I have worked with T for a long time. He has spent the better part of a decade on and off the streets. T grew up in Birmingham. He was 13 when he participated in the Children’s crusade, he remembers when the abandoned buildings in front of the downtown bus station made up a thriving business district, he drove a Birmingham bus for decades and knows the streets like the back of his hand, he is a veteran and a father and a friend. My life is better for having T in it.
He has struggled like many with a love/ hate relationship with his circumstances. If you ask he will talk to you not only about the hardship found in his time on the street but the strong community and love there…something that had gotten lost along the way as well…life got in the way. We all know that traumatic situation an bring folks together and open them up but at the Commons, we want to keep the togetherness while healing from the trauma. T is now cozy in his new apartment and the Commons was able to be part of that through our leg up fund. I will continue to see T as he takes part in the programs at the Church of the Reconciler, where my office is, as he continues to participate and give back to the community he loves as he has always done
I am grateful to have had a hand in T’s new start but he was never a broken man to be fixed, never a problem to be shuffled off screen. T is and always has been a precious treasure and I am honored to call him my friend
The Bham Commons 