I went on deliveries with Jackie and Saira, two employees from Reebok who spent a corporate volunteer day at My Brother’s Keeper. Together we headed to Bridgewater to help John, a 60-year old man living alone who needed a kitchen table and chairs, a dresser, nightstand, TV table, end tables, dishes and pots and pans. John was waiting for us with his friend who volunteers at My Brother’s Keeper, Jeannie, truly her ‘brother’s keeper’ who helped him call us.
John was a pleasant, good-looking guy, casually dressed with a big smile. His apartment was bright and spacious, furnished with a nice matching couch and loveseat given to him by a friend. He seemed to be in a better place physically and emotionally than most of the people we serve. It didn’t take long to understand the depths he had endured and the miracle of his rebirth.
John was a veteran in recovery who used to work at the New England Center for Homeless Veterans. He made some bad decisions, though, fell off the wagon, and his life spiraled out of control. He lost everything. “I haven’t had a key in my pocket for the past 12 years,” he said. “I’ve just been moving from friend to friend, couch to couch, place to place.” John’s downward spiral even led him to jail. “If you can believe it, Jesus and Mary carried me through those dark days.”
“Of course, I can believe it, John,” I told him. “Jesus said to the Pharisees, ‘You don’t send a doctor for the healthy. I came to heal the sick.’ Why wouldn’t Jesus be there for you when you needed Him most?”
John is healthy today because of his deep faith in God, his hard work in Alcoholics Anonymous, and the New England Center for Homeless Vets who accepted him back, this time as a client. He got a section 8 housing voucher and now has his first home in more than a decade. He couldn’t get over the quality of the furniture we brought, especially the maple dresser and the kitchen table with the clear pine top that fit in perfectly in his bright apartment. It was poignant to hear a 60-year old man say, “I feel like a kid on Christmas morning.”
Most of all, John couldn’t believe kind strangers were in his home helping but our last gift, the crucifix, made it clear why we were there. “Don’t thank us, John. We’re just the delivery people. This is the man who sent you the furniture.”
Jesus was there for him once again. John accepted the cross, clearly blown away, and he pointed to a nail on the wall. “It’s a funny thing,” he said. “I had a nice diploma from my recovery program hanging here but it fell off and broke the other day. I didn’t know what I was going to hang in its place. Now I know.”