Daybreak, a Project of Depaul USA Inc.

Depaul USA manages Daybreak Day Resource Center to provide support services and a warm, welcome refuge to those affected by homelessness in Macon, GA.  Every weekday in Macon, an average of 100 homeless men and women visit Depaul USA Daybreak to receive services that help them overcome the immediate crisis of homelessness. These services include:

• Housing and housing placement
• Breakfast and snacks
• Case management
• Laundry facilities
• Showers
• Free health clinic
• Transportation assistance

Helping people off the street is a process. Tim Celebrates 5 years!

Tim started coming to Daybreak in 2018 after he was released from Prison.  Daybreak has journeyed with him to get off the streets and now to stay off the streets. He is proud to say he has been free for 5 years and he plans to keep it that way.  

Tim was sent behind bars for 10 years for dealing drugs. After prison, he lived in a halfway house in Macon. He had a job, but the demons stalked him. He was locked away for another eight years, this time for possession. He was released on Feb. 9, 2017. A sheriff’s deputy drove him to and checked him into the Salvation Army on Broadway. “Neither of us knew you could only stay there 30 days,” he said. “So, after 30 days, they directed me to the Otis Redding park.”

During the day, he roamed the downtown streets, parks and alleys. There weren’t many welcome mats. At night, he returned to the non-stop Otis concerts by the river. The trajectory of his life changed when he discovered Daybreak. He had heard of Daybreak, a resource center offering the homeless in the community a place to land during the day. Although it was only a block away, he had been circling and could not find it. “Everybody would say it was across the street,” he said. “And I would say, ‘OK, which street?’ ” The small building was on the lower part of Walnut, near the entrance to Central City Park.

Tim got almost everything he needed there, including a hot breakfast and medical clinic. This was important, since he had diabetes, high blood pressure and cellulites.   His feet were so swollen that at night he would elevate them on a crate.  He also had access to telephones, computers, showers and laundry services. There were case managers to help him put his life back together and community volunteers to assist with employment opportunities and resolve legal issues.

The ministry opened its doors in 2012. There is a reason they call it Daybreak and not Nighttime.  Tim said, “I slept on the porch for a while,” he said. “I don’t like the woods.”   Eventually, Tim started volunteering at Daybreak.  One cold night, Paula, who had met him when he was under the bridge was worried about the freeze warning.  She came and picked Tim up and invited him into her family home.  Tim stayed there for a year and helped her with chores and childcare.  

Eventually, he was able to get a grounds/maintenance job at a local hotel.   He has been working and living there for the past three years.   Tim started taking pride in his work and paying it forward to some of the other people who lived in the hotel.    Many of them struggled to make ends meet.   One day Sr. Theresa brought him a box of food.  While he was taking the food into the hotel, he started sharing it with other people there who needed it.

Although Tim’s housing and employment were on the right track, he still needed assistance with health issues and food.  Daybreak’s clinic along with First Choice Primary Care continue to provide medical care that he could not afford. Daybreak volunteer nurse, Janet, continues to bring him his monthly medicines and transports him to Daybreak for clinic appointments.  Daybreak works with the St. Vincent de Paul Society to provide his monthly medications and supplemental food.  St. Vincent de Paul volunteer Joe Moran said, “ Tim’s success is not only due to the terrific aid he received from those at Daybreak but also due to his hard work and his belief in himself.”  Since coming to Daybreak Tim has not had any interactions with the law, he is drug free, and he has helped others around him.  

  Daybreak’s clinic and case management not only helps people get on their feet, it also assesses what they need to stay on their feet. Helping people off the street is a process.  For Tim it took 2 years before he found housing and a job.  There were many baby steps on the way. But that isn’t were the journey ends. Tim has come a long way.  Like many, he may always need a little assistance, but he is a changed man.  

Parts of this story are taken from Telegraph article by Ed Grisamore in Feb 2018

https://www.macon.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/ed-grisamore/article200593729.html#storylink=cpy