Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 257

“The landlord gave me a deadline of Sunday the 15th. On...

“The landlord gave me a deadline of Sunday the 15th. On the 13th, I went to the guidance counselor at my daughter’s school, and she gave me forms for the homeless shelter. My back was against the wall. I didn’t have any other alternatives. Some days it’s OK. But some days I feel helpless and sad. On those days, I think back to the years when everything was going good. My daughter is a blessing. She’s been so strong through all of this. If she see’s that I’m sad, she’ll lay with me, hug me, and make sure I’m OK.”

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This is one of a series of portraits featuring residents and staff of the Win Homeless Shelter for Women And Children. In addition to providing programs and services aimed at breaking the cycle of homelessness, Win provides shelter for 4500 people across NYC every night, including 2700 children.

“It’s hard for a child to live in a shelter. They can’t invite...

“It’s hard for a child to live in a shelter. They can’t invite their friends over. They can’t have sleepovers. They can’t have their own space. They can’t go to their room when they’re being punished. There’s no personal time for them to discover themselves without interruption. There’s even confusion toward the word ‘home.’ Sometimes they’ll say ‘I’m going home,’ but then they’ll correct themselves and say, ‘I’m going upstairs.’ We tell them that this is where they are staying while they make plans. This is only their home until they find a real home.”

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This is one of a series of portraits featuring residents and staff of the Win Homeless Shelter for Women And Children. In addition to providing programs and services aimed at breaking the cycle of homelessness, Win provides shelter for 4500 people across NYC every night, including 2700 children.

“Homelessness can be very confusing for children, and it comes...

“Homelessness can be very confusing for children, and it comes with a lot of misconceptions. We try to untangle that confusion as soon as they arrive: ‘No, you’re not a bum. You don’t live in a cardboard box. You don’t stink. Mom is not a bad person. She isn’t crazy. This is not forever.’ We want to undo some of the trauma of homelessness because we don’t want children to view themselves as homeless for the rest of their lives.”

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This is one of a series of portraits featuring residents and staff of the Win Homeless Shelter for Women And Children. In addition to providing programs and services aimed at breaking the cycle of homelessness, Win provides shelter for 4500 people across NYC every night, including 2700 children.

“I want to go back to Virginia. We used to live in a house...

“I want to go back to Virginia. We used to live in a house with two floors. My room was upstairs. We could go outside and play whenever we wanted. My friends always came over. Someone else lives there now.”

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This is one of a series of portraits featuring residents and staff of the Win Homeless Shelter for Women And Children. In addition to providing programs and services aimed at breaking the cycle of homelessness, Win provides shelter for 4500 people across NYC every night, including 2700 children.

“I want to be a scientist.”“What’s the best part about being a...

“I want to be a scientist.”
“What’s the best part about being a scientist?”
“Discovering bugs.”

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This is one of a series of portraits featuring residents and staff of the Win Homeless Shelter for Women And Children. In addition to providing programs and services aimed at breaking the cycle of homelessness, Win provides shelter for 4500 people across NYC every night, including 2700 children.

“Our building had so many violations that all the residents...

“Our building had so many violations that all the residents had to be evicted. Turns out the landlord hadn’t paid the mortgage since 2000. Some of us tried to stay, but it didn’t work. We moved to a hotel room for three days until we ran out of money. At that point we had no choice. So my partner and I ran to City Hall and got married, so that we could live in the shelter together. I never wanted to get married like that. We told ourselves that we’d have another ceremony once things are better.”

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This is one of a series of portraits featuring residents and staff of the Win Homeless Shelter for Women And Children. In addition to providing programs and services aimed at breaking the cycle of homelessness, Win provides shelter for 4500 people across NYC every night, including 2700 children.

“The landlord told me that he’d hold my stuff for two weeks....

“The landlord told me that he’d hold my stuff for two weeks. But when we went back to the apartment to get our stuff, all of our electronics were gone. And somebody had left the door open. My cat was gone. Her name was Kisses. I’d had her since she was two years old. I used to feed her with a bottle. I still have dreams about her.”

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This is one of a series of portraits featuring residents and staff of the Win Homeless Shelter for Women And Children. In addition to providing programs and services aimed at breaking the cycle of homelessness, Win provides shelter for 4500 people across NYC every night, including 2700 children.

“He’s taking me to Disney World for my...

“He’s taking me to Disney World for my birthday.”

“While I was in prison, I had a stab wound that wasn’t healing...

“While I was in prison, I had a stab wound that wasn’t healing correctly. The stitches weren’t dissolving like they were supposed to, and they were pinching and poking me like plastic needles. But the prison doctor wouldn’t authorize me to go to the hospital. I had to write a grievance about the doctor, just so I could get approved for treatment. When my treatment was finally approved, they did some blood tests on me. The prison doctor called me in his office and said: ‘Do you remember that grievance you wrote about me?’
I said, ‘Yes.’
He said, ‘You’re HIV positive.’”

“I began as an accidental witness. I was running a preschool...

“I began as an accidental witness. I was running a preschool program, and I went to Church Street for some bureaucratic thing—I needed a piece of paper. And I just happened to walk in the wrong door. And in that room I saw homeless families waiting to be processed. Some were sleeping on plastic chairs. There were babies sleeping on bare mattresses. Some didn’t have diapers. I ran to the store and bought bread, peanut butter, and apple juice for everyone. Then I used the three quarters left in my pocket to call The New York Times and The Red Cross. Ever since then, I’ve been an advocate for the homeless.”

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Gretchen Buchenholz heads the Association to Benefit Children. Founded in 1986, ABC aims to ‘amplify the voices of defenseless children by combating the debilitating effects of poverty and championing the right of every child to a joyful and nurturing childhood.’