The Bowery Mission
Svetlana Bachevanova | United States
Photographer: Svetlana Bachevanova
Exhibit Title: The Bowery Mission
Location: United States
Founded in 1879, The Bowery Mission is the oldest Gospel Mission in the U.S. and one of the most effective providers of care for homeless people in New York. Eighty men make their home in the Bowery where they received health care and opportunity of finding new homes. When the temperature outside drops under 40, more than 200 more from the street are allowed to sleep on the mattresses on the floor of the church.
In February 2009 I volunteered at the Bowery for a period of time while working on my project- photographing the everyday life of the homeless community from Lower Manhattan.
For New Yorkers the Bowery is a symbol of the lowest point you can reach in your life time. For homeless people, the Mission is a symbol of home, food, bed and warmth.
By the time I started my project the number of homeless families jumped 40% in the last half of 2008 and unusually large numbers of people were likely to fall into poverty and risked to lose their homes due to recession.
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