Giving A Hand Up: Feature on Aaren Grant

The Hospitality House pictured from a road above the non-profit on a gloomy day in February. Pictured are solar panels on the roof, which are often used to provide sustainable energy to a building. Photo Creds: Chloe Greer

Chloe Greer, Photo Essay Desk Lead

The homeless community is constantly longing for help and assistance, yet society has created an undeniably negative stigma that gives people in need a bad reputation. It is common that people do not put time, energy, or money into organizations that are set out to help these people, purely because of the stereotype that the less fortunate community is “lazy” or “unmotivated”. Aaren Grant, the Community Outreach Coordinator for The Hospitality House, dedicates her time to breaking society’s norms when it comes to Homelessness. 

“We are trying to kind of beat the stigma of homelessness, because I think that there’s kind of a misrepresentation of what we’re doing here and what we want versus what the community wants,” said Grant. “My job is to bridge that gap a little bit, working with my colleagues and some of our admin as well, to make a good name for Hospitality House. We want to show people that we’re doing genuinely good work, and we’re not giving a handout. We are giving a hand-up.”

Not helping the homeless community because of the unhealthy stigma placed on them is a common, yet heartbreaking reason that people often avoid assisting the less fortunate. An additional aspect is that, in many circumstances, it is not their fault.

“About 30-ish% of our clientele are 55 plus, and homeless for the first time. So that kind of automatically beats the stigma of ‘homeless people are repeatedly homeless throughout several years, because they can’t find jobs or are lazy,’” said Grant. “It’s because once you start getting up into that range, in this region specifically, there are a lot of people in agriculture, industrial stuff, construction, or animal handling: heavy jobs that require a younger body. They did everything that America tells them to do essentially: get a job, work, pay your bills. But then it just gets to a point where you can't work anymore.” 

Ever since starting her career at The Hospitality House, Grant has been working to provide a safe, loving environment to help their clients get back on their feet, and thrive in the situations they are in. 

“I started here at Hospitality House as what they call shelter associates, so it’s people working the front desk. Then I moved up to the local food coordinator,” said Grant. “I operated the Bethel Locker Program for Bethel Elementary School. I run the gardens here, and then do a few other non-profit related things like working with farms and trying to get local food donations.” 

Helping the community of Watauga County understand the mission of the Hospitality House is a crucial part of success for the non-profit. Grant works hard to acquire proper support and care for the Hospitality House.

“I got promoted to Community Outreach Coordinator, which was more of a combination of that job [Local Food Coordinator] plus some other community outreach stuff,” said Grant. “So I’ll do events, I do intern fairs, I do stuff with the school, go to class talks, and just work a lot with the community, trying to get Hosp House’s name out there.”