Billy in Boston

From the moment I met him he possessed a spunk I rarely see in people. Amy and I walked in the door, put our stuff down and a minute later we were told to get to work. There was no messing around with him.

Our day was spent preparing meals for the homeless people of Boston. This was something that I have rarely done but was excited to do. For some reason in America we are afraid of the homeless so we put a wall up between us and them. We pretend we don’t see them when we walk down the streets; laugh when we read there signs begging for food and even get disgusted or scared when “one” is close. But we forget they are humans too and they have stories as well.

Amy and I spend the rest of the day in the kitchen. Normally I’m not allowed to use a knife (I’ve had too many close encounters) but he didn’t care. He said anybody can do it and invested time in teaching me. We were often told to work faster, do more, and asked to do things we never have done before. But he was a teacher. He demanded much because we knew we could do it.

At the end of the day he started sharing his story with us. He was born and raised in Boston. He went to one of the best colleges and got a doctrine degree in anesthesiology. He worked at a hospital for 15 years. The pressures of his job wore on him and the availability of drugs became a stronghold in his life. He became an addict and lost everything. His marriage ended, he lost his job, and his home was gone. He was fighting to regain control of his life.

He checked into Boston Rescue Mission program for rehabilitation in hopes of gaining his life back. He overcame a drug addiction and the odds. Now he is helps out in the kitchen a day a week.