/COMMUNITY/

A Face of Many

The combination of two ageless problems in our community and communities around the nation—finding affordable housing and steady employment—can result in homelessness. It was true for Allen, who has found a new purpose in life: advocating for others like himself and changing the minds of people who think homeless individuals are insignificant.

As I pulled up to the building and cranked my neck to peer under my car visor, I spotted him standing in the front window of the building.

Is that him?

I waved. He waved back.

I put the car in park just as Savage Garden’s “To the Moon and Back” came on. My nineties playlist is something of a guilty pleasure, but the timing is less than ideal. I pop the volume dial and it shuts off just as he’s crossing the street. He’s dressed in a white button down and dark blue jeans. His hair is neatly parted and combed.

I wave again like the dork that I am and he flashes me a warm but nervous smile before opening the passenger door.

We’re heading to the History Museum at the Castle where more than 150 photographs make up the “(In)visible: Homelessness in Appleton” exhibit. The photos were taken with disposable cameras by individuals in the community who are experiencing (or on the brink of) homelessness – Allen being one of them.

“I’m right over there.”Allen Gee points to an area about a dozen steps from where we’re standing. We walk the twelve-or-so steps over to his photo series, which begins with a snap of his steel-framed bed at the homeless shelter, but his story starts long before that.

Almost six years ago, Allen’s wife passed away.

“I didn’t want to bow to the inevitable right away,” the 61-year-old shares. “It took both of our incomes to make a-go of things. But eventually the house, car, everything, was gone.”

He moved in with family in Rhinelander for about five years, and then with his son in New London, but circumstances weren’t ideal (“we were getting on each other’s nerves and I didn’t want my situation to ruin our relationship”) so Allen started looking for other options last October. That’s when he found Homeless Connections in Appleton.

“I gave them a call and they put me on the waitlist,” he says. “I had to call in every day to check on my spot, and they told me I could be on the waiting list for weeks. Fortunately, the second day I called in, they had a place for me.”

Allen never had to sleep on the streets, which is likely what one thinks of when they hear the word “homeless.” That’s exactly why Homeless Connections, Fox Valley Warming Shelter, COTS and the Housing Partnership of the Fox Cities partnered with the History Museum at the Castle to shed light on an otherwise invisible and largely misunderstood issue.

“A lot of people in our community think homelessness is a more recent phenomena or that it’s a big-city problem, but when you take a step back, it’s something that’s been going on since Appleton became a city,” says Nick Hoffman, chief curator at the museum.

The combination of two ageless problems in our community and communities around the nation—finding affordable housing and steady employment—can result in homelessness. It was true for Allen, who has found a new purpose in life: advocating for others like himself and changing the minds of people who think homeless individuals are insignificant.

“To so many, including myself at the start of all of this, homelessness is the old man standing on the corner with the brown paper bag in his hand,” Allen says. “Every time I looked in the mirror, I kept seeing that guy. That frightened me the most.”

“How do you differ from that image?” I ask.

“If you saw me on the street, would your first inclination be that I’m homeless?” he reciprocates the question. “I’m bathed, groomed and dressed fairly nice. Society has a tendency to show only the bad side of situations, but homelessness has a lot of different faces. And I had to change my own outlook on homelessness, too. That happened with the help of everyone at the shelter.”

Not being able to work due to degenerative disease in his neck caused Allen to have to file for disability. He worked with his case manager at Homeless Connections to navigate that process and find medical care.

“One of my goals when I first moved into the shelter was to get in contact with doctors in the area,” he adds. “I knew I needed to be on medications that I hadn’t been on in a long time.”

Starting to feel like I was asking too many personal questions, I proposed that Allen narrates his series of photos, which he took between November 2015 and April 2016. Each one contributes to a larger picture of what it’s like to be homeless in Appleton.

Two photos capture the inside of the shelter: the area he occupies in the dormitory (he shares with 17 other men) and the laundry room (he’s grateful for free detergent).The rest of the photos are taken within walking distance of Homeless Connections. He spends a few days a week at Mission Church on Appleton Street for meals and worship; the Salvation Army on North Street for a hot lunch; the public library between Appleton and Oneida streets to read and research for a book he’s writing; and the transit center, as public transportation is critical to getting Allen to and from his doctor’s appointments.

One photo stands out amongst the rest (and apparently did for Hoffman, too, since it’s magnified and hung in the exhibit entrance). It shows a grassy plaza called Packard Place on the corner of Superior and Packard streets on a dreary day.

Allen captioned the photo: “I go here many times when I need to be alone for a while. Sometimes my little corner of the world gets the best of me.”

It’s the first photo in his series that made me feel sad. I think of the days when I feel as though the world gets the best of me. At least I can retreat to my house and get a good night’s sleep. Except unlike Allen, one of my worries is not that I don’t have a place to call home.

On the other hand, I feel optimistic that Allen’s story will change minds.

“I hope this exhibit helps people to better understand homelessness,” I tell him. “You’re visible in the community, yet the things you’re going through aren’t. By participating in this exhibit, you’re helping to educate our community and advocate for people in similar situations as you. What do you think is the biggest barrier for someone who is struggling to get the help they need to get back on their feet?”

“People have to be willing to cut with their dependencies,” he says. “Drugs, alcohol. If you can’t break with that, you can’t go any further. What I would tell people who are homeless is that there is hope. There are resources. People want to help.”

Allen spent almost 10 months at Homeless Connections before moving into the Warming Shelter, where he’s still awaiting housing. I reached out to him in early September to see how he was doing.

“All in all, it’s been a long road since I first arrived at Homeless Connections nearly a year ago,” he reports. “There were some times, especially recently, when I was right at the end of the rope, so to speak, and it wouldn’t have taken much to make me just let go and give up. However, I received word (just last week) that I’ll be receiving social security disability benefits soon.”

Looking back, he had only been living in shelter for a month before he was approached about keeping a photo journal for the exhibit.

“What do you want people to learn?” I ask.

“Homeless people are here; we’ve been here a long time,” he replies. “Society tends to stereotype and close its doors on us. I want people to open their eyes and see that homelessness exists. There are so many who are one disaster away from the street. It can happen to anyone at any time.”