Volunteers from Crossroads Rhode Island and Amos House clean up Hayward Street in South Providence yesterday.

The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman Andrew Dickerman

PROVIDENCE — Quiana Dussault wants you to know homeless people are human beings, too, and that each person has her own unique story, her own idiosyncratic past.

“They treat us like we’re not human,” she said of the public, “but I wasn’t always homeless. I once had an apartment and two kids and then something happened. We’re all here because something happened to us.”

Dussault was one of roughly 100 people who pitched in to clean up the South Providence neighborhoods around Crossroads Rhode Island and Amos House. Since both institutions help the homeless get back on their feet, they decided to join forces to demonstrate their commitment to keeping the area between Broad and Friendship streets clean.

“We need to let the neighbors know that we’re part of the community,” said Eileen Hayes, executive director of Amos House, which operates the largest soup kitchen in the state. “Many of our clients live and work here.”

Anne Nolan, president of Crossroads Rhode Island, said there is a misconception about the homeless — that they don’t belong to the community or that they don’t care — that her organization and Amos House are working to dispel. Crossroads, at 160 Broad St., is the largest provider of services to the homeless in Rhode Island, including crisis intervention, housing and access to medical care.

“We’re proud of this community,” Nolan said yesterday as she handed out green T-shirts and work gloves, “and we want the community to see that we’re responsible citizens.”

The cleanup crews were a mixed bag, including clients and employees of Crossroads and Amos House, volunteers, even a few neighbors. And they had at least one thing in common: they were all uncomplaining in the summer heat and humidity.

From Crossroads, the young adults, teenagers and grandfatherly types fanned out along Pine and Friendship streets, picking up the accumulated litter of a summer’s worth of cookouts and summer storms. They scooped up scraps of newsprint, cigarette butts, broken glass, plastic and paper cups, fallen branches, old leaves and other less savory bits of trash.

From the clients of Amos House and Crossroads, the message was the same:

“This city has been good to us,” said Armand Landry. “We’re here in an effort to clean up the neighborhood.”

Calling himself a proud client of Amos House, Rocco Viamonto said he wants to get the word out that Providence is a beautiful, historic city, so “why can’t South Providence look as good as the East Side?”

Landry said he wound up homeless after a series of unfortunate events, including a spouse who he says abused him. Amos House at 415 Friendship St. has been his way to a new life, connecting him with medical benefits and helping him look for work. He said he is part of a 90-day program at Amos House, adding that if he can’t find a job by then, “Something’s wrong with me.”

After spending the morning hauling away litter, the cleanup crew gathered for a cookout at Amos House sponsored by the two organizations.

lborg@projo.com