Project Homeless Connect aids needy

Rodney Brooks is struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, is in need of a hip replacement and is searching for a place to live.

On Thursday, Brooks, a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, walked into the Hargraves Community Center looking for help.

Coordinators of Project Homeless Connect, established in 2007, were there to help alleviate the struggles of Brooks and others like him. Social services from across Orange County were also present to provide health care, employment and legal advice to people in need.

“I got a lot of help I’ve been needing for a while,” Brooks said.

Assistant Director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership Meg McGurk said she helped organize the event to connect volunteers and businesses with the community.

She said the partnership is a non-profit economic development organization that also addresses panhandling in a proactive, positive way.

McGurk said she organized outreach for the program by distributing bagged toiletry kits that included a flier about the project and a pocket guide about services available at the event.

“I think the most important thing is to connect people to service without them having to walk all over the county,” McGurk said.

Students from the UNC School of Nursing donated toiletry kits and clothing, said senior Dana Talley. They also provided health history screenings and manicures, Talley said.

Many participants were not aware of the full scope of their health problems, said Danielle Drobot, case manager for the Carrboro Community Health Center.

“A lot of folks with high blood pressure said, ‘I feel great,’ but it’s a matter of them not understanding how severe it is,” Drobot said. “The better they can become aware of their medical condition, the more they know how to seek health care.”
Drobot said some event participants did not know they were hypertensive, and she issued four referrals for guests to visit other doctors.

Apart from medical care, participants also received career services.

Twenty-one-year-old James Scharf has been homeless for two years and went to the event in search of job help.

“I didn’t know they had all these resources available,” he said.

Scharf said he studied at UNC-Greensboro for a year until he was kicked out of his apartment.

He worked at Gumby’s Pizza and Wings in Chapel Hill until he was laid off. Scharf currently lives with a friend and takes his meals at the Community House men’s shelter.

He said he hopes to join the Navy in two years, but until then he said he needs a plan.

Brooks said he didn’t find the career services useful because of his handicap.

“They didn’t have anything for people with disabilities,” he said.

But lifelong Chapel Hill resident Charles Gear said he has taken advantage of the program’s services since its first year and appreciates them.

“It’s good for people like us,” he said.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.