John has been living on the streets for over a year and doesn’t have the money for a Starter membership. One day a friend tells him about Chimorel, walks him into a library and logs on to www.chimorel.com. Right there on line he applies to our Client Assistance program. He will send an email describing: (1) why he needed assistance, (2) his willingness to work and (3) what kind of work he could do. He didn’t understand it yet, but he was applying to our Client Assistance Committee to cover his $150 fee. The friend gets a relative to advance $50 for John.
      The website tells him how to create an email address on Yahoo, which he does. In his first return email John is given five people to contact. He sends them emails. The next day John logs on to his Yahoo email. Each person replies to John’s email and asks him to answer some questions. John answered one of them with a lack luster response. This person emails John back suggesting he get serious. John gives up and goes out to pick up cans for today’s wine bottle. At the recycling center someone mentions Chimorel again. John gives them the finger and walks out not even getting his wine money.
       That evening John goes to a shelter and hears about Chimorel again. He gets angry, blows up, hits someone and is taken to jail. That night John begins to think. He isn’t drunk this time. John asks himself why he is in jail. He had a phone call, so he calls the friend who comes down to get him when he is released. John goes to the friend’s house, works out the details and calls the people on the list. This time he is serious. 
        One person advances him $50 for doing yard work and picks him up at the shelter. A second person advances John $50 for his commitment to Volunteer five hours to work for Chimorel. John went back to the recycling center and does his work. He continues to work for 50 hours. He attends a goal setting session where he learns about Chimorel’s work for rent program. 
        John decides to enter the I Got a Job program. He works another 25 hours and earns his first month’s rent. He continues the training program, which leads to a full-time job working at the recycling center. During his training program he volunteers and lives in a property which is part of Chimorel’s Property Acquisition and Transitional Housing program. When he completes his training program, he receives a stipend and a job with real pay and benefits. He falls off the wagon several times, but someone is always there to pick him up and get him back on track. He starts attending AA.
      The above story is a little fanciful. Some of the contacts John runs into don’t exist yet. He probably will need much more hand holding before he would leave a life on the streets. Chimorel does not yet have a recycling center. The Property Acquisition program is active but not yet acquiring apartment and warehouse properties. Other contacts can be set up quickly. We periodically have people visiting homeless shelters. You could be the friend who makes it happen. Are you one of the people who will pick up the ball and run with it?