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Tom, CFH Outreach Case Manager
I arrived in Bellevue from
Portland in 2004, a stay at home dad with two young sons. We
instantly fell in love with the parks in this city. Robinswood
was one of our favorites with its huge play structure, athletic
fields, duck pond and trails. I could never have imagined that
I would one day live in this park as a homeless man.
In 2008, after many years of untreated addiction, I moved out
of my home and began a downward financial slide that would end in
unemployment and homelessness. By 2012, I had suffered a
divorce and congestive heart failure. I was on the streets,
living in my car.
I parked my car at Robinswood,
mostly. I watched the soccer games from the bleachers. I
tried to blend in. Fear and hopelessness set in very
quickly. The Bellevue Police would cruise through the lot every
now and then, and my blood pressure would soar. My alcoholic
heart was failing, and I was exhausted day and night. I washed
myself in the bathrooms before anyone else showed up at the park.
I desperately clung to my two
sons. We went to the park and played and ate lunch together
purchased with food stamps. The library became our living
room. After I lost my car, I slept in the parks during
the day so no one would know I was homeless. I felt
disenfranchised...alien, even.
On October 2, 2012, I entered the
CFH Year Round Shelter. Unexpectedly, I was welcomed by other
residents immediately. The warmth of the sheer humanity of the
whole thing surrounded me. The food was delicious.
There was laughter and conversation. The loneliness shed away
almost instantly. I was home.
I have since moved on to housing, and I am blessed to be a
social services professional working for CFH. Now, my children
play in the parks, and they do homework at the library. I am
happy to be a part of the community.
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