IUPUI student spends his spring break ‘homeless’ on Indianapolis streets

On the side of Interstate 65, a 24-year-old man stood clad in a yellow T-shirt, corduroy pants and sneakers. The night before, he rummaged through Dumpsters to find smashed cardboard boxes to serve as a bed.\nThough he hoped for money as he panhandled on I-65, he realized with each passing moment his hands would remain empty.\nUntil one person approached the man – handing him his last 15 cents.\nExcept the man receiving the money wasn’t homeless. \n“He told me, ‘I’m sorry this is all I have,’” said IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis graduate student Kyle Walke, the man in the yellow T-shirt who loitered on the interstate. \nOver his spring break, Walke posed as a homeless person in Indianapolis to experience the tasks and challenges that real homeless people face daily. \nWalke, who is studying social work, lived on the streets from March 9 to 15 and plans to make a documentary about his experience.\n“You have to understand that everyone has their own story and not everybody out there is an addict,” he said.\nRyan Angrick, a sophomore at Ivy Tech Community College, is dedicated to filming Walke’s encounters.\n“I don’t have as big of a heart as he does,” Angrick said about Walke’s endeavor. “Before this I never looked twice at homelessness.”\nWhen he asked for money on day two of his journey, Walke said he tried to give the 15 cents back to the homeless man.\n“He thought I was asking for more money, but I wasn’t, so he kept saying over and over how sorry he was, that it was all he had,” Walke said. “That really touched me. We get so caught up in our daily lives, but the reality is you can have nothing and you can still find a way to give.”\nHe stayed out a little longer at the interstate after the incident before asking for money outside Conseco Fieldhouse, at an Indiana Pacers’ game. He ended the day with $8.\nWalke said that he wore a pedometer which recorded that he walked 46.5 miles throughout the week. During this time he also lost seven pounds, he said.\n“My feet killed; my back hurt,” he said. “With all of those various stressors it really changes who are you are almost.”\nWalke stayed at Wheeler Mission Ministries the first night and said he realized the welcoming atmosphere the shelter maintained was also overwhelming.\n“The shelter was a really great resource for people who need to rejuvenate themselves, to find a bed and get some meals,” Walke said. “But it can be pretty intimidating for someone who has never been through it.”\nTo address the negative stereotypes the homeless often face, Walke spent a day outside the Circle Centre mall, greeting people and telling everyone who passed in and out to have a nice day.\n“A lot of people looked at me confused, like they expected me to ask for money, and I wasn’t,” Walke said. “Some people were really nice, saying, ‘You have a great day too.’ But some people wouldn’t say anything.”\nDespite Walke’s intentions at Circle Centre, he said security didn’t take kindly to his actions. \n“I was told I had to leave Circle Centre. … It was pretty frustrating,” he said. “I hadn’t asked for any money and I just wanted to sit down. ... I wasn’t there for 10 seconds before a security guard appeared and told me to leave without explanation. Obviously, they’ve been dealing with issues like that and it was a judgment call based on the plastic sack I was carrying clothes in.”\nWalke also spent part of a day washing someone’s car with paper towels and water. To end the day, he donated the $8 he made to a homeless person.\n“When I was done, I felt good about myself – especially for giving some of my money to another homeless person a day after I had someone do that for me,” he said. “It was important for me to do that for someone else.”\nApplying for jobs, experiencing the intake process at a Horizon House day shelter and paying respect to homeless veterans were among the activities that Walke experiences during the week.\nWalke’s friends photographed his experience, and he is planning to create a documentary of his journey to educate people about the misconceptions associated with the homeless.\nBloomington’s Shalom Community Center Executive Director Joel Rekas said though Walke’s project had good intentions, he thought it would take more time to really understand homelessness.\n“I think the intent is good, but I’m not sure if someone doing that for a week is going to get a true picture,” Rekas said. \nWaking up on day seven, Walke said he remembered feeling different than his usual self.\n“I didn’t expect this, but getting into the car and going back home, I felt a little off,” he said. “It took me a couple of days to feel normal again... Emotionally you become a different person.”