Reflection On Service Learning Homeless

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Service Learning-Homelessness
For my service learning, I chose to volunteer my services to the Tulsa Day Center—Homeless Shelter. Prior to this experience, I had my own perception of the homeless community. As many Americans do, I perceived them as lazy, unsanitary, illiterate individuals who wanted everything handed to them. However, I quickly realized this was not the case. Growing up, I would encounter many homeless people, whether riding the bus or walking down the street. I would also see them sitting outside of stores waiting for patrons to ask for money.
I recall an instance when I was around 19 or 20 years old. I had neglected to pay a traffic fine, and along with having to pay the fine, I was also ordered, by the judge, at a court …show more content…

I envisioned people lying on the ground, drinking alcohol, being loud and unruly, but it was the complete opposite. Yes, there were a few people sitting on the steps, as I walked up to the door, however, there was no drinking, or loud talking, or anyone being blatantly obnoxious. As I walked into the building, it started to occur to me that this was a very well organized operation. There was an armed police officer sitting at the front desk, where all visitors, and clients, as they are called, must go through a metal detector, before being granted access to enter the facility. I made my way through the metal detector, and over to the side of the front office, as they paged the Volunteer …show more content…

Without these donations, they would not be able to feed their clients. There are also two family rooms, with donated toys for the children, where families can go during the day, if it’s raining or too hot outside. One of the family rooms leads to an outside play area for the children. The Day Center has a fully operating clinic, where they average nearly 1,400 visits per month. Having this clinic saves 50 ER visits per month. This saves the taxpayers and City of Tulsa roughly $250,000 a month. The Day Center does have a working staff at the clinic, however, they do get volunteers from medical schools, and students from different medical programs around the Tulsa

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