The final story from Harrisburg

                                       
                                           Greg reading the newspapers.

             Kyle put his face right in front of Mr. Boyd’s and started to curse at Mr. Boyd in a whispering voice. Mr. Boyd stepped backward and yelled at him saying: “Don’t threaten me.”  Everyone looked at Kyle and Mr. Boyd. Surprisingly, some people did not say anything as if they wished to see them fight.

            The dining room became chaotic as people gathered around us. I was very intimidated by people’s aggressiveness. It took few minutes for everything to be settled down. When people calmed down, we could not find Mr. Boyd. He must have gone out already. Kyle, Greg, Andy and I walked out from the soup kitchen and went to the state library. Again, there were more homeless  people resting inside the library. We went all the way back and sat around a long desk. Greg, by himself, went to the newspaper section and read newspapers and rest of us just chatted. For the most of the part, Kyle led the conversation. He said: “Issac, I advise you that you never go out with an Asian women.” Kyle told  me his "crazy" stories with his Asian ex-girl friends. Even though it sounded bit racist, I would have to admit that he was very funny.

            Around 5pm, Kyle left us for he had to meet his friends. Greg, Andy and I went to Bethesda Mission to see if we can all stay there for a night. Since the Mission serves dinner everyday, we had dinner together. After we ate, we looked for Jacob, the man whom we had the interview with.

            “Hey what are you up to?” Jacob welcomed us.

We asked him if we can stay one night at the shelter to learn more about the homelessness. Jacob peeked at Greg and whispered: “Is he with you guys?” When we said ‘Yes,’ his face became serious and asked only Andy and me to follow him. 

“I know people like him. I know that you guys want to learn about the homelessness, but don’t stick                                                          around with a person like him too much.”

Jacob did not let us to stay because he did not want to make an exception for Greg. We did not tell Greg about what Jacob told us. Like that, we had to say goodbye to Greg.

Few months later….

Greg:


Many students at Messiah College expressed their interest in our ministries. There was one event when 4 other people volunteered to stay a night at the street with me (Andy could not come). Next morning, we went to Grace Methodist church for the breakfast. Fortunately, I was able to meet Greg there. I asked him how he has been doing. During the past few months, he got a job and got laid off again.


Kyle:

Kyle and I are Facebook friends. Shortly after his experience on the streets, he got hired at AT&T. Few days ago, I saw his facebook status saying that he got rehired at Verizon.

 That was our story from Harrisburg. However, there are more stories that not many people know of. I wish that people who read our stories will strive to listen to the stories that homeless people have. 

Issac Won




                                    
   The homeless need people to whom they can rely on.