“It can happen to anyone.”

By Liam Fitzgerald, Former Center Assistant (March 2015-December 2018)

A couple months ago someone I knew stumbled into the Rebuild Center. I graduated with his brother from Jesuit High School. Coming from a privileged background, this was the last person I thought I would see come to utilize the services we provide to those without a home. Seeing him was a strong reminder that homelessness can happen to anyone.

I recognized him the moment I saw him, and the look he gave me told me that he recognized me too. Instead of stopping to talk to him, I gave him a small smile and walked right past him, just like I would have had I seen him flying a sign on the street. In my seven years around the Center, I had never encountered a familiar face, and it threw me for a loop.

I never thought one of those in need would include someone who went to my same high school, a prestigious Catholic institution. Students from these high schools come to volunteer every summer, and it was shocking to see him there as a guest instead. I wouldn’t expect to see anyone like me out of options — outside of a support network.

I worked up the nerve to go talk to him a few minutes later and the first thing I noticed is that he had no shoes. He needed a shower too. I asked him what he was doing at the Center, and he told me that he had come to attend our weekly Share & Support meeting, a space for people struggling with life on the streets to come together and drink coffee.

He asked me what I was doing at the Center, and I told him that I worked here. He was intrigued by this and asked me if I had ever come out to be with “the people.” I responded by telling him I stayed at the Rebuild Center to do my work, insinuating that this was not a social thing for me. He seemed a little disappointed… almost like I was saying that he belonged out there and I belonged in here. I did not intend it that way, but I didn’t know how else to respond. That was the reality of our situations — he was spending his days and nights on the streets; and, although I spend my days at the Rebuild Center, I get to go home to a family and a bed.

We often say “homelessness could happen to anyone,” and as much as I can see that in other people’s lives and stories, I have a hard time believing it could happen to me. This classmate of mine has a support network like mine, connections like mine, and a background like mine. And HE ended up on the streets. This really can happen to anyone, even a Jesuit boy.