Ardath L.
Google
On Tuesday, December 10, 2024, I was staying as a guest at the hypothermia shelter at the Red church (Epiphany Episcopal). Around 11:30 pm I went into the women's restroom to change my clothes in the stall at the far end.
Suddenly a man burst into the bathroom and started yelling at me, demanding to know if I ate his pizza. I thought he was another guest having psychotic symptoms, and I initially laughed in shock at the absurdity of his accusation. That made him more angry and he kept yelling at me not to touch other people's food. I was scared that he was going to attack me and I told him several times that I did not touch it, but he ignored me and kept yelling.
Finally he left and I finished getting dressed. I went out to report it to the staff and discovered it was a male staff member wearing a beanie who had done it. I got angry and told him that was completely inappropriate, reiterated that I did not eat his food, and said that he had no right to enter the women's restroom and start yelling at me.
At that point a female staff member who was pregnant cut in, saying that he had every right to do what he did. I was shocked that she was defending his actions and started saying the same thing to her, that a man should not enter the women's restroom, and especially not a staff member who is supposed to be protecting the guests instead of making them feel threatened. She kept insisting he had a right to do it which made me more escalated.
The other male staff approached me and told me to stop talking, and I said “No,” because I was still upset that the entire staff was condoning his outrageous behavior. He replied “Did you just say no to me?!” in a threatening voice.
The pregnant woman told me if I didn't stop I would be kicked out of the shelter. I went back into the bathroom, sat down and started crying.
Later I found out that while I was in the bathroom, the other female staff (with long wavy hair) went into the room where everyone was sleeping and started shining her flashlight into another of the female guest’s face, yelling at her that she should not have eaten the pizza. The guest apologized and said that she didn't know it belonged to the staff since it had been left on one of the tables that usually holds the food being distributed to homeless people. The staff member demanded that the guest pay for the pizza and the guest said she would.
Later I left the bathroom and went into that room to gather my belongings so I could sleep in my car, since I no longer felt safe in the church due to the behavior of the staff. I was so shaken that I forgot my purse in the bathroom. When I went back to get it, the man in the beanie who had yelled at me in the bathroom stopped me and apologized because someone else had confessed, giving no indication that he understood that his behavior was wrong—only that he had done it to the wrong person. He asked if we were cool and I said we were not, and started crying again because I was still so upset. I retrieved my purse and then went out to spend the night in my car.
The entire staff that night was unprofessional and cruel. The staff is supposed to respect the guests and make us feel safe. Instead they treated us like trash, demeaning us and making us feel scared.
Homeless people are a vulnerable population. People who are paid to work with us should be trained on how to interact with us appropriately. There is no excuse for the staff's behavior that night, and all four of them should face disciplinary action.
