There are many ways to help fight homelessness. If you know someone who is having trouble paying rent or is currently between homes, lending a spare room is always appreciated. But for the thousands of people who are currently homeless in Arizona, that isn’t always an option. The best way to help out is by volunteering at local homeless shelters or other places that assist the homeless. Here is my experience.

André House

André House calls themselves a house of hospitality, which I fully agree with. They provide clothes, showers, laundry, and meals to homeless people in Phoenix. While I was there, I prepared the food and dining hall for their Wednesday night dinner service. When dinner started, I was a tray-wacker, where I disposed of any leftover food and monitored the trash cans to make sure they weren’t too full. Once dinner ended, I swept and mopped the dining hall. Each night, André House serves over 500 meals.

On my final day, I asked Jim, one of the managers, about how many people that come to the dinner service do not have a place to sleep at night. Jim estimates around half of the people sleep on the streets, which I experienced first hand when I left André House. Jim explained that most of the services that homeless shelters or similar place provide prioritizes families and women, and because the majority of homeless people are men, there is nothing left for them except to come to André House for their dinner services. Even worse, one nearby shelter operated by the Central Arizona Shelter Service recently closed, which increased the number of people on the street.

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Valley View Community Food Bank

While a food bank is not the same as a homeless shelter, food banks are still vital to fighting homelessness since people need food to survive. In addition to providing food to people in need, they also create care packages for homeless people, including a mat/blanket woven out of plastic bags.

I helped out by setting up boxes that could be used to put food in and breaking down boxes that were no longer needed. After that was completed, I restocked some of the shelves that are used for people who need food.

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Letter to a government official

The second way to reduce homelessness is to voice your opinion to a government official. I chose to send a letter to the mayor of Phoenix, Kate Gallego, as Phoenix has the largest homelessness population in the state of Arizona.

Gov Letter to Mayor GallegoDownload

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