Volunteer Spotlight:
Steve
Did you know that more than 3,000 people use Transition Projects’ Resource Center as their permanent mailing address. This invaluable service allows people experiencing homelessness to have a safe place to not only to receive their mail but can also list an address when applying for jobs, housing, and more.
With just one mailroom staff member, Transition Projects’ volunteers are critically important to sorting and distributing mail daily to our participants. Volunteering in the mail room is one of our most popular positions and a fun and meaningful way to support the community. Steve Heard has been volunteering for more than 8 years – first as a resource organizer and recently added mail room assisting. Read on to hear his story.
How did you learn about Transition Projects and first get involved?
A friend of mine did a clothing drive at their small healthcare practice so I obliged and donated never even knowing what Transition Projects really was. I thought at first it was for people transitioning gender and they needed new clothes. I know, right? Kind of naive but I thought, “What a good cause!” Then one day, after attending a neighborhood association where there was a lot of shouting about what to do about the growth of semi-permanent homeless camps in the area, I decided I wanted to understand more from the ground up. I did an internet search for ways to get involved, saw Transition Projects (embarrassingly connected the dots) and signed up to learn and help. This was eight years ago.
What keeps you volunteering with Transition Projects?
I should probably say something about how helping people and trying to make a difference in the community is rewarding. But I will confess that it's just as much about what I get out of the experience. First, I really like working with Sam in the mailroom. He's funny and smart and the time just flies by. For the first few years I processed donations which meant hours alone in the storage room at the back of Doreen's Place. No windows, no people, no internet. Sounds awful, but once a week it was a sanctuary where I got to just turn my brain off and focus on folding clothes and organizing shampoo for a couple of hours. There's a satisfaction to the work in the mail room as well. It's all analog sorting of real things and talking to people in person. The opposite of my work-at-home tech job.
Do you have a favorite moment or memory you'd like to share?
The first time I was responsible for unboxing and sorting a major donation of winter gear from Columbia Sportswear I was floored by the amount and quality of items they sent. This then became routine with several of the companies in the area. The boxes from Nike are always like treasure chests. I also love how many dogs I get to meet when their people are picking up mail. If one thing stands out, it would be one of the weekends we set up an emergency shelter at the Convention Center during the pandemic. It was one of those snowstorms that shuts down the whole city, but we were able to get people off the streets, Covid tested and warmed up. I trudged home at 1:00 a.m. down the middle of the Steel Bridge alone in a foot of snow feeling very connected to my city.