HELPING HOMELESS FIND WORK — Terrence Green, who found employment as a bus driver with the help of Repairers of the Breach, talks to shelter employee Dorothy Jackson during a Labor Day picnic at the homeless shelter in Milwaukee. People who have found jobs were honored on Labor Day. (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Lucero)

“I’ve been working for one week now,” said Johnson. “I don’t make a lot of money, but I make my own money.”

Johnson was one of the guests of honor at a Labor Day picnic hosted by Repairers of the Breach, Milwaukee’s only daytime homeless shelter. While Milwaukee’s other Labor Day celebration, Laborfest, attracted labor leaders and politicians at the Summerfest grounds, some 350 homeless and formerly homeless people turned out for the 10th annual Repairers of the Breach gathering.

It was an opportunity to fete people like Johnson, a recovering drug addict who was homeless until recently.

“Today is a day I celebrate with the people I love the most,” said Johnson, pointing to the people gathered around the shelter’s outdoor gardens. “It reminds me we are all the same no matter where we’ve been, no matter where we’re going. It’s always a joy to come back here.”

The purpose of this Labor Day picnic was twofold: to recognize those who have taken advantage of the shelter’s job-training services, and to feed the homeless on a day other meal programs are closed.

With the smell of charcoal grills and the sound of music in the air, guests sat around tables and shared conversation. Under a covered shelter, Dorothy Jackson, coordinator of the shelter’s unique violence reduction program, and Jo Kinzinger, a volunteer who was once homeless, interviewed guests who were successful in finding jobs.

While Jackson wrote down names and addresses, Kinzinger asked each person how Repairers had assisted in his or her job success. In return, each person received a gift. The information  will help Repairers of the Breach build accurate records to assist in preparing grant requests.

According to Tracey Listug, development coordinator, the shelter offers services to help homeless people find jobs. One of the most basic offerings is a telephone message service which allows people to provide a telephone number to potential employers. When an employer calls the number, a voice mail is activated.

“We have a contingent of volunteers from churches who listen to the voice mails from home,” said Listug. “They jot down the messages and bring them back to Repairers.” Guests can also place outgoing calls to prospective employers from 8 a.m. to noon each weekday. “It’s a pretty busy phone,” added Listug.

A mail service offers guests an address to use in job applications. “If their residence changes or if they are unsheltered, they have an address that provides more connectedness, more stability,” explained Listug. Providing the homeless with an address offers another benefit: they can register to vote.

Other job services provided at the shelter include a place to shower, access to free clothing, and employment programs. These include job and interview counseling, literacy and GED training, and resume preparation.

Among the people who have taken advantage of the shelter’s services is James, who asked that his last name not be used. James, who began working as a host at a Red Lobster restaurant last month, said he was able to shower, iron his clothes and use the shelter’s telephone. All of these services helped land his job, he said. Homeless for about two months, James has found transitional housing and hopes to find permanent housing by the end of September.

Vincent, who lives at Milwaukee’s Guest House, works as a dishwasher at the Bradley Center. He attends the shelter’s GED program and Bible studies, and volunteers when possible. “They teach you how to fill out a (job) application, give you good references and help you with clothing,” he said.

Recognizing those who have found employment is a good way to observe Labor Day, said Repairers of the Breach executive director MacCanon Brown.

“A lot of the people who come here from the start are very discouraged and hopeless and it’s hard for them to believe that they can be mainstreamed,” she said. “But when they come into this healing community, they have an opportunity to have some of their needs met.”

Repairers of the Breach teaches them that “the world isn’t against them and they start trusting life again,” said Brown. “It’s the healing and love from other homeless that really is the key.

“People become empowered and their motions become strides,” added Brown. “Their strides become stepping stones that lead to employment.”