End Homelessness

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Real Stories: Meet Harold

Published October 01, 2009 @ 08:16AM PT

Harold is one of over 12,000 individuals living in our nation's capital without a home. I met him in Lafayette Square, a park located directly across the street from Obama's government subsidized cushy home, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

When Harold was released from prison, he moved in with his grandmother. She passed away and he had no place to go. He ended up on the streets.

I asked Harold what his future looked like. All he said was, "I have got to find a job."

Harold from InvisiblePeople.tv on Vimeo.

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Comments (1)

people need people. this is the story of so many; the story of one young man who resides with us right now. incarcerated for the most minimal reason, no one to advocate he was actually almost transfered to another county due to his license being stolen and another man booked for theft under his identity!

4 court dates later and constant fear of persecution, no place to live and a job to find without transportation this young man is a poster man for success. he had 2 jobs within 1 week and met all court required drug testing and counseling, is in the grocers union, rides a womans bike ( he bought for $25 ) takes rapid transit and is getting ready to enroll in college.

the point? he does have strangers who stepped up and believe that no one is disposable and committed to transport him to all court related dates and provided shelter from the storm. he did not qualify for any assistance and yet was homeless, penniless and without family.

i believe that in giving a tangible helping hand with open hearted mentoring many wonderous things are possible. advocate for 1 person and amazing things happen.

why are there empty foreclosed homes, empty churches, office buildings stand vacant and yet the homeless aren't allowed to even sleep at night on a single spot on this land we call home to the free?

we have more shelters for unwanted animals than for people who find themselves for various and sundry reasons in a homeless situation.

Posted by Jennifer Perugini on 10/03/2009 @ 01:16AM PT
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Author

Sixteen years ago, Mark Horvath was homeless on the streets of Hollywood. Today, he works in marketing/communications and is an activist for the homeless. He vlogs at invisiblepeople.tv and blogs at hardlynormal.com.