Bobby has been with us for a long time. My wife says he is almost like family. Bobby has been alcohol/drug free for almost 35 years but has no drivers license because of his many DUI’s. Bobby still drives and gets around well for a 75 year old guy. He is the kind of guy that would give someone the shirt of his back. He wants so badly to be respected and to be liked. You see his parents kicked him out of the house at 14 and Bobby lived homeless on the streets as a young man. Bobby is married to an elderly woman who has stage 4 liver disease and all she does is chain smoke cigarettes and play games on the computer. Bobby has no children and lives with 7 cats in his house. I don’t need to tell you what it smells like. His story would be a book so I will keep it short to his last few years.
We helped him with an invention he said the Lord gave him. We built a website and marketed his idea for free. He was able to get loans and credit cards and he bought himself a truck. Things were looking up until His invention failed to be financed and he had to declare bankruptcy. The business failure sent him into a depression and doubt in himself and God. In the midst of that he picked up a rest area prostitute and allowed her to move her trailer in his back yard. He said he only wanted to help her but with his depression it wasn’t long before she got him hooked on crack cocaine. 3 girlfriends later Bobby is still depressed but has now wrecked or ruined his truck and his car.
With no transportation he says his life is not worth living. We bought him an adult tricycle so he can go buy food and cigarettes and just get out of the house some. We pick him up a couple of times a week and pay him to help around the pantry. We have spent countless hours counseling him and by God’s grace he is still alive. His wife has progressively gotten worse and he fears he will be alone and broke. Bobby maybe one of those we never release but we refuse to give up on him and he knows it. His greatest joy is the tomato plants we bought for him. His house and yard look like a disaster but he struts around his tomato plants like a peacock. We all need to find dignity somewhere. We are committed to giving Bobby a hand up as long as he lives.
(not actual name or picture)