A vision doesn’t have to include the outcome. Start anyway.
I want to help, and I’m not sure how… I joined a texting chat group with four other women also wanting to help, but not sure how. What happened over the next 3 weeks was some of the most rewarding moments in my life.
We live in an inner-city community where everyone knows the homeless man who pushes a cart with a giant teddy bear. His name is Richard. Richard has been homeless in our community for about 10 years and we’ve all gotten to know him. Each one of us decided this fall we wanted to help, and the discussions started. What the outcome looked like, none of us knew and we wanted to find a way to help him find housing. I couldn’t walk by him anymore and do nothing and sitting down for a chat from time to time was no longer enough.
Each member of our chat group had different ideas around reaching out to support agencies, advocating and supporting him in the processes. Then, one day we discussed income and discovered that Richard had sufficient income to rent a place, if only we could find an affordable home with a landlord that would accept someone without references. I took on the task of researching and calling landlords – how hard could it be? I got A LOT of No’s. If I had been calling for myself, I think I would have given up. It felt hopeless with each call ending in a No. I went back to the group chat to explore more ideas.
We realized that we might have more success with a private landlord and a basement suite. I resumed my calls and I secured four showings in one weekend. Saturday, I met Richard for a coffee and we went to look at two places. The first place was perfect! The landlord reasonable and I felt it was going to be the place. I didn’t want to get too hopeful and be disappointed, but I was excited. Sunday, we looked at two more places and applied to all four. Monday, the landlord from the first place messaged to me the best news. He had agreed to accept Richard as a tenant. My heart leapt. I texted Richard, “Call me when you get this, we got you a place. For real!!!”.
Over the course of the week, we reached out to our community through a Facebook group and within three hours Tuesday night received donations to cover first month rent and damage deposit. From Wednesday to Thursday, we posted a list of furniture, household and personal items needed and the list was complete within 24 hours. Friday at 11am, another member of our group met with Richard and the landlord to do the walk through and get the keys!
Within 7 days of our viewing, Richard moved into his new home and dozens of neighbours in our community graciously brought everything Richard needed by Saturday evening. They all knew him and wanted to help, none of them knew how and here they had the opportunity to collectively make a difference.
If you want something to be different and don’t know how, leadership calls on you to just start. You take one small action at a time. You keep persevering when your first ideas don’t pan out. And, you work together as a team without ego.
None of us could have predicted the outcome. With all of the discussion in the community Facebook group, the media came to chat with us about what had happened over the week. When the interviewer asked Richard, “What does all this mean to you?”, Richard’s reply was “I guess it means I’m loved.”