“My son is homeless, living on the street, with who knows how little warm clothing. Is he even still alive? I drive by his haunts. He hangs out by my work neighborhood often. How does that make me feel? Like he wants to be close, but oh so far away.”
‘He was my first baby. Sometimes I think, hell, just OD already. I didn’t raise you this way. I wait for that final phone call. Then I hate myself even more.’
‘It’s 42 degrees outside. You’re lonely and hungry. You put your head down to try and forget the scream of hunger echoing in your mind. Then you hear the sound of an engine stop.’
“You look up to see a uniformed officer walking towards you. Your mind flutters thinking of everything you might be doing wrong. Suddenly this officer sits down.”
‘Dad, what is homeless?’ I said, ‘It’s when you don’t have food to eat.’ I thought this would be the end of the conversation.’ Little boy’s inspiring cross-country journey to feed the homeless
“He said, ‘They look hungry. Can we feed them?’ I paused because I really didn’t want my 4-year-old subjected to everything on the streets. He walked up and said, ‘Would you like a sandwich?’ At that point, I made the decision to do it once a week.”
‘A man stepped out of the shadows where I was walking. He was wearing baggy, dirty clothes and old shoes. I took a step backward, looked into his eyes and said hello.’
“I was telling myself if he asked for money I could honestly tell him I had none, and keep walking. But instead of asking for money, he looked back into my eyes, and asked for something else.”
‘For a brief second, I thought this was the same old hustle where a homeless guy just wants money for drugs.’
“I could see in this man’s eyes and humble demeanor he was serious.”
‘If you are not the parent of a heroin addict — you are lucky. Say a prayer and stop judging.’
“I felt his words in the pit of my stomach. ‘Mom, I need help.'”
‘He was an older African American gentleman, with amputated legs and appeared homeless. My first reaction, sadly, was ‘oh crap!’
“I debated making a post of this as it paints a not so flattering picture of me as a person. But I think in the end it is a picture of many of us if we are truly honest with ourselves.”
‘I went from my chaotic life at home, to being homeless, to living with my Vice Principal and her family.’
“I never gave up on my dreams and I am still learning to accept the love I have been given. I know now that my mom was wrong and I don’t have to prove that to anyone.”
GRIPPING: Photographer captures ‘day in the life’ of a family living in a homeless shelter
“Families are families, they function in much the same ways regardless of where you find them. In the end we are all just trying our best.”
Homeless man buys roses to hand out for free on Valentine’s Day: ‘I just like to see the joy and smile on people’s faces’
“He told me that he can’t wait for Valentines Day. When I asked why, he told me that he’s going to buy $100 worth of roses and give them out.”
