Three hundred homeless or low-income people mill around a gymnasium decorated with catchy, optimistic posters that shout things like “Not a hand out, but a hand up,” and “The glass is half full.”
This is where Kathy Sotelo spends her days helping the folks who come into Joy Junction to get a meal and a roof over their heads.
“It’s extremely gratifying,” Sotelo said. “You know that they appreciate the help. It’s just an amazing experience.”
Sotelo is in her fourth month as a press representative for Joy Junction, the largest homeless shelter, soup kitchen and women’s shelter in New Mexico. She said her son got her into the business.
“He just one day had an idea that he wanted to feed homeless people,” she said. “Ironically enough, I saw the opening for Joy Junction and I thought it was worth applying for, and I got it,” she said. “It’s been everything I expected and more.”
It’s Monday, and Sotelo spends the day overseeing a pre-Thanksgiving dinner. The hungry crowd is served by volunteers, whom Sotelo checks up on periodically. She also asks each of the visitors if they are doing OK, if this is their first night at Joy Junction and thanks them for coming out for the night.
“Tonight, my intent was to dig in and volunteer,” she said. “But there are a lot of volunteers. I want to let them experience the feeding.”
The volunteers are comforted in Sotelo’s presence because she is a figure of authority in an otherwise rowdy and hungry crowd of people. A child’s scream occasionally echoes through the gymnasium, but Sotelo doesn’t notice. Instead, she keeps her attention focused on the line of volunteers and scans the crowd to see if anyone needs help.
One group of people wave her over. They tell her they haven’t been fed yet, and it’s been a while. She listens to their concerns, nodding all the while, and tells the group food will come shortly. Then she heads to the server line and directs volunteers toward the hungry group.
After dinner and dessert are served, Sotelo takes the opportunity to walk around the gymnasium to speak with the people eating. Some are new faces, and she asks them whether they enjoyed their meal. They smile at her with wide eyes.
“For me, I don’t see a difference in people,” Sotelo said. “I think society has taught us that homeless people are a certain way, and that’s not true. You or I could be homeless, and that’s not going to change the people that we are inside.”
The reaction to Sotelo’s presence is always the same: Joy Junction really loves her, and it’s no wonder why. She asks regular visitors to the shelters about their jobs, their families and anything new in their lives. She joins the children in their activities, this evening helping a young girl glue on foam manicured nails and then decorate them with glitter. The child runs off and brags to her friends about her “fabulous nails.”
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After an hour of serving dinner, Sotelo directs eager volunteers to wipe down the tables and move them out of the hall. This task done, the volunteers disperse from the building, stopping to shake Sotelo’s hand and tell her what a great time they had. She thanks them and asks them to come again.
With the crowd now relaxing in the gym and the volunteers gone, Sotelo sits and talks with a couple of administrators in the executive office about the success of the night. They keep a steady eye on the homeless people in the gym, and everyone remarks on the size of the night’s gathering. Next, they make plans for Thanksgiving. Sotelo said everyone at Joy Junction will work on Thanksgiving Day.
In addition to her time at the shelter, Sotelo works with Joy Junction in an outreach program for the homeless on the streets. For this job, she wears dirty clothing and goes under bridges and into trenches looking for the homeless. When she finds them, she offers them a place to stay for the night. She said she enjoys helping out on the streets.
“The really cool thing is that people are receptive,” she said. “We do run into some people that are seriously intoxicated or high. We usually do ride with a police officer just because of the safety factor.”
However, Sotelo doesn’t spend all her time working directly with homeless people. She often “rubs elbows” with prominent political figures to get funds for Joy Junction. She said it’s fun to move between the two worlds.
“I think I’m blessed with the ability to get down and dirty,” she said. “I can talk to anyone. I think it’s a really neat thing that I am able to act on both ends of that spectrum. I get to hear first-hand the stories from the people that are homeless, and then I get to interpret those stories to people who can actually make a difference in their lives.”
Her work is hard, and she often gets little recognition, yet Sotelo said she couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
“The bottom line is that everyone is the same, and the gratification that I get from helping people is almost inexplicable,” she said.
*“For me, I don’t see a difference in people. I think society has taught us that homeless people are a certain way, and that’s not true. You or I could be homeless, and that’s not going to change the people that we are inside.”
~Kathy Sotelo
*
