Extraordinary Stories

1944 (1) Act of kindness (12) Acting (2) Adoption (4) Adventure (766) Advertisement (6) Africa (1) Aging (14) Agriculture (47) Airplanes (9) Alphabet (5) American Red Cross (1) Americana (116) Amish (43) Ancestry (5) Ancesty (2) Animals (43) Anniversary (4) Antigua (10) Antiques (14) Apron (1) architcture (1) Architecture (36) Art (175) Art? (8) Arts and Crafts (69) Athletics (6) Automobiles (40) Awards (7) Banking (2) Barn raising (2) Baseball (103) Basketball (3) Batik (1) Beaches (89) Becoming A Citizen (1) Bed & Breakfast (2) Bee Keeping (6) Beer & Breweries (2) Bikes (3) Birds (9) Birthdays (34) Blindness (1) Blogging (5) Bookbinding (5) Books (12) Boxing (2) Brother Steve (12) Buisiness (3) Business (5) Canals (1) Cancer (14) Candy (30) Caribbean Islands (9) Caribbean Villas (15) Cats (5) Caves (1) Census (1) Chesapeake Bay (61) Children (28) Chocolate (4) Christmas (57) Church Adventures (122) Cigars (1) Circus (3) Civil Rights (8) Civil War (6) Classic Cars (7) Climate Change (5) Clubs (1) Coin club (2) Coins (1) Collections (73) Comedy (3) Comic Books (5) Commercials (1) Comnservation (2) Conservation (41) Covered Bridges (3) Craftsmanship (12) Creamsicle the Cat (11) Crime (16) Crisis (312) Cruise Travel (6) Crying (1) Culture (4) Dancing (1) Danger (16) Daughter Brynn (58) Daughter-In-Law Barb (7) Death (5) Death and Dying (65) Destruction (2) Donuts (1) Downsizing (2) Dunking (5) Easter (3) Eavesdropping (1) Education (48) Energy (15) Entertainment (165) Entrepreneurial (62) Ephrata (1) Etchings (1) Eternal Life (4) Facebook (5) Factories (4) Fads (6) Family (261) Farming (37) Father (42) Father Time (68) Favorites (88) Firefighting (1) Flora and Fauna (28) Fond Memories (490) Food and Cooking (171) Food and Drink (111) Football (16) Forgetfullness (3) Former Students (10) Framing (30) Friends (359) Fruits and Vegetables (3) Fun (4) Fundraiser (6) Furniture (1) Games (7) Generations (3) Gifts (1) Gingerbread houses (1) Giving (8) Globes (1) Golf (3) Good Luck (2) Graduation (1) Grandkids (136) Grandparents (3) Grandview Heights (29) Great service (3) Growing Old (8) Growing Up (187) Guns (2) Handwriting (3) Hat Making (2) Hawaii (49) Health and Well Being (61) Health Care (4) Health Hazards (110) Heartbreak (7) Heroes (26) High School (142) History (777) HO Railroading (4) Hockey (4) Holidays (134) Home construction (7) Horses (2) Housing (3) Humorous (71) Hurricanes (1) Ice and Preservation (2) Ice Cream (8) Inventions (34) Islands (4) Italy (12) Jewelry (3) Job Related (62) Just Bloggin' (56) Just Wondering (19) Juvenile Diabetes (5) Labor (3) Lancaster County (542) Law Breakers (8) LDubs In-Laws (3) Lefties (1) Libraries (1) Life's Lessons (175) Lightning (1) Lists (72) Lititz (18) Locomotives (1) Lodging (1) Love (4) Magazines (2) Magic (1) Maps (2) Marching (2) Market (5) Medical (161) Memories (28) Middle School (3) Milk (2) Minorities (1) Money (3) Mother (54) Movies (6) Mt. Gretna (1) Music (118) My Brother (19) My Wife (260) Neighbors (7) New Year's Day (5) Newspapers (4) Nicknames (2) Nuisance (3) Obsolescence (5) Occupations (2) Old Age (1) oldies (1) Pain and Suffering (12) Panama Canal Cruise (13) Parish Resource Center (14) Patriotism (3) Penmanship (1) Pets and Animals (99) Photography (220) Pizza (1) Plastic (2) Playing Trains (2) Poetry (2) Politics (27) Polution (3) Postal Service (2) Predators (2) Presidents (11) Pride (4) Printing (81) Protesting (3) Public Service (65) Questionnaire (1) Quilts (1) Race relations (6) Rain (1) Reading (4) Records (2) Religion (10) Retirement (4) Revolutionary War (3) Robotics (1) Rock & Roll (4) Rodents (2) Saints (4) Sand (1) Scouting (2) Sex (1) Shakespeare (1) Shelling (2) Shopping (24) Simple Pleasures (122) Slavery (6) Small Towns (4) Smoking (1) Snickedoodle (1) Snow (1) Son Derek (27) Son Tad (33) Son-In-Law Dave (27) Soup (1) Spices and Herbs (1) Sports (139) Sports and collectibles (1) Spring Break (1) St. James (2) St. Martin/Sint Maarten (306) Stained Glass (3) Stone Harbor (4) Story-Telling (26) Stragers (2) Strangers (4) Strasburg Railroad (1) Stress (3) Stuff (4) Suicide (2) Sun (1) Surfing (1) Tattoos (4) Teaching (49) Technology (90) Television (6) Thanksgiving (2) The Arts (6) The Beach House (62) The Flag (1) The Future (5) The Shore (78) This and That (23) Timekeeping (7) Tools and Machines (25) Tours (2) Toys and Games (31) Track & Field (1) Tragedy (8) Trains (19) Transportation (18) Travel (16) Trees (2) Trending (2) TV Favorites (23) Underground Railroad (10) Unit of Measurement (1) USA (2) Vacation and Travel (545) Vehicles (80) Vison and Eyesight (2) War (14) Watches and Watchmaking (5) Weather (48) Weddings (3) White House (1) Wisdom (3) Yearbooks (12) York County (3)

Friday, October 18, 2024

"The Day-Long Sit-In" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Bundled up in a puffy blue jacket, the exhaustion in Jack Crowley's eyes was clear.  Crowley, president of Water Street Mission, spent the entire night sitting on a wooden bench off South Prince Street in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  By 10 a.m., he estimated he slept only in 20-minute increments throughout the night.  With a sleeping bag, he tried sleeping on his side or even sitting up-right to get a little shut-eye in the 40-degree weather.  The nonprofit leader began sitting on the bench at 3 p.m. Wednesday afternoon and remained there until 3 p.m. Thursday.  The goal wasn't to imitate homelessness, Crowley said, but to raise awareness of the trials homeless people experience, in observance of World Homeless Day.  After 19 hours outside, Crowley felt as if he gained a new understanding of what people who are experiencing homelessness go through.  "Imagine those individuals who are like, "OK, how do I take the next step forward in my life when I don't know where to go...because I'm scared, because I'm cold, because there's no comfortable place to lay down,'" he said.  "It's no wonder people struggle to take the next step.  Still, Crowley said, his 24 hours outside didn't compare to what real people go through day in and day out.  He was able to go inside for bathroom breaks and had easy access to food, water and coffee when he needed it.  At the end of the day, Crowley said, he'd be able to go home to a warm bed.  Crowley called the bench sit-in a "gimmick" meant to grab people's attention.  The day long event was streamed live at Lancaster.news/24HoursOnABench so people could tune in to hear Crowley talk with guests about housing and homelessness. People from across the community came out to talk to Crowley, including elected officials like Commissioner Alice Yoder and City Council member Jaime Arroyo.  Nonprofit leaders including Lancaster County United Way Presdient and CEO Kate Zimmerman and Lancaster County Food Hub Executive Director Paige McFarling also joined Crowley.  "Sometimes folks don't want to talk about homelessness.  They feel that if they can ignore it, it doesn't exist, but these challenges do exist," Arroyo told Crowley.  "The more we can have conversations with our neighbors, partners, we raise awareness about it and there might be that idea that sparks, that we're able to carry out."  The public also was welcome to join Crowley, and some people did.  A woman who had experience with homelessness stopped by in the evening to talk.  Her daughter, Crowley said, had stayed at Water Street for a period of time years ago.  The idea for the bench sit-in came from other rescue missions across the country, like Fresno Mission in California, where the nonprofit's CEO in January sat outside for a day. Rescue missions, like Water Street on South Prince Street, offer shelter services and food for people in need.  At Water Street, people can stay with limited restrictions for 90 days.  They are then given the option of moving to a residential shelter, where people must participate in classes and religious studies.  Otherwise, they have to leave the shelter and wait 60 days before returning.  Some people criticize Water Street's model of not welcoming the whole community, which Crowley addressed with people throughout the day. "We want to hear each other out," he said.  "That's not the first time I've had that conversation, and it won't be the last."  Crowley's bench sit-in comes at a crucial time in Lancaster.  The county's only low-barrier shelter closed in June and will not open until December.  At the moment, Water Street's shelter is at capacity.  The city also has begun strictly enforcing camping restrictions in public parks, making it difficult for people to find places to sleep.  Crowley said he expects it will take time to fully process his experience, but hopes to take back a greater sense of empathy to his work.  He also wants to see the community cooperate with all the struggles in teaching those in need to try and help themselves if at all possible.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

No comments:

Post a Comment