I talked to Tommy on a very special day for him: he was about to move out of the woods and into an apartment. He credits Wear Gloves for changing his circumstances…and his life.
“I’m on a litter crew Monday through Thursday, and then Friday I work at the warehouse. I inspect parts or deliver parts to everybody. I started off in a litter crew and I guess it’s been almost a year now. They had come to me earlier and wanted me to come and join them, but I wasn’t ready. I was still caught up in all the soup kitchen and the Salvation Army. I was caught in that vicious circle.”
When he was asked, “What made the difference? How did you walk through the doors, ready?” he said: “It happened one day at the Church in the Garden when they had it over at the soup kitchen. Sandy come up to me and said, ‘you ought to come over and check out our program.’ I said ok. So, I came over Tuesday and got an interview, and the next day I started working.”
He didn’t know Sandy (who does the intake interviewing at Wear Gloves) before that day, but he had seen her around. He had known Ken and Wendy for 10-12 years when Sandy approached him. Regarding Ken and Wendy, Tommy said, “They’re real good people and they help out a lot. Ken and Wendy had asked me before but I wasn’t ready.” It was the personal invitation at the exact right time from Sandy made the difference for Tommy.
Tommy received a back injury at age seventeen and has struggled to find and keep jobs since. “It has been a struggle because nobody would hire me because of the steel rods in my back. The minute I say I had back surgery and steel rods in my back, they say: ‘we’ll call you.’ After doing that for a while, I got frustrated. I was down-and-out, trying to get disability, kept on getting turned down.” He still has not been approved for disability.
But things are looking up for Tommy: “Ken and Wendy will be helping me pay for the rent now. Before, it was just my cell phone and a little money for batteries…and all the things you need to live out there in the woods…food…”
When asked what others should know about Wear Gloves, Tommy said: “Come and give it a shot. If it’s not for them, it’s not for them. But they helped me get off the streets. I would tell anybody that’s on the streets to come give it a try. But…you have to be ready. You have to want to change your life. I guess I got to a point where I was tired of living in the woods and hanging out with all the riff-raff. I just couldn’t see myself doing that no more.”
When Tommy started working at Wear Gloves, his goal was to get out of the woods. Now it’s time to pick a new goal. He’s not a big planner and takes things day by day. He does, however, know that he plans to keep working for Wear Gloves. “They’re great people. If you give them a chance, they will help you out. The offer is out there…all they have to do is take it. I know what they done for me. They helped me a lot. They’re super people.”
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