Shelter: Where Harvard Meets the Homeless
For 25 years in a bastion of wealth and power—the campus of Harvard University—the University Lutheran Church has offered a homeless shelter, the only student-run shelter in the nation. Education professor Seider, who worked as a volunteer at the shelter more than a decade ago, chronicles typical nights, serving food, dispensing cots, and conversing on everything from politics to religion to the vicissitudes of life. Seider interviewed students, alumni, and the homeless (referred to as guests) for an insightful look at privilege and poverty side by side. Some 100 students rotate positions, acting as directors or volunteers, taking full responsibility for providing meals, beds, and showers for 25 homeless men and women seven nights every week. Seider intersperses sociological, psychological, and even religious perspectives on this break in the “Harvard bubble,” the energy and optimism of students with glowing futures and the stories behind the current circumstances of the homeless, including loss of jobs and drug and alcohol addiction. By focusing on the individuals involved, Seider offers an inspiring new look at Harvard and homelessness. --Vanessa Bush--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.