The official Dancing Deer Baking Company Blog

Charlotte, NC
I had a wonderful conversation with Cynthia late on the evening of our stay in the this shelter. She and I were equally exhausted but for dramatically different reasons of course. I knew a bit about her story from the staff. So we got quickly in to a conversation about life and exchanged ideas about how the world could be. I was struck by her thoughtfulness and her determination both to move forward for her own family and also be mindful of how she could simultaneously be helping others with their challenges. I knew that neither she nor her daughter would appear to be “homeless” to anyone on whose door she knocked while doing her census work. Homeless families are your family and my family with an extra challenge of some kind which triggered at a time when they had no support system to catch them before they fell off the edge.
This shelter for 15 families is the only family shelter in Charlotte, though there is also one for battered women. They attempt to transition families in to their own homes within 3 to 6 months, but it is getting increasingly difficult to accomplish that because of the lack of affordable housing. All residents are required to be working to qualify for this shelter. It was an extraordinarily well run shelter with an great deal of community support. The day care center is one of the keys to its success and it is also a terrific environment. I only had a chance to get to know two of the other mothers. One was a pharmacy technician and the other was a nurse for Alzheimer’s patients. As is so often the case, they were lovely, thoughtful, brave, determined to conquer the odds and grateful for the helping hand.

Beth, Amy and I were overwhelmed with the hospitality we received both on arrival and throughout our stay. There was a room available with three bunk beds (doubles on the bottom) and two dressers. It was brightly painted, clean and felt like a port in a storm to the three of us who were merely road weary. I can only imagine how it might feel to arrive there from truly dire circumstances. Our room had a key as did the bathroom across the hall. Each room had its own matching bathroom. As I travelled back and forth with my key it occurred to me that a good shelter would be at best, like a well run college dorm. Really great place to be for a while but also a place you wouldn’t plan to stay for too long. I have seen many shelters and few of them can compare with the positive energy that was evident in every nook and cranny.

City Councilman Anthony Foxx joined us for the Gingerbread House event, as did a team of young girls from Girls on the Run. As we were leaving Sunday morning, a local city volunteer organization arrived to do painting and renovations. It’s clear that the shelter has a lot of community support and involvement. Even so, they are deeply challenged to hold their budget together this year.

I encourage you to listen to this poignant conversation with Cynthia at the Charlotte, NC Emergency Housing facility last night. It underscores the human face of homelessness and strength in the face of it.



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