Calif. group helps homeless who’ve lost family contacts
Members use online searches to reconnect them with loved ones
“Oh, I love you, son. I’m sorry it took so long.”
Those words were spoken by a father experiencing homelessness when he reunited with the son he hadn’t seen in years.
They are the last thing you hear in a video detailing the work of Miracle Messages, an organization based in San Francisco that hopes to reconnect homeless people with their families.
Jessica Day hopes for the same outcome for Michael Kelly, 46, a homeless man in California. Day is the director of programs for Miracle Messages.
Kelly hasn’t seen his mother in 10 years. He’s looking for Mary Louise Heckendorf, whose last known location was St. Cloud, Minn. She may have moved, and her name may have changed, but those helping Kelly hope someone in central Minnesota will remember her and be able to get Kelly’s video to her.
“Mom, I love you, and I miss you, and I need to see you.
“I need you, Mom, that’s all I can say. I need her now.” Day reached out to the St.
Cloud Times on Friday afternoon in hopes of spreading Kelly’s video. She made a special connection with Kelly while recording the message.
“He just broke down and started talking about his mom,” Day said. She had told him that if he ever got in trouble, he could live with her. Kelly’s wife died, as did his boss, which left him without a job. He ended up homeless, he says in the video.
He’s also trying to connect with his sister Michelle in Sheboygan Falls or Sheboygan, Wis.
“That’s why we’re hoping someone will recognize the name, someone who went to high school with her,” Day said.
It sounds like there’s a slim chance, she says.
“But those little slim-chance moments have happened to us in almost every reunion we’ve had,” she said.
The organization has recorded 57 messages, delivered 24 of those to family members and seen 12 result in reunions, which Day defines as when the family member is able to speak to their loved one by phone or in person.
Miracle Messages was founded by Kevin Adler, a social entrepreneur and social capital theorist. He was inspired by the story of his uncle Mark, who had schizophrenia and lived on the streets off and on for 30 years. His uncle died without any family support or connection. Adler hopes to raise awareness about homelessness and how it affects people, as well as connect family members.
Day said Kelly’s story is pretty typical of what she hears in the messages. But 10 years of disconnection was relatively short. On average, the family members have been separated for 23 years.
“We had a reunion happen a couple of weeks ago where they hadn’t talked in 40 years,” she said.
Many people experiencing homelessness may lose touch with family members after a move. Sometimes they think their family doesn’t want to have anything to do with them.
A lot of times, Day said, the family is actually looking for them.
At first, Day said she was really blown away by the connections made. “But it’s becoming more common for these crazy connections,” she said.
Volunteers leverage the power of the Internet and social media to track down relatives. The group has about 100 active volunteers around the country, including a handful in Minnesota, but more than 500 people have reached out and said they’re willing to help.
Some volunteers go into shelters and other locations to record messages. Others do Internet sleuthing to find people. Some use social media to share the stories.
The group hopes to eventually have a sort of submission form, to make it really easy for volunteers to upload information and videos, so they can be shared and connections can be made.
Because some of the chronically and persistently homeless may be dealing with mental illness, the organization looks for informed consent from the initial participant. If it seems that the person making the request isn’t able to consent, they won’t share the video.
To find people, the volunteers often post birth dates or other personal information, which can help in the search.
They’ll take that information down as soon as a connection is made, Day said.
The volunteers aren’t able to help youths, because there are other issues involved.
Day hopes that what’s happened with many others can happen with Kelly.
“It seems like it should be a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” she said, but it’s not.
Kelly ends his video with these words:
“Everybody believes in hope and love and love everyone and everything. No matter where you’re from or who you are, somebody up there loves you.”
“Those little slim-chance moments have happened to us in almost every reunion we’ve had.” Jessica Day, director of programs for San Francisco-based Miracle Messages