February 2008, San Francisco, CA

Hearing that I would need to be involved in Project Homeless Connect whilst I was attending the recent Global Marketing Off-site meeting filled me with in trepidation and nervousness. I come from a country that is fortunate not to have the vast problem with homelessness as San Francisco. In fact Sydney's homeless population is a mere fraction of San Francisco's. On a rare occasion, I have been asked for money but eyes to the ground, I have managed to avoid conversation and continued quickly past them. That was the extent of my involvement with "people on the streets" they are just not something I think about.

So my limited experience didn't bode well for an afternoon at Project Homeless Connect.

Luckily I had the support of my colleague Andrew Everingham also from Sydney who was keen to get involved and volunteer, so we arrived at the Bill Graham Auditorium to organized chaos there would have been over 1000 homeless and 400 volunteers all busying themselves with different jobs. We quickly familiarized ourselves with the layout of the room and the services offered - haircuts, free phone-calls, methadone clinic, massage, podiatry, needle exchange, DVLA, Shelter information, hearing tests, HIV testing..the list goes on. This really was pretty amazing! One thing immediately apparent was this was "their day" and out of that was an overwhelming respect for them and their difficult and unfortunate situations.

One man turned up just as we were closing really distressed - he had been told about the event a few days ago through his friends on the street and he had planned to arrive late afternoon and sleep on steps of the Auditorium so he would be one of the first inline the next day. He'd got the wrong day, he thought it was the next day and had missed most of the services and food was just about to finish. He just needed warmer clothes he told me. It seems hard to envisage how he managed to get the "wrong day" - from a life of meticulous organization and contact via a blackberry - this was hard to relate to.

Julie, I can honestly from the bottom of my heart I want to thank you and the foundation for the opportunity to experience this incredible, confronting, raw, rewarding and emotional journey for an afternoon.

As we walked back to the luxury of our hotel to get ready for our JAPAC marketing dinner we talked about our experience. Both feeling somewhat guilty and embarrassed by what we had in our lives - not just material wealth but emotional and family support and what was so natural to us. "Their hard world" is such a million miles away from ours it would be so easy to transition back to our daily activities but I truly believe volunteering is a "bug"...and we've got it bad!

I have found out that Project Homeless Connect have an organization in Sydney they work with who provide soup kitchens to our homeless. Andrew and I will be setting up some nominated times when everyone is our office will be involved and it won't be a one-off this will be a regular and mandatory activity!

And over the next few days as I walked about the streets of San Fran I saw many and frequent reminders of the homeless situation but instead of putting my head down or looking the other way I felt different - these were real people with real names and real issues - Rudolph, who had gone through a horrible divorce and ended up being an alcoholic at 28, Keisha, who was raped and beaten by her father since as far back as she could remember and Peter who's psychosis stemmed from a years of drug addiction...

So once again thank you for providing this first step. It will be the first step of many. It might sound contrived but this was a truly en-lighting experience and one that will stay with me for life. Working at salesforce.com has opened my eyes to the possibility and reality of volunteering in the community. After talking to other volunteers at the project homeless connect event I learnt that most of them had taken annual leave to volunteer, and did so on a regular basis! We are so fortunate salesforce.com offers us the opportunity to volunteer during paid time.

This experience was truly a highlight of my time in San Francisco and one I will never forget - thank you!!

Emma Robinson
salesforce.com

Marketing Manager, Australia & New Zealand