Name: Samuel Curry-Levine
Social Justice Group: Homelessness—Communities of Color and Children
Date of Fieldwork: April 1, 2022
Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Sara Newman, the Director of Organizing at Open Hearts Initiative.
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?[:: :
On Friday, April 1st, my group will be zooming with Sara Newman to discuss our Free Store plan. Towards the beginning of the year, my group interviewed Shams. Shams was a person who used to experience homelessness. He lived in the Lucerne Hotel and was almost about to be moved because the community was really not welcoming. With the help of Open Hearts, he overcame homelessness and now helps people experiencing homelessness. Now, he calls himself Da Homeless Hero, a very unique name for an incredible person with great motives.
Because of this interview, we were connected with Open Hearts and Sara. Now, we are planning a free store. Free store is a give away shop, where all items are available at no cost. Without having the connection from Shams, this would not be something we are looking forward to in the future. I am very excited to get the supplies and be able to give up free items for people in need. Hopefully, this can help a lot of people and give them items that can make their life easier while they are looking for shelters and safe places to live. After talking to Bennett, one of Sara’s coworkers, we realized that the best time for the free store would be the third or fourth week of May. Since it will be late spring, some of the supplies would be snacks, clothing, shower supplies, etc. Since sweeping people out of places they are staying is an issue, and it is something that almost happened for Shams, we are hoping this free store can prevent people from being swept out, or being badly affected from the sweeping. We are really looking forward to doing this though.
