Saying Grace: Stories from Grace House Day Shelter

Saying Grace: Stories from the Shelter

Fall Play Production ​ took on a serious role as we faced our own community’s thoughts about our “homeless neighbors”. Working alongside Pastor Jack, SSHS tractor shed theatre students went to downtown’s day shelter for the homeless in order to meet their participants and have a better understanding of what it is like to be homeless in Hickory. We met several times and fellowshipped and fed our homeless neighbors and homeless veterans. We gathered their life stories and spent hours listening to and understanding their circumstances. We went back to the Tractor Shed Theatre and created art out of our sharing sessions. We went back on several occasions after hours to help clean their facility – bathrooms, removing mold, shampooing carpets, and killing cockroaches. We brought in new DVDs, books, and other forms of entertainment. A parent of one of my student’s was able to fix their shower and even give them a new powerful shower head. The homeless neighbors were so delighted! We also supplied the ladies with a hair dryer so they wouldn’t have to go out in the cold with wet hair. We also helped make plastic bag woven beds and pillows. We then set our sights on getting the Key Club to join our efforts and do a real drive for winter items. We had two teachers donate clothes but since our efforts here were somewhat fruitless, we turned our aim to our community and churches. We were able to present The Grace House with cleaning supplies, household products, food, drink, toiletries, rain items, Chapstick, book bags, bedding, towels, etc. We hit heavy with warm clothes and coats, gloves, hats, etc. What the Grace House could not store, we took the rest to Cooperative Christian Ministries. We helped just in time for the major cold snap. During one of our visits I personally was heartbroken when I heard a voice say “Mrs. Rice”. I turned around thinking it was one of my student helpers but soon found out different. It was a SSHS graduate who was homeless. Her name was Katie and she remembered me from Coffeehouses. She was in desperate need of diabetic supplies.

Before our help, she was hospitalized because she couldn’t afford the supplies to help her monitor her sugar level. She was drug­free and willing to work but couldn’t afford transportation. Her shared story really hit home and touched the hearts and minds of many.

Our show was one night only and combined storytelling, music, song, spoken word, poetry, scenes, and monologues. One of my theatre students also shared her personal journey through homelessness which was heart­breaking and eye­opening. We dared to raise awareness past our community’s stereotypes about the homeless. We created an amazing ripple effect online and throughout churches with some never knowing of The Grace House. We raised $460 dollars the evening of the show to give to the Grace House. Students were so touched that some volunteered further time at The Grace House and at The Salvation Army over their Christmas break. Only one faculty/staff/administration attended in evening’s performance – Mercia Barringer.

The Charlotte Observer did a feature on our work with the homeless. I was disappointed when Catawba County website liaison would not cover it due to its “charity” nature.

Charlotte Observer, The (NC) 2014­02­09

Section: ​ Community Edition: ​ 1st Catawba Page: ​ 1V

Homelessness focus of high­school project

Performance challenges assumptions, raises money

Julia Sendor Correspondent

The "Saying Grace" service project and performance by St. Stephens High School's play production class struck a powerful chord with students by confronting homelessness in Catawba County. "People started coming out of the woodwork ­ students did,"

said Molly Rice, theater educator. "Either they were homeless, themselves... or they had been."

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For example, during a class service project at Grace House day shelter in Hickory, Rice encountered a former student of hers, now homeless. When Rice offered to help, the student asked for a pair of pants.

After Rice shared the request with her class, one student volunteered to donate the pants. The student then revealed to Rice that she, herself, had recently been homeless, and that her mother still was. In their December performance exploring homelessness, the student shared her story, to a packed theater.

"We had a lot of changed hearts," said Rice.

Through poetry, spoken­word performance, music, original dance routines and aerial hooping, the project, "Saying Grace," shines a light on homelessness in Catawba County. Rice explained that the performance sought to challenge beliefs that people who are homeless brought it on themselves, through laziness or addiction.

With 260 homeless residents counted in 2013, Catawba County had the third­highest number in North Carolina, according to the annual Point­In­Time Count, a statewide, unduplicated count of homeless people held one night each year by the North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness.

On a national level, 27 percent of American households could not pay for three months of basic expenses ­ including housing ­ if they met a financial emergency such as job loss or unexpected medical problems, according to a 2012 study by the Corporation for Enterprise Development.

The high school students' performance raised $460 through admission prices to donate to the Grace House, a multi­service day center for the homeless that is funded by churches and donations.

Rice said the project began with the need to care for one of her students who was homeless. Classmates pooled clothes and food. A simple question then sparked the service project and theater performance.

"I said, 'Why is it that we turn away (from those who are homeless)?' " said Rice.

The project was Rice's third time guiding her play production class to fuse community service with theater. In the class, students volunteer for a local cause, then use theater to interpret and share the stories they hear. Rice's previous classes worked with elderly community members and with victims of domestic abuse.

This year, the class reached out to the Grace House. When other local shelters close during the day, the homeless can visit Grace House to use computers to search for jobs and print resumes, take GED classes, attend veterans support meetings, shower, wash clothes, and find water and food.

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Jack McConnell, executive director of Grace House, reported to the class that an average of 80 visitors regularly use Grace House facilities.

Working from McConnell's wish list, the theater class found a plumber ­ one student's father ­ to volunteer to fix the showers and even install new shower heads. They launched a drive with the St. Stephens Key Club to collect personal items such as toilet paper, laundry detergent, feminine products, lip balm and umbrellas. Then the theater students helped clean the shelter thoroughly.

"It was so beautiful to see my teenagers do it so full of joy and no complaints ­ with cans of Lysol in their back pockets," said Rice.

The class returned to the shelter to share a potluck meal with Grace House visitors and learn more about their stories.

Within four days after the potluck, the students had woven many of those stories into the multi­faceted show performed to a sold­out Tractor Shed Theatre. Students pre­sold tickets to "someone that they thought might need a reality check," according to Rice.

Senior Monica Garrett, 17, performed an aerial dance with hoops, dedicated to "starving artists" who struggle to fit the mold of society. She was inspired by a young, gifted pianist at the Grace House shelter, who performed for the students. Garrett explained that to her, the purpose of the project was "to dispel myths (about homelessness) ­ people have such warped perceptions."

Junior Nikki Witt, 16, performed a poem on the general topic of homelessness. Witt explained why she felt compelled to continue volunteering with those who are homeless.

"Because they're human beings. Even the rich, even the people who have homes, have problems; they expect to be helped," said Witt. "I'm eager to learn and see outside the box. As an artist, I see from every perspective."

Rice reported that since the performance, she's received numerous emails from audience members, thankful for the eye­opener and wanting to

help. Rice attributed the outpouring to the power of art.

"What true art does is not just express the self ­ it can enlighten; it can educate," Rice said. "The ripple effect is amazing."

Julia Sendor is a freelance writer. Have a story idea for Julia? Email her at julia.b.sendor@gmail.com.

Want to help?

To learn more about the Grace House day shelter or support its work, call 828­24­0025 or visit www.gracechurchnc.org/ministries/grace%20house.html. The

Open Door Homeless Relief Program in Hickory can be reached at 828­256­9217.

The Hickory Salvation Army can be reached at 828­322­8061.

COURTESY OF MOLLY RICE Outside the Grace House day shelter, students from Molly Rice's Play Production class at St. Stephens High School finish an evening of cleaning the shelter. The class launched a project to reach out to Hickory's homeless residents. The class also created a multi­faceted performance, "Saying Grace," to combat opinions that all homelessness is caused by laziness or addiction.

Saying Grace Facebook Group​ (More on our project)