Meet the shero to kick us off, Sharice Burke! Sharice is a 36-year old native San Diegan who has dedicated the last seven years of her life in service to homeless communities. Sharice has played various roles in different homeless support programs throughout San Diego, including case management, transitional and sober living housing assistance, job placement, and domestic and gender-based violence, trauma healing, and psychosocial support. She’s worked at Alpha Project for the Homeless, a non-profit agency whose mission is to support homeless individual’s journeys to self-reliance and sufficiency, for the last four years. Among its many admirable goals, the Alpha Project strives to eliminate homelessness through providing shelter and connecting those with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) with opportunities for safe, supportive, and affordable housing. In her position as a Supervising Case Manager, Sharice oversees all Case Managers on staff, while leading housing navigation efforts that include helping clients navigate the Coordinated Entry System (CES).
While many of us navigate the “new normal” of working from home, Sharice and her colleagues remain on the front lines – with the individuals and community they serve – in the midst of the coronavirus. Why does she put herself on the line day in and day out? “There’s nobody else. Our clients depend on us. Between our two shelters we have over 500 people. I’m not just gonna give up on these clients I’ve been working with. I have to be there for them during this time.”
"I’m not just gonna give up on these clients I’ve been working with. I have to be there for them during this time.”
For those most marginalized, Sharice’s work means the world. One of Sharice’s highest vulnerability clients asked her: “Are we going to be okay? Are you going to be with us?” When Sharice received this question, she realized how many of her clients are in crisis mode due to all the uncertainties they face right now. “It was an intense moment for me to look in her eyes and to work her out of that moment. That’s exactly why I go in. I just feel like it’s my calling and something that I’m meant to do.”
"I just feel like it’s my calling and something that I’m meant to do.”
And Sharice’s calling is not easy. For her, the hardest part is: “When you have people who need shelter but have nowhere to go. I have people calling from the hospital and there is nowhere to house them. It’s difficult dealing with a client crisis, yes, but the most difficult thing is not providing someone with a bed.” Sharice’s job, and the stresses it comes with, are not always understood. “I know some people think we’re crazy but I love it. We work at the bottom and are in the trenches at the height of things like Hepatitis A. It’s a drive that motivates us to keep coming.” She expands on this drive: “For me, it’s the social interactions with the people that I love. I love watching the process and being part of the process and watching clients overcome their fears and working towards their new future. For a lot of people, it’s scary, the thought of moving into housing after coming off the streets. What I love is helping them work though that and understanding that they are afraid of this new journey. It’s the people that really drive me. Their personalities and their uniqueness and everyone has a story. I love hearing their story.”
One of Sharice’s favorite client stories involves her work with Transition Age Youth (TAY). “One youngster had been in the foster care system for a while due to neglect and an abusive family. But once he turned 18, social services exited him out of the system and reunited him with his abusive father in Philadelphia. After three months, he was homeless. When he came to our program, we worked on a Housing Stabilization Plan and did all this groundwork with him, like managing addiction, and got him into a housing program for youth. For me, that was eye-opening because this story is the story of others in the foster care system – they get aged out and paired with a family member they don’t actually know and the system no longer tracks them or follows up with them.” Without organizations like the Alpha Project, and dedicated staff like Sharice, countless individuals have nowhere else to turn.
But the work is not without risk. Remote work is not an option. As she and her colleagues bring humanity, dignity, and direct support services to their clients, social distancing looks different for these brave individuals. “I think about it from time to time. I’m aware but I feel like of course I’m at risk, I’m in a room with over 10 people.” They take all available precautions: “We still practice social distancing how we can – we space clients out for meals and we’ve changed a lot. I wear gloves and we have nurses on site to screen anybody that’s symptomatic. Every hour we wipe everything down and mop.” How else does Sharice manage clients, staff, and her own safety while still providing essential services to those most in need during COVID-19? “I feel like it’s any other day but I’m on higher alert with washing my hands, wearing gloves, and keeping a distance when I can. I feel like I’m safe because it feels like my people when I’m interacting, but I feel like I’m at a higher risk because I’m coming into contact with so many people. We’re really on the front lines.”
"I feel like I’m safe because it feels like my people when I’m interacting, but I feel like I’m at a higher risk because I’m coming into contact with so many people. We’re really on the front lines.”
It’s not only at work that Sharice is a shero. She has three kids at home, ages 8, 14, and 16. “When I come home, I bag up all my stuff and take a shower and wash my hands and I’m extra safe at work. My children don’t really understand exactly what I do and it’s still not real for them. It of course crosses my mind and I’ve even thought about them going to a back-up hotel so we’re not coming home and potentially exposing our families. It does make me a little nervous but I try to stay positive and I’m doing all the right steps to prevent.” Despite her own risk, Sharice finds solidarity with other direct service providers: “I think about this for the nurses and doctors who are on the COVID-19 hospital floors and have a family they go home to.”
Neither Sharice nor her husband are working from home during this unprecedented time, which presents a unique set of challenges. “The kids don’t understand the severity of the crisis and staying indoors, especially when they see Mom and Dad coming in and out and still going to work.” She highlights that in addition to truly loving her work and her clients: “I have to provide for my family as well.” While balancing family and work life, Sharice still takes the time to be grateful for all she has: “I know a lot of people are affected financially, we’re both still working. Some people are filling out applications for unemployment.”
So, how does Sharice muster this super-woman strength? “I’m trying to up my self-care and doing stuff that feels good to me like music and meditation and taking time to read. I have adrenaline going and this whole crisis I picked up some sort of intense survival mode. I’m focused on maintaining or just getting through.” And, of course, she is undeterred in her mission to serve the homeless community she has dedicated her life to since 2013. “We all know the risks, but the work to us is greater than the risk. I think of everyone coming to work today and we put everything to the side and we help our clients to see the positive, and we’re all just doing the work and not looking for recognition. This is our passion.”
“We all know the risks, but the work to us is greater than the risk."
Sharice’s underlying motivation is palpable: “It’s simple, the client interaction and seeing the clients move from the streets into the shelter and then into housing. That’s my biggest driving force since I started. If it’s too much we could take a leave of absence and come back but no staff have. We’re here for the people and real human interactions.”
