Name: Sadie Zaraya

Social Justice Group: 2023-2024, Homelessness in NYC

Date of Fieldwork: January 20, 2024

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Manhattan Church of Christ

Type of Fieldwork: [69]

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?:

During this fieldwork we worked to pass out food and clothes to the homeless with a group of other volunteers. We went to the Manhattan Church of Christ on E 80th street and volunteered from 9:00am to 12:00 pm. The Church of Christ offers this service every Saturday led by Carl Garrison. We offered a hot meal, coffee, cake, chips, and cookies to any homeless person that stopped by and we got to talk to many of the people too. They were incredibly kind and grateful and it was an overall amazing experience.

I learned many things related to my topic but one thing that I took away was how I learned a lot about the stereotypes and stigmas of being homeless. So many people are raised to believe that homeless people are violent and to stay away from them because if you give them money they will only spend it on drugs and alcohol. During this fieldwork I learned the difference one bag of chips or one sweater can make. I talked to some of the people and the majority of them were not on the streets due to addiction but were on them due to inflation and rent prices going up. These stereotypes are based on a very small group of people and because of them people rarely stop to help. In my social justice project I want to raise awareness and this fieldwork gave me a lot more knowledge.