“Without struggle, there is no progress.” ~ Frederick Douglas (1818- 1895) Abolitionist
On Sunday, December 4th Sisters’ Co-Founder Genevieve (Genny) Nelson was inducted in to the Hall of Fame for Caring Americans in Washington, DC., which is housed at the museum honoring the life and works of Frederick Douglass, the man Abraham Lincoln called the person he most admired. Six other remarkable adults, and five inspiring youth, joined Genny in this honor.
The next evening, over 200 guests gathered for the National Caring Awards Ceremony at the Dirksen U.S. Senate Office Building. There was snow on the grounds of the capital but the warmth and energy in the room was tangible. It was powerfully uplifting to see and hear the good works that can be done across the nation and throughout the life span using the gifts of hope and courage. Thank you to Genny, and each of the award winners, for mentoring to us the use of these gifts.
—Monica Beemer
Genny’s Speech at the National Caring Awards Ceremony
I want to earnestly thank the Honorable Robert Dole, Chairman, and the Trustees of The Caring Institute for this national award. I want to thank specially Mr. Halamandaris, Founder and Executive Director, and the entire staff and Board at the Caring Institute for their support and kindness from day one. I want, from the bottom of my heart, to thank my family, dear friends, and co-workers, some of whom are able to be here tonight, for always loving me simply for who I am. I want to give a special shout out to my brother Mike, he came the longest distance, he has the biggest heart in the world.
The day I learned I was a recipient, it happened to be Sisters Of The Road’s 26th anniversary. I went home and burst into tears, humbled and overwhelmed don’t even capture the depth of feelings that touched my heart.
I don’t do my work alone. Gandhi challenged us to be the change we wish to see in the world. So how do I hold myself personally accountable and know if my life has been testimony to that clarion call to action? The answer is through mutual hard work and struggle alongside hundreds of men, women, youth, and children who deal daily with the calamities of homelessness and poverty. They are my beloved community; they are my truth and reconciliation commission. It is them I thank profusely.
I was twenty when I started my work on skid road in Portland, Oregon. No one could have told me then what I know now: The work is God’s gift to me. It came disguised as an invitation in 1972 from Box-car Betty, Sarge, C. W. Hall, Jim Hill, and countless others to join their unusual family; which I accepted. Their living rooms were the entrances to the hobo jungle, the lobbies of old hotels, the Everett Street Service Center, cardboard boxes underneath the Steel Bridge, and sidewalks to open doorways where they slept. We drank coffee together and discussed books and the world we lived in; we played checkers and told stories from our pasts; we sang carols at Christmas, Kristofferson’s songs at memorials, and once I sang Margaret Adam’s “Tender Lady” to a sister of the road who moments before was sobbing in my arms. We told jokes, well everyone else told jokes and I laughed; we depended on one another as safe havens, we had each others back. We told the truth, then our secrets and became compassionate allies; we treated each other specially; we learned how to forgive ourselves and others; we showed mutual respect simply for who we were; and we held each other accountable. All the stuff of a genuine family.
We have nurtured and taught each other well over all these decades. The we is greater than me and that first extended family. It now includes thousands of housed and homeless people. We unanimously agree that our country can solve homelessness with a systemic approach. That is, we can solve homelessness with a creative process that honors the interconnectedness of all parts of a system, and transforms it at a deep and lasting level. We are learning what that will take. First, build authentic relationships across the barriers that constantly separate us in the United States, like race and class. Then work in partnership, honoring what that entails: sharing power, acknowledging that no one has a monopoly on the truth, listening carefully to one another, and taking responsibility for some of the work. Create a culture that supports a paradigm shift including changing the underlying values, beliefs, and assumptions. In other words, if you always think the way you’ve always thought, you will always get what you’ve always got. It is absolutely crucial to create systems that teach self reliance instead of dependence; and ensure that the men and women experiencing the calamities of poverty and homelessness are full participants at the tables where public policy is being decided. Design, train facilitators, and implement a conflict resolution process. Working together does not mean the absence of conflict, expect it. Stop institutionalizing homelessness. Create a shared vision and a mission that promotes a shift in how we deal with this problem. In The Fifth Discipline; The Art and Practice of The Learning Organization by Peter Senge he says: “A shared vision is the first step in allowing people who mistrusted each other, to begin to work together.”
Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, once said: “It is when we treat strangers specially that the world is transformed.” To transform the world is to change the condition of it. My community of so many people dealing with homelessness invites the people in the cities where they live and the nation they are a part of to join with them and resolve homelessness forever. Now is the hour of our transformation.
Thank you so much!
—Genny Nelson
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