BOARD OF DIRECTORSJohn Frye Jr., President Charles Farnsworth LIFETIME MEMBERSA. Thomas Ferdinandi, Jr.,1st V.P. Robert Levine Lynn BakerRob Veneski, 2nd V.P. Stephanie Negin Elizabeth FillpotRobin Duke, Secretary Jeff Negrete Anthony FolcarelliPatrick Bradley, Treasurer Tim O’Neil John “Nip” GallagherHank Bennett Ann Owen Linda MoradianPaula Capozzi John Pardini Tim NiblerSister Mary Clennon Melvin Renge Sister Ruth Marie Nickerson, CSCDJames Connelly Victor Salazar D. Harvey OhMark Delton Mayo RyanJim Devany Robert H. ScribnerLawrence Dudley Marvin Smith

Jane Worsley

Mike McGarvin, Founder Cruz Avila, Executive Director

It’s a new year, and what better way tostart it than with a bizarre Poverello Housestory? If I hadn’t seen this with my own eyes,I’m not sure I’d believe it happened.

Near the Pov at Santa Clara and FStreets, a strange drama played out not toolong ago. I was nearby and witnessed it. Ahomeless guy was lying in the street. Anotherhomeless fellow approached him and told him

to get up or he’d get run over. “That’s what I want!” he shouted. “Iwant to get run over!”

As the Good Samaritan was trying to talk some sense into theprone man, a car came down the street. Not wanting to be a victimhimself, the would-be rescuer stepped to the sidewalk. The ap-proaching car saw the man on the asphalt and swerved to avoid him.This is where things got REALLY weird.

The suicidal man rolled in the direction of the swerving car totry to place himself in harm’s way. The car was quick enough tocounter-swerve and narrowly avoided him. He continued to do thiswith subsequent passing cars, all of which veered away from him.The Good Samaritan, seeing what the supine subject was trying todo, tried again to save him by shouting advice on which way to roll:“No, no, more to the left!” However, he was slyly giving the manthe wrong directions to confuse him and keep him from being runover.

These days, I don’t move fast; heck, I barely move at all, andwhen I do, it’s with the help of a cane. I wasn’t about to go over

there and try to intervene myself, so I tried shouting at the guy. I wasno help, because ever since my heart surgery, my voice can barelygo above a whisper. With street noise, nobody heard me.

I saw a garbage truck coming and I was sure that it would be thesuicidal man’s last encounter.However, once again, his helpfulfriend managed to tell him thewrong way to roll, and the trucknarrowly missed.

Finally, one of our securitystaff managed to muscle the guyover to the curb, where hecontinued to lie. Someone hadcalled the police, and after whatseemed to be an eternity, anofficer arrived. He spoke to theman, and apparently was satis-fied that he was now stable, andleft. I was worried the littledrama would repeat itself, butapparently the guy got whatever was bothering him out of his sys-tem, and stayed out of the street.

This was one of those comical tragedies that seem to be aPoverello specialty. The tragedy, of course, was that this manseemed intent on getting himself killed. Why, I don’t know, but I canspeculate that it was severe depression or some other mental illness,alcoholism, or drug addiction, or some combination of all of theabove.

The comedy part of it was, of course, the rather unorthodoxmethods he was using to go about the task of killing himself, and theequally unorthodox approach of his rescuer. If I hadn’t seen it withmy own eyes, I would swear that this was an old Monty Pythonsketch.

For decades, I’ve spoken the advice that you have to laugh atsome of this stuff to keep you from crying. I believe that wholeheart-edly. The only way I’ve been able to keep going for more than four

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decades is a sense of humor. Dark comedy abounds here, and myhope is that God understands that my sometimes irreverent take onsituations is just my way of coping with what I’ve seen around me.

As good health continues to desert me in my old age, I’m facedwith new challenges that I never really thought I’d encounter. In theOld Testament book of Nehemiah, in the eighth chapter, tenth verse,there is this admonishment: “Go your way, eat the fat, and drink thesweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared;for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry, for the joy ofthe Lord is your strength.” My interpretation of that verse is that weshould go about our business and accept the good gifts of God, andthat the “joy of the Lord” is living a full life in spite of adversitythrough a gift called humor. So, no matter what thisNew Year brings, my hope is to keep laughing at theoff-kilter things that go on at Poverello, and espe-cially to keep laughing at myself.

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Embracing Reality Incrementally

Recently we encountered a former staff member in a store.We’ll call this man Johnny. We hadn’t seen Johnny since he re-signed seven years ago.

What set Johnny’s departure apart from that of a run-of-the-millemployee’s was that it was very abrupt and was followed by acomplete disappearance: there was no further contact with uswhatsoever. What set Johnny himself apart as an employee was thathe had been a homeless heroin addict who entered our rehabilitationprogram at a time when he was on the brink of dying. He recovered,stuck around to enter our transition program, and eventually washired by Poverello House. After a couple of years, he was given aposition of great responsibility, and mostly did very well until hissudden exodus.

Johnny was a pioneer of sorts. It took many years and muchexperimentation to develop a viable residential drug treatment

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program, and until the program itself had stabilized and startedexperiencing success, there were never any residents with enoughmaturity, balance, and sustained sobriety to make the transition fromPoverello program resident to Poverello employee. Johnny was thefirst.

There have been many who have followed in his footsteps.Over all, these situations have worked well for both Poverello andthe employees. There have been many long-term successes; butthere have also been some heartbreaking failures.

One of these resident-employees was an older man who hadbattled his addiction for decades. His sustained sobriety was asmall miracle, and he was hired on to help drive our donationtrucks. His sober living led to a renewed relationship with his wife.All was going well, until his wife died in her sleep.

That kind of traumatic event is devastating to anyone whoexperiences it; for the addict or alcoholic, the grief and stress ofsuch a loss can trigger insane urges to blur conscious reality with abottle or a needle. This man struggled to maintain what he hadworked so hard to achieve, but eventually, he began drinking again.The result was predictable; he left his job at Poverello to pursueoblivion.

Addicts and alcoholics handle sorrow and stress very poorly.Early in their addiction, they learned that drugs and booze madenegative feelings disappear—temporarily. However, those feelingscome back when the chemical haze wears off, and to dull the ache,the addict has to use or drink again, thus beginning an insidiouspattern. All of us have ways of coping with difficulties; some arehealthy and enable us to weather storms successfully. However,there are also destructive coping mechanisms, and one of the worstis using mind-altering substances. It creates a learning pattern ofavoidance, and the addict never discovers how to get throughdifficulties without pharmaceutical relief.

In a way, this is what happened with Johnny. The stress of thejob became too much. Thankfully, he didn’t turn back to heroin orany other drug, but lacking mature, “normal” ways of dealing withtension, he simply bolted, not even giving notice or helping

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Poverello in the transition of finding a replacement employee. Thegood news is that although he left behind staff who were sad to seehim leave, and hurt that he severed all communication, he found ajob with less pressure and is continuing to live a sober, happy life.

One of the reasons we developed the resident hiring program isbecause we realized that most men aren’t ready to resume their livesafter only six months of rehab. Some, like Johnny, would haverelapsed had they left without going through the transition program.Residents who are hired are not as strictly monitored as men in therehabilitation program, so they get to gradually feel what freedom islike, but still have accountability to the program. The ones who arehired have demonstrated a commitment to a clean and sober life, andto Poverello House, by continuing in our transitional program aftergraduation. When they have proven themselves able to handlethings in the transitionalphase, then, if they wishto stay longer, they mightbe offered employment.

Success in sobrietyis often predicated onextended time in astructured environment,but for many, when thatstructure ends, the shockof freedom that follows completion of a program can lead to re-lapse, if the addict hasn’t internalized the program’s structure. Ourjob program for residents eases them back into the very stressful“real world’ outside of Poverello. Despite some setbacks, many ofthe men who become Poverello employees go on to successfullytransition to sober independent living.

With our Poverello House Mobile Café, even more of theseimportant jobs are being created. Practical experience, a paycheck,and a familiar, supportive environment are some of the benefits forresidents who become Poverello House staff. It is a stepping stoneto a new life, and although it’s taken us many years to get to thischapter, we are excited about the possibilities ahead for these men.

Remember, we now take credit card donations. Please seethe enclosed envelope for instructions.

To donate online, visit our website at www.poverellohouse.org

Coffee * Sugar * Olive oilWarm men’s coats & sweaters * Hooded sweatshirts

Toothpaste * Disposable razors

January Wish List

Post-Holiday Gratitude

The holidays may be over,but the donations collectedbetween November and De-cember will help our missionfor a long time to come. Asusual, our donors came throughwith turkeys, pies, other neededfood items, warm clothing and

toys to make our 2016 Thanksgiving and Christmas exceptionallyjoyous. We were also blessed with hundreds of volunteers whoprepared and served food, put together food bags, wrapped gifts,and did all manner of clean up.

You’ve heard of the phenomenon called the post-holiday blues;we avoid this condition at Poverellobecause we are full of post-holidaygratitude for all those donors and volun-teers who made it all possible. Weoften see some of the worst side ofhumanity here, but we are also privi-leged to see some of the best, and thereis a lot of the best to go around duringthe months of November and December.Many thanks to all of you who helped insome way, and God bless you.

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