Homeless in Olympia

Olympia Washington has homeless people. Or at least people who spend much of the day on the street. Since I had just come from the East Coast, I was up much earlier than normal people, so I found myself strolling in downtown before things really got started. As I waited for the light to change to cross the street to the marina, a man came up the sidewalk and stood next to me. He seemed a little bedraggled, and he seemed to be talking on a hands-free cell phone. As I waited on the curb next to him, it became clear that he was talking on a cell phone of the mind. I changed direction, thinking the marina would be more fun a little later. So I went to a coffee shop that's part of a fair-trade crafts shop called "Traditions". I was their first customer of the day. The next ones to come in were a couple, the woman pushing a walker loaded with things they needed to have with them. It was a nice walker, the kind with hand brakes and big wheels, with a seat for resting when you need to stop walking. They sat over coffee and talked quietly, counting over some change from their pockets. She wanted ice cream to settle her stomach and he got it for her. I left and continued my tour of downtown, spotting several more people in nooks and corners, looking inconspicuous.

Then later, I met with Art Vaeni, the minister of the Olympia UU Congregation, a New Hampshire native, who used to serve the Starr King UU Church in Plymouth. Something happened this winter, when the City Council decided that people needed to be off the sidewalks at night. A group organized in solidarity with people who were without the usual kinds of homes organized a protest. They set up a tent city on a tract of city-owned land. Just as they were about to be arrested and taken to jail, the Board of the UU Congregation had passed a policy that said they would offer sanctuary to homeless people who asked for it. They didn't exactly invite the encampment to move to their grounds, but communications were very good. The congregation affirmed the Board's vote very soon after. They are providing a place for the tent city for three months, and interfaith conversations are under way to make it possible for them to be supported by other congregations later.

Art claims not to have had much to do with the courage of the UU congregation's board, but I'm still impressed. Impressed with his ministry and impressed with the ministry of his congregation. How does this happen that a congregation steps up when the occasion presents itself?