David

David's Story

After a very troubled adolescence, a dysfunctional marriage, a stint in Florida with two of his three children, living with and caring for his parents, and being cared for by them, followed by years back on the street in New Jersey and in and out of rehab programs, like Paul the Apostle, David finally got the call. Paul was struck blind on the road to Damascus. David was badly beaten in an altercation with another homeless person in an abandoned building where David was living. Except for the fact that the assailant's name was Angel, the details are murky. Through the intervention of MASSH, Medical and Social Services to the Homeless, David was treated for his bruises and got back on his medications. But he was still waiting in "Damascus" to get his "sight" back. There were more episodes of trying rehab and then rebelling, looking for the stability that seemed to be just beyond his reach. It finally came with the promise of an apartment of his own.

Vida Walker, case worker at PERC, worked with David to find an efficiency apartment through PERC’s affordable housing program (a collaboration among HUD, United Way of Hudson County, and JCECDC). To qualify for an apartment, a client must be chronically homeless and disabled. To David, this was the answer to his most desperate need: A safe environment and no more living "on the street." Thanks to PERC, he will now have a place to sleep and take care of himself. And the icing on the cake--a reunion, arranged by Vida, with the child he left behind eighteen years ago when he went to Florida. This youngest son, now twenty-one years old, lives in Union City and has been hanging out with his dad.

Now David is ready to answer the call. He wants to minister to people suffering from the type of life he has left behind. He feels that he brings a special knowledge to this calling, because he's “been there and done that.” Through his time in AA he regained the spiritual dimension to his life. He's active in The Hope Center Tabernacle in Jersey City and would like to use the church as a base for outreach to the homeless community. Meanwhile, he is happy that the PERC Affordable Housing Program is there for him. He will have the safe environment he's always yearned for and the mutual support he and his son give each other.