“I Enjoy Helping People, Period”

Tammy Murray, a supervisor at the Stockholm St. family shelter in Bushwick, notes that “I used to be in a shelter myself when I was in Georgia. I know what it’s like, what these families are going through...it’s already very stressful being in a shelter.”

“You have your kids, you’re trying to get out. You’re trying to get out into your own place,” she added.

Murray has also worked at multiple shelters in Queens. She loves cracking jokes with residents and playing with their little ones, knowing that whatever set of circumstances caused them to end up at the shelter is “their business.” What matters for her is going out of her way to “treat you how you need to be treated, as a person.”

It’s “already good that I enjoy what I do, so that makes it easier to actually go with the flow of things,” she explained.

Murray is one of four supervisors at her current post, working alongside guards that she has to coordinate with. She fixes messes, manages the fire panel, and calls the authorities if residents get into fights. “As far as paperwork goes, I make sure we’ve got enough copies of everything,” Murray explained.

Murray claims that all the headaches and stressors are worth it, because “I enjoy helping people, period.”

Even better are the long-term emotional contributions she provides to recovering families. “If I see them two or three years down the road and I see that they’re good...I think that maybe what I said to them back [in the shelter] helped them get to where they’re at today,” she mused with a wide smile.