In our world's current pandemic, it isn’t hard for us to imagine what it feels like to be socially isolated… forgotten…overlooked.
Do you know some of our community members experience something similar on a constant basis? Their current realities and struggles leave them feeling lonely or forgotten or overlooked. They wonder if anyone cares, if there is any help available for them, and if there is anyone who even truly sees them.
At SHARE Community, we have a just concern for the overlooked members of our communities. Rather than looking at these groups as a problem to be solved, or even as our personal projects to “fix”, we view them as people with needs that we can reach in tangible ways. We exist to serve those around us. Not for our sakes, but for theirs.
Here are a few ways we serve our community:
1. Community Showers
According to Contra Costa County’s 2020 Point In Time Count, 2,277 were experiencing homelessness across the county. One out of three of those people were chronically homeless. Those are just a few of the statistics on homelessness facing Contra Costa County right now. Can you imagine not having a place to simply just take a shower? Showers are a basic human dignity. One of the clear demarcations of someone who is homeless, is smell- they don’t have access to bathe themselves. Our heart is to restore dignity to those society sees as a problem through our mobile shower unit.
2. Adopt a Senior Home
The elderly are another overlooked demographic. It would astound you, the amount of elderly people in homes who don’t have anyone to visit them. The best way to meet this need, is to simply be with people. We enter our senior residential care facilities, and spend time with them on a consistent basis. Sitting in the same room and completing a craft seems simple, but what we’re doing is communicating importance through presence.
3. Adopt-A-Block
This particular model for serving the community was adopted from the Los Angeles Dream Center. What we do is essentially go into neighborhoods that are underserved, and we ask the question “what do you need?” Whether it’s fresh fruits and vegetables, diapers for their children, an after school program- we do our best to meet that need. The biggest need in our current Adopt-A-Block neighborhood is trash pick-up. To date our team has picked up just over 2,000 gallons of trash from the neighborhood.
While this list is far from exhaustive, and barely scratches the surface of what we long to do, it addresses the first step- showing up. We can’t begin to see the changes we want to see, until we take a good look at seeing those we overlook. Let’s begin to show up for our communities.
Explore our website to find out ways you can help now!