“I grew up in orphanages for most of my life, but it was okay. It seemed normal to me to have houseparents and live with lots of other kids, but when I aged out of the system, I didn’t really have any skills. I finally found a job with a roofing company, worked there for years, married and had kids, but during that time, I started drinking more and more heavily and ended up on the streets. I was homeless for twenty-something years, sleeping under bridges or up next to a building. I was the guy holding up a sign at the corner of Summer and Highland. That was where I spent most of my time. I’d come into the church once in a while and go to the Art Room, but not regularly.
“I started going to the Warriors Center---they help people with drug and alcohol problems---and they were always telling me that I needed Jesus Christ. I was seeing the same people come for help again and again---myself included---and what they [Warriors Center] said finally started making sense. We studied the Bible there, and the thing that stayed with me the most is when Jesus said, ‘Do this in remembrance of me.’ I don’t think he was talking just about communion. I think he meant everything, so that’s how I try to live my life now: I’ve been sober for two-and-a-half years and I try to do good things, do good to people, help as many as I can. I try to do everything in remembrance of Jesus. I go with a group from Jacob’s Well on Wednesday nights to feed people who are homeless. I know where to find them, and I still know a lot of them, although many of the guys I knew have died: frozen to death, drunk themselves to death, been hit by cars, overdosed. And I come to the church on Mondays to serve a meal to people who are homeless or unfortunate. Good people have helped me out along the way, and it will take me the rest of my life to pay that back. I won’t go back to the streets though. That’s no way to live.”
“I started going to the Warriors Center---they help people with drug and alcohol problems---and they were always telling me that I needed Jesus Christ. I was seeing the same people come for help again and again---myself included---and what they [Warriors Center] said finally started making sense. We studied the Bible there, and the thing that stayed with me the most is when Jesus said, ‘Do this in remembrance of me.’ I don’t think he was talking just about communion. I think he meant everything, so that’s how I try to live my life now: I’ve been sober for two-and-a-half years and I try to do good things, do good to people, help as many as I can. I try to do everything in remembrance of Jesus. I go with a group from Jacob’s Well on Wednesday nights to feed people who are homeless. I know where to find them, and I still know a lot of them, although many of the guys I knew have died: frozen to death, drunk themselves to death, been hit by cars, overdosed. And I come to the church on Mondays to serve a meal to people who are homeless or unfortunate. Good people have helped me out along the way, and it will take me the rest of my life to pay that back. I won’t go back to the streets though. That’s no way to live.”
Community Art Room, Mondays 10 am - 12 pm
Highland Heights United Methodist Church, 3476 Summer (Summer & Highland)
Highland Heights United Methodist Church, 3476 Summer (Summer & Highland)
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