Angela Green working with her friends at a REMERGE picnic.
By Angela Green ’19
Junior in Social Work and Wealth and Poverty Certificate
Intern with Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty
Multi-colored lawn chairs, fold-up tables and benches, and food are hoisted by neighbor’s hands out of the truck to the park. Greetings fill the air as we gather again to see our friends. I wonder if Teagan will be here today, I think.
I look around and find a seat. Talking with my friend experiencing homeless, I find that he is not so different from me, maybe that he is not who I thought he was. We might find a few connections to one another, such as a shared interest or a city in common, or might not. He might share with me a word of encouragement or speak into my life in a profound way, and we might just joke around together.
I look around and see the conversations, laughter, and depth of love in the community. If you listen close enough, you might notice the sound of peace rushing through in the trail of joined lives.
I am about to begin my final week interning with REMERGE through the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty program. During my time at REMERGE, I have learned a lot about reconciliation—joining lives. I have participated in activities such as spending time with women to play games and study the Bible, walking the neighborhood, making art with the community, eating snow cones together, working on my own individual project, or spending time with churches who come to REMERGE to learn how to be reconcilers within their own communities.
Two pieces of wisdom from two people in our community stand out to me.
I learned that people who are poor have things to offer the wealthy, and also that scarcity of relationships is a huge problem for people who are homeless. (Cite: Larry and Sylvia, two friends from the community during their different talks). So often people who are not poor assume that people who are poor need an item or clothing or a sandwich, looking at the person who is poor as someone who only needs and has nothing to give. Really, people who are in poverty, who are so often excluded, have many gifts to offer us.
REMERGE is very focused on friendship, so it is important to give and receive from our neighbors as we join lives. People who are homeless do not necessarily need the food or clothes we try to monotonously hand out to them from behind a table, without even knowing their names or what they care about. They might simply need a friend. REMERGE helps create space where friendships can form as lives are joined within the communities.
About the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty Internships
Ohio University, the newest member of the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty, awarded three consortium summer internships to OHIO students. Shepherd internships take place across the country and in a variety of settings and fields of service that capture the interdisciplinary nature of the program including business and economic development; child services and education; community action; environmental issues; healthcare; homelessness and social services; hunger; and legal aid for both civil and criminal matters. Interns are paid a subsistence wage, living with other interns to make for a collaborative learning experience in which students engage each other in the issue of poverty, reflecting on the work at their respective agencies and organizations. Students do internships in communities away from their home institutions.
The SHECP membership and internships were made possible through an 1804 grant obtained by Dr. Stephen J. Scanlan (Sociology and Anthropology), Dr. Matthew Layton (Political Science), and Dr. Rachel Terman (Sociology and Anthropology) as well as initial support from the College of Arts & Sciences and College of Health Sciences and Professio
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