Harry

In 2012, Harry’s life changed when his mother suffered a massive stroke. She needed constant care and called him multiple times a day for help. The demands of looking after her became overwhelming, and eventually he lost his job. “I just couldn’t keep up with everything,” Harry explains. “I thought to myself, if I can’t take care of my mom, who can I take care of?”

For nearly a decade, Harry was his mother’s primary caregiver. When she passed away in 2021, he says the weight of grief caught up with him. He found himself struggling with depression, and making ends meet became increasingly difficult. “For three years, I was basically living a semi-homeless life,” he says. “I couldn’t afford electricity. I couldn’t pay for water. My house was just a place where I bundled up in blankets to get through the night.”

In the aftermath of the pandemic, having been out of work for a decade, it was hard for Harry to find a steady income. Back taxes on his childhood home piled up, and eventually he was evicted in 2024. Harry says even though he had been struggling for several years, he was not prepared to be on the street. He says, “there’s really nothing that gets you ready for that.”

Just days after being evicted, a neighbor— who attended St. Catherine-St. Lucy Church— told him about Housing Forward’s Emergency Overnight Shelter. Within 48 hours, Harry had a safe place to spend the night. He spent the next six months in the shelter, working to rebuild his life.

In November 2024, Harry was accepted into Housing Forward’s Interim Housing Program, where he could stay full-time while working toward stability. Now, Harry is focused on moving forward. With a background in computers and technology, he is pursuing a certification that he believes will open doors to new job opportunities.

Harry has also found a sense of community volunteering at Beyond Hunger’s food pantry. “It’s nice just to be in that normal atmosphere and to be accepted,” he says. “It feels very much like a little family.”