Helping hands offer hope to homeless

FROM THE OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

Jason Vance knew the quiet, overwhelmed look on one man's face when he came to Creighton University looking for help.

The homeless man barely spoke as Vance, his newfound navigator, guided him around a huge gymnasium, directing him to medical screenings and help with housing and jobs.

"I told him a little bit of my story," Vance said. "He started opening up."

Vance had been addicted to alcohol and drugs and living at Omaha's Open Door Mission. He came to an event at Creighton called Project Homeless Connect, not knowing what to expect.

Now the 35-year-old Omaha man has a place to live, 21 months of sobriety and a scholarship to Metro Community College. He came back to the event this year as a volunteer.

Having the opportunity to help others means everything, he said. Wearing a bright red T-shirt, the 5-foot-10, brown-haired aspiring paramedic joined hundreds of volunteers who helped more than 600 people who were homeless or near homeless. Almost double the number of people sought services such as dental care, mental health care and vaccinations this year, said Ed Shada, organizer of Project Homeless Connect.

The group needed all 120 pizzas and all six 15-foot submarine sandwiches that were ordered.

"We surpassed all the supplies we ordered," Shada said. "There is a huge need."

Helping out was Taylor Kadlec, 23, a Creighton physical therapy student, who learned through listening to personal stories that the homeless are "normal." And Hope Nelsen, 28, of La Vista, who cheerfully trimmed hair, helping give the day's 375 haircuts. And Mary Smith, 73, of Omaha, a second-time volunteer who greeted everyone with a smile. She was reminded of a person close to her who became homeless.

Smith sees beauty in the perseverance of people like James and Joyce Frank, a couple who live beneath an Omaha bridge.

They have a few clothes and two backpacks. At night, they pile up five or six blankets they've collected and count cars that go by. They liken it to watching a race that no one wins.

They say they are getting too old for living under the bridge, with no sleep and cold that seems constant. But love keeps them going, they said.

"When one of us is down, we bring each other up," said James Frank, 49. "That's what makes us the fabulous Franks, I guess."

Friday, he filed a tax return for income from temporary jobs he used to work, directing that the refund be sent to the mailing address of a friend. Joyce Frank, 59, saw a doctor for her arthritis pain.

She said she is grateful for the help of volunteers, and she hopes that she and her husband never again have to come back.