From Volunteers

Chris - photographed by Rita Minor

Chris came to us one February from a hospital discharge. He had no income and no Social Security and he had nowhere to go.

To the learned and successful, Chris would be considered a failure. He was a graduate of an Ivy League school, a man who had great potential and lost it, who spent his 'productive' years being anything but productive. He held a law degree from a very prestigious western university. But he spent most of his adult life on the street, working only for what he needed to live. He watched his back. He lived in fear much of the time. He asked for nothing except his due.

Chris doing a little KP...

A few weeks after coming to us, Chris decided that he wanted to retrieve a bike he owned and bring it to Christa House. He asked one of our volunteer buddies, Linda, to go with him to a neighboring town to get it. He rode it a few times around the neighborhood but not long after he quietly but ceremoniously gave it away to Linda's husband and then invited her back inside to join him in a glass of 'champagne' (ginger ale) to celebrate the gift.

and opening his birthday gifts

Shortly before he died Chris was admitted to the hospital. During a visit with him one evening he said that he knew he 'would die soon but that he wanted us to know that he had achieved nothing less than a wonderful peace since coming to Christa House. After he was home with us again, he told us that Christa House had taught him the 'true meaning of family, the meaning of love and the meaning of mercy'. Chris died a week later, surrounded by the peace, safety and dignity of his Christa House family.

For most of his life Chris had little in material possessions, and when we knew him, little in either psychological or physical gifts. But despite the challenges, there remained a purity to his mind and heart, a guilelessness to his words and actions. It was a privilege to know him. Rest in peace, Chris. We love you and we miss you.