Irvine Pupil Says He’s Learned to Care About the Homeless

Manuel Olague started caring about the homeless this week after years of ignoring them.

“I used to blame homeless people for being that way because they had given up on themselves,” said the 16-year-old, who now drops dollars into the charity buckets outside his neighborhood grocery store in Irvine. “Now I’ve seen that for the vast majority it’s not their fault.”

His conversion -- developed over the last week as one of 150 Irvine High School juniors who gave up showers and beds in an effort to empathize with the homeless -- may last awhile if senior Chris Amber’s experience is any guide.

Chris took part in Project Safety Net last year when it was launched by HomeAid America, a Costa Mesa-based national organization that builds shelters for the homeless. HomeAid organizers saw it as a worthwhile exercise for National Hunger and Homeless Week, and Irvine High was the only school to sign up.

Reaction was so positive from students like Chris and their parents that the principal asked HomeAid if the project could be held there this year.

Irvine High students tend to think of their sheltered community, where about 5% are below the poverty level, as unaffected by social ills.

That myth was shattered for Chris last year when he realized several classmates were or had been homeless. Months afterward, he realized how his perceptions had changed.

While flipping through his middle school yearbook this week, Chris said he became angry when he spotted a photo of a teacher dressed up for Halloween as a homeless person with a shopping cart.

“Back then I thought it was hilarious,” he said. “But this project totally transformed my feelings toward how I saw homeless people. A year later, that hasn’t left me.”

This year’s exercise was much the same, with students encouraged to sacrifice tangible and psychological comforts. They begged for lunch money, shunned their usual social groups and wore the same clothes without showering for three days. However, instead of asking the students to sleep in their cars at home as was done last year, HomeAid organized a sleepover in the school parking lot. The project is expected to expand next year to schools near other HomeAid chapters.

HomeAid officials hope Project Safety Net will have a ripple effect among students.

“We want them to understand that they’re dealing with real people and not a bunch of stereotypical drunks with shopping carts,” HomeAid chief executive Michael Lennon said.

“These students can take a leadership role in breaking down those myths.”

On Friday, the students visited House of Hope, a homeless shelter in Orange for women and children.

Laura Machado, 28, who has lived at the shelter for more than a year, guided the students through the room that she shares with her two sons and the house’s living areas.

Machado told them she began living on the streets at 14 after deciding not to attend high school.

“This project is a good opportunity for them to open their eyes to what it’s like to be in my shoes,” Machado said. “It’s not fun. Hopefully some part of this will sink in and they’ll make better choices than I did.”