He was in his sleeping bag on the sidewalk and could not tell me his full name or age. He seemed to not be able to comprehend much, but appeared to be sober.
“Some people think mental illness is a matter of mood, a matter of personality. They think depression is simply a form of being sad, that OCD is a form of being uptight. They think the soul is sick, not the body. It is, they believe, something that you have some choice over. I know how wrong this is.” ― David Levithan, Every Day
A group called ChiveOnMurfreesboro.com is doing a lot of positive things in the community. Most recently, collecting toys for children living in poverty in Rutherford County.
Today, I got to deliver toys to this mother of three. She has received help from not only ChiveOnMurfreesboro.com (new toys for Christmas), but also New Vision Baptist Church on Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro. In fact, a lot of help from New Vision members in a very positive and loving way.
Needless to say, her kids are extremely happy and well cared for.
"I am a huge believer in giving back and helping out in the community and the world. Think globally, act locally I suppose. I believe that the measure of a person's life is the affect they have on others." - Steve Nash, former NBA player for the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, LA Lakers and currently a player development consultant for the Golden State Warriors
George and Brenda have had a rough year on the streets of Middle Tennessee. They have relocated camps, been in and out of the hospital and more. Of the two, Brenda has five children who are currently living with another family while they work to get back on their feet and out of the woods, literally. But, the year is closing out in a positive manner.
Brenda recently learned that their young daughter was going door to door selling hot chocolate in an attempt to make enough money for her parents to have a motel room on Christmas. If they have a room, it means that the children get to spend the night with them and wake up together as a family on Christmas morning.
This is where local non-profits come in that all work together...
Thanks to Barnabas Vision, the family will have a hotel room on Christmas Eve and the night of Christmas (two nights). Brenda and George will then give all five children a ton of gifts, thanks to New Vision Baptist Church on Thompson Lane. The kids will also have coloring books, thanks to donations made at Westbrook Towers in Murfreesboro.
After I dropped of the gifts today that will be given to their children George said to me, “They already know where these are coming from.” I smiled and responded, “Santa?” He grinned, “Yep.”
"Nature is based on harmony. So it says if we want to survive and become more like nature, then we actually have to understand that it's cooperation versus competition." - Bruce Lipton, American developmental biologist
The young lady on the left, Stella, saved up her money until she had $700 to help out area homeless. She then donated the funds to Barnabas Vision which used the money to order more sleeping bags and a tent or two.
Today, she gave Taco and Russell a ten man tent. That was the equivalent of giving them a new home. Needless to say, Taco loved the gift. She also handed out about 20 sleeping bags today.
MAY 17, 2018:
I talked to Taco today…
I have received a lot of messages asking how YOU can help Taco, the man I did the short video on who has only 6 months to live due to cancer. You may recall, Taco (Tim Ortega) was headed to Kentucky to spend his remaining time with a girlfriend.
To answer your questions, Taco needs nothing. He has it all.
Amazing things have happened and he missed that Greyhound to Kentucky. But, his sister in Florida saw the video and later sought him. She visited Murfreesboro in the past looking for him about three years ago, but could never locate her little brother.
Long story short, Taco ended up in Florida with her and her husband (both doing great and retired from the Air Force). He was overjoyed.
Taco's sister had a surprise for him the next day of his visit. She took him to the beach that morning where other family members were waiting to be reunited!
The story gets better. Taco was then reunited with his other sister whom he has not seen in about 20 years. She lives in - - I believe Oklahoma. Regardless of the state he is there and he is happy.
Taco told me, “Scott, I have my own bedroom and all the food I could ever need.” I laughed and told him how exciting that was. He then stated, “But Scott, it gets better. She woke me up the other night at 9:30 and asked me to watch TV with her. She then asked if I wanted McDonalds. She picked up the phone and I told her, ‘You can’t order McDonalds, they don’t deliver!’” I could tell Taco started to cry as he explained, “Next thing I know her husband comes in with McDonalds and there was this old man behind him – I thought, who is that?”
The pause was long and I knew the story was going to get even better. “Scott, it was my dad! He’s sitting here with me right now!”
Looking back, Taco thought he was alone in the world. A couple of years after his mother died he secluded himself. Eventually, he became homeless and alcohol took him away for a very long time. He thought his father had died 20-years ago. But, he didn’t. Taco’s father was alive and well.
Taco told me, “Brother, I think I am going to retire here if you know what I mean.”
A man who thought he was all alone is now surrounded by family as he slowly, but happily passes away. His next few months will likely be the very best. Ever.
“One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone.” ― Shannon L. Alder
Homeless and living in a small encampment in Nashville, Tennessee. Despite struggles, he is all smiles and pleasantries.
"The struggle you're in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow. Don't give up." - Robert Tew
When Laura Yannazzo participated in a past photo shoot at The Experience Community Church in Murfreesboro, TN, she had no idea that she photographed a homeless woman who had a love for photography. But, after finding out about it she gave me a camera to give to the woman who currently lives in a tent that is located in a wooded area of Rutherford County.
Thanks to Laura, the woman pictured now has a camera to capture life as she sees it. I am really looking forward to seeing the images that she grabs with her new camera.
Christmas, it is sometimes the simple things like giving to others who have little, that make it more special.
One man, alone from Michigan living in the woods with nine others who were at first strangers and now are friends is battling sobriety.
He is 59 and has been sober for a total of nine months thus far. He said at first, he was shaking all the time, but that has since passed. Now, he is starting to feel what normal is supposed to feel like.
He came to Nashville after growing tired of his family, he told me while outside at a busy intersection. “They drank all the time and always argued,” he said. Alcohol can often lead to heightened arguments that are needless while sober.
“That's all drugs and alcohol do, they cut off your emotions in the end.” - Ringo Starr
Life for a foreign man in a foreign country can be confusing to navigate. Homeless in Tennessee.
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" - On the Statue of Liberty
He is originally from Honduras, but several years ago he made the journey to America to live in complete freedom and expectant safety. His plans did not 100% materialize.
The Central American country has been known to hold some of the most violent gangs in the world and many citizens live in fear. Gangs like MS13 and Barrio 18 run free in the country and control much of the larger cities. Drug cartels are often responsible for a large number of deaths in Honduras. The murder rate in Honduras is one of the highest in the world with the city of San Pedro Sula seeing 111 murders per every 100,000 residents yearly.
This man that I photographed came to America to be safer. He decided to make his journey to Nashville, TN where he lives in a wooded campsite today with about ten other friends that he met here.
However, Nashville has not been any safer for him. Several men of Mexican descent decided to let him know how they feel about him being in their area by dousing him with flammable liquids and then lighting him on fire. He told me in broken English that the Mexicans were racist towards him because he is from Honduras.
While the attack happened a while back, he still wears the hospital bracelet as a reminder to himself that he needs to be careful.
He had a tattoo needle and a bottle of tattoo ink that he used to give himself a tattoo on the inside of his finger. He wrote out the word “Emmanuel” with an ink pen first and then point by point, dot by dot he tattooed it, filling in each letter with needle and ink.
The word Emmanuel simply means, "God With Us."
As the train rolled by at what looked to be about 60 miles per hour within 8 feet of him, he continued to tattoo never looking up. It was as if the train did not exist and he was in his own element.
As he tattooed himself, I heard a homeless man under the bridge singing at the top of his lungs…
“I want a new drug
One that won't go away
One that won't keep me up all night
One that won't make me sleep all day” – Huey Lewis and the News
He quietly sits under a bridge next to a fire made of discarded pallets, fixing a vegetarian meal of cooked broccoli, onions and tomatoes that he will place inside a cooked bell pepper. He will then eat the skillet made dish as a CSX train roars by about 25 feet away.
When asked if he was able to stay warm the previous night that saw temperatures dip into the teens he responded, “I was pretty warm, but my feet were cold all night.”
“All it takes is a second and your whole life can get turned upside down.”
― Jodi Picoult, Salem Falls
It was midnight in Nashville and the side roads flowing into the popular downtown area were quiet. Ayo, who lives in his car when not working security, played his saxophone that he named Gabriel in the middle of the road. The tune of “Silent Night” echoed off the walls of closed businesses in a semi industrial area.
Ayo, who is from Alabama, moved to Nashville in search of better paying jobs to support his family. He found a better paying job, but is now chasing the dream of music when he is not getting paid hourly.
"Music is moonlight in the gloomy night of life." Jean Paul a German Romantic writer (1763-1825)
He had tears coming down his face while sitting outside in the bitter cold December wind, not because he was sad, but because his eyes were swollen with an infection.
“Do you have a prescription for your eyes,” I asked. “I do, but I don’t have it with me and I don’t know where it is because I can’t afford to fill it,” he said.
I looked down at his feet and he had one shoe on and a brace around the other foot that was adorned with a red hospital sock. “What happened,” I curiously asked. “I shattered my foot,” he said looking down.
He is from Nashville and has been homeless on and off for the past 7 years.
On most days you will find him at the entrance of a Chinese Buffet restaurant selling newspapers on Murfreesboro Road.
Comedian Richard Pryor (1940-2005) who sometimes had great success, also had massive struggles in life. I would guess that he knew struggles well as he was often teetering between fame and hard times.
Pryor once stated, "I believe the ability to think is blessed. If you can think about a situation, you can deal with it. The big struggle is to keep your head clear enough to think"
Joe moved to Nashville for work with his wife. They once lived in Murray, Kentucky. After the loss of a job and the break-up of his marriage, Joe is homeless.
“People think we make tons of money out here holding a sign, that’s not true – we don’t,” he told me. “I gotta go to the bathroom, but they won’t let me use their bathroom because I’m homeless,” Joe said while pointing at McDonalds.
While he may not be a paying customer of the Nolensville Pike restaurant, customers buy him meals from time to time. When I met him, he had just finished eating a Big Mac that a customer bought for him. He was telling me how good it was.
He served our country in the United States Navy while stationed on the USS Alamo. The old ship was launched into service in 1956 and has traveled to Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines, just to name a few stops.
After getting out of the Navy, he returned to his hometown of California where he picked up his love for singing. His musical career took him to Las Vegas where he performed with bands on a regular basis.
Following that dream of music, he made the trek from the West to the South landing in the Music City (Nashville). Over the years he has sang at bars and musical venues throughout the country.
While he has traveled the world as a sailor and traveled the U.S. as a singer one thing has been a constant battle... Diabetes. That battle continues with the recent amputation of both his right and left legs.
He is not homeless, but calls a motel room near the heart of Nashville home.
Rain or shine she stands outside on a busy street corner seeking funds to pay for food and sometimes a motel room. But, today her sign is different. Her sign today noted that it is her birthday.
His home is a tent layered in tarps. Inside, a small battery operated radio so that he can listen to sports broadcasts.
His campsite is in a small wooded area within eyesight of a government building that serves the less fortunate in the community.
"It's the terror of knowing
What the world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming - Let me out"
-Queen and David Bowie
She stands about 5 feet tall and is layered in clothing with her best on the outside. She is one of the many seniors in Nashville, Tennessee who should not have to be on the streets.
Because she is diabetic, she has a hard time walking as her feet and legs are often swollen in pain. Today, I found her sitting alone in the rain at a Metro bus stop.
In the past, I have run into her throughout the city arguing with herself about how people hurt her or steal from her.
“Love, care and treasure the elderly people in the society.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind
He is currently living on the streets of Nashville, Tennessee in search of work.
My friend Joel Vernon and I handed Ms. Sheila a new sleeping bag in downtown Nashville and her response was nothing less than joyful. She held the bag in front of her and said, “A new sleeping bag for me? I got a new sleeping bag? This is for me?!?!”
She spoke as if she had to really concentrate on the words that came from her mouth. She spoke as if she had a disability from the past that tied her to the streets. However, she spoke with a happiness that can't be put into words.
After talking more with Sheila, she said that her birthday falls on Christmas Eve and she will turn 55 this year. I asked what she would like for her birthday or for Christmas and she said, “Some money so I can get a new outfit.” She smiled and pointed at her throw, “I got this for $4!” As she pointed, I could hear the sound of bells. Tied around her wrist were Christmas Jingle Bells that she told me she bought at the nearby Dollar General Store.
Perhaps instead of money, someone would like to stop by and give her a new outfit. I am not certain of her size, but I am positive she will tell you.
She sits at the intersection of Dederick Street and 5th Avenue North on the edge of the St. Mary’s Catholic Church parking lot. She said that she plans to be there on Christmas Eve too.
"Seven out of 10 Americans are one paycheck away from being homeless." - Pras Michel, record producer, songwriter and actor