My job takes me to a lot of different cities throughout LA. Today my heart broke a little when I pulled up to a Public Storage facility in Hollywood to unload a storage unit for a client who was moving into a beautiful craftsman home. The homeless encampment of tents surrounding the storage facility were well kept, the tenants were clean, their dogs were fed. While trying to focus on the job at hand, my thoughts kept drifting. How could I help? Can I make a difference? What could I do? Then, a thought came to me. The towels that were in my car for months waiting to be donated, the ones the donation centers wouldn’t take; I could give them to those that truly needed them. They were washed and safe from Covid-19. It was perfect.

Here was my chance. I could make a difference. I could help. I grabbed the towels and walked over to a tent I had passed that had 2 beautiful huskies and 1 woman living inside. I announced myself by saying “excuse me, I hate to bother you.” Obviously, there was no doorbell on a tent, and I wanted to respect her privacy (her home); and I asked if she might like these towels that I had? She was so happy. Couldn’t believe her luck. “Really” she said, “for me? God bless you.” Bless me, no, bless you I thought, as my heart broke a little more. Why was she living in a tent on the street? Where had she been before this? Right here where we live. Where we go about our daily business without a thought in our minds that one day that could be me. It got me thinking…….

For years now, I’ve been working with various charities and organizations that serve those less fortunate, and yet it still amazes and saddens me when I read that the annual homeless count in Los Angeles is over 66,000 people. What more can I do? I can believe. I can help. I may only be one person, but I believe that I can help. Even just a little. Don’t get me wrong, and I know I can’t help them all and I don’t have all the answers, (I feel like I’m saying that a lot these days) but if we all do a little something it will help.