SALT LAKE CITY — Kendria Hayes has been the beneficiary of many hours and dollars of help directed at her and other women participating in the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake ‘s Women’s Center programs.
It was now time on Monday for her to serve others, and she was looking forward to it.
She and her peers distributed clothes, hygiene packs and more to individuals and families experiencing homelessness during the annual Christmas celebration hosted at the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake.
It was here where she could get people the coats, socks and blankets they need while also spending time in community with them, talking, laughing, asking questions, treating everyone like a human being.
“Being here has been important because you get to see all the love out there that people give,” she said. “That is a very neat experience for me. I’ve never seen such generous people. It’s just amazing.”
Women either serving or attending the celebration spoke about their Christmas wishes this year. “An apartment,” “time with my kids,” “my family being happy and healthy” were popular requests.
“Feeling good about myself” was the more popular of all answers. The Rescue Mission has a program to lead them in that direction.
Hayes’ program within the Rescue Mission’s organization assists women who live in homelessness, are struggling with an addiction to drugs and/or alcohol or are having a difficult time processing the trauma they have experienced before or while they are on the streets.
This is a very vulnerable population, often subject to abuse, assault, theft and threats, program staff report. As such, it is vital that this group of women feel safe before they can move on to other aspects of their lives, such as looking for stable work and housing they can consistently afford.
In this women’s program, however, part of feeling safe in the community is also going out there and serving others. It is also a way to feel good about yourself.
“It’s really easy to be on the outside looking in and say, ‘These people just need to get jobs … they just need to straighten up.’ It doesn’t work that way,” said Terresa Wood, a case manager at the Women’s Center. “I graduated from this program six years ago. I was living on the streets and found this program. You have to have your needs met before you can do anything else, and that takes time.”
On Monday, people came together to get pictures with Santa and their children, grab a blanket to stay warm, and get a hot meal to sustain some energy for the night and tomorrow.
Many women in the women’s center have been in the same position as the people they served these goods to, and the thought that they are not that far from needing to be served themselves was not lost on them.
It gave them more incentive to distribute items and deliver food than anything else could have this holiday season.
“This is our life during this time of year. As we receive the help, we give to the community,” said Maria Medina, a recent graduate of the women’s program. She worked as one of Santa’s elves during the celebration. “I’ve been receiving the benefits and blessings of this program, so now you give back. Not as an obligation, but just from your heart.”
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
