Charles

A Chance to Give Back

The Street Outreach Team assisted Charles, a 54-year-old homeless individual, who had been staying in an unfinished attic with no power or water for five years. His only income source was collecting bottles and cans for recycling. As with many of the chronically homeless, he had given up on seeking government assistance because of past frustrations and his inability to navigate the extensive paperwork process.

Our team was able to help him navigate the public assistance process by accompanying and transporting him to his DSS, medical, and mental health appointments, helping him fill out all of the necessary paperwork, and helping him build the confidence needed to be successful. With the help of Utica Municipal Housing Authority and the DSS Homeless Unit, the ICAN team successfully placed this client in a new, fully furnished MHA apartment with needed support, which ended his multi year streak of homelessness.

On the second night living in his new apartment, overjoyed with his new life and help from ICAN, he used the little money he had saved to purchase meals for all of the guests at the newly opened Morrow Warming Shelter at Cornerstone Community Church. In his own words, this individual simply wanted to “give back for ICAN changing his life.”