read the stories
belinda
PHOTOS: PHUONG TRAN"I am from Richmond and I am retired, so I volunteer here at Matchbox Mutual Aid. If someone wants to know Richmond, I can show them around. I ride the bus. I don’t drive. So I can help them get around on the bus schedule.
Richmond is home. There’s a lot of art and culture. There are a lot of good people here – a lot of caring people. I’ve just been getting over cancer. I love Massey Cancer Center. I love the VCU area. There are a lot of things to do here.
What brings me joy? Living here with my friends and my family. Talking to you brings me joy. This place here (Matchbox Mutual Aid) brings me joy. We help people that are hungry have food to eat and be able to feed their families. I am giving back to the community what the community gave me when I was down on my luck. Everybody needs a little helping hand when they are down on their luck.
Kindness is being grateful, being humble, and having gratitude. They say: 'The meek shall inherit the earth.' It means being humble – showing your gratitude more than your pride. Be proud of what you’ve become, not where you’re at. It means being kind to yourself."
Dziko
PHOTOS: PATIENCE SALGADO"I just hope that our participants know that we really do care about the way that we serve them and the way we care about them. That we really do care about them. You are not a screw up because you’re dealing with some stuff. I just wish people knew that. So I think we try to tell people that a lot. A lot of people walk up to us and say ‘I’m f*cking up, I know y'all are disappointed.’
Actually I’m not, I’m super happy to see you. Because a lot of people we can’t reach, their phone may be disconnected or they may not be on a specific side of town so we don’t usually see them, and then when we see them it’s like ‘oh my god, we’ve been thinking about you!’
So I wish that people knew that there are people who care about them, who love them, and care about their wellbeing. We really do care if they have wound care, menstrual products and socks, because we do. I know it sounds so corny but this is really what we do every day.
There are so many people we have lost. We feel that loss every time we go to Church Hill or Southside. There’s a participant who says 'Miss Dziko, can I have a dollar, can I have a cigarette, can I have a piece of candy, can I have that purse when you don’t want to use it anymore.' And when you show up with that purse and they’re like 'Oh you remember Miss Dziko, you remembered my birthday!' That just trumps all the quarterly reports we have to do and the deliverables and all that stuff."
Dziko Singleton, R-CPRS, BHT, SUD Ed. Counselor
Comprehensive Harm Reduction Program Coordinator
Health Brigade's Comprehensive Harm Reduction Program has 6,000+ participants enrolled and is the largest in the state of Virginia serving 250+ people weekly in three locations around Richmond.
