{"id":4243,"date":"2014-02-15T10:03:29","date_gmt":"2014-02-15T18:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/blog\/?p=4243"},"modified":"2018-10-06T13:38:02","modified_gmt":"2018-10-06T17:38:02","slug":"bill-homeless-winter-syracuse","status":"publish","type":"videos","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/videos\/bill-homeless-winter-syracuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
It was snowing pretty bad when I met Bill in Syracuse. I must have had some snow on my face because when I walked up to say hello, Bill took out some Kleenex and started to wipe my face dry. I stood there in the cold overwhelmed by this kind gesture from a gentle homeless man. Bill only knew me for a moment, yet he was concerned enough about a complete stranger to clean off my face.<\/p>\n
Bill has been on the streets for some time. He suffers from PTSD because of a violent attack many years ago.<\/p>\n
He sleeps in an abandoned loft he claims was one used by an artist. The last time Bill stayed in a homeless shelter someone stole his dentures while he was sleeping.<\/p>\n
The Housing First model may be a fit for someone like Bill. He’s never going to go back to gainful employment and no one should stay in the shelter system without a direct pass to housing. Bill broke my heart. I tried to talk him into walking to a shelter with me, but he said he knows how to wrap up at night.\u00a0 Someday soon I hope we’ll have a system where an outreach worker can walk up to a person like Bill and give him a key to an apartment. Until then, all I can do is open my wallet to help make Bill’s night a little easier.<\/p>\n