Subscribe to RSSMother's Day
This past weekend, I logged more than a thousand miles on the road trying to keep up with my three s...
Helping Hand & Giving Heart
"See, people really want to help!" Those are the words owner Barbara Bocwinski greated me...
Student Contributions
I spend a lot of time on college campuses these days. I have two sons in college, I sit on the...
Rescue Me Video
Announcements
FOH Video Wins Summit International Award
Friends of the Homeless, Inc. is thrilled to learn that the video Rescue Me, produced by Paul Robbins for FOH has received a bronze in the Summit International Awards competition. With a grant from the Community Foundation of Western Massachuse...
Rotary Awards Paul Harris Awards
The Rotary Club of Springfield awarded five Paul Harris Awards at its 98th Paul Harris Awards Celebration on Thursday, April 26, 2012 at The Student Prince Restaurant in Springfield. The 2012 recipients are Rotarian Michael P. Healy of Longmeadow; Ro...
Sponsorships & Tickets Available for Journey In My Shoes 2012
Health New England continues to demonstrate its committment to the Springfield community and individuals experiencing homelessness. HNE is the leading the effort to support Friends of the Homeless, Inc. stepping out as the Journey Sponsor for t...
Volunteer Orientation, September 18, 2012
Friends of the Homeless, Inc. relies on the help of adult volunteers to serve three meals a day, seven days a week. We are also able to utilize individual's time and talents as other needs arise on our campus. For the safety and security ...
Thank you for visiting the Friends of the Homeless!
A note from Bill Miller, Executive Director
A young man was here recently after spending 10 months in a burn unit rehab. He was still physically challenged, but had enough spirit that he didn't want to take the rest of his recovery lying down. He stayed with us for awhile. He had no one else he felt he could turn to. We did what we could to help him and then he moved on wiithout telling us where he was going. We wish him well, of course, but are concerned, too. The odds of what most of us consider the standards of success are long for him. Still, I admire his spirit.
In some ways, he is not so different from other people I have known who have ended up homeless and alone. It is not the loss of one or two paychecks that leads people to shelters such as ours. It is generally a compounding of losses over a period of years. It may include poor choices by the individual. Who among us has not made poor choices?
I remember meeting a teenager many years ago. I was a foster parent and he was a friend of one of my foster kids. This young man had reported to the authorities that he was being molested by his stepfather. Charges were filed and then at the last, the young man recanted his story. He said that he was more afraid of losing his home and not knowing where he would end up then he was of staying with his stepfather. It was a sick and very sad situation. I don't know whatever happened to him.
But I have known people like him, since. Certainly, not everyone is crippled by their past. We all love stories of the people who overcome the worst that life has to offer. Their stories bring us hope.
In our business, "overcoming" may mean something very simple, as Kathy notes in her Easter blog. For some that we see, getting out of bed, standing up, facing the day, are acts of overcoming! I do not know what happened to the man who came to us with burns on 80 percent of his body. All I know is this. He woke up, he stood up, he made a decision to move on, and he did. That is his own victory. God bless him in his journey. God bless us all.