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Ever since I noticed it snowing this morning, I’ve been frequently thinking about how J-Man is doing tonight.

I visited with him Monday afternoon and kept him company for about an hour and a half.  I learned that he had only spent two nights in the shelter, which surprised me, because I knew the (temporary) shelter would have been open to him for at least five nights.  He said he wanted to return to his tent because the shelter wasn’t “permanent” and it’s availability was dependent upon the weather.  (FYI: The shelter he stayed in is located 20 miles away.)

He also said that when he was not at the shelter, someone had paid him to perform some work around their shop — so he actually earned cash-money as well.  He was super-excited about earning some “spending money” (as he called it) but was quick to note that it was temporary too.

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Following up on my previous Helping The Homeless post…

This afternoon I stopped by to spend some time with my newest acquaintance, J-Man (as our mutual friend has nicknamed him).  I delivered a couple more propane bottles and instructed J-Man not to worry about conserving them — because he was going to need it this week.  I watched the expression on his face change from joy (from receiving more propane) to disappointment as I delivered the weather report for the week.

I figured two bottles of propane would last his Little Buddy Heater two nights as I intended on seeing him again Wednesday to deliver two more bottles.  J-Man welcomed that news but I quietly loathed the idea of him spending several nights in sub-freezing temperatures.  I knew that others were looking to find housing for him during the cold (based on his conversation) but I didn’t know what they would come up with, since I’m not aware of any shelters in the immediate area.

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This afternoon, after work, I spent an hour with a homeless man.

On it’s face, that statement doesn’t appear to be a big a deal, but if you knew my history with homeless people, you’d understand why this was/is such a big deal to me.

It’s not that I don’t have sympathy for the plight of the homeless — it’s just I’ve traditionally kept my distance from homeless persons and chose to support them through donations to organizations that worked directly with them.  I’ve had no reason to trust the homeless, as I have not been presented with any reason to do so — until know.  That changed when a friend told me about a homeless person he knew living behind a store nearby.  But it wasn’t that my friend told me he had helped a homeless person that drew my attention — I know how he feels about helping others.  It wasn’t that this homeless person lives behind a large retail store in an affluent city — there are homeless people in all cities.  It wasn’t that this individual is so close to where I work that I could have possibly had a chance encounter with him in the past (I haven’t).

It is because now I know his name.

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