chh@heraldsun.com; 918-1035
CHAPEL HILL -- The United Way of the Greater Triangle invited the homeless to take a shower and shine their shoes at its third annual Orange County Project Homeless Connect Thursday.
The project -- set up as a one-day, one-stop service centers for homeless individuals and their families in Durham, Orange and Wake counties -- held its Orange County event at Hargraves Community Center in Chapel Hill from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The program forms a part of the United Way's 10-year plan to end homelessness in the Triangle and included services from job search assistance to vision screening to hair cuts.
"The first real goal of this event is just that, to get the folks in need here, get the service providers, and mix it up," said Jamie Rohe, lead coordinator of the Chapel Hill event. "We get folks that would otherwise just fall through the cracks."
The services represented at the event include housing options, employment counseling, various social services, and medical screenings, including dental, vision and kidney. On a lighter note, the event also had a photographer taking and printing pictures of guests who chose to be photographed as well as musicians.
Among the three counties, more than 150 different service providers with about 600 volunteers participated.
Besides just bringing these services together for a one-stop shop, Rohe said she hopes the different groups begin collaborating.
"After this event, we work together for the rest of the year in committees on various issues of homelessness," she said. "What you see here is a microcosm of what we're trying to do on a macro level."
Rohe said that beyond helping the homeless, she also hopes the event will bring awareness to the community to instill greater change.
"What is closest to my heart is enlightening the public about what's going on," she said. "There are homeless people out there. There are struggling people out there. The community learns about these issues."
Such awareness is necessary for the population with no concept of what it means to be homeless, said Josh Currie, a biology graduate student at UNC Chapel Hill and volunteer at Project Homeless Connect.
"There's a really large disconnect between the haves and have-nots," he said. "It's good for the people who are well-off in our community to meet the people who lack."
Currie said that before he got involved, he hadn't even considered all the needs a homeless person might face. Since he started volunteering, however, Currie's eyes have opened and he has fallen in love with the work.
"It's really addictive when you see people that you've helped and their needs were met," he said.
