Two Students Who Chose To Live As Homeless
One of the most enlightening radio programs I have ever heard was an interview of two college students who chose to live on the streets as homeless for 5 months as an experiment.
“The idea had dropped into my brain one Sunday morning while I sat in church. The pastor was delivering a powerful sermon about living the Christian life. The gist of it was, ‘Be the Christian you say you are.’”
“The idea came instantly—like the flash of a camera or a flicker of lightning. It left me breathless, and it changed my life. What if I stepped out of my comfortable life with nothing but God and put my faith to the test alongside of those who live with nothing every day?
The picture that came with that question was of me homeless and hungry on the streets of an American city.”
“And then there were the practical questions. Could I survive on the streets? How much did I really want to learn to be content always with nothing? What would my friends think? What would my parents think? My pastors? My professors? Would I be okay? What if I got sick? What if I starved? What if I got beat up? What if I froze?
What if I’m wrong?
Am I crazy?
Will I die?
But already, I had decided. I walked out of church that morning seized by a big idea, assaulted by dozens of questions, and sure that I had heard deep in my heart a still, small voice saying, ‘Follow Me.’”
What followed that decision was a 5 month long journey of two upper middle class college students making themselves live on the streets as if homeless. One of them wrote a book about their experiences and has been interviewed by many Christian radio and television programs.
After considering a lot of alternatives, the two students (Mike Yankoski from California and Sam Purvis from Oregon) settled on six cities to live as homeless: Denver; Washington, D.C.; Portland; San Francisco; (our very own Phoenix); and San Diego.
“Sam and I wanted to experience homelessness. That meant, among other things, that we’d carry only the bare essentials, taking no cell phones, credit cards, or extra clothes. We would survive as most other men and women on the streets do—panhandling for money, eating at rescue missions or out of garbage cans, and sleeping outside or in shelters.
We would take only what we could carry. Our clothing for the five months would consist of a pair of boxers, a pair of shorts, a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a sweatshirt. Add books and journals, and a couple of battered guitars to support our panhandling, and that was it.”
“On May 27 (2003) we stepped out of our old lives. From then until November 2, Sam and I slept out in the open or in shelters or under bridges. We ate out of trash cans and feeding kitchens. We looked disgusting, smelled disgusting, were disgusting. We were shunned and forgotten and ignored by most people who walked past us—good, acceptable people who looked just like Sam and I used to look, and maybe just like you.”
When in DC Mike and Sam hung around the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, just eight blocks east of the White House. It’s an area where we personally saw two worlds collide when we took our 3 kids to see Washington DC. Our White House mansion is only a few short blocks from abject poverty and homelessness!
“When you’re sitting on a sidewalk, you’re at eye level with babies and kids. It’s a different world down there. As toddlers stumble past holding their parent’s hand, they lock you in their unashamed gazes or they peek curiously out from their strollers. They haven’t yet learned to ignore what they see…”
The thing that grabbed me the most when I heard Mike speak about his homeless experience that summer was how awful it felt to be totally ignored and not even looked in the eye.
It is true that there are frauds out there who are not homeless at all. In Denver, Mike tells of a guy on the streets nicknamed Father Fraud. He actually owned a Lexus and lived outside the city in a nice home. “Every night he came downtown in an old coat and old boots to beg with a Campbell’s soup can. He made ninety thousand tax free dollars a year.”
Just because there are some frauds out there, homelessness is a very real problem. “According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, in the United States, more than 3.5 million people experience homelessness during any given year. That means that more than one percent of our population this year will be eating out of trash cans and sleeping under bridges.”
I was especially interested to read about the two students time in Phoenix. From the book: “Start: September 28th, 2003 End: October 17th, 2003 Duration: 19 days Location: Downtown Phoenix, Main Public Library, other parts of town, Tempe”
The boys had both good and bad experiences while here in the Valley. “One evening in Phoenix, as Sam and I played outside a restaurant, a group of other homeless guys walked past, one of them wearing a cardboard sign that said, “Ignore me for $1.00.”
The book is well worth the read.
Homeless people are just that:
P E O P L E. People made in the image of God, according to the Bible. People whom Christ loves and died for. How we care for and about the least of these P E O P L E is how Jesus says we care for and about Him.
“Remember that the poor are people with names,” writes Bryant Myers, author of ‘Walking with the Poor.’ [They are] people with whom and among whom God has been working before we even knew they were there.”
Mike said the hardest part of being homeless wasn’t hunger, heat, cold, rain etc. but being ignored and looked past, not at or treated like a fellow person. More than food or shelter they said they longed to be looked in the eye and acknowledged as a fellow person and not ignored.
Mike said that giving the homeless cash is mostly not a good idea. “Obviously, Sam and I survived on just such donations. And we met other homeless men and women whose only income was from money dropped into a hat or cup. Unfortunately, it’s also true that a significant portion of the men and women we knew on the streets would—within a half hour of receiving a donation—spend it entirely on drugs or alcohol. A nugget of marijuana or crack is only five dollars, and a forty-ounce beer is only two-fifty. So your money is probably providing someone with their fix before you even get home or back to the office.”
“That’s why I recommend you give something other than cash. For example, gift certificates to fast-food restaurants make a good alternative. They’re easy, quick, and helpful, and you know your gift isn’t going to support a destructive habit, at least not directly. Popular coffee shops also issue gift certificates, as do many grocery store chains (you can get a coupon that can only be used to purchase food).”
(I know that many Valley McDonalds and Burger Kings have $5 gift cards available.)
“Having said that, I think the most meaningful gift might be your genuine attention and caring. It was amazing how much a smile or quick hello did for Sam and me on the streets, partly because such kindnesses were so rare. When someone stopped to talk, even for a minute, the powerful underlying message was, “I notice you, you’re a human being, and you’re worth my time.”
Listening to this guy changed my life in a good way and how I see the homeless and I hope this column does that for you as well.
All quotes from the book: “UNDER THE OVERPASS” MULTNOMAH BOOKS 12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
