Continuing where we left off, after the presentation and food, Jacob and I went to the coffee place (Where people would discuses things and drink coffee) There, we met Norman Sharkey, an Author and the founder of a program called Our House. The program helps people recover from addiction, and is in a real house! I couldn't believe I met with someone who did something so amazing! He told us about all the different people he met and the experiences he had. I was in total awe. He left afterwards, but we got to listen to another guy's story. The man's name was Jim. He told us the story of how his mother made him and his brothers steal cigarettes from convenience stores and gas stations. He also said how he knew no one in his family, and how he had been in jail for seventeen years. Bob Swan saved his life he said. The pastor was the first one to show him love. He called himself a bum on the streets, and a drunkard, but what I saw was one of the strongest person I have ever saw. His whole story was so capturing, I never heard anything as sad and emotionally intense as that. I honestly didn't know how to react. I couldn't have said "I know how you feel." Because I didn't! Nothing in my life could have compared to how sad his life was. I wanted to say something to comfort him, but I was thinking "I can't possibly imagine what you went through." Despite telling us his personal story, he had a brighter attitude afterwards. I asked to take a picture with him. At first, he was like "Do you really want to take a picture with someone who was a criminal for seventeen years?" I replied "Yes!" Because I knew that I truly wanted a picture with him. So we took a picture with him. Then he gave us each a book written by Norman Sharkey. The one I got was called 'Keeping 6' I've read a few chapters in between my dense homework! The book was written in such a way, that I could feel what the author was feeling. I should really finish reading it! When the time to do some work came. Jacob and I were put on... Bed ticket duty. Everyone who was a client had to tell the person their first name, number (Each person had an entrance ticket) and age. Then the client said whether they wanted to sleep over night or not. If so, they were given a bed ticket with a number. Our job was to hand the bed ticket. It was pretty cool seeing all the different people who participated. Surprisingly, only fourteen people wanted beds! There were at least fifty people! At the end of the day, we talked with Bob Swan about the program. He gave us information and told us that a third of the volunteers were formerly homeless and were clients of the program. The fact honestly surprised me, but I find it sweet that people would help the program that helped them. Similar to pay it forward!
That was our day, thanks for reading.
~Stephanie Nguyen
P.S Sorry for the lack of photos, since the program is dealing with actual people, it'd be super rude to take pictures of them, even if they're in the background! Don't worry though, Bob Swan said that he would send pictures to Jacob of the shelter in action!
Jacob, Jim and I being all close. "Don't be shy now!"
The hot chocolate at this place is amazing...
The church part of the church: The Santuary
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