Throughout my fourteen years of working in the service industry, I’ve had the opportunity to meet and serve people from almost every conceivable walk of life; and I’ve long-believed that every person I meet has the potential to teach me something. When the bars closed due to the outbreak of COVID-19, my friend Dakotah reached out and asked if I would have any interest in coming to work at the Bishop Dudley Hospitality House, and it is that drive to meet people and learn from them that guided my interest and brought me to work here until I could go back to my other job.
Work at Bishop Dudley is honestly quite similar to the service industry. We’re here to have a smile, to be accommodating, to ensure the safety and enjoyment of other guests, and to make sure that those who are in want, can have what they need. When you take the financial transaction out of the equation of a restaurant, you’re left with dignity, and that’s what we serve. It’s a place to eat for folks without a kitchen. A clean, safe space to sleep for those without a bed. Honest answers to curious questions. Small comforts like laundry, that most of us take for granted, become tremendous luxuries, and this has taught me incredible perspective.
Getting to know the guests has been a pleasant experience. Putting names to faces and taking the time to chat is so similar to bartending, it almost doesn’t feel like a new job. Some have a genuine sense of humor, some have a sense of rightful uneasiness. People are just people, they’re mostly the same regardless of their environment, and my work at Bishop Dudley has helped me to understand that. I think too often many of the symptoms of homelessness get viewed by the public at large as the cause of homelessness – people believe what they can see, and superficially, many see addicts and people with mental health issues. The reality of the situation is that the only difference between homeless people and “the rest of us” is that they don’t have a place to live while we do. I think most people don’t see the fallout of the stress that homelessness and housing insecurity cause, and unless they’ve walked that mile, most folks won’t ever even come close to having an idea of what it’s like to be homeless. The real irony is that so many of us exhibit the same behaviors and patterns as the homeless, but are not stigmatized or shamed for our behaviors because we have a place to live.
Talking with some of the newly-homeless has been eye-opening as well. I don’t believe anyone sets out to be homeless. There are maybe some folks who grow accustomed to it or find aspects of it that they enjoy, but I don’t think that any child growing up wants to end up out on the streets. There’s nobody here intentionally, and that bears considering. I think if most folks knew or had a better understanding of how close they themselves were to homelessness or housing insecurity, public attitudes and opinions would change considerably. Many things in life come down to luck, or lack thereof. A good break, a bad break, loss of a job or a death of a loved one, so many things can start the snowball that eventually results in homelessness.
“There, but for the grace of God, go I.” My work at Bishop Dudley has really helped me to understand this. I’m grateful for my time here. I’m grateful for the perspective it gives me, for the insights I’ve gained and for the knowledge I’ve acquired. I think that anyone who wants a genuine look at what our community is like needs to come down and volunteer for a few shifts. The Bishop Dudley House isn’t going to be listed in any travel magazines as a must-see hotspot in Sioux Falls, but it is one of the most fundamental organizations serving our city and meeting the most crucial needs of our homeless population. If you’d like to understand Sioux Falls better, I would invite you to come volunteer. I think you’ll be glad you did.
-Will Anderson
BDHH Temporary Staff Member & Future Volunteer!
