Allow Me to Introduce Myself
Hi! My name is Dan Thelen and I am a Jesuit Volunteer working for the Harry Tompson Center in New Orleans. I have been given the special opportunity to offer an inside glimpse of this great new facility that just opened for the poor and homeless of New Orleans. Let me start by giving you an idea of where I’m coming from. I grew up in Michigan and am a recent graduate of Loyola University in Chicago. My hometown is a quaint, middle-class town 15 miles outside of Lansing Michigan where homelessness didn’t even exist. Before moving down here, I had never worked for the homeless except for a couple times volunteering at a soup kitchen and 3 weeks in Lansing as a way to get my feet wet before this experience. I think the first thing I realized then was the great chasm I felt between me and the poor. The fact that so many poor lived right outside my hometown was already a great surprise to me. The shelter I found was right next to the Lugnuts Stadium where I often went growing up and I had never ever heard of it. In Chicago the homeless were much more out in the open and impossible to miss. Their presence posed a daily challenge for me, though I actually did little besides occasionally offer them a little pocket change with a hurried “God bless.” I decided to take on this volunteering position to bridge that chasm I felt between me and those that society often marginalizes as “other:” the homeless and the poor. So here I am, blessed to be one of the first members of the Rebuild Center team! And I am learning so, so much every day: about God, about society, about relationships, about how to make an effective organization, about life in general, and I hope in these reflections to pass bits of these experiences onto you. So read on, but even better, stop in and visit us sometimes and be a part of this amazing outreach to those in need in New Orleans! There is no doubt that you will be changed and probably make a few friends along the way.
Dan Thelen 2007-11-15
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