Ryan Phung AA8

I honestly didn’t have any expectations before attending the Source events because I

didn’t know what exactly the Source did or that there were many different stations that helped

homeless people. Additionally, I hadn’t engaged with homeless people in the past so talking to

them and helping them out was a new experience for me that has shaped my expectations

when working with them in the future. What caught me by surprise, however, were the people

who were not necessarily living on the streets but having trouble financially. They did not look

like the typical homeless person I would see living on the streets but rather like a regular

person. Just looking at them you would not notice that they were struggling. The homeless

people at the events were very different from one another. I saw many different races and age

groups which led me to believe that homelessness can happen to anyone. A common goal I see

when working with the homeless people is the need to seek help. Many of these people have a

general plan of what they want to do at the Source and stations they want to visit but I’ve seen

many benefit from spontaneously going to the Miracle Messages station and talking about loved

ones they were looking for. It was nice to see people who couldn’t find their loved ones ask for

help, especially one man who had already went to his son’s community asking around if they

knew him. Without using technology to try to find his son, it would be extremely hard in this day

and age to do that. Therefore with his goal of seeking help, he told us about his son and where

he thinks he is currently living in order for us to use our technological sources and assist in

helping him find his son. A skill or expertise I bring in this community partnership is the ability to

really listen to people when they talk. I have worked on this skill through playing music with

others because listening is a big part when trying to collaborate with other musicians. Through

listening and engaging in conversation I have been able to find out more about the people I

talked to than I thought I would. One person I remember conversing with was at the Source in

Expo Park. That day our task was to talk to the homeless people there and find out where they
were staying. After talking with this one particular person for a while, I not only found out that he

was living in an abandoned car in Culver City, but I found out that he grew up in Los Angeles

and spent his days walking around and looking for food. After asking where he heard about the

Source, he told me he didn’t hear about it from anyone or anywhere and just found it because

he was walking by. I discovered that listening and having authentic conversations really helped

both of us understand each other and take the conversation a step further than just knowing

where they lived.