Adopt A Grandad
John and Simeon (Bindia’s son)
I have a friend named Bindia who started volunteering with City Relief at the peak of the pandemic in 2020. She enthusiastically served for an hour or so before asking me if we were safe in the Harlem community where we set up. I smiled and told her we were no less safe than we would be walking from point A to point B in any other part of the city. She accepted that answer and continued to show up. Week after week, she was there. She started bringing supplies from home to give out to our homeless guests. Even more importantly, she invited friends to come along. Church friends, work friends, and neighbors. Anyone who she could think of who might be inspired by the opportunity to give back. Along the way, she and I continued to have conversations about homelessness and how our work was designed to empower change in the lives of those we serve. She told me about a vision she had for a project that she called, “Adopt a Grandad.”
“You know, there are so many old homeless people who don’t seem to have anyone in their lives - it’s just so wrong. I’d like to start something where families can ‘adopt’ someone elderly and be his family. I even have the perfect person who I want to start with. His name is John. I met him at Chelsea Park during your outreach. He is the kindest, sweetest man. He is in his late seventies and I cannot bear him living another day in the street!” At the time I responded with what I hoped was realistic optimism. “That sounds great, Bindia! Let’s keep praying and see what happens!” Fast forward a few months later, and Bindia reached out to me again. “Josiah, I just saw John at Chelsea Park! I hadn’t seen him in a while and I was so worried. But he is back and he is willing to consider coming inside! I introduced him to the city outreach workers who showed up at City Relief and they told me that they have been trying to get John indoors for 20 years but he won’t talk to them! ” “Wow! That’s amazing!” Once again, I was cautiously optimistic. I didn’t know John and I didn’t know what the options would look like. But Bindia was determined and I really wanted to fan the flames of her optimism, not rain on them.
Just a few days later she reached out again. “I’m in a cab with John and I am taking him to transitional housing on the East Side. It’s all happening!” “Seriously?” I was in awe of her compassion and her determination. “‘Adopt a Grandad’ is really happening!”
John at the Barbers.
Over the next few weeks I watched from a distance as Bindia, her husband, and her son all got involved in being “family” for John. Not only is Bindia helping him get to and from his appointments and making sure his case workers are moving his housing applications forward, she is also allowing John to spend time with her family in her home at appropriate times. The road she is walking is not an easy one. At one point John left his new housing placement and got lost because it is in a new neighborhood that he is unfamiliar with. He ended up wandering the streets for three days until Bindia miraculously found him near Times Square. She transported him back to his housing placement and proceeded to help him use a cell phone that she got him so that he could always reach out for help if he needed it. She is still working on getting him into a better living situation that is closer to her church community because she understands that the African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” does not only apply to kids; it also applies to the elderly, the disenfranchised and the homeless.
Less than a year ago, Bindia was worried about the safety of volunteering with a nonprofit that serves homeless folks on the sidewalk. Today she is walking with John all over the city to help him get access to the services he needs to live the final season of his life in peace and community. Bindia is leading the way for others like her to move from productivity to purpose, from means to meaning, and from transaction to transformation. Building a community response to homelessness almost always starts one person at a time!
Josiah Haken (Chief Program Officer of City Relief)