Meet Robert.
In April, Robert joined the Church at the Park community as a participant in our Safe Parking program. Last week, he joined our staff as the newest member of our Safety Team. One of our pastors, John, sat down with him to ask about his story and experience of homelessness. Here are the highlights from their conversation:
I grew up in Salem with my three older siblings, no Dad, and our Mom who was always working to support us. My older brother struggled with addiction and incarceration, so I was really raised by my sisters. As a student, I had problems with authority and got in trouble a lot. I got kicked out of middle school on my very first day because I got in a fight. I loved football and wrestling, but I lost those opportunities in high school because I started smoking weed and getting into more trouble. I spent my entire sophomore year incarcerated at Oregon Youth Authority. Then again for half my junior year. As a senior I was in foster care. Even after I graduated I still needed to complete my GED because I was short on credits. It was only after my high school years that I fell in love with Rugby and found a place to get out my aggression.
I had been working in Tualatin when my first wife moved back to Salem with our kids. They have special needs, so I moved back to Salem as well to be with them. Thankfully, my brother had a couch I could sleep on. But my car started having issues and broke down. I started missing work and eventually lost my job. At the same time that I wasn’t able to support myself, my brother was getting married. I wasn’t able to keep living with him, which put me out on the streets.
Once I left my brother’s, I went straight into tent living in the parks. Really, anywhere there was space. But I was worried all the time. I never got good sleep because I was never comfortable and never safe. I went to the hospital multiple times because I thought I was having heart attacks. The doctor told me I was really having panic attacks. I had already felt unwanted before I moved outside, and now I felt like a disease and a problem everywhere I went. I didn’t want to keep fighting for my life anymore because I thought, “how does this get any worse?” I was so scared.
I say I had nobody in life, nobody to care for me and support me. And that’s true except for one person. I’ve always had my Mom. She’s the reason I didn’t give up on myself. While I was living outside, she was searching for resources for me and making calls and paying for a hotel room when she had enough money to help me. She was the one who called Church at the Park for me. Then her fiancé loaned me a car that had enough room to make a bed in the back and I got into the Safe Parking program. Heather (Safe Parking Coordinator) told me about job openings at Church at the Park and I immediately applied on my phone in my car. I got an interview and got hired. I feel so lucky. I’m still living in my car, but I was recently approved for an apartment and I move in this coming Monday!
When I first started living in my car, I would hangout at public parks everyday. I was so uncomfortable and worried about how the world was thinking about me. And I had no idea what to do at night. Where could I go? I was worried all of the time. Then I got into Safe Parking and got to park at Salem Mission Faith Ministries. It’s quiet. It’s safe. It’s a little hidden from the road, so you don’t feel super visible. After only one week of being in Safe Parking, my panic attacks stopped and I haven’t had them since. Everything came together at the perfect time. Now when I walk into a room my Mom tells me she can see a difference in me.
Every single human needs help. Whether you are rich or poor, religious or not, and regardless of your skin tone, every human needs help at some point. Everyone has their own issues, but that gets missed when people are not understanding and choose to be judgmental.
I hope the ‘Powers that Be’ realize that homelessness is an issue that is growing for a reason. I hope they see that our programs give people a second chance that they otherwise may never get. If programs like micro sheltering and Safe Parking didn’t exist, the very problems people complain about the most would only increase.
I am hopeful that C@P’s programs will keep growing. The more people understand how caring this community and staff are, I think will help make sure places like this continue to exist. The fact that people here feel comfortable knowing they have a place to go is so important. When you live outside and you don’t know where you’re allowed to be in the world, it’s so mentally draining. But here on our sites, you can see the joy and the cheerfulness in our guests just because they now have opportunity.