“Some people just don’t want help.” When I talk about the organizing I do with poor and unhoused people, this
Joe Paparone
Joe Paparone is a community organizer with the Nonviolent Medicaid Army, New York State Poor People’s Campaign and National Union of the Homeless. He is a credentialed leader in Mosaic Mennonite Conference and a member of Bethany Mennonite in Bridgewater, Vt. He lives in Albany, N.Y., with his wife, Lesley, and their dogs, Artax and Nym. He can be reached at joepaparone@proton.me.
I was helping at a drive-through food distribution. Before the line started, the Catholic Sister who coordinated things called all the volunteers together to thank them and pray. As she spoke encouragement, I thought, “It is good that we’re doing this. It’s infuriating that we have to.”
