Help James Get Back On His Feet
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Hi everyone, my name is Alyssa Renshaw and I am a current student at The University of Texas at Austin. It's a known fact that when walking through west campus/"the drag" (the street across from campus) you're almost guaranteed to walk past multiple homeless men and women. I usually don't carry cash and if I do, I usually try to stop and befriend one of the various men or women on the street, give them what I have on me, have a short conversation with them, and go on my way. Most of the time I put it in the back on my mind and don't think about it the rest of the day. However, yesterday was different. Yesterday I felt like I needed to do more and that brings me to the man behind this campaign.
I would like to introduce you to James Rodney Brownfield, a 12 year veteran who has completed 4 separate tours for our great country and who has been living on the streets for the past couple of months. I first met him 2 and a half weeks ago outside of Pluckers. However this first encounter I was in a rush so I just handed him all the change in my wallet, as well as the $10 bill I had found. I can't begin to tell you the smile he had on his face as he told me God bless and thank you too many times for me to count. I shook his hand and went home to eat my dinner. Fast forward 2 and a half weeks to last night. I was walking up to get my to-go order from the same restaurant and I saw him sitting on the bench where I had first encountered him at and I immediately remembered him. I offered him a cup of water and his response was "oh my goodness you don't know how thirsty I am, of course I would love some water." and then I responded with "and would you like this $10 bill too?" and I could tell he was about to tear up.
He proceeded to tell me that today (yesterday July 22nd) was his 35th birthday and that he couldn't even begin to explain how excited he was that he would actually be able to buy himself a real meal with the money I had just given him. And that's when it hit me, I had already made a difference to him, but I knew I could do more. I knew James deserved more. We sat down and got to talking, and I learned more about his life story. This conversation lasted about 45 minutes.
I asked him if he had been to the homeless shelter downtown. He told me he had, and then proceeded to pull his sock down and show me a gruesome injury. I asked him what in the world happened. He told me he suffers from some disease that I cannot remember the name of, causing him to have extremely sensitive skin and that after 3 days at the shelter, he started seeing sores all over his body (I'm assuming from not being able to have access to proper clean areas). He told me that it got so painful that he went to the hospital where they gave him some medicine. However after 3 days, someone stole all of his belongings while he was sleeping, including his medication he desperately needed. Although I knew I couldn't help with the medicine part, I decided I was going to ask him what he needed most right now. We made a list on my phone: deodorant, tooth brush and tooth paste, water bottle (because as he told me "water is Gods greatest gift to this Earth, it's my favorite"), bandaids, a bible (it was clear he was a man of faith), wipes, lotion, baby powder and a few other items.
I was able to run to the grocery store to grab some things as well as a few new shirts, and a small pillow. When I came back and handed him everything I had just bought, he had tears streaming down his face, as did I. He apologized to me for making me cry, which made me cry even more. He kept looking up to the sky and thanking God, saying I was an angel sent from heaven. He told me that as soon as I leave I needed to call my parents and thank them on his behalf for raising me to be the person I am. However I know what James deserves I can't do on my own. He has dreams of opening up a food truck here in Austin, calling it "Blessings" and he is going to write bible verses on pieces of paper, handing them out with each meal, or as he likes to say "handing out one blessing at a time."
Help me help him achieve his goal. Help me hand out some blessings. Any little bit helps.
I would like to introduce you to James Rodney Brownfield, a 12 year veteran who has completed 4 separate tours for our great country and who has been living on the streets for the past couple of months. I first met him 2 and a half weeks ago outside of Pluckers. However this first encounter I was in a rush so I just handed him all the change in my wallet, as well as the $10 bill I had found. I can't begin to tell you the smile he had on his face as he told me God bless and thank you too many times for me to count. I shook his hand and went home to eat my dinner. Fast forward 2 and a half weeks to last night. I was walking up to get my to-go order from the same restaurant and I saw him sitting on the bench where I had first encountered him at and I immediately remembered him. I offered him a cup of water and his response was "oh my goodness you don't know how thirsty I am, of course I would love some water." and then I responded with "and would you like this $10 bill too?" and I could tell he was about to tear up.
He proceeded to tell me that today (yesterday July 22nd) was his 35th birthday and that he couldn't even begin to explain how excited he was that he would actually be able to buy himself a real meal with the money I had just given him. And that's when it hit me, I had already made a difference to him, but I knew I could do more. I knew James deserved more. We sat down and got to talking, and I learned more about his life story. This conversation lasted about 45 minutes.
I asked him if he had been to the homeless shelter downtown. He told me he had, and then proceeded to pull his sock down and show me a gruesome injury. I asked him what in the world happened. He told me he suffers from some disease that I cannot remember the name of, causing him to have extremely sensitive skin and that after 3 days at the shelter, he started seeing sores all over his body (I'm assuming from not being able to have access to proper clean areas). He told me that it got so painful that he went to the hospital where they gave him some medicine. However after 3 days, someone stole all of his belongings while he was sleeping, including his medication he desperately needed. Although I knew I couldn't help with the medicine part, I decided I was going to ask him what he needed most right now. We made a list on my phone: deodorant, tooth brush and tooth paste, water bottle (because as he told me "water is Gods greatest gift to this Earth, it's my favorite"), bandaids, a bible (it was clear he was a man of faith), wipes, lotion, baby powder and a few other items.
I was able to run to the grocery store to grab some things as well as a few new shirts, and a small pillow. When I came back and handed him everything I had just bought, he had tears streaming down his face, as did I. He apologized to me for making me cry, which made me cry even more. He kept looking up to the sky and thanking God, saying I was an angel sent from heaven. He told me that as soon as I leave I needed to call my parents and thank them on his behalf for raising me to be the person I am. However I know what James deserves I can't do on my own. He has dreams of opening up a food truck here in Austin, calling it "Blessings" and he is going to write bible verses on pieces of paper, handing them out with each meal, or as he likes to say "handing out one blessing at a time."
Help me help him achieve his goal. Help me hand out some blessings. Any little bit helps.
Organizer
Alyssa Renshaw
Organizer
Austin, TX
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