“I am proud to be part of IW because we welcome everyone who enters our doors and we always take the extra step to help others.”
Serving Others: The IW Way
Scotty Arnold is one of the longest-serving employees at Interfaith Works (IW). He has been with the non-profit organization for 12 years and counting.
“I am proud to be part of IW because we welcome everyone who enters our doors and we always take the extra step to help others, regardless of their background.”
A retired Montgomery County police officer, Scotty started as a volunteer at IW Progress Place before becoming a diversion specialist, where he meets an average of 11 clients a day.
“When I was in the police force, my job was to enforce the law.”
Scotty shared that IW trained him to look deeper.
“Now, I spend considerable time with our clients to understand why they loiter the streets, take drugs, or run away from home.”
With a gift for making people feel seen and heard, Scotty honed his skills to better understand the deeply complex and underlying causes of homelessness.
This is so he, like other IW staff, can better address homelessness where it already exists, prevent it where it is about to exist, and—when it cannot be resolved immediately—ensure that IW and other partner services are provided to the most vulnerable individuals first, whenever possible.
“Everyone who enters IW’s doors has a story,” Scotty said. “It is our job to know the ‘whys,’ ‘hows,’ and ‘whats’ — why they left or lost their homes, why they lost their jobs, why they feel alone, and, more importantly, how can they heal, and what steps do we all need to do to help them rebuild their lives.”
One such case is that of a teenager who left home after an argument with her father. Barely 16, the client spent over three hours with Scotty, emotionally releasing her pain under Scotty’s gentle and professional questions.
Scotty then mediated a conversation between parent and child, where both parties agreed to work out their differences.
“Of course, the father did not want his child to live on the streets. He just asked that she follow the rules of his house and to be respectful to him and her grandmother.”
This is but a snippet of Scotty’s daily work and of others at IW.
He explained that his colleagues across the organization’s 11 programs serve clients from all walks of life—from professionals who suddenly became unemployed or heavily in debt, to people who fell into drug use, experienced abuse and discrimination, or have behavioral health challenges.
Scotty added that IW arbitrates family disputes and rental contestations. Discriminatory practices by landlords and property management remain major contributors to homelessness. These system barriers often go unreported and are unknown to the community.
Scotty uses both his interpersonal skills and expertise to advocate against injustice and to help clients navigate through overwhelming red tape.
“IW is available to anyone who needs help. We give them our time, connect them with our resources, and if that is not enough, we reach out to our partners to provide them the necessary support, so they can get back on their feet.”
With such a demanding and difficult workload, questions were asked about his reason for staying at IW.
Scotty only smiled, saying, “Nothing in life is ever easy. Our mission is to help our clients find hope again, make them realize that they are not alone, and—through our trauma-informed approach—motivate them to use the tools we offer so they can build and maintain their path towards stability.”
In closing, Scotty explained why he chose IW after retiring from the police force.
“As you can see from everyone here at IW, serving others gives us purpose and a sense of fulfillment. It is a calling that makes me get up every day with a ready smile and a steady resolve to say:
“I am going to help somebody today.”
Scotty Arnold is one of our over 170 staff who are dedicated to serving others. Please help us continue to deliver our responsive service to many more of our neighbors in need in Montgomery County.