Blessings on top of blessings

Larry went from homeless to getting his own apartment to getting a job in just a few months.

“I’m so blessed it really overwhelms me,” Larry says.

It has been a whirlwind 2015 for Larry. He came to stay at the City Gospel Mission shelter because he says he “needed structure.” After just a month at the shelter he was able to move into his own apartment and shortly after got a job at Cincinnati Christian University, working in the kitchen.

“I had wanted so bad to have my own roof over my head,” says Larry, who struggled with alcohol after losing his house and family following a divorce. “I had been out there in the streets. I had slept in abandoned buildings.”

Now, he has been in his own place since January, and he’s beyond excited to be there. After a few days staying there and sleeping on the floor, when a donated bed was being delivered, he ran down the stairs of the apartment building to help the movers, shouting praises. After the movers placed it, he fell straight back on it, arms outstretched, and let out a loud sigh.

When he moved into the apartment, he had no furniture, housewares or food. But the previous tenant had left a couch, TV and chair. The cabinets were filled with canned goods. During a visit to a local church to attend service on his first day there, a woman overheard him talking to someone else and offered to give him some cookware, silverware, a microwave and a toaster.

“Blessings on top of blessings,” Larry says. “If I wouldn’t have come to City Gospel Mission, I wouldn’t have any of this.”

Since moving into his apartment, Larry has reconnected with his children, brother and other family members who have visited him.

“I’m excited about my life today. I have my place now, and I’m seeking God’s face,” Larry says. “I want to thank the City Gospel Mission for giving me a bed where I could lay my head. I thank those people there who would talk to me and help me. I’ll never forget them.”