It’s difficult to rally a group of 10 high school students. Especially when the enticing proposal starts with “so, we get there at 5 a.m.” But, before dawn on Wednesday morning, January 25, my classmates and I gathered at Christ Presbyterian Church on Anacapa Street, eager to volunteer for the county’s Point-in-Time Count, the annual census of the people experiencing homelessness in Santa Barbara.
The morning became much more than a census or tally. I was blessed with three hours of sensitive conversations, brave stories, and meaningful connections. I felt closer to my classmates and my community than ever before.
But when I returned to school, I was dismayed to see this headline in the daily newspaper on my history teacher’s desk: “Unsafe on State Street: Residents address Santa Barbara City Council about aggressive homeless people”