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My Front Door
This is a picture of the front door of our home. To be honest, the garage door opener in my car gets more use than this front door, but this door means a lot to me.
This door means that I have a home with walls, floors and ceiling. It means that I have a bedroom, a closet to hang my clothes, bathroom, shower, toilet, a kitchen with warm water, a refrigerator and stove, insulated walls with heat and air conditioning. I have my own private space, a door with a lock.
It also means that I am protected from the cold of winter and the heat of summer; I have shelter from the rain and snow, and even some protection from the forest fire smoke settling in our valley.
I take all of this for granted. Yet, we have members of our community who, for whatever reason, find themselves homeless. And some of them are ready and waiting to find a place, even a small studio apartment, they can rent to call “home.” A front door; a key to lock the door. A place to sleep safely at night; a secure place to store one’s possessions. That front door means they have an address, and with it, a chance to secure a job, to move forward.
It is tough living on the streets, but even more, it is humiliating. It is physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually exhausting. One is constantly using all one’s energy just to survive.
We need more affordable homes in which folk can move past just surviving and find dignity, self-respect and an opportunity to move from being stuck with no hope to a place where hope can thrive.
The vision we have for Cottage Hill Village is just this – a front door to a place to begin a new chapter in life, a chapter filled with possibility. Is it too much to ask?
• Every person needs a home
• Every person deserves dignity and respect
David Helseth
Justice Housing Yakima
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