Last night, as representatives of Women of Vision we served our last meal to the women of Isaiah House at least for the summer. The last two years someone has called for a summer break from this obligation and I’m not sure why. Surely for the women of Isaiah House there is no such thing as a summer break from homelessness. Perhaps it was this that gave last night’s event a sense of finality about it, but even as Marti set out to prepare the Women of Vision volunteers for the event, she wrote what I think is the most relevant, concise, true explanation of homelessness I have read. I pass it on to you for you own edification, though merely reading this, and even understanding it, is no substitute for experiencing it. Certainly we, the “servers” are the ones who have received the most from this experience. They have received nine free meals this year, entertainment and hopefully a sense of dignity from us, but we have had our lives and our vision forever altered.

Over the years, we have celebrated the women of the Isaiah House for a number of reasons. Our hearts desire has been to document their presence, to bear witness to their lives, to leave a tangible record of each of them so that they will never disappear again from our memory, and so that they will not forget how truly valuable they are to us.

You and I have been the benefactors. Once their appearance and their actions made us uncomfortable. We pretended we didn’t see them. While it was once easier to turn away, we now allow ourselves to see. We don’t look away, or through them, or beyond them. We now see the Isaiah House women and their sisters on the streets everywhere.

After really seeing them, nothing made sense anymore. As we entered into their lives we found that the Isaiah House women are distressed, calm, disoriented, rational, incoherent, articulate, clean, angry, forgiving, pretty, plain, resigned, hopeful, brave, afraid, and unspoken to.

They write poetry; they paint. Their families don’t know where they are; their families kicked them out; their families want them to come home. They come from far away; they are homegrown. They appreciate the kindness of strangers. They want to be left alone. They are ex-cons. They are churchgoers. They are old and they are young. They hate the cold, the rain, the wind, and they stay out of the heat of the sun. They don’t trust the police.

They had a job once; they never worked. One grabs at us as we walk by. Another howls silently. Many talk to themselves when they think nobody is listening. They are always poor. Many have a hard time knowing what they think, much less saying it, because their thoughts are muddled and their words don’t come out right. Some hear extra voices in their heads, see things the rest of us don’t see, and believe things the rest of us don’t believe.

How did so many women end up homeless? In many cases, the conditions that caused them to slide into homelessness are constants: poverty, serious chronic physical or mental illness—separately or in combination—complicated by addiction and their social, economic, and political environments. Many have been deteriorating for years.

Homelessness is one of the pressing topics of the day. But soon something else will compete for our attention while so many homeless women continue to sleep outside under a blanket of stars. The women of the Isaiah House represent homeless women everywhere. The women of the Isaiah House have made themselves visible – just for us. They have chosen to become visible so that the next time we see a homeless woman, she is visible too.

Last night, each woman received a “Blanket of Stars Award” certificate signed by three chairs of the Orange County Women of Vision with their name on it and the following inscription: “In recognition of her profound and lasting contributions to many through the strength and dignity found in her character and by her willingness to become visible so that all women who continue to sleep under a blanket of stars will never go unnoticed again.” They cheered when Marti read that to them, and then they whooped and hollered at each other as each one came forward to receive her award and new blanket. Some cried. And then I sang my song, “Vanguard” (lyrics below), and they gave me a standing ovation. I couldn’t have been prouder if I’d gotten a standing ovation from a roomful of CEOs.
 
Vanguard!
Words and music by John Fischer
 
She’s a rebel
She’s a lady
She’s a ticket to a Broadway show
There’s no doubt that
She’s a winner
No beginner you have got to know that
 
She is walking into all situations
She is working hard
She’s a leader in a new generation
Vanguard!
 
She’s a servant
Of the people
She’s a sentry of the human soul
She’s a heart of compassion
She can see the highest goal
 
She is walking into all situations
She is working hard
She’s a leader in a new generation
Vanguard!
 
Keeping all her fears down under
Against the flow
The price she pays is high no wonder
Only a few will know
 
There’s a purpose
In her posture
There’s a wisdom in her widening eyes
She makes a pathway
With her footsteps
And with her hand she takes the prize
 
She is walking into all situations
She is working hard
She’s a leader in a new generation
Vanguard!
Vanguard!