Happy Friday,
I should probably give some form of a mission statement, a motivation for the actions I'm taking and I'll work on that, but for now I have three reasons I can think of. I've started this mission and to be honest it's all falling right into place, which is how life generally works for me, but this is not the case for everyone.
1) I've made comments on social media that have been sympathetic to homeless people and I've been attacked by those who want to generalize a very complex problem. My stance has always been there's a story behind every person and that's the story I want to bring to the surface.
2) I've worked at home for well over six years now and feel isolated from the World. Sure I help my co-workers but I haven't done anything positive to help people beyond closing a sale, beyond explaining some tech that's going to be gone in 5 years anyway. I need to engage and help those in a situation I don't fully understand. I need to immerse myself.
3) A need for a renewed vision of mankind. The country is in a state of divisiveness like I've never seen and on this grand scale I can do very little to fix this however, I can help those around me that need it.
This morning was my first solo effort going to the Everett Gospel Mission to serve breakfast. I'd gone in about a month ago with one of the directors who I met through the Nextdoor app as well as at an event discussing homelessness. Because of scheduling and travel I have not been able to return so today was my first day going back to the mission. For some reason the last time I came in it was about 6:45 AM and breakfast started serving at 7:00 or 7:15, and that's likely because I was meeting the director there. This time however the scheduling app requested that I show up at 5:45 AM so I did. There really wasn't much to do because most of the guys in the kitchen are pretty seasoned at what they're doing. They're typically making bacon, toast, oatmeal, fruit salad, and large vats of coffee and most of it is done well in advance of 7:00AM. Being a trained cook my only concern today was that the eggs were hard-boiled for at least 15 minutes and then transferred to steam trays where they'd continue to cook for another 30 minutes or so, but c'est la vie, these guys are all residents and they're in the kitchen more than I am for sure. They also take a lot of pride in what they're making for the other "clients" that are staying there so it's best to stay out of their way. The title "Client" is given to the men at the shelter because the mission is there to serve.
Once everything was setup we had some time to talk. There were two gentlemen that actually looked like identical twins however they were not related in any way and only just met eight months ago. I'm sure I'll get to know these two better overtime because they were there last time I served and that was well over a month ago.
I'm just going to give you a little insight into one conversation I had with one of them. I'll just call him Michael for now as I didn't get his name but I did get his story.
Michael was a local man that grew up in Granite Falls Washington, and unlike his brothers, he never did drugs, nor did he have drinking problem. He was the youngest of three boys and while his brothers were out goofing off and doing drugs he took care of the farm for his Mother and Stepfather. His Mother would wake him at 3 AM everyday and he would feed the chickens, ducks, cows, pigs, horses, cats, and dogs. It was his job to keep the farm running. When he wasn't working his favorite thing to do was bicycle. He would ride from the Mukilteo Ferry back to Granite Falls regularly which just happens to have some of the longest hills one can imagine. Michael said he had calves of steel and was really in shape. He was still in pretty good shape and really had no reason to lie about any of this because his story was rolling off his lips at a mile a minute. Michael seemed pretty normal, although it was clear that he had some social issues and was just a bit off from what "normal" is to most people. Life was going along as usual and then suddenly his mother passed away and soon after his Stepfather just up and left. Michael stayed on the property alone but then he began to receive foreclosure notices on his front door. He really didn't understand why or what to do about it. He was never informed about the status of the house or acreage. So at the three month mark suddenly there's a knock on the door and it's the local Sheriff. They told him he had 10 minutes to gather his things and get off the property because the house was being taken back by the bank. He filled up his duffel bag and a handbag that he could carry and walked off down the street. He left just about everything behind, including his bike, really anything that was too big for him to continue to walk with for any given amount of time. He had no idea where to go. He got on a bus and rode it as far as he could. He ended up stuck in some small little town that he couldn't remember the name of. He knew no one and because he had no money spent the next three days sleeping behind the flower planter in the middle of town. Someone noticed him sleeping there and asked if he needed help, if he needed a ride, or needed to make a phone call. One person in three days? one person? spoke to him and gave him access to a phone. He called his brother in Eastern Washington who drove across the state to pick him up. Things were looking up? Nope he was back on the streets in two months because his brother had health issues, lost both of his legs, and had a change of heart. He spent two more weeks on the streets until he decided to go to some church services where he met a man that said he could help. Michael was thinking great, but what's going to go wrong with this idea. He was losing hope. The man offered to buy him a bus ticket which was a welcome offer. He took him to the bus station, bought the ticket and gave him 10 bucks. Michael bought two hotdogs and some fries and waited all day for the bus to arrive which brought him to Seattle. He figured at least he could get back to Granite Falls and maybe find some of his old friends. He climbed over a fence onto the freeway, that being I-5, and started walking because he was completely lost in Seattle. He said he walked about 5 or 6 miles, his legs were killing him, and then he saw the police driving down the freeway in the other direction. The squad car got off the freeway at an overpass and swung back around. Then the sound of the bullhorn, "Get off the freeway, this is an illegal action and you will be ticketed if you do not exit the freeway". The Police pulled up to talk to him and asked where he was going and he said he really didn't know. He'd now been homeless on and off for months, he had no money, and his only hope was getting back to his old stomping grounds and maybe find some of his old friends. The officer told him to go ahead and get in the squad car, he wasn't in trouble and the officer wanted to help. He drove him out of his jurisdiction, across the county line, up to Everett and pulled right up in front of the Everett Gospel Mission. It was December 24th 2018, Christmas Eve.
Michael has changed since then. He's now all smiles and takes his job seriously, he looks like someone you might see in the grocery store with his kids, or walking his dog in the park, or even biking on his expensive mountain bike in an neon yellow and red Uber Biker outfit, but for right now he's working to be that person, much like we work our jobs in life. We live in the same world but sometimes on completely different plains. Many of the dreams Michael has are the same as mine, the same as many people for that matter, but for some those dreams move further away instead of closer. Michael now has hope, a purpose and he's looking forward to where the journey is taking him next.
Speaking of the "completely different plains". I'm about an 8 minute drive from the Everett Men's Mission where men sleep next to men they don't know, in a place that's almost too small to hold all the men that want a bed. It's the only safe place for them.
I arrive home grateful but speechless. I guess I feel like I've just jumped from another World into the one I know so well. I forget how volatile life is. I might have everything I need now but I need to remember there's always a chance that everything could change in a day.
I should probably give some form of a mission statement, a motivation for the actions I'm taking and I'll work on that, but for now I have three reasons I can think of. I've started this mission and to be honest it's all falling right into place, which is how life generally works for me, but this is not the case for everyone.
1) I've made comments on social media that have been sympathetic to homeless people and I've been attacked by those who want to generalize a very complex problem. My stance has always been there's a story behind every person and that's the story I want to bring to the surface.
2) I've worked at home for well over six years now and feel isolated from the World. Sure I help my co-workers but I haven't done anything positive to help people beyond closing a sale, beyond explaining some tech that's going to be gone in 5 years anyway. I need to engage and help those in a situation I don't fully understand. I need to immerse myself.
3) A need for a renewed vision of mankind. The country is in a state of divisiveness like I've never seen and on this grand scale I can do very little to fix this however, I can help those around me that need it.
This morning was my first solo effort going to the Everett Gospel Mission to serve breakfast. I'd gone in about a month ago with one of the directors who I met through the Nextdoor app as well as at an event discussing homelessness. Because of scheduling and travel I have not been able to return so today was my first day going back to the mission. For some reason the last time I came in it was about 6:45 AM and breakfast started serving at 7:00 or 7:15, and that's likely because I was meeting the director there. This time however the scheduling app requested that I show up at 5:45 AM so I did. There really wasn't much to do because most of the guys in the kitchen are pretty seasoned at what they're doing. They're typically making bacon, toast, oatmeal, fruit salad, and large vats of coffee and most of it is done well in advance of 7:00AM. Being a trained cook my only concern today was that the eggs were hard-boiled for at least 15 minutes and then transferred to steam trays where they'd continue to cook for another 30 minutes or so, but c'est la vie, these guys are all residents and they're in the kitchen more than I am for sure. They also take a lot of pride in what they're making for the other "clients" that are staying there so it's best to stay out of their way. The title "Client" is given to the men at the shelter because the mission is there to serve.
Once everything was setup we had some time to talk. There were two gentlemen that actually looked like identical twins however they were not related in any way and only just met eight months ago. I'm sure I'll get to know these two better overtime because they were there last time I served and that was well over a month ago.
I'm just going to give you a little insight into one conversation I had with one of them. I'll just call him Michael for now as I didn't get his name but I did get his story.
Michael was a local man that grew up in Granite Falls Washington, and unlike his brothers, he never did drugs, nor did he have drinking problem. He was the youngest of three boys and while his brothers were out goofing off and doing drugs he took care of the farm for his Mother and Stepfather. His Mother would wake him at 3 AM everyday and he would feed the chickens, ducks, cows, pigs, horses, cats, and dogs. It was his job to keep the farm running. When he wasn't working his favorite thing to do was bicycle. He would ride from the Mukilteo Ferry back to Granite Falls regularly which just happens to have some of the longest hills one can imagine. Michael said he had calves of steel and was really in shape. He was still in pretty good shape and really had no reason to lie about any of this because his story was rolling off his lips at a mile a minute. Michael seemed pretty normal, although it was clear that he had some social issues and was just a bit off from what "normal" is to most people. Life was going along as usual and then suddenly his mother passed away and soon after his Stepfather just up and left. Michael stayed on the property alone but then he began to receive foreclosure notices on his front door. He really didn't understand why or what to do about it. He was never informed about the status of the house or acreage. So at the three month mark suddenly there's a knock on the door and it's the local Sheriff. They told him he had 10 minutes to gather his things and get off the property because the house was being taken back by the bank. He filled up his duffel bag and a handbag that he could carry and walked off down the street. He left just about everything behind, including his bike, really anything that was too big for him to continue to walk with for any given amount of time. He had no idea where to go. He got on a bus and rode it as far as he could. He ended up stuck in some small little town that he couldn't remember the name of. He knew no one and because he had no money spent the next three days sleeping behind the flower planter in the middle of town. Someone noticed him sleeping there and asked if he needed help, if he needed a ride, or needed to make a phone call. One person in three days? one person? spoke to him and gave him access to a phone. He called his brother in Eastern Washington who drove across the state to pick him up. Things were looking up? Nope he was back on the streets in two months because his brother had health issues, lost both of his legs, and had a change of heart. He spent two more weeks on the streets until he decided to go to some church services where he met a man that said he could help. Michael was thinking great, but what's going to go wrong with this idea. He was losing hope. The man offered to buy him a bus ticket which was a welcome offer. He took him to the bus station, bought the ticket and gave him 10 bucks. Michael bought two hotdogs and some fries and waited all day for the bus to arrive which brought him to Seattle. He figured at least he could get back to Granite Falls and maybe find some of his old friends. He climbed over a fence onto the freeway, that being I-5, and started walking because he was completely lost in Seattle. He said he walked about 5 or 6 miles, his legs were killing him, and then he saw the police driving down the freeway in the other direction. The squad car got off the freeway at an overpass and swung back around. Then the sound of the bullhorn, "Get off the freeway, this is an illegal action and you will be ticketed if you do not exit the freeway". The Police pulled up to talk to him and asked where he was going and he said he really didn't know. He'd now been homeless on and off for months, he had no money, and his only hope was getting back to his old stomping grounds and maybe find some of his old friends. The officer told him to go ahead and get in the squad car, he wasn't in trouble and the officer wanted to help. He drove him out of his jurisdiction, across the county line, up to Everett and pulled right up in front of the Everett Gospel Mission. It was December 24th 2018, Christmas Eve.
Michael has changed since then. He's now all smiles and takes his job seriously, he looks like someone you might see in the grocery store with his kids, or walking his dog in the park, or even biking on his expensive mountain bike in an neon yellow and red Uber Biker outfit, but for right now he's working to be that person, much like we work our jobs in life. We live in the same world but sometimes on completely different plains. Many of the dreams Michael has are the same as mine, the same as many people for that matter, but for some those dreams move further away instead of closer. Michael now has hope, a purpose and he's looking forward to where the journey is taking him next.
Speaking of the "completely different plains". I'm about an 8 minute drive from the Everett Men's Mission where men sleep next to men they don't know, in a place that's almost too small to hold all the men that want a bed. It's the only safe place for them.
I arrive home grateful but speechless. I guess I feel like I've just jumped from another World into the one I know so well. I forget how volatile life is. I might have everything I need now but I need to remember there's always a chance that everything could change in a day.
Bravo! Powerful, important work. Thank you for giving a voice to a man who, through no fault of his own, was let down by our messed up society.
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