Your support is not only saving people from the devastating experience of living on the streets; it’s enabling people to recover from addiction, rediscover their passions, and become contributors.
Bill Colin was homeless for six years, but thanks to your generosity, he has now been stably housed for over a year.
When you walk into his apartment, the first thing you’ll notice is a big art table with several projects in process, and finished art pieces covering the walls. When experiencing homelessness, Bill used to walk around downtown and collect any interesting objects he came across.
“I walked the streets and always noticed all the junk. But some junk is really cool looking,” he said. Bill makes pieces of art with the objects he finds, using art as a creative and healing outlet.
Bill’s piece called “The Struggle” was entered into the Texas Health and Human Services Creative Arts Contest this spring in honor of May’s Mental Health Awareness Month. He won 1st place in the mixed media contest.
The pride in his smile speaks powerfully about the work you make possible.
He has a poster hanging in his apartment that reads, “your struggle is part of your story.” That truth helped inspire “The Struggle” and also motivates him daily to continue looking forward while honoring the past.
Bill has multiple layers of support because of you: a case manager providing day-to-day support in accomplishing life goals, a therapist who is helping Bill with recovery and anxiety, and a peer support professional who shares the same lived experiences.
His Peer Support Specialist says, “In recovery, you have to do the work, and Bill’s fully invested in doing the work. He meditates daily, he’s making positive relationships, and he’s attending AA meetings regularly.”
Bill’s pastor at Sunshine Church asked him to display his art pieces at their church and sell them. Bill won’t accept money for them but gives people the option to donate money to the church or other causes. “It makes me feel good to give something away,” he says.
Moving forward, Bill’s goals are to go back to work and potentially go to school. He also adds something candid that many people take for granted. “I just want to function in society,” he says in a powerful statement.
Thank you for helping create futures full of progress and hope – we cannot truly end homelessness as we know it without you.
