My Invocation at the Dallas Furniture Bank CHAIRity Friendraiser Luncheon - Furnishing Hope for 15 years

Friends, allow me to begin by applauding you for being intolerant. Yes, you heard correctly, if you are here, you are intolerant, and you should be commended for it. Allow me to clarify, though, before I am dragged off stage.  

 

Before the Dallas Furniture Bank, folks exiting homelessness often moved into empty homes, where they had to sleep, sit and eat on the floor. In 2003, a group of people decided that they would no longer tolerate this. The founders of the Dallas Furniture Bank could not fathom that in the 21st Century, in Dallas, Texas, human beings should have to live like that. It was wrong, it was unjust, and they would no longer stand for it. 

Therefore, they founded the Dallas Furniture Bank. The idea was simple. Folks don’t have furniture. Give them furniture. It was so crazy; it just worked. 

By joining us here today, fifteen years later, you state, that you too will not tolerate other human beings living in a barren home. By giving to the Dallas Furniture Bank, you are ensuring that such injustice will not stand, especially when the solution is so simple. 
 
This gives me great hope. Why? Because it shows me how we can end homelessness itself. You see, Dallas’ homelessness crisis is quite similar to the crisis the founders of the Dallas Furniture Bank confronted fifteen years ago. 
 
In what way? Well, we now have 15-20 years of research that shows us how to end homelessness. The idea is simple. Folks don’t have homes. Give them homes. It’s so crazy; it just works. Sometimes they need some additional supports, but in essence that is all there is to it. 
 
In the 21st Century, in Dallas, Texas, human beings shouldn't have to experience homelessness. It is wrong, it is unjust, and we should not stand for it, especially when the solution is so simple. All we need is the will to make it happen, the same will that the founders of the Dallas Furniture Bank had fifteen years ago. For, as a great man named Theodor Herzl wrote in 1902, if you will it, it is no dream. 

A New Beginning, Full of Hope

Homelessness comes in many “shapes and sizes.” It can happen to people for varied reasons. I am often reminded of a quip from our good friend, Dr. Iain De Jong, that drives this point home, “If you have seen one person experiencing homelessness… you have seen one person experiencing homelessness!”

Dr. Iain De Jong (Courtesy of the Press Democrat)

One of the reasons people experience homelessness is domestic violence. Though this is not what people usually think of when they hear the word “homelessness”, it should immediately make sense. What else would you call your situation, if you left your home, to escape your abuser? Therefore, the Federal Continuum of Care grants facilitated through the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA), have long included grants for housing programs for domestic violence survivors.

One thing that survivors do share with others who experience homelessness, is that they need more than just housing. Often, they can find themselves with nothing more than the clothes on their back and what they could carry in their hands.

Regina*, a domestic violence survivor, had found refuge with our grantee, Hope’s Door New Beginning Center. She was working hard on rebuilding her life, was admitted into their housing program, and was able to save up enough money to pay her required portion of the rent on her apartment. She was still missing two things, so basic to rebuilding her life and remaining housed, that most of us take them for granted, furniture and transportation.

Regina learned about the Dallas Furniture Bank, whose mission is to provide “furniture to families transitioning from homelessness.” She also learned about the DART Reduced ID card program, a DART-MDHA partnership, which allows those experiencing homelessness to ride on DART using 50% discounted passes. However, she did not have the money to utilize these services.

Aliah Henry, CEO, Dallas Furniture Bank

Now, you might ask why Hope’s Door New Beginning Center could not help her with these needs. It is not that they did not want to help her. As is often the case, the Federal grant that paid for her housing and services, could not be used to pay for furniture and transportation. What was Regina to do?

Luckily, her case manager, Jackie, knew who could help: The MDHA Flex Fund. The Flex Fund was designed by MDHA and United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, with people just like Jackie in mind. The idea of the Flex Fund is simple. A person experiencing homelessness faces a minor but impactful expenditure that impedes the person from (making progress in) ending his or her homelessness. The Flex Fund pays for it. That’s all there is to it.

Jackie told Regina about the Flex Fund. She shared with her that early on MDHA had formed a partnership with the Dallas Furniture Bank to allow clients to obtain basic furniture, with the MDHA Flex Fund footing the bill. Jackie and Regina discussed what furniture would be most helpful to her. Regina chose a sofa, a chair and an end table for her living room, a table and chair set for her dining room, and a full-size bed, dresser and night stand for her bedroom. Jackie also shared with Regina that the Flex Fund could pay for her DART Reduced ID card and the remaining 50% cost of a monthly pass, as well.

A Hope’s Door New Beginning Center staff “Purple Thursday” photo

Jackie filled out MDHA’s simple Flex Fund forms, and submitted them to Shavon Moore, MDHA’s Continuum of Care Resource Manager. Shavon notified the Dallas Furniture Bank, and they called Regina in for her private appointment. It felt great to shop in style at their facility, and choose her very own furniture. Shavon also provided Jackie with a letter Regina could take to DART, certifying her homelessness, as well as a check made out to DART to cover the ID and the remaining 50% cost of a monthly pass.

Hope’s Door New Beginning Center is a true lifeline for domestic violence survivors like Regina, in bringing normalcy back into their lives. With the help of community partners like MDHA, the Dallas Furniture Bank and DART working together with them, Hope’s Door New Beginning Center can better help the “Reginas” of our community in achieving a sense of stability in a new beginning, full of hope.

* Client name has been changed to protect her privacy.

My Invocation at the Dallas Furniture Bank’s 12th Annual CHAIRity FriendRaiser Luncheon - In the Image of God

Perhaps the busiest night of the year, for our homeless response system, is the night of the Homeless Count. And you can count on the staff and supporters of the Dallas Furniture Bank to step up to the plate that night, year in and year out.

This year, just three weeks ago, we had the largest and most comprehensive Count in Texas history. A few days later, Rev. Linda Roby of First United Methodist Church Dallas, which hosted about 775 of our 1,125 volunteers, asked me a fascinating question. Why, from a theological perspective is it important to engage in this activity, counting the homeless?
 

 

One could ask a similar question about the Dallas Furniture Bank. We are all here for a good cause, and last year I shared with you, from the point of view of academic research, why what the Dallas Furniture Bank does is so vitally important. However, from a theological perspective, why is it important to do what they do, namely, “provide furniture to families transitioning from homelessness.”

We need not look too far in the Abrahamic tradition to find an answer. In the very first chapter of the Bible we are presented with a core idea of this ancient tradition, that the original humans were created, bitzelem Elohim, in the Image of God.

The revolutionary power of this idea is limitless. If the original humans were created in the Image of God that means that each and every human today bears that Image. Consequently, each human, from the richest to the poorest, from the billionaire to the person experiencing homelessness, has inherent importance, inherent dignity, and inherent worth.
 

with Aliah Henry, CEO, Dallas Furniture Bank

And societies invest in what they think is worth the investment. Therefore, a society as rich as ours, a city as vibrant as ours, a community as blessed as ours, not only must, but can invest in ending homelessness. It can provide sufficient affordable housing to make homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring, housing that the Dallas Furniture Bank will furnish. It can fulfill the mission of the Dallas Furniture Bank and restore normalcy and independence to each one of our homeless friends.

That is the theological significance of the Homeless Count and the Dallas Furniture Bank. Through these seemingly quotidian acts of counting our homeless friends, of providing them with basic furniture to make their houses true homes, we acknowledge that our homeless friends bear the Image of God, and they are worth it.

And, through our presence here today, through our support for the sacred work of the Dallas Furniture Bank, we state, that we will not rest until each of our homeless friends is treated with the dignity that befits fellow human beings. For they too were created bitzelem Elohim, in the Image of God.

Dana Turns a House into a Home - with the Help of the Dallas Furniture Bank and the MDHA Flex Fund

Imagine waking up on your last day of homelessness. This is it. Today you are going to be housed. Your case manager picks you up, and with your few belongings you arrive at your new home. With a sense of hope and some trepidation you slowly open the door… to an empty apartment. Well, unpleasant, but no big deal, you might say; just go out and buy some furniture, right? Well, not if you don’t have money for furniture. Still, no worries, you might think, just save up a little money, and then buy furniture. Well, not if you have chronic health challenges, can’t work, and your sole income is $733 a month from Social Security. 

The Bridge, a Dallas shelter and homeless assistance center, Courtesy of The Bridge

Now, you may have to imagine what this would feel like, but Dana (name changed to protect her privacy) does not. What I just described was her actual predicament. She had worked hard with her case manager, Nicole, at The Bridge, and she had moved into a Dallas Housing Authority apartment. She was no longer homeless, but that apartment was completely bare, and she had no way of buying furniture on her own. And, living in apartment without any furniture can sometimes feel like you are barely a step above being literally homeless. As Our good friend, Dr. Iain De Jong, renowned expert on homelessness, writes: “If you leave the apartment unit blank looking, it is going to feel more like a prison cell or place where they may have squatted, than a place to call home.” Dana could certainly identify with that.

So, what to do? Fortunately, Dallas is blessed with the Dallas Furniture Bank (DFB)! As DFB’s website eloquently states, it “fills the missing gap” that resulted in Dana having an apartment, but not much more. As the website explains, “Though many of our agency partners provide housing for those in need, the resource of furniture is not provided to approximately 90% of these families. At Dallas Furniture Bank, we believe that living spaces should be filled. Furniture not only fills a house with practical comfort, but also instills a sense of hope and dignity… resulting in increased chances for self-sufficiency, higher levels of self-esteem, and long-term stability.”

Aliah Henry, CEO, Dallas Furniture Bank, Courtesy of the Dallas Furniture Bank

Earlier this year, the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) struck a partnership with DFB, through which folks just like Dana could fill a furniture order from DFB, and have the cost of the order ($250, on average, including a $60 delivery fee) covered by the MDHA Flex Fund.  The MDHA Flex Fund was designed by MDHA and United Way of Metropolitan Dallas to address minor but impactful expenditures, just like this one, that can help clients resolve their homelessness. All Nicole, Dana’s case manager, had to do, was pull up a simple one page form, available in the guidebook on MDHA’s website. Under DFB and MDHA’s partnership, Dana could choose up to five basic furniture items, plus a bed frame. Nicole and Dana discussed what furniture would be most helpful to her, and Dana chose a sofa, a coffee table, a dining table, two dining chairs, and a queen size bed. Nicole filled out the form, marking down Dana’s selections, and sent the form over to Shavon, at MDHA. Shavon approved the request, and submitted it to DFB. 

Dr. Iain De Jong, CEO, OrgCode, Courtesy of OrgCode

DFB then called Dana in for her private appointment. It felt great to shop in style at their facility, and choose her very own furniture.  The furniture was then promptly delivered to her new home. Dr. De Jong emphasizes the impact that selecting one’s own furniture can have, “A lot can be said for the new tenant having a say in the furniture that goes into their unit, rather than them just being handed furniture that they had no say in… While I have seen many a chronically homeless person be overcome with emotions on the day of move in when they get their keys, I have seen more actually break down and weep with joy when the furniture that they picked out arrives, and they have a say in where it is set up in their place. Powerful.” Dana couldn’t agree more…

Invocation for Dallas Furniture Bank’s 11th CHAIRity Event

On Wednesday, February 17, 2016, I was honored to offer the invocation at the Dallas Furniture Bank’s CHAIRity Event. The text of the invocation follows:

Thank you for the honor of offering the invocation today. The Dallas Furniture Bank is an essential and vital partner in our homeless response system. Now, you may think that this is because the Dallas Furniture Bank provides furniture for our formerly homeless neighbors. No. It is because they do much much more.  Allow me to explain.

The ancient rabbis of the Talmud tell us that, “a beautiful dwelling… enlarges a person’s spirit.” Before I worked in the homelessness arena, I don’t think I really understood what that meant. Now I do. Just imagine, you wake up not far from here, in the tent city under the I-45 Bridge, and you know that today you are going to be housed. Your case manager picks you up, and with your few belongings you arrive at your new home. With a sense of hope and some trepidation you slowly open the door… to an empty or almost empty, blank looking apartment. You don’t need to be a great scholar to figure out what your feeling would be, but let me quote one anyway. Dr. Iain De Jong, a world renowned expert on homelessness, writes: “If you leave the apartment unit blank looking, it is going to feel more like a prison cell or place where they may have squatted than a place to call home.”

 

On the other hand, what happens if with the help of the Dallas Furniture Bank, that moment that you open the door is fundamentally different? Listen again to Dr. De Jong. This is more like poetry than research: “A lot can be said for the new tenant having a say in the furniture that goes into their unit, rather than them just being handed furniture that they had no say in… While I have seen many a chronically homeless person be overcome with emotions on the day of move in when they get their keys, I have seen more actually break down and weep with joy when the furniture that they picked out arrives, and they have a say in where it is set up in their place. Powerful.”

I sincerely believe that what Dr. De Jong describes is what the ancient rabbis meant. A beautiful dwelling does not mean that the structure, the four walls, the ceiling, the floor, look beautiful. A beautiful dwelling means a dwelling that you have filled with furniture you picked out, and household items that you have chosen. This is what enlarges the spirit. And do you know what this “enlarging of the spirit” really means? The Soncino Talmud English translation tells us: “Increases self-esteem.” Wow.

That is what the Dallas Furniture Bank really does. The vital homeless response system solution they provide is not merely furniture.  Oh, no. They enlarge the human spirit of our neighbors; they increase their self-esteem above and beyond what might seem possible. That, my friends, is something truly beautiful. And in the Jewish tradition, we have a blessing that we recite, upon observing things of great beauty, like the Dallas Furniture Bank: (Hebrew then English) Blessed are you, Lord, our God, ruler of the universe, who has such beautiful things in his world.