"Home Is Where The Heart Is" By Ken Crisson, Maui resident
Homeless Hero Story

Looking for some good news? This homeless man’s life was changed forever with a few small kind gestures from locals.

By Ken Crisson

Aloha,

A few weeks ago I wrote a post in the Maui Bulletin Board asking for help with a secret project helping out a homeless man named Ken.

He has been volunteering with the @HungryHomelessHeroesHawaii (HHH, a project that’s gardening and cooking for the homeless / by the homeless to help get them back into society) every single day.

When I volunteered with HHH one day, I found out Ken was a writer! Long story short, he will be on the cover of our July issue of Neighbors of Wailea & Makena magazine!!! AND he wrote the feature article (thanks to my publisher @TerriHaina, the best publisher ever)!!! It is super exciting.

And thanks to a lot of good hearts in our community and some beautiful donations, he now has a couple of nice new pairs of clothes and shoes. Ken was sooo appreciative and overwhelmed by the kindness and goodwill, and has been more motivated than ever to lift himself up and continue his volunteering and writing career.

Here are some pictures from Ken’s photoshoot for the magazine cover (the younger man is Steve, co-founder of HHH… they hang out every day), and I’ll paste the body of his article below. It’s definitely worth a read, and a good look into our unsheltered situation here on Maui / probably everywhere on Earth.

"Home Is Where The Heart Is" By Ken Crisson, Maui resident

“Home Is Where The Heart Is” By Ken Crisson, Maui resident

“The conquering hero comes marching home.” “Hearth and home.” “I’m feeling homesick.” “There’s no place like home.” “Home sweet home.” “Welcome home.”

These old sayings have stood the test of time, and seem to play a role in how we see ourselves as Americans. They reflect a profoundly human characteristic that is universal and has resonated through the ages in all places and cultures: humans have homes. We’re resting creatures. The human home means far more than shelter, a place to keep your stuff, or a place to be. Home is about the human heart. It means loved ones, friends, and family. Home is our psychic anchor, our sanctuary, refuge, and resting place. When the conquering hero gets home, he can tell his tales to his admiring friends and lick his wounds by the fire. After a hard day’s work, our reward is to go home. The phrase hearth and home conjure visions of warmth, comfort, and security. One may feel physically sick from being away for too long. After Dorothy’s surreal adventures, she was relieved and comforted to find herself home in bed, surrounded by friends. Even ET missed home. Home sweet home. It’s part of our inner landscape – how we feel inside.

So what’s it like to be homeless – to be missing all the wonderful things a home provides? There is a huge void that needs to be filled and there is no foreseeable way to do it. Life is unresolved and feels hollow and forlorn beyond loneliness. It’s like being a tree without roots, blowing aimlessly in the wind, a boat adrift on an endless sea, a long-distance race without a finish line. Like being lost in a maze after too much coffee and no bathroom.

“It’s OK. Hang in there.” Hang in where? And why? The meaning in life has dissolved in the cold night rain. Everything worthwhile I’ve ever done seems to be for nothing. All the things I took for granted are now desperately missed. There is sometimes a sense of unreality.

“This is really the way it is for me now?” I can forget about a car, insurance, maintenance costs and gasoline. I need a new pair of shoes. A humble yet realistic goal.

Being adrift has taken me to some strange places. I”m like the feather blowing in the wind at the end of Forrest Gump. The authorities encourage me to travel. “Move along now, you can’t stay here.” Where should I go? “I don’t know. Not here.”

I finally ended up in an old graveyard. I was in a little patch of thorny woods surrounded by gravestones. I slept on a couple of old sofa cushions and used an umbrella to cover me at night. I was drinking heavily and stumbled out into the thorns. They cut me up and each wound became infected with staph and I was in pain.

The flies were all over me in the daytime. They zeroed in on my infections like little Kamakazis to a battleship, adding insult to injury by mocking my pathetic life and taking perverse delight in tormenting me. They epitomized my entire dilemma. The flies were the icing on an elaborate cake baked in layers of dark despair. They will always remind me of those sad weeks in the graveyard. The sadistic flies were my only company.

It was about this time in my illustrious life that I first met Steve. He is the co-founder of Hungry Homeless Heroes along with his old friend Brad. They started at the beginning of April by making up fifteen meals in Brad’s kitchen and handing them out in Lāhainā. It was apparent there was a much greater need and they began to discuss and plan various ways to improve upon their blossoming project. From the seeds of this modest introduction to the needs of the homeless, they have been sharpening the focus of an expansive and comprehensive vision of how best to fulfill the needs of each individual.

The first time we met I explained that I couldn’t eat regular food because of extensive surgery for oral cancer. He said he would stop by my camp later with a smoothie loaded with protein powder and other nutritious ingredients. He showed up that night with the special order and he told me about Hungry Homeless Heroes (HHH). I embraced the idea immediately and said I wanted to straighten up and be a part of HHH. I was in pretty rough shape at the time and he must have been skeptical but I was serious from the beginning, relieved to have some light at the end of the tunnel.

This operation far exceeds the stated objective of getting a nutritious meal out there every day for each person in need. For instance, as Steve and the other delivery drivers give out meals, they ask the people if there is anything else they need. They listen, take notes, and are good at following through with requests, usually by the next day.
We deliver about four hundred plus meals island-wide now, one hundred twenty plus meals to Lāhainā alone. Steve knows these people on a first-name basis and shows personal interest to each. This is therapeutic for many. Knowing someone’s name is an instant positive reinforcement. Someone knows about them, cares, helps them. This makes a difference to anyone living in isolation. It means more than a meal.

We can quantify certain objectives that are being met in terms of food and utilitarian needs. Other achievements are more difficult to verify. Those are the intangibles, the truly precious benefits of HHH. That which is essential is invisible to the eye. Such as being around positive people who are willing to self-sacrifice to assist others, and being influenced to do the same. Being part of something greater than the self that is meaningful and virtuous affects something dep inside. It strengthens my resolve and restores a flagging faith in human nature. My previous feelings of hopelessness and deep sadness are being transformed into resilience and optimism. It’s the intangibles that shape the change from being needy and vulnerable to being self-reliant and responsible individuals, hopefully with aspirations to help others along the way in the future.

I’ve listened to Steve and Brad encourage volunteers and street people in this sense. The response is invariably hopeful and positive. Some are hesitant but curious. But most people feel an innate need to have some purpose in their lives. Ironically, the coronavirus pandemic provides an opportunity for good people to come together for the greater good of everyone. There are many such people out there.

On the other hand, there are those who have resigned themselves to a life on the street. Some choose to continue with alcohol or drug of choice for the temporary escape. They’ve been beaten down so many times that true escape seems impossible. But somewhere in the back of their mind, each wants a way out. It’s a hard, unnatural life. To wake up and need to drink to escape hell for a minute, is no way to live.

We don’t judge or discriminate. Nobody is hopeless though it sometimes seems that way. For some it takes help and a certain sequence of events to tip the balance and render one susceptible to change.

We are all bundles of contradictions to one degree or another. The emphasis should be on the well-meaning and altruistic within us. Let’s nurture that and let it grow as the selfish and negative aspects of our being dries and withers away on the vine of hopelessness. Blame is counter-productive. Punishment does not work. Positive reinforcement and love render the soil fertile for growth. It’s what HHH is all about. It’s like a temporary substitute for home. If home is where the heart is, then to fill your heart with good things is to be more at home.

The concept of Hungry Homeless Heroes evolved from the perception that the homeless are often viewed as “undesirables”, or obscured by some other label intended to de-humanize them and thus alleviate any semblance of social conscience. It’s easy to ignore those depicted as inferior or less than human.

To view them as homeless heroes is an innovative idea, to shift the focus to a positive light, to illuminate, emphasize, and develop the potential each individual possesses. Get them involved as volunteers to be the solution, which takes care of much of the problem. The backbone, arms, and legs of HHH are the people who are the most down and out. It’s beautiful in its simplicity. It will develop with experience and the many contributions from volunteers and others.

Another result, and the ultimate goal, is to get more and more people self-sustaining and off the street. That makes everybody happy. This too will be a growing trend.

Steve rescued me from the graveyard and demonic flies in a very real sense. He and Brad took the time to set me up in a much better location, provided me with a tarp, tent, sleeping stuff, and other needs. I quit drinking, got off my medication, and quit smoking cigarettes. My life has changed dramatically for the better, and I want to help that come for others. There will be a growing spiritual shift in consciousness on Maui as people unite in a common cause. The people without money will be seen as fellow human beings, not as “undesirables”.

Ken Crossin is an unsheltered Maui resident who volunteers daily with the Hungry Homeless Heroes project. With a degree in literature and years of world travel, he has a unique perspective that you can expect to enjoy more of in future Neighbors magazines. Ken plans to finish his autobiographical novel in the next couple of years.