iWL Cares, closer to the people in need than ever

Maurice von Zupthen, Veronica Johnson and Ryan McCann
walking down the street, looking for people to help.

During our last iWL Cares initiative, the iWL team walked around downtown Salt Lake City, visiting some homeless people and giving food and money to those who needed it. 

It was quite an experience for the iWL team members that were present, and there is no better way to describe it than just listening to their very own words. Here are a couple of testimonials.

Maurice von Zutphen, iWL Vice President of Operations and Project Management:

I was an eye opener to say the least. It is striking to be exposed to circumstances so on the fringes of society. It is hard to see a fellow human being relinquished down to pan-handling and survival subsistence. I have to admit it was uncomfortable and sad to see so many needing the services offered by various church services. 

Brian Palmer rushing to action.

I was struck by two other aspects. As we were passing out food, the police showed up in an instant and the officer quickly dispersed the crowd from the street corner. He was even calling out individuals by first name, revealing that some must have been on our streets for some time. The other really gripping sight was seeing what appeared to be a young woman curled on the pavement along a fence, barefooted and passed out. 

Truly sobering to see that life can take such a downturn.

Erin Millet, iWL Office Manager:

It was an unexpected experience for me. The unexpected part was the hopelessness that we saw.

We will call the first gentleman we came across “Joe”. Joe seemed to be very… Eccentric. He let us know that he was studying for his psychology dissertation and he had obtained a lot of information through his time spent on the “streets”. When asked where he was from, he flat out refused to answer and said “I cannot tell you that.” He was grateful for the food we gave him and accepted it with “God bless you.” Later on, (iWL Project Manager) Veronica Johnson and I went back and gave him some money.

We will call the second gentleman “Bob”. Bob was sitting by himself on a bench when we approached him. He seemed a little wary. There were 5 of us approaching him and he was very quiet. (Executive Sales & Account Manager) Ryan McCann asked him if he would like some food and his comment was “depends”. We left him some food and a few dollars but did not stay to talk with him.

Erin Millet and Veronica Johnson with "Joe".

Our next stop was a group of about two dozen men and women. They were outside of a Christian shelter. We approached them and all they really wanted was the food we were giving out. Apparently, their mind frame was “Free food? I’ll take all that you have.” This stop was sobering to say the least. It was very sad to see fellow human beings at that point in their lives. One woman kept whispering “Hide me please, hide me please.”

At a stop light, (Sr. Account Executive) Brian jumped out of the car to hand some money to a woman on a corner who was holding a sign. She was more worried about Brian going in front of the turning cars than about what he was trying to give her.

We weren’t able to get any stories from anyone besides the few comments we got from Joe. It seems as though their social skills are gone and they were not able to communicate with us. They were leery and suspicious of us. Very untrusting in regards to what our motives were. For this same reason we did not take any pictures of them.

Once again, the iWL team members were reminded of the reason of the existence of the iWL Cares program, and felt the need to work even harder to make the lives of these people a little better. 

And with your help, we can do it.