happy interdependence day

The phone call came, as this sort of call usually does, late at night. “Um, Todd?”

“Yes?” I asked. “Noe?”

“Yeah. You’re still up?” These calls also tend to begin with an awkward series of questions-by-inflection.

“Well, I … my refrigerator only has condiments in it—like ketchup and butter.” His voice was subdued and uncertain. I could hear the struggle in his voice, the struggle between pride and shame and the recognition that he could not make it in this world alone.

In fact, the last time Noe had eaten was over 24 hours earlier. He continued, “I don’t know what to do. I’m really hungry.”

Noe is 24 years old and had been unemployed for the past few months. During the course of this challenging time, he has relied on the generosity of others to maintain his housing and nourishment. In return, he has offered his time to Sacred Heart through volunteering to help us run our Poverty Simulation program.

But last week, Noe went back to work.

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)—the Stimulus Bill—approximately 1000 low-income Santa Clara County youth between the ages of 15 and 24 received the opportunity for paid internships at government and non-profit agencies, schools, and colleges.

When I went to visit Noe this past week at work2future, his internship site, he was beaming. He showed me his desk, his employee badge, and the email he was busy typing. He had never dressed up for work before, and on his first day he needed help tying his tie, which he carefully removes each night after work without untying--except, he informs me, on casual Friday, when he gets to leave the tie at home.

Growing up in the foster care system and spending a majority of his life in group homes, at age 18 he became homeless. He has no known family, and he has never, in all his life, heard the words, “I’m proud of you.”

Now, through this summer internship program, Noe is proud of himself. He works 36 hours per week and receives an additional four hours of job-readiness training—and all of it is paid at $13 per hour. But more than just providing Noe the resources he so desperately needs today, this program is building his job skills, teaching him appropriate habits for the workplace, helping him to identify and overcome barriers to employment, and preparing him with the experience critical to a permanent role in the marketplace.

But it is important to point out that it is not just Noe and the other low-income youth who receive the benefits of this program.

Here at Sacred Heart we have eleven ARRA interns working in our essential services programs, filling a significant gap in volunteer support for the summer months. With the massive increase in the number of people we serve each day, it would be extremely difficult without their help for us to continue providing emergency food, clothing, hygiene items, and items for infants such as diapers and formula.

However, although Noe started his internship last week, he is still awaiting his first paycheck. During this difficult time—while he is working but has no money, no food, no way to pay rent or utilities—we will continue to support him, just as he and the rest of the interns are supporting their internship sites and the communities we serve.