Georgetown Ministry Center News Spring 2011
In this issue:
- Finding Family
- Help the Homeless Success
- Fighting Homelessness
- Let’s Start Talking
- Winter Shelter Round-up
- Students Who Care
- Spring Sock Drive
- GMC Temporarily Homeless
Finding Family
Several months ago I received a call from a woman who was trying to find her brother. She knew he was homeless and in the Georgetown area but little else. I knew right where to find RH and was happy to help reunite them. I knew him by name though I had never been able to get much out of him let alone engage him in services. I would see him in passing on a regular basis and say, “How are you doing?”
He would enthusiastically respond, “All right, my man,” but then the responses were limited to grunts, smiles, and one-word replies, usually “No” in response to my asking, “Can I help you get a place to live?”
Well, there is a lot to say about family. His sister, a strong-willed woman, practically dragged him by the ear to Social Security, to the Department of Vital Statistics, and finally to Pathways to Housing where he is on the short list for a place to live.
RH had lived there under the bridge for over 20 years: That is how long I had been trying to engage him. Six months: That is how long it took his sister to move him from his secluded spot under the bridge to putting together a package that will offer a place to live. I was happy to give advice and encouragement where I could, but she had the power to move him.
In the meantime, I learned that RH has limited intellectual functioning, a fact hidden by his laconic nature, which is probably caused by a major mental illness, perhaps schizoid personality disorder. From his sister I learned that he was in special education classes from the beginning. How he detached himself from his family and found his way to Georgetown is anybody’s guess. He just doesn’t say much.
The people who inhabit the streets are there for a variety of reasons. They are not there because of uncaring families. We work with families from around the world who are frustrated by their inability to get their loved ones off the street.
When SA was featured in a Georgetown Dish video about GMC, his sister, who lives in Costa Rica, happened onto it on a Google search. Soon family from around the world were contacting us about him, including a cousin, a Marine colonel in Afghanistan. Using our computers, SA now has a Facebook account where he keeps up with his family, including his adult son in Puerto Rico. I swelled with emotion one day when I saw him on one of our computers, talking to his sister in Costa Rica via Skype.
They had thought he was dead!
—Gunther Stern
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