Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1488524
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2023 | maconmagazine.com 53 Truist.com Truist Bank, Member FDIC. © 2022 Truist Financial Corporation. Truist, the Truist logo and Truist Purple are ser vice marks of Truist Financial Corporation. Care isn't just what we do at Truist—it's who we are. We make sure people around us feel supported and more in control. We find out what's important to our clients, and make it important to us. We get involved in meaningful ways with our communities. Why? Because real connections and real care create better outcomes. Now that's powerful. When you start with care, you get a different kind of bank. We're going to have to address housing while we address mental health, and then we can take care of all of the other things people need." This goes back to mapping and collecting data to fully understand who is experiencing homelessness and why. "We need to understand what issues create the perfect storm for people experiencing homelessness," Cooke said. The pandemic exasperated issues for many people who lost their loved ones, jobs, and homes. Veal was one of those people who suffered great loss with the pandemic and subsequent depression. Although he isn't fully healed, he has found coping strategies, such as reading, to keep him going. Since joining the Resource Center, Veal said he has gone to a couple of job interviews and is waiting to hear back from some of them. When he's not searching for jobs or reading, he rides his bike around town and sometimes visits the places he would sleep. "I know I can't stay out there too much or I'll get roped back into that lifestyle. I never want to go back," Veal said. "The things I saw — it's just really sad." Before his 8 p.m. curfew, he tries to talk his peers experiencing homelessness into checking into the Brookdale Resource Center. But he said sometimes people stay out in the streets because society makes it easy for them by giving them money, which, he said from his own experience, is mostly hustled or used to buy drugs. "Stop giving them food and money when they're out on the streets. Feeding them gives a lot to them, but it takes a lot more from them," Veal said. "If you could stop that, it could change things. It will force people to go to places like Brookdale or Daybreak and hopefully get more out of that." Veal is hopeful. Hopeful that he will get a job and keep it. Hopeful that he will reconnect with his brothers and sisters. Hopeful that he will turn his life around. And hopeful that a new approach to helping people experiencing homelessness will work. HOW CAN I HELP? Instead of handing money or food directly to people on the streets, Veal and providers recommend donating money, materials, or your time to a local organization. BROOKDALE RESOURCE CENTER: To donate, visit unitedwaycg.org/ BrookdaleResourceCenter. To volunteer, visit givepulse.com/group/682884- Brookdale-Resource-Center. For volunteer groups and/or specialized projects, contact Charlee Coker at ccoker@unitedwaycg.com or 478-621-7802 DEPAUL DAYBREAK USA: depaulusa.org/donate/ LOAVES AND FISHES MINISTRY: loavesandfishesministry.org/donate/ or call (478) 741-1007 RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA: rescuemissionga.com/ or call (478) 743-5445 THE SALVATION ARMY: salvationarmyusa.org/usn/ways-to-give/