The Promises of Homefull Exhibit
An Advocacy and Awareness Campaign
You don’t wake up one morning
and decide today is the day I will become homeless. Today is the day I will walk away from my life as I know it. I will live in a homeless shelter. I will eat when someone chooses to feed me. I will be characterized by all the negative stereotypes people have about the homeless. I will no longer be who I was born to be but rather a statistic or number in a homeless system. I will have lost all promise for something greater.
The Promises of Homefull Exhibit will begin to put a face and voice to our clients. We will show the promise our clients have by their powerful stories of survival and their hope for the future. As a service provider for our community’s Gateway Shelter System Homefull is responsible for collecting data and information on all the homeless as they enter into the system. This exhibit, however, is much more than data; it is their life and their story. Homefull has a great responsibility as the holder of their stories. We learn about their lives prior to becoming homeless, we learn about how they came to need Homefull. We learn how most have no one other than Homefull for support. We learn about the promise they had for themselves and for their children. We learn from our families the promise that still exists for something greater than they are currently experiencing for their own children. It is not enough for us to use this information to develop housing plans. We have an obligation to use their stories to show they are not just the homeless; but instead they are a person filled with promise and the hope to be Homefull.
The Promises of Homefull Exhibit is also about Homefull’s promise to our clients to continue to work towards a community where there is no homelessness. It is our promise to be their voice, their advocate, and their support system. It is our promise to breakdown stereotypes of homelessness, to put a face to the homeless.
Modeled after the St. Stephens Human Services, Homeless is my Address not My Name Project, The Promises of Homefull Exhibit was developed from a simple photo day with a group of creative, compassionate people who after a day of photos was so moved by the faces and stories they decided an entire exhibition needed to be done to capture the essence of who Homefull is and the promise that exist for all. The creative genius of Emily Stamas, a friend of Homefull for over 10 years, and her amazing partner in life and creativity Nick Stamas, enlisted friends and business partners Mark Stockstill. Together with photographers, Dan Ingersoll, Chris Matthews, and AGI Studios, over 700 photos began to shape what we see here today. The photo shoot was emotional and powerful as the faces in the photos were no longer just the homeless. They became people with so much promise.
The Promises of Homefull Exhibit will be in our State Capital during Homelessness Awareness Week in November. The Promises of Homefull Exhibit will also kickoff our Be Homefull Campaign in 2012. It is our hope that schools, universities, organizations and businesses will support the campaign as Homefull develops additional educational materials to promote awareness and direct resources towards ending homelessness. We are grateful to the clients who participated in this project, allowing their stories to be shared and each received their own keepsake portrait.
To view full size pictures, please click on the thumbnail image.
