There was a point in my life where I was truly homeless. I was out of work, and had used up all my friend’s couches, so I was living out of the back of my pickup truck. I remember changing into a suit and tie in the parking lot of a super market before going on a job interview.
Eventually I found a job and a new awareness of how close we are to being out on the street. I became an advocate for the homeless and began helping in my own small way.
While working at Microsoft, I was invited to a “Team Building” exercise at a local golf course. After 9 holes we had a catered lunch. As the event ended and people began to leave, I noticed that there was a large amount of food left over. I asked what they were going to do with it, and they said they were going to throw it away.
I asked if I could have it, and they said yes. I loaded as much as I could into the back of my pickup truck and headed to downtown Seattle. I unloaded it in front of the homeless shelter in Seattle, and fed 50 homeless men and women!
While there I was talking to a homeless man and he said that the food was good, but they get food fairly easily, and is not what they really need. He said they need toilet paper and soap, and things like that. I realized that many of them were a shower and a job interview away from being off the street.
That Thanksgiving, living out West and away from any close relatives, I decided to create some “Care Packages” and give them to the homeless. There was Soap, Toilet Paper, Toothpaste and a Toothbrush, Pen and Paper, Envelopes and Stamps, and a Flashlight. I did include some Freeze Dried Soup, a couple Hershey’s Bars, and a Duncan Yo-Yo.
I pulled up to one man on the street and handed him one of the packages. I drove up to the next intersection at the red light, and in my rear view mirror I saw him throw the package into the trash. I was flabbergasted! I made a right turn and started driving around the block to confront the guy. Waiting at another red light at the top of the hill, I could see him make sure nobody was around, and he went back to the trash can and retrieved the package. That’s where he kept his stuff! I felt terrible! Thank God for that red light!
I had a couple more encounters that day, each equally heart wrenching. I realized there is a huge difference between writing a check from the comfort of your couch, and actually getting out there and doing God’s work!
With my Mother’s passing and the experiences I had throughout her illness, I have a renewed desire to do what I can in my own small way, but now including Caretaker’s and their terminally ill patients. There are financial and spiritual burdens that I believe I can help with.
Finally, as I was cleaning out the house we lived in for 50 years in Exton, my mother always asked me to give to the Purple Heart Foundation, as her father, and my grandfather, Robert P. Roedel, received the Purple Heart for injuries sustained in North Africa in World War II.
So now I have 3 causes!
John F. Bergin
February, 2024