists of a short-term commitment, social change will address the needs of the community and cultivate genuine connections leading to sustainable, long-term impact.
Charity can be efficient in some cases, but when looking at an issue around for decades, how good is a short-term commitment? Charity is viewed as the “provision of direct service where control of the service (resources and decisions affecting their distribution) remains with the provider” (Morton). In other words, charity is the type of service you’d expect to see in a food bank or animal shelter. It is a short-commitment service type that is very limited in what it can do. It is often criticized in its efforts because it focuses on the deficits of those served rather than on their strengths which can lead to dependency rather than steps to solving the issue. But, charity is successful in addressing the immediate needs in the community which would be left unmet while larger efforts are in progress. This is the case with Water Drop LA. They are able to bring large quantities of water directly to people. By distributing the water individually, the burden of finding and getting a permanent distribution location due to inaccessible information, safety concerns and physical restrictions. Recognizing these restrictions allows for Water Drop LA to satisfy the immediate need of water on Skid Row.
Opposed to charity, social change focuses on building relationships with the community that shifts the control from the provider to a more equal dynamic. Social change focuses on the process, that is building relationships and picks out the root causes of the issue. It is said that “those people affected by the change should be involved in making that change”, which is why it focuses on giving power to the powerless and allows them to have a voice in a system that undermines them. Water Drop LA uses social change through various methods both in their aid to the community and their efforts to challenge water inaccessibility on Skid Row.
While Water Drop LA uses a charity approach, a closer look reveals that volunteers are urged to build relationships and interact with those they serve on a weekly basis. During the weekly water drop off, all volunteers are advised to get to know the people and community they serve. The importance of these relationships is described on their website, stating, “By building relationships with members of the community during these drops, we hope to serve as a trusted resource and friend to residents” (Water Drop LA). But how does this equate to good service? When it comes to Water Drop LA, relationships are just as important as the water being distributed. With compassion and respect as a foundation to these relationships, the service provided will leave much more impact on the people in the community. These relationships will lead to an understanding of people’s stories and struggles, which are often overlooked. Many believe the single stories about the residents of Skid Row. In my time volunteering with Water Drop LA, I have had the opportunity to learn some of their stories and understand that they are not to blame for their situation, and there are greater reasons for homelessness than being “lazy”. Stepping away from these single stories has allowed me to be more open-minded and empathetic, all important qualities when it comes to providing good service. Taking the time to cultivate genuine connections is a status of good service because it will ultimately lead to long-term impact for the individuals in the community.
Even with their differences, charity and social change can work together to address different aspects of the issue to generate sustainable, long term impact. Both types of service provided aid in different aspects. Charity is able to meet the immediate needs of the community, that is their need for water. Along with their weekly distributions, Water Drop LA also hosts weekly meetings that discuss a more sustainable solution to the shortage of water on Skid Row. Such solutions include legislation that will provide more accessible water fountains opposed to the very few that are contaminated and unusable. However, these solutions take months or even years to be put into action, which would leave the community with no water resources. So, charity allows for the people on Skid Row to have water while social work takes place. Good service is able to understand what the community needs, and though in the long run it is more independent water sources, Water Drop’s distribution system gives a solution while bigger things are in the works.
In regards to Water Drop LA, sustainable, long-term impact would take into consideration the systemic issues underlying homelessness. When providing good service, it is important to understand the history and struggles that homeless people go through. Many fell into homelessness because of lack of affordable housing, which is hard to come up from once you’ve lost your home. There are scarce resources on the streets, and shelters are no exception. Though there are limited beds, most of them go empty. Why? They are in worse conditions than living on the streets. Rina Palta describes a homeless shelter having “17 other health code violations, including evidence of rats, roaches, suspected mold and issues with waste storage and disposal.” Such conditions keep people on the streets, and this builds more obstacles. With no permanent address, it is hard to find a job or get access to resources. This leaves people in a constant cycle of homelessness. Understanding the causes and struggles of homelessness leads to good service because it shifts away from the single story. Not all homeless people are addicts. Not all homeless people are “lazy”. Recognizing this will allow for respect and compassion to exist within the dynamic.
With the right blend of the charity and social change approach, good service would meet the immediate needs of the community but also take importance in the process of how those needs are met. These two approaches can be mixed to help better the community. In regards to Water Drop LA, charity is used to help water reach the community while social change takes place in the relationships built throughout the distributions and the efforts to bring more permanent water resources to Skid Row. Good service is important because it can build confidence and ultimately lead to the restoration of self-worth, integration into society, and the alleviation of systemic issues underlying homelessness.
