Reaching out to improve lives of others

by Jane Belcher, Outreach Services Coordinator

I am not quite sure how it all began. I joined the Mayor's Council on Homelessness and Afford- able Housing to see if I could possibly help homeless people get back into the workplace. Since I work in Human Resources at the largest employer in the area, I knew that I could offer some assistance to people trying to regain their life in the workplace.

Before too long, I began to receive telephone calls from people who were housed in one of the local homeless shelters. Knowing that transportation to my office would be a problem, I offered to meet people at the Charleston Library on King Street. During the past year, I have met some very interesting people. Most of the people that I have worked with possessed some job skills. A few have even had bachelor's degrees. Most people that I work with are at first rather timid and shy. After about 30 minutes they open up and share their misgivings. For the most part, most of the ones I have worked with have “gotten on the wrong track” due to alcohol and drugs. After reclaiming their lives and leaving the alcohol or drugs, they have told me that they felt marked or cursed. People in their own cities where they lived had lost trust in them. They felt that the only way to get a new chance a life was to relocate. They pack their few belongings and come to Charleston to a shelter.

One gentleman that I worked with had once been a successful CPA with his own business, owned a home in Columbia, a house on Lake Murray, and had a wife and children. Alcohol captured his life and became his sole reason for living. He lost his business, his home, his lake house, and his family. He told me that even after going to AA and to several rehab facilities, he still felt that he was at the bottom of life. He could not go any lower. His friends and family shunned him. He felt that he had no where to turn, but he was determined that he would not visit the “alcohol scene” again. He packed his few possessions and came to Charleston to start all over. We met several times at the library so that I could do a resume for him, give him some interviewing pointers, and boost his morale in general.

I contacted a CPA firm here in Charleston, and they agreed to let him come into their office for four hours two times a week. After about two weeks, they called me to ask if he could work every day for four hours. Next thing I knew, they wanted to hire him. He is still there and doing great. He calls me every so often to say thanks for believing in him and giving him a chance.

This story has a happy ending, which is the goal of my helping people. I feel people need to have a second chance, and they need someone to be the stepping stone to get them from the homeless shelter to the workplace. We have to always remember that our efforts, no matter how small or large, contribute to improving the lives of citizens in our community.

Editor's note: Article reprinted with permission from the Mayor's Council newsletter.