Tom Joad of the New Millenium

A couple of years ago, a young man in an Irish cap and tattered clothes stood at my desk where I volunteered at my neighborhood food bank here in Seattle. He needed a gasoline chit for $10. He’d had no luck finding work here in Seattle and was trying to move on.

When he said, “If I can get gas, I can get to California to find a job,” I realized that standing before me was the Tom Joad of the new millenium. When the list of famous homeless people includes names like entertainers David Letterman, Shania Twain, and “Dr. Phil” McGraw, actors William Shatner, Daniel Craig, and Halle Berry, and entrepreneurs “Colonel” Harland Sanders and John Paul DeJoria (John Paul Mitchel Systems), you don’t know what might result from helping someone stay afloat in hard times. Being homeless doesn’t mean you haven’t been successful, raised a family, or had an education.