He Didn’t Think of Himself as Homeless - Until the Wheel Came Off His Car
He didn’t consider himself homeless. He had a car. It just happened to be a broken-down Mercedes that wasn’t going anywhere.
The car had broken down near The Salvation Army in Butte, and for Bob, it was more than a vehicle. It was his home. Bob didn’t have any money to fix his car, and he certainly didn’t have the resources to find the part he needed to get his old Mercedes running again.
A staff member at The Salvation Army noticed.
Instead of offering him a meal or pointing him toward a resource, the staff member helped Bob solve his problem: The two of them spent hours searching for the correct wheel part for his vehicle.
When the car part arrived at The Salvation Army, Bob broke down in tears. He had been seen. And helped. The Salvation Army stepped in to assist Bob thanks to people like you.
That small act of kindness became a turning point.
With his car running again, Bob was able to get a job and move to Bozeman, where he could begin moving forward with his life.
Sometimes hope looks like a sack lunch. Or it’s someone who listens and assists. But sometimes hope shows up as a car part for a Mercedes in need of repair. The work of The Salvation Army is like this, embracing hope in all these forms, and more: We take the time to attend to the deeper problems and wounds, and we help people take the next step for themselves.
For one man in Butte, that next step started with getting a car going again.