Local Man Strives to Make a Difference By Working With Homeless Veterans

Can one man make a difference? Definitely!

I would like to introduce you to a man named Joe Ingram and his associate Leah Johnson of Redmond-based Vets Edge Homeless Outreach. Together they are committed to making change on the streets of not just Redmond, but as far as they can go by vehicle. That commitment is to end an epidemic that is increasing day by day. That epidemic is homelessness.

Joe is no stranger to Redmond, or the greater Seattle area for that matter. Joe is on a mission, and that mission is to help people that have been displaced from their homes due to job loss, addiction, as well as other issues to get connected to services that can help them find a roof over their head.

Other services include rehabilitation programs to help those in need of finding work or furthering education or rehabilitation from addictions. Working side by side with the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance as well as other services, he is working hard to make a difference in finding people housing and connecting them with services that they need to survive.

Joe tells it like it is in regards to the people, services and partnerships he is working with:

“Like all things that work, it is never one person, it is a partnership that makes it work. It is people coming together with the same passion coming together to form a working viable outcome.”

Developing partnerships with agencies such as mental health, detox, shelters, tent cities and local domestic violence programs help to keep those that he's helping out of jail and out of the emergency room, or other places that most of our minds can’t even fathom. We’ve all seen the movie versions of life on the streets, but living it is something entirely different.

"These partnerships are the keys to successful positive outcomes for the people that we serve," Joe said.

Joe's program is known to go to a client whenever he is called, regardless of the time of day or night. If someone needs him no matter the time or the situation, he makes him or her his first priority. He provides each person with a meal, blankets, sleeping bag, warm clothing and whatever else he can afford to supply each person with that they need. Most importantly he provides something much more crucial aside from the services he can connect them to…he listens.

We can no longer turn our heads at this growing issue. If we do, the epidemic continues to be what it is, and the world we live in will be a different place. What Joe and Leah see on a daily basis are not just a number, they are not a statistic, but a human being reaching out for help in any form that it can come. Joe’s wish is that the people that he serves will have not only hope, but also a home again.

“They see the simple truth in my heart and then I listen to them and all their different stories, the domestic violence, the sexual abuse, the frustrations of losing everything, the feelings of being stripped of almost all humanity and self respect and when I respond with honesty and simplicity they know that I really care. When I pick up my phone after 5 at night and still listen, they know that I am committed to them, not to a job. When I go out at midnight to visit them in the hospital they know that there is someone who sees them as someone who has value.”

Joe is no stranger when it comes to knowing about being homeless. He has lived it, and experienced all that comes with it. He knows firsthand what it means to be homeless, he knows what it means to be desperate in need for a shelter or just a place to sleep, and desperate for a meal. He also knows what it's like to find that some of the people he knew around him became unreachable during that dark time. I may not know the struggle of drug addiction, or some of the other hard struggles that many out there are facing, but I do my best to relate on a matter from the heart.

Joe explained it on a level that I know the personal and emotional impact of what going through the experience would be like…in one word, all I can come up with is “terrifying.” I really don’t know how I would react living in Joe's shows after reading and listening to Joe’s story, he has really been through events that not many people walk away from. Although, for Joe, the hardest thing for him to face right now is when he is unable to help those that really need it. There are times where he has to tell a person or persons that there are no services available to them and that they will have to spend another night on the streets.

“I hate failing! When I fail, it means that someone else is still on the street, that a mother will lose her baby, that someone may die because they are not being allowed to access what they need, whether it is housing or services," he said. "To me failing is that someone has less hope to recover.”

What is life really like on the streets? Imagine some of your worst fears becoming a reality. Men, women and children live like this everyday due to lack of funding, lack of room in shelters or tent cities, and some have no idea of what kind of help is available to them. There is a ray of hope for people that have been displaced, and his name is Joe Ingram. Here is where his strength shines through. He wants to save those, no matter what they’re going through, to live a better life.

While he may still have fears of being homeless again, just as many others that have experienced living on the streets will. One act of kindness can help them through it. That one act of kindness is charged in them in such a way that only those that have been through it will know, what it means to be noticed as a person, not just a stated name or a label, “homeless.” When Joe says that homelessness is a condition, not a term or a name. He is right!!

We have to change our way of thinking. Does a person really change when their lives take them on this dark path? No, definitely not! They are still the same friend, the same person you grew to care about and love, except, they are filled with fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of how to survive, fear of who to reach out to, fear of what to do next. What will change in that person is how they truly see life, how they view their community, as well as how they view themselves. Depression and going down this road is a fine line, and it's easily crossed.

Not all of us will be so lucky to have a friend or a relative to stay with. Many have to face the dangers of the streets every day, and many risk their lives trying to stay focused with an empty stomach to live. There are many that Joe serves that haven’t had a meal in days, so when assume that our fellow Americans are being taken care of through the known services out there, we should assume that they can’t help everyone. Many of these places, including Share/Wheel have lost government funding to continue functioning at the capacity that they need. What does this mean? It means that there are going to be even more people facing the unknown in the streets.

The first step is action, and helping people in need. Locally, Hopelink helps as many as they can to avoid this dark road, but they're unable to help everyone, and the food rations given through their food bank only last a matter of a few days. This is where Joe comes in, linking those that could not get the support they needed in time, and linking them.

When I asked Leah about their day-to-day activities and how they reach out, she replied:

“That is one aspect of this type of strength based outreach that Joe is so famous for, it is that we wait with you. I have never seen Joe throw phone numbers and addresses at a client. It is always, you have the information you need, let's get it fixed right now. No phone? Use mine. No bus tickets? I have a car. Don't like to talk to new people or get stressed in waiting rooms? Don't worry about it, you have a team right behind you that are going to make sure you get everything you need, right now.”

When I asked her how she met Joe, I couldn’t help but have a fondness for this lively duo that do so much on the sidelines. We don’t even know they’re doing it, but here come these two miraculous people, making a difference against, well, a lot of odds.

As far as my story with Joe, I first knew him as GI Joe. I met him through some clients that introduced me one day. I asked him plain and simple, 'Joe? I'm Leah. What is it you do?'

At that moment, I had happened to be a very restless and unemployed couch hopper. I had a lot of fire but no oomph! So we decided to have a volunteer day where I drove around the town with him to his meetings and observing his street outreach. I had a blast!

Joe has taught me a lot about what it takes first hand to end homelessness; how to change the lives of families and individuals of our own community who live without basic necessities.

And! With all of this information and the motivation I get from Joe and the work we do, I am taking my second shot at college. I am starting at Bellevue in the winter and this time, I have a major in sociology.

I am hoping to use it towards other opportunities to work in the public non-profit sector.

I also speak to our younger and female clients so I can share with a bonding level of trust. When a client opens up to you, it is so much easier to help them find the resources and programs they really need. The one on one we do is really important.

So with a man that gives so much every day, what is his wish?

“A drop in center which would be a place for an emergency food, hygiene center, resource center and a place where there would be served coffee and sack lunches," Joe said. "It would be a place where families and individuals could come to find out about all the resources in the area, not just low income housing but energy assistance, there would be partners there also, veterans resources, visiting nurses, Mental Health intake, access to CD providers and domestic violence referrals."

This is an amazing goal that I hope will one day happen. This kind of outreach could help on a larger scale and it could save many lives.

Joe’s advice for all of us:

Support your local housing provider, support your local food bank, support your local service organization and support them with all that you can.

"Go listen to the homeless who have names, listen not just to their story of homelessness but to their hopes of getting out of homelessness, of getting clean and sober, of recovery of their mental health issues and let us see how we can meet these needs, one on one," he said.

What can we do to help Joe make a difference?

• Funding
• Gas cards
• Canned goods or meals that don’t require cooking (think microwaveable)
• Tents
• Sleeping bags
• Blankets
• Socks of all sizes
• Warm jackets of all sizes
• Hats
• Scarves
• Gloves

If you can help with any of these, please contact him via email at joe@vetsedge.org.

My prayers are with Joe and Leah as they set out everyday to bring hope to as many people as they can. And a special prayer and message to those people out there without homes. You are all in my thoughts and prayers. I know that I will do what I can to make a difference, and together united with others that truly care, you will not be alone! You will have hope again! Never forgotten!

PS: A moving story that shows Joe at his best can be found here.