Kenith's Story

The first night he spent in a PADS shelter, last October, Kenith slept through dinnertime and through the night. “I would have kept on sleeping the next day if they’d let me,” he says. “It was the first time in a long time that I’d relaxed, let my guard down, with both eyes closed and a feeling of peace. In my mind, I kept saying “I’m with PADS now. I’ll be ok.”

As the door closed on Kenith’s past -- one filled with tragedy and misfortune -- he began a new journey from survival to self-sufficiency. “It’s a relief to know you’re safe. It’s wonderful to eat warm food. But having hope for your future,” he says, “is the best feeling of all.”

Kenith became homeless two years ago when his wife passed away. He describes her as a strong woman who always took care of others, who always took care of Kenith. When she died, he felt more alone than he imagined possible.

“I stopped caring,” he says, when describing the state of depression that followed his wife’s death. “I fell out of touch with my friends. I had no energy. No motivation. I lost my job as a security guard, which was devastating because I really loved my work. And then,” he pauses, “I lost my apartment. That’s how I became homeless.”

Kenith has an expressive face and an easy smile. His voice is strong and steady as he tells his story, but the sorrow in his eyes tells of misery that he’d much rather forget than share. “I didn’t have any brothers or sisters to help with what I was going through,” he explains. “I’d visit my friends for a couple of hours, just to take a shower or get a bite to eat. But my depression made me feel like a wall was up around me, like I was out there by myself.

“I stayed in the park during the summer and rode the train all night when the weather turned cold.  For weeks, I never slept for more than a few minutes at a time, because my body was constantly on guard. Safety and survival. And sadness. That consumed me.”

Kenith has a slim build but he tells how he became very, very thin from the physical and emotional stress of his circumstances - the constant walking, moving from place to place, spending nights on the train, waiting in line for a sandwich but sometimes leaving empty-handed when fights broke out.

“I was numb,” he says quietly, “and I prayed that I wouldn’t have to live like this for another winter.” One chilly night in October, Kenith was riding the train to keep warm when a fellow passenger struck up a conversation with him. “We talked about our lives and the circumstances that led to us being here, about not having a job or anywhere to stay. He was going through a situation very similar to mine.”

The man told Kenith about West Suburban PADS. And the next evening at 7:30, Kenith made his way to the emergency shelter at First United Church in Oak Park.

“I almost didn’t make it there in time,” he says, and then smiles. “But I got in. And that’s when my life started turning around.”

PADS staff at the shelter encouraged Kenith to meet with a case manager at the Support Center in Maywood, which he did. In addition to providing basic necessities such as showers, clothing and access to computers, she put together a support team with partner agency Thrive Counseling Center to immediately address Kenith’s depression, the root cause of his homelessness.

As Kenith engaged in this process, regained his strength and stabilized his situation, he asked the case manager for help with a self-sufficiency plan, “to get back on track with a job and a place of my own.”

Because of his eagerness to move forward and his consistent participation in case management, Kenith was offered the opportunity to participate in West Suburban PADS’ Career Passport program. PADS designed this employment readiness initiative with Chicago-based Career Advancement Network to resolve its clients’ long-term barriers to job retention. The model recognizes the social and environmental factors that influence their lives and their need for continuously available support.

For four weeks, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Kenith and his Career Passport classmates worked through a rigorous curriculum covering both therapeutic and employment issues. Kenith describes his experience like this.

“We had to be at the Support Center on time and ready to get started at 8:30 every morning. No excuses for being late. You can’t be late for work. This was our work. First thing we did every day was a reading about lots of different topics, like pain, like success. We’d share what we got out of it, how it related to our lives. Everybody had to speak. We made our own rules, and one of them was ‘What’s said in the room stays in the room.’ So we felt safe.

“We spent part of the day working on job readiness, financial literacy, supervisor relationships, interviewing skills, team communications. And we spent part of the day in group therapy, dealing with things like stress management and positive thinking. It was really hard sometimes, finding out about ourselves and what’s holding us back. But as time went on, I noticed that I felt so much better when I left the class in the afternoon. And eventually that good feeling stayed with me.”

Career Passport participants are guaranteed a spot in the emergency shelter during this four-week phase, as that stability is so necessary for success in the program. They then are provided with temporary housing and short-term financial assistance until they become employed.

At the end of the four weeks, Kenith and his cohorts graduated from this intensive phase of the program and moved to the next stage of Career Passport, “Job Club.” He is back on his feet now, in his own apartment and pursuing job opportunities. Though he spent many years as a security officer and a driver, he’s open to all new opportunities. “PADS even let me borrow a suit to wear in interviews,” he says proudly.

Kenith says he still misses his wife, every day. “But I’m not living in the past. I’m feeling good about myself, and I’m ready to work hard. It’s a tough time for job-hunting, because of the economy. But after what I’ve been through, no way am I going to give up now.” For Kenith, life is just too good.